{"id":12008,"date":"2013-12-17T12:50:38","date_gmt":"2013-12-17T22:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12008"},"modified":"2013-12-17T12:50:38","modified_gmt":"2013-12-17T22:50:38","slug":"debito-org-newsletter-december-17-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12008","title":{"rendered":"DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 17, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

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DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 17, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hello Newsletter Readers. It\u2019s been a trying month and change for Debito.org, with the site being hacked and taken offline for about two weeks (the skinny on what happened at https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11998<\/a>). It\u2019s since been cleaned by a professional, with a regular scanning service to make sure it stays that way.\u00a0Of course, if you like what you read here, donations for website maintenance are gratefully accepted via Paypal (see above).\u00a0Now after much delay, here\u2019s the most recent Newsletter:<\/p>\n

Table of Contents:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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1) Post-passage of State Secrets Bill, watch as Abe further dismantles Japan\u2019s postwar anti-fascism safeguards<\/strong>
\n 2) UN News: \u201cIndependent UN experts seriously concerned about Japan\u2019s Special Secrets Bill\u201d Fine, but too late.<\/strong>
\n 3) Asahi: Hate speech protests spreading to smaller cities around Japan<\/strong>
\n 4) Restoration Party Shinpuu\u2019s xenophobic candidate in Tokyo Katsushika-ku elections: \u201cPutting Japanese first before foreigners\u201d<\/strong>
\n 5) DVB News: Japan\u2019s lack of transparency threatens Burma\u2019s development (as PM Abe seeks to contain China)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2026 and finally\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

6) Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Col 69, Nov 7 2013: \u201cJapan brings out big guns to sell remilitarization in U.S.\u201d about PM Abe\u2019s charm offensive through Gaijin Handler Kitaoka Shin\u2019ichi<\/strong>
\n\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

By ARUDOU, Debito
\nFreely Forwardable<\/p>\n

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1) Post-passage of State Secrets Bill, watch as Abe further dismantles Japan\u2019s postwar anti-fascism safeguards<\/strong><\/p>\n

My conclusions first: If you really want to \u201clook on the bright side\u201d of recent events, we could say \u201cwe live in interesting times\u201d. Given the normally glacial pace of reforms in Japan, the Abe Administration is proceeding with incredible speed \u2014 which he can do, given LDP control over both houses of Parliament. It\u2019s a pity that things are heading in the Rightist direction, dismantling the Postwar order of governance and the safeguards against Prewar fascism faster than the public or media can keep up.<\/p>\n

As discussed here before Debito.org got tackled, both inside and outside observers (including the UN) were alarmed at the contents of the State Secrets Protection Law (himitsu hogo hou<\/em>), the one that leaves vague what a \u201cgovernment secret\u201d is exactly (for better public non-transparency), and offers criminal penalties of up to ten years\u2019 incarceration for violators, including journalists. The tone of this law is pretty clear: Anyone who gets in the way (and according to LDP Secretary General and defense policy wonk Ishiba Shigeru, \u201cnoisy\u201d protestors will be labeled \u201cterrorists\u201d; I\u2019m waiting for Ishiba to say the same thing about the perennially noisy, intimidating, and sometimes violent right-wing sound trucks) with be dealt with accordingly.<\/p>\n

Debito.org said that the protests in any case were too little, too late, and it would make no difference. It didn\u2019t (except in Abe\u2019s approval ratings, which dipped below 50% for the first time for this administration; never mind \u2014 a few more saber rattlings with the Chinese bogeyman will remedy that), and the bill was rammed through both the Lower and Upper Houses and is now law. SITYS.<\/p>\n

This after, as also noted on Debito.org previously, Abe\u2019s Gaijin Handlers were sent off on a mission to placate the one country that might get them to avert this course: The United States. Top Abe advisor Kitaoka Shin\u2019ichi recently visited Hawaii and points mainland to sell Japan\u2019s remilitarization as a means to help America\u2019s security exploits abroad, saying it would be possible by a mere circumvention of the Constitution by reinterpretation. Who needs to go through that laborious process of actual Constitutional revision when you can just ignore it? And it seems the Americans have signed off on it. And on Japan\u2019s new protection measures of \u201cstate secrets\u201d. And on a creation of a National Security Council that reports to Abe, modeled on the USG\u2019s NSC, so who could object? Checkmate.<\/p>\n

Look, some people might be surprised by all this, but I\u2019m not. Debito.org saw this coming more than ten years ago, and watched it play out since 2000 as innate fears of outsiders in general were made into public policy seeing foreigners as criminals, then terrorists etc. Now. it\u2019s Chinese foreigners in specific (what with the two-plus \u201cLost Decades\u201d of stagnant to negative growth causing Japan to be eclipsed by China as the largest economy in the region). I\u2019ve charted the arc of this public debate here in a paper for Japan Focus, showing how officially-sponsored xenophobia was used to undermine, then decimate, Japan\u2019s Left. And with no opposition Left, there\u2019s nothing to stop a dedicated silver-spoon elite like Abe, who has known no war (and accepts no responsibility for Japan\u2019s historical role in it), for swinging the pendulum the furthest Right it has been in the Postwar Era. Provided his health holds up, he\u2019s got three years to do it. Just watch him do it as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12000<\/a><\/p>\n

