Category: Japan

Japan wants to maintain their anti-nuclear weapons stance, but they are surrounded by hostile nuclear armed neighbors which makes it increasingly hard to do so:

From left: US President Joe Biden, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and France’s President Emmanuel Macron pose for a family photo during the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Hiroshima on Sunday, (AFP-Yonhap)

Geography is a big reason for Kishida’s attention to nuclear disarmament. He represents Hiroshima, where his family is from, in parliament. Although a pro-military conservative, he is politically linked to a city where a fast-dwindling number of elderly bomb survivors are a palpable reminder of one of the most momentous events in human history.

As a child, Kishida heard about the horrors of the atomic bombing from his grandmother, who was from Hiroshima. Her stories left “an indelible mark” and inspired his work for a world without nuclear weapons, said Noriyuki Shikata, Cabinet secretary for public affairs.

But Japan, a liberal democracy, staunch US ally and the world’s third biggest economy, is also located in a dangerous neighborhood.

Wary of China and North Korea, Kishida has been steadily pushing for an expansion of a military constrained by a pacifist constitution primarily written by the Americans after Japan’s World War II defeat. He relies on the so-called US military umbrella, which includes nuclear weapons and the 50,000 US military personnel, and their powerful, high-tech weaponry, stationed in Japan.

To some critics, Kishida’s disarmament goals ring hollow as he simultaneously pushes to double Japan’s defense budget in the next five years and strengthen strike capabilities.

Japan also refuses to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which took effect in 2021. Kishida says it is unworkable because it lacks membership by nuclear states. He maintains that Japan needs to take a realistic approach to bridging the gap between nuclear and non-nuclear states in a challenging world.

“A path to a world without nuclear weapons has become even more difficult,” Kishida said in April. “But that’s why we need to keep raising the flag of our ideal and regain a new momentum.”

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Here is some analysis on what Japanese Prime Minister Kishida’s statement of regret for Korean forced laborers during World War II means:

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Sunday that he felt “strong pain” in his heart when he thought of the suffering of the Korean victims of forced labor during his country’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

In carefully selected words, he expressed sympathy for the Koreans at a press conference in Seoul after his summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol, acknowledging “the extreme difficulty and sorrow that many people had to suffer under the harsh environment in those days.”

Kishida’s remarks suggest both his determination to improve Korea-Japan relations and how far he was willing to go in that effort, given his political climate at home, according to experts, Monday.

“In his famous 2015 address [marking 70 years since Japan’s defeat in World War II], former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his administration would not let their future generations ‘be predestined to apologize’ ― a position from which Kishida is not free. This is why Kishida said he would carry forward the positions on colonial-era history of Japan’s previous cabinets during Yoon’s visit to Japan in March,” Shin Kak-soo, former vice foreign minister and former Korean ambassador to Japan, told The Korea Times. “In that sense, his comment this time is a step forward.”

The former ambassador said that Kishida ― under pressure from both Korea and the conservative wing of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Japan, which rejects any form of concession ― appeared to have expressed his stance by sophisticatedly using restrained terms.

“From what I heard, Japan’s foreign ministry opposed the idea [of expressing his sympathy]. That means Kishida made his own political decision,” he added.

Jin Chang-soo, an expert on Japan at the Sejong Institute, a think tank, agreed.

“There is a wide political consensus in Japan that it should stop apologizing to Koreans over historical issues,” Jin said. “Given the situation, I think Kishida’s remarks, though insufficient, helped make progress in rapprochement.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but apology fatigue in Japan is a real thing. Additionally the fact that Japan has made apologies and concessions in the past to just have the Korean administration change and rip up prior agreements and make new demands is something President Yoon will have to convince PM Kishida will not happen this time before any larger concessions are made.

Here is what Japanese Prime Minister Kishida has offered President Yoon during their bilateral summit:

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took steps Sunday to reciprocate President Yoon Suk Yeol’s commitment to improving bilateral ties, as he accepted a South Korean team’s inspection of the planned release of radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant and acknowledged the past pain of Koreans under Japanese colonial rule.

The water release and Japan’s attitude about its 1910-45 colonial occupation were the main points that were closely watched as Yoon and Kishida held their second summit in less than two months to add momentum to the recent warming of bilateral ties.

The thaw began in March after the Yoon administration decided to compensate Korean victims of Japanese wartime forced labor without the involvement of Japanese firms, a decision Kishida lauded as “courageous.”

Kishida returned the goodwill Sunday by announcing he will accept a visit by a team of South Korean experts to inspect the planned release of the contaminated water.

Amid South Korean calls for a sincere apology, he also acknowledged the pain of forced labor victims.

“My heart aches over the fact that many people had an extremely painful and sad experience in harsh conditions at the time,” he said, before adding he was speaking in a personal capacity.

Critics said the remark still falls short of a direct apology.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but they can add this apology to this ever growing list of apologies that the Korean left is still not happy with.

