Category: Japan

Just like South Korea Japan is seeing a surge in coronavirus cases with Yokota Airbase being the hotspot for the US military in Japan:

Japan is experiencing a coronavirus spike that began Nov. 3 with 468 new cases and rose to 1,694 on Sunday, just shy of the pandemic peak of 1,998 on Aug. 3, according to data from the World Health Organization. Japan recorded 1,190 new patients on Tuesday for a pandemic total of 119,326 cases and 1,903 deaths.

The capital, Tokyo, on Wednesday reported 493 people newly infected, its highest daily total thus far, according to public broadcaster NHK. The previous peak, 472, occurred Aug. 1, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government website.

Tokyo exceeded 300 new daily cases for four days last week ending Saturday. A panel of experts is expected to recommend the city raise its public health alert level to the highest of four stages, NHK reported Wednesday.

Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo recorded its highest one-day total, 14 new cases, including one at the base high school, on Wednesday, according to a base Facebook post and a letter from the school principal to staff and families.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest command to do away with the stars and bars:

The Confederate battle flag is no longer welcome anywhere on U.S. military installations in Japan, according to an order released Monday by the commander of U.S. Forces Japan.

“The Confederate Battle Flag does not represent the values of U.S. Forces assigned to serve in Japan,” says the order signed by Air Force Lt. Gen. Kevin Schneider on July 2. “While I acknowledge some might view it as a symbol of regional pride, many others in our force see it as a painful reminder of the history of hate, bigotry, treason, and devaluation of humanity that it represents.”

The order was posted Monday on the official Yokota Air Base Facebook page. The installation in western Tokyo serves as USFJ’s headquarters. Individual commanders in Japan were given the order prior to it becoming public, said Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Richard Winegardner, the USFJ senior enlisted leader, on Monday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

For the Japanese military it is back to the drawing board to find a persistent means to protect the country from a North Korean missile attack:

The Japanese government has ordered officials to quickly come up with an alternative to the rejected U.S.-made Aegis Ashore missile-defense system, possibly one that can float on a platform at sea.

The U.S. ally scrapped plans to deploy the U.S. system in Yamaguchi and Akita prefectures in June due to the cost and a projected 10-year delay to ensure that interceptor missile boosters fell safely on unpopulated areas.

The system was intended to provide all of Japan with seamless, 24/7 protection against North Korean ballistic missiles.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has instructed Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi to come up with an alternative plan by the end of the year, according to Japan’s Defense Ministry.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but you would think a booster dropping from an interceptor would be the least of anyone’s worries if North Korea was firing ballistic missiles that could be equipped with WMD at Japan. Additionally the residents around each site are worried they will be attacked if the system is built near them. Unfortunately the Japanese government takes NIMBY concerns very seriously and scrapped the Aegis Ashore plan.

Until Japan comes up with an alternative, they will have to rely on their maritime Aegis ships which are difficult to sustain over prolonged periods of time for a persistent missile defense against North Korea’s most advanced threats. Some alternatives the Japanese are reportedly looking at is putting the Aegis system on a barge or oil platform that would keep it at sea away from neighborhoods, but vulnerable to sabotage and submarine attacks. I guess we will see in the coming years what Japan’s defense industry is able to come up with.

There are a lot of parks in Berlin, but it is pretty clear that the statue was put in this particular park to create diplomatic tensions with Japan:

South Korea voiced criticism Thursday over Japan’s call for the removal of a statue erected in Germany of a girl symbolizing Korean victims of wartime sexual slavery, calling it an act that goes against the spirit of its own apology. 

Last week, Tokyo expressed regret over the recent installation of the statue on a public site near the Japanese Embassy in Berlin. The statue was erected by Korea Verband, a Berlin-based civic group with South Korean ties. 

The issue drew attention as Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi requested it be removed when he held bilateral talks with his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, in Berlin last week. 

“The installation of the statue is a voluntary move by the private sector. It is not desirable for the government to get diplomatically involved,” ministry spokesperson Kim In-chul said in a press briefing when asked about the statue. (…………..)

Korea Verband in Berlin said it received an order from the office of Berlin’s Mitte district on Wednesday to remove the statue by Oct. 14. According to the civic group, the office claimed that an inscribed epitaph as part of the installation has caused diplomatic tension between Germany and Japan.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It would be surprising if Prime Minister Suga does not continue to be an advocate of expanding Japan’s military capabilities and strengthening the alliance with the United States:

Japan’s new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, is likely to adhere to his predecessor’s defense policies, which experts say will benefit the Pentagon’s interests.

Suga, previously the chief cabinet secretary, took over as prime minister on Wednesday following elections by the governing Liberal Democratic Party. His predecessor, Shinzo Abe, stepped down due to poor health. Suga had been Japan’s longest-serving chief cabinet secretary, working under Abe from 2012-20.

