Friday, August 15, 2014

Why is the US military in Japan?

Why is the US military in Japan? Some non-Japanese people seem to think it is because the US monitors Japan. However, most Japanese people don't think this.

Generally, Japanese people think as follows:

Reason 1: The constitution of Japan states that Japan can't have an army. Therefore, Japan needs the US army for its defense. When thinking about if Japan needs the US for it's defense, it is important to look at, "The Constitution of Japan"


The Constitution of Japan, Article 9
Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.
In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.


According to Article 9, Japan is supposed to have renounced it's right to war. However, as stated by "Global Firepower*", Japan has the Self Defense Forces whose military power ranks 10th in the world, surpassing Israel's.

*Global Firepower (GFP) provides a unique analytical display of data concerning today's world military powers. Over 100 world military powers are considered in the ranking which allows for a broad spectrum of comparisons to be achieved concerning relative military strengths.


Global Firepower -2014 World Military Strength Rankings (nuclear capability is not taken into account)
The GFP Top 10: 1. United States 2. Russia 3. China 4. India 5. UK 6. France 7. Germany 8. Turkey 9. South Korea 10. Japan 11. Israel 12. Italy 13. Egypt

Therefore, Japan does not actually need the US for its defense.



FYI: Why is the Japanese government able to state the Self Defense Force as non-military despite its strong military power?


Ministry of defense: The Government's View on Article 9 of the Constitution
(Extract) The self-defense capability to be possessed and maintained by Japan under the Constitution is limited to the minimum necessary for self-defense.

The specific limit has a relative aspect of varying with the international situation, the level of military technology and various other conditions. It is defined in the Diet, the representatives of the people through deliberations about each fiscal year budget etc. However, whether or not the said armed strength corresponds to "war potential" prohibited under paragraph 2 of Article 9 of the Constitution is an issue regarding the total strength that Japan possesses and maintains. Accordingly, whether or not the SDF are allowed to possess some specific armaments is decided by whether the total strength will or will not exceed the constitutional limit by possessing such armaments.

But in any case in Japan, it is unconstitutional to possess what is referred to as offensive weapons that, from their performance, are to be used exclusively for total destruction of other countries, since it immediately exceeds the minimum level necessary for self-defense. For instance, the SDF is not allowed to possess ICBMs, long-range strategic bombers or offensive aircraft carriers.




Reason 2: The location of Japanese islands was, and still is important for the balance of power in Asia. Therefore America, the world's police, needs to have many military bases in Japan.


In the era of the Cold War, it was a probable theory that America needed Japan to police Asia. South Korea and Japan bordered the Soviet Union, China and North Korea, which were communist powerhouses at the time. Japan could therefore have been an important frontline country for the West.

Many Japanese people believed this theory, my father being one of them. I remember a conversation with my father in the early 80s. I was junior high school student. I told him that the US should set up more military bases in Hokkaido, the northern large island in Japan. I knew it was not far from Hokkaido to the nearest island of Soviet Union (only 42km or 26miles). My father said, "Boy, do you know the reason the US never set up a base in Hokkaido? If it does so, the Soviet Union will think it is not a deterrence but take it as a war declaration. Very sensitive topic." To me, this experience represents the fact that Japanese people were aware of the tensions between the West and the East in the Cold War era, and Japan's important role in this conflict.

At that time, many Japanese people believed the US bases were necessary on islands in Japan. Now however, many people think that the current situation with China is the same as Japan's relationship with Russia during the Cold War. Therefore, they think that Okinawa is key for Japan's defense and the balance of power in Asia. The area size of the US bases in Okinawa accounts for 73.9% of all the US bases in Japan*. The large concentration of American power in one area (Okinawa) could be seen by some as America using Japan as a barrier against Asian countries such as China.
*http://www.pref.okinawa.jp/site/chijiko/kichitai/documents/kadai.pdf (in Japanese)

My opinion differs from this viewpoint. I agree that the US bases in Japan are located in Okinawa because of the Cold War, China and North Korea. However, the Cold War is now over and the likelihood of attack from China or North Korea is much lower than during the Cold War era. I therefore do not think that American still needs US bases in Japan to keep the balance of power in Asia.

My main opinion about the reason of the existence of the US bases in Japan is different from the above reason.



My opinion


The USA does not need Japan to keep the balance of power in Asia. The biggest reason for America's presence in Japan is that it costs less to locate US bases in Japan rather than in other countries. As can be seen in the graph below, Japan contributes more money to US bases and soldier salaries than any other country.



Allied Contributions to the Common Defense (United States Department of Defense 2004)

It can then be seen that Japan contributes more to US bases and soldier salaries than any other country.

Why Japan does this can be explained through events surrounding the establishment of Article 9?