I really think the biggest obstacle to major gains in bilateral relations is going to be how does President Yoon convince Kishida that anything they agree to will actually last after he leaves office? The Japanese have seen so many agreements get reneged on after a new person takes over the Presidency that is why they are probably going to be very cautious before agreeing to any major deals:

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives at Seoul Air Base, south of Seoul, on May 7, 2023. (Yonhap)

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrived in South Korea on Sunday for a summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol, marking the full-scale resumption of “shuttle diplomacy” between the two countries’ leaders after 12 years.

Kishida’s visit comes as bilateral relations have warmed significantly following Seoul’s decision in March to compensate Korean victims of Japanese wartime forced labor without contributions from Japanese firms.

Yoon traveled to Tokyo 10 days after the decision was announced and held a summit with Kishida as the first South Korean president to pay a bilateral visit to Japan in 12 years.

Kishida’s two-day visit is also the first bilateral visit by a Japanese leader in 12 years, marking the full-scale resumption of “shuttle diplomacy,” or regular mutual visits, as agreed between Yoon and Kishida during their summit in Tokyo in March.

Upon arrival, the Japanese prime minister headed to Seoul National Cemetery and paid his respects to Korea’s fallen independence fighters and war veterans.

Later in the day, he will hold a summit with Yoon at the presidential office, hold a joint news conference, and then have dinner with Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee at the official presidential residence, according to diplomatic sources.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but that was a very symbolic move by Kishida to pay his respects at the National Cemetery.

Here is another development in the improving ties between South Korea and Japan:

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to visit South Korea later this month, in what appears to be a move to gain the upper hand over Seoul in trilateral relations between South Korea, Japan and the U.S.

Citing multiple government officials from both the South Korean and Japanese governments, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Sunday that the prime minister will visit Seoul from May 7 to 8. It will be his first trip to South Korea since taking office.

The newspaper reported that the visit is aimed at responding to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s visit to Japan in March, during which the South Korean leader showed his willingness to improve chilled bilateral relations. 

The South Korean presidential office did not confirm this, but admitted that “consultations are ongoing” over the prime minister’s visit to South Korea.

If it takes place, the visit will be the first by a Japanese prime minister since February 2018, when Shinzo Abe made one on the occasion of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics here. In terms of bilateral diplomacy, however, it will be the first visit since October 2011, when Yoshihiko Noda visited Seoul for a summit with then-South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is a very unfortunate accident that cost the life of a Japanese Army Division Commander who was doing his first battlefield circulation around Japan’s southwest islands:

An X marks the spot where a section of the crashed Japanese army helicopter’s fuselage and five bodies were discovered north of Irabu Island on Thursday, April 13, 2023. (Japan Ground Self-Defense Force)

Search parties recovered two more bodies Monday from the submerged wreckage of a Japanese military helicopter that crashed in the East China Sea nearly two weeks ago with 10 aboard, including a lieutenant general.

Four victims’ remains have been brought up since Sunday from the site in 350 feet of water just offshore of Irabu Island, southwest of Okinawa. The UH-60JA Black Hawk of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force disappeared from radar at 3:56 p.m. April 6 during a reconnaissance flight 11 miles northwest of Miyako Airport.

Japanese divers recovered one body Monday morning and the other several hours later, a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force spokesman told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday. Japanese authorities have yet to identify any of the recovered bodies. 

Just one body remains in a section of the Black Hawk’s fuselage discovered Sunday morning, the spokesman said. The remaining five individuals aboard the helicopter are unaccounted for.

The Black Hawk was on a reconnaissance flight 11 miles northwest of Miyako Airport when it went down with a mixed crew aboard, including Lt. Gen. Yuichi Sakamoto, commander of the Ground Self-Defense Force’s 8th Division; five members of the division’s headquarters staff; four members of the Air Self-Defense Force’s 8th Wing; and a member of Camp Miyako’s security force.

Sakamoto, 55, was appointed division commander March 31. He previously served as commander of the 12th Brigade.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This is pretty wild that just months after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated that someone has attempted to kill current Prime Minister Kishida as well:

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was evacuated unharmed Saturday after someone threw an explosive device in his direction while he was campaigning at a fishing port in western Japan, officials said. Police wrestled a suspect to the ground as screaming bystanders scrambled to get away and smoke filled the air.

One police officer was slightly hurt and Kishida continued campaigning Saturday, but the chaotic scene was reminiscent of the assassination nine months ago of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which also came on a campaign tour and continues to reverberate in Japanese politics. Kishida was visiting Saikazaki port in Wakayama prefecture to support his ruling party’s candidate in a local election, and the explosion occurred just before he was to begin his speech.

A young man believed to be a suspect was arrested Saturday at the scene after he allegedly threw “the suspicious object,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters. Matsuno refused to comment on the suspect’s motive and background, saying police are still investigating.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but no word yet on what this guy’s motive was for trying to kill Prime Minister Kishida. ROK Heads may remember the guy that killed Shinzo Abe was motivated by how the Korean Unification Church wiped out all the savings from his mother leaving him with no inheritance. Abe had ties to the church and the man killed Abe as revenge against the church.