Because of his long partnership with Abe, Japanese media has labeled Suga a “continuity candidate” expected to carry on the former prime minister’s work.

Abe advocated strengthening U.S.-Japan relations, bolstering the Japan Self-Defense Force and supporting U.S. troops in Japan, said Michael Cucek, assistant professor of Asian Studies at Temple University’s Japan campus.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

The Japan Times has a long article discussing the legacy 75 years later of the U.S. occupation of Japan. It is good read, here is an excerpt:

What is the Occupation’s legacy? 

The early phase is usually viewed by historians as being a policy and diplomatic success, especially by American officials. On a personal level, Japanese who were children during the era still tell stories of American G.I.s passing out gum, ice cream and chocolate.

American popular culture that arrived with the Occupation troops, from movies to music, blossomed, which added to the view, especially in the U.S., that it was successful. The peaceful reaction to the presence of so many Allied troops by the Japanese people also meant the Occupation did not have to worry about putting down armed rebellions as it attempted to carry out its policies.

Historians in Japan and abroad generally agree that the Occupation accomplished many of its early goals, including disarmament, the repatriation of Japanese forces abroad, the ratification of a new Constitution rooted in democratic values, land reforms, more equal rights for women and a foreign policy that made Japan a close U.S. ally.

But the censorship exercised by the Occupation, the release and return to power of those arrested for war crimes and the crackdown on socialists and communists created problems that lingered long after the Occupation ended. The decision by MacArthur not to try Emperor Hirohito as a war criminal provoked anger among other allied nations.

Japan Times

You can read more at the link, but the article also discusses the continuing legacy of Russia’s occupation of the Kuril Islands that continues to plague relations between the two countries.

Seoul is not the only Northeast Asia capitol dealing with coronavirus cluster infections, Tokyo is as well:

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government on Sunday confirmed 148 additional cases of the novel coronavirus, the second lowest daily figure recorded in the capital this month.

The single-day figure brought Tokyo’s cumulative total to over 20,700 cases. The capital hit a record 472 on Aug. 1 and has seen daily cases in triple digits for every day in August bar last Monday, when it recorded 95 new infections, its lowest figure in over a month.

Japan Times

You can read more at the link, but Tokyo has decreasing case numbers and have done it without a lockdown which is what Seoul has implemented.

It will be interesting to see if a new Japanese prime minister will lead to better relations between Japan and South Korea. Shinzo Abe has been a useful boogeyman for the Korean left for many years:

Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said Friday he intends to step down because a chronic health problem has resurfaced. He told reporters that it was ”gut wrenching” to leave so many of his goals unfinished. 

Abe has had ulcerative colitis since he was a teenager and has said the condition was controlled with treatment. Concerns about Abe’s health began this summer and grew this month when he visited a Tokyo hospital two weeks in a row for unspecified health checkups. He is now on a new treatment that requires IV injections, he said. While there is some improvement, there is no guarantee that it will cure his condition and so he decided to step down after treatment Monday, he said.

”It is gut wrenching to have to leave my job before accomplishing my goals,” Abe said Friday, mentioning his failure to resolve the issue of Japanese abducted years ago by North Korea and a territorial dispute with Russia.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but here is what the Blue House had to say about this news:

South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s office said Abe dedicated many years to the development of bilateral relations and achieved ”various meaningful accomplishments” as Japan’s longest-serving prime minister. It said Seoul will continue to work with Tokyo’s next prime minister and Cabinet to promote ”friendship and cooperation” between the countries. Relations between South Korea and Japan sank to their lowest point in decades last year as they feuded over trade issues, wartime history and military cooperation.

Korea Times

It is interesting that the Blue House mentions “meaningful accomplishments” when they have worked hard to undo those accomplishments such as the comfort women reconciliation agreement as well as bilateral defense agreements.

Leaders from Nagasaki are urging the world to ban nuclear weapons, which is a nice thought that will not happen anytime soon:

 The Japanese city of Nagasaki on Sunday marked its 75th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing, with the mayor and dwindling survivors urging world leaders including their own to do more for a nuclear weapons ban.

At the event at Nagasaki Peace Park, scaled down because of the coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Tomihisa Taue read a peace declaration in which he raised concern that nuclear states had in recent years retreated from disarmament efforts. 

Instead, they are upgrading and miniaturizing nuclear weapons for easier use, he said. Taue singled out the U.S. and Russia for increasing risks by scrapping the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Military Times

You can read more at the link, but it seems to me that Mayor Taue should be more worried about nearby nuclear threat North Korea than Russia and the U.S.

Anyway this is the time of the year to renew the debate on whether the U.S. should have used the bomb or not during World War II.