The US wrote the first draft of The Constitution of Japan, including Article 9, in February 1946. At that time, the Cold War hadn't started yet. However, one month later, the Prime Minister of the UK, Churchill, first spoke of "The Iron Curtain", which is famous for signaling the beginning of the Cold War. In June 1950, the Korean War broke out. One month later, the US made Japan establish the National Police Reserve, which would later become the Self Defense Force. In short, I believe the US may have been anxious about Japan's remilitarization at first, but then used Japan as a wall against communist countries. After the Cold War ended, the US continued to take advantage of Japan simply to maintain the US bases at a low cost.



Conclusion: One more question


I believe America's military presence in Japan is not needed for Japan's defense to maintain the balance of power in Asia. It is simply because Japan provides a large amount of money for the US bases and soldier salaries. I must ask, why does Japan continue to support the US bases and provide them with a lot of money? Such policies are decided by the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan. They are conservative and many members have a nationalistic mindset, however they choose to be dependent on the US. I can't understand why. I understand only that Japan has virtually been subordinate to the US from the end of World War II.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Why is Japan's unemployment rate so low?

Japan's unemployment rate and the recession


Japan's unemployment rate is lower than other developed countries.


United States Department of Labor "International Unemployment Rates and Employment Indexes, Seasonally Adjusted, 2009-2013"

People say that Japan has been experiencing a long recession, called "the lost twenty years", since 1992. If in a recession, then why is Japan's unemployment rate so low?




Japanese workers may be employed under harsher circumstances than unemployed people in the other developed countries


The reason why, has a strong relationship to the following chart.


International Labour Organization (International Institute for Labour Studies) 2009
The Financial and economic crisis: a Decent Work Response P.16


In 2009, to receive unemployment benefits, you would have had to have worked for over one year, have paid for employment insurance, be willing to work as soon as a company offers you employment and now be seeking a job. The amount of benefits received is about half of the amount of the applicant's former salary.
The period of receiving benefits is as follows: for applicants who quit his/her job, they can receive a max of 150 days pay. For applicants who were fired by a company, they can receive a max of 330 days pay. Disabled applicants can only receive a max of 360 days pay.
Labor Department of Japan, Osaka To persons intending to receive unemployment benefits of employment insurance system

Considering the bad conditions for those seeking unemployment benefits in Japan, many job seekers have no choice but to apply for a company which has bad (sometimes illegal) work conditions.




My opinion: The Reasons why Japanese society doesn't like to help unemployed people


Many young people, who feel the harsh reality of employment, never participate in elections. In the election for the lower diet of Japan in 2012, the ratio of people voting in their twenties was 37.89%. For voters in their seventies, the ratio was 74.93%.

Japanese people in older generations – in my opinion, over about 60 years old - have tendencies to think "If a young person is in good health and yet unemployment, he or she is idle. Why do we have to pay our tax for such lazy people?" They spent their youth in the 60s to 80s. At that time, Japanese society kept the unemployment rate at 2%, while in European countries the unemplyment rate was 10%. That generation of Japanese citizens could get jobs easily. I got my job in 1993 (the first year of Japan's "lost twenty years"), after 6 job interviews for the same company. Three people, including me, got a job in my company out of 300 applicants from my university. After starting my job, an older co-worker in my office said; "I can't understand why my company is now "the narrow gate". He said he found it easy to get his job, "I only found a recruitment ad in a newspaper, applied, got this job. Maybe almost all of the applicants at that time could get jobs."

However, people from older generation have experienced other harsh realities. In their youth, Saturday wasn't a holiday. The words and concepts, "abuse of power" and "sexual harassment", didn't exist. More than in modern Japan, older people had absolute power – if a boss said something irrational, young people couldn't object, and had to simply obey him. Now such harsh realities have gone and people work under more favorable conditions. Therefore, people from older generations often think, "modern young people work in such favorable conditions, but they can't get jobs. They must be lazy."



My opinion about Japan's low unemployment rate can be explained through the following example. Miki Watanabe is the founder of a big pub-chain company. The company is notorious for its bad labor conditions. For example, their corporate identity is: "Work 24hours a day, 365days a year, till you die." A worker of this company committed suicide. Her work condition were: 140 hours overwork per month. On her designated "holidays", the company forced her to receive training from 7am, do "volunteer activities" and write a report about the "volunteer activities".

Watanabe, despite being such a notorious executive, was surprisingly elected for the upper diet in Japan. Among people in my generation (under 40 years of age), it was unbelievable. Many people from older generations feel the same way. However, some people from older generations wanted Watanabe to be in power. They thought modern Japanese society needed a severe leader, who says, "Work hard, don't be a spoiled child". In the end, 1 million voters voted for Watanabe, showing support of this work ethic. Clearly, older generations who supported Watanabe participated in the election, however younger people who were against Watanabe did not.

Japan's low unemployment rate compared to other developed countries', never means Japan's economy is in good condition. It means there is a big generation gap in understanding the real possibility of getting jobs in modern Japan and about their voting rates.