Writing and researching this blog has really brought me up to speed on what’s been going on in Japan recently. Though leadership has changed hands (very rapidly) from Abe-san to Furude-san a the core issues remain the same. Even back when I was in Japan and Koizumi was Prime Minister, which is not very long ago at all, but considering leadership has changed hands twice since then, it seems like things might have changed a little more. The Prime Minister’s most visible actions with its neighbors still seem to be solving old diplomatic issues relating to respect. Whether it’s visiting Yasukuni shrine, textbook inaccuracies, or a kidnapping three decades ago, there always seems to be some old root that causes Japan and its neighbors to go at each others throats. I’m coming to think that perhaps part of the reason Japan changes its leaders as often as countries with much more serious problems is that maybe their government is fed up with being entrenched in the past. And maybe one of these days a leader will be elected who has the ability to resolve past issues and move forward with a fresh start. For Japan, who now has to deal with increasingly powerful neighbors, a declining population and a history they aren’t always proud of, moving increasingly forward is integral to retaining their current level of relevancy. Hopefully Furude-san or one of his successors will have the strength to do this, because the Japanese people really have no alternative but to rely on them to resolve their international issues so that they too may move forward proudly.
your presentation was really interesting, albeit a little hard to grasp (probably due to the fact that those issues seem so far away from the united states)..