Japan

nation state

Japan  link Sourcewatch Wikiquote
Capital city	Tokyo
Location	East Asia, Pacific Ocean
Type	nation state
A populous country in East Asia. People are traditionally extremely law abiding by European standards.

Japan is a group of islands off Asia. It is densely populated. After defeat in World War II, it was demilitarised and occupied by the US. In 2013, it was #7 in the world in terms of military expenditure and has been aggressively re-militarising.

History

The US sent gunboats in 1853/4 to force Japan to open up to its business interests.

File:Hiroshima-big.jpg

Hiroshima after the nuclear bombing

In 1945, Japan became the first nation to have nuclear weapons used against it, as the US dropped bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The OSS had plans to deliver in person a proposal for surrender that would not be as harsh as American propaganda would have people believe, which was calling for unconditional surrender at the time. ("that in fact the terms will be softer than most Japs believe.") After WW2, the country was demilitarized.

Deep state

Full article: Japan/Deep state

File:Japan Deep state.jpg

The Japanese deep state was rebooted after Japanese defeat in 1945 by the US deep state. Since 2001, it has steadily remilitarized Japan.

21^st Century

Watch on YouTube

At a critical time for Japan and the region, we begin our coverage looking at the country's rightward political shift under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was re-elected just over a year ago. As head of the Liberal Democratic Party, Abe is known as a conservative hawk who has pushed nationalistic and pro-nuclear policies. In December, he visited the controversial Yasukuni war shrine, which honors Japanese soldiers who died in battle, including several war criminals who were tried by the International Military Tribunal after World War II. The visit sparked outrage from China and South Korea, who consider the shrine a symbol of Japanese militarism, and its refusal to atone for atrocities committed in the first half of the 20^th century. We speak about Japan's increasingly pro-nuclear, nationalistic stance with Koichi Nakano, professor at Sophia University in Tokyo and director of the Institute of Global Concern - Democracy Now - 2014

After the events of 9/11, particularly under Shinzo Abe, Japan has been following the global "war on terror" program of increased mass surveillance, and increased penalties for exercising freedom of speech on topics not approved of by government.

September 11, 2001

Hiroshi Hasegawa was a well-known Japanese journalist and "terror expert", who worked for NHK. He was circumspect about the US government's official narrative and encouraged his listeners not to uncritically accept the story of the 19 hijackers. He was found dead on 15 October 2001, a death which was only lightly reported at the time by NHK and other corporate media in Japan. Yukihisa Fujita of the Japan Democratic party on January 11th, 2008 made a 20 minute long statement at the House of Councillors, the upper house of the Diet (parliament) of Japan, where he questioned the official version of 9/11. He asked the current Prime Minister Fukuda, who was the Chief Cabinet Secretary under Koizumi cabinet in 2001: “How could terrorists attacked the Pentagon?” - one of the safest airspaces on the planet.

Mass surveillance

Japan collects foreigners' fingerprints when they enter the country. In 2016, it announced plans to tie fingerprints to credit cards and passports, requiring foreigners to show them in hotels and when making other purchases.

Military

Full article: Japan/Military

Resistance

Japanese culture traditionally emphasises obedience, hindering public protest. However, in May 2015, over 1000 people sued the Japanese government to halt involvement in TPP. In 2017, thousands protested mass surveillance that Shinzo Abe said was needed to fight "terrorism" .

Radioactive incidents

On 22 April 2015, a drone with traces of radiation was landed on top of Abe's office, carrying a camera and a small bottle with the radioactive symbol. Tests found it was carrying a small amount of radioactive caesium, reported. Abe was in Indonesia at the time, attending an Asian-African conference.

On 24^th April, radioactive contamination was discovered in a park in Tokyo.

Fukushima Daiichi

Full article: Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

On 11 March 2011, a tsunami hit an already damaged nuclear power station at Ōkuma in Fukushima, Japan. The Guardian observed that the estimated time until the plant could be made safe would be 30 or 40 years.