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2) UN News: \u201cIndependent UN experts seriously concerned about Japan\u2019s Special Secrets Bill\u201d Fine, but too late.<\/strong><\/p>\n

UN News: Two independent United Nations human rights experts today expressed serious concern about a Government-sponsored draft bill in Japan that would decide what constitutes a State secret.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Special Rapporteurs on freedom of expression and on the right to health requested further information from the Japanese authorities on the draft law and voiced their concerns regarding its compliance with human rights standards\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTransparency is a core requirement for democratic governance,\u201d said the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, Frank La Rue. \u201cThe draft bill not only appears to establish very broad and vague grounds for secrecy but also include serious threats to whistle-blowers and even journalists reporting on secrets.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

According to reports, information related to defence, diplomacy, counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism will all be classified as a state secret, while ministers could decide what information to keep from the public.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

COMMENT (dated Nov 22, before the bill actually passed<\/em>): The snowball is rolling and a version of this legislation, even if \u201cwatered down\u201d (or perhaps not), will probably be rammed through into law, since both houses of Parliament are in the hands of ultraconservative parties without a viable opposition party anymore. Why wasn\u2019t this seen coming down the pike in the first place before it got to this stage? The warning signs were all there from last December\u2019s election (before that, even, if you read PM Abe\u2019s manifestoes about his \u201cbeautiful country\u201d) about Japan\u2019s rightward swing. This consolidation of information control has always been part and parcel of state control \u2014 no surprises, especially in Japan. So this public reaction of both naiatsu and gaiatsu is too little, too late. Get ready for the politicized criminalization of public disclosure.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11989<\/a><\/p>\n

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3) Asahi: Hate speech protests spreading to smaller cities around Japan<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is getting more difficult for the \u201cJapan is not shifting hard right\u201d claimers out there to continue arguing as such. Consider the emerging evidence of xenophobia-fed nationalism spreading nationwide, according to scholars of the Internet. Their research as it appeared in the Asahi follows.<\/p>\n

The more these people howl in public, the more likely their invective will be normalized as a tone of public expression. Legislation against hate speech must be carefully considered, created, and passed ASAP \u2014 it must not just be left up to the courts to restrain (as expressions of racial discrimination and exclusionism already are). However, I don\u2019t see much chance of legislation happening under the Abe Administration, for these bigots are in fact his base of support.<\/p>\n

Asahi: Hate rallies mostly targeted at ethnic Koreans living in Japan have spread beyond Tokyo and Osaka to smaller regional cities over the past six months or so. A group of scholars who analyzed Internet postings by organizations behind this disturbing phenomenon found that between March and August there were at least 161 instances of street marches or vehicles mounted with loudspeakers blasting hate-filled slogans. The group, called \u201cKodo hoshu (active conservatives) archive project,\u201d includes Kei Nakazawa, a professor of literature at Tokyo\u2019s Hosei University, as well as sociologists in the Kansai region.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It found that March had the most instances of protests with 35. July had the least with 14. The average number of participants was 43, although in some protests in Tokyo\u2019s Shin-Okubo district, which boasts a sizable Koreatown, as many as 200 protesters took part. In addition to Tokyo and Osaka, protests were also held in Hokkaido as well as Aomori, Yamagata, Gunma, Chiba, Aichi, Shizuoka, Nara, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Oita prefectures.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The hate speech-filled protests picked up pace in January. In June, police made a number of arrests after a clash between protesters and those opposed to such behavior. Subsequently, protests in major urban areas became temporarily less popular. However, protests in smaller regional cities have continued. The protests go beyond those organized by Zaitokukai\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11968<\/a><\/p>\n

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4) Restoration Party Shinpuu\u2019s xenophobic candidate in Tokyo Katsushika-ku elections: \u201cPutting Japanese first before foreigners\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Tokyo is having some elections (or by this time of blogging, had; sorry), I thought it within the role of Debito.org to archive yet another example of xenophobia used as a campaign strategy.<\/p>\n

Xenophobic party Ishin Seitou Shinpuu (Restoration Party New Wind) is up to its old anti-foreigner tricks again. This time, front and center, is a candidate for Tokyo Katsushika-ku by the name of Kaneko Yoshiharu, a former employee of Ishikawa Prefecture and former town councilor for O-i Chou in Kanagawa Prefecture, clearly skipping to the other side of Tokyo to rent an apartment and rally up a few fellow fearmongerers.<\/p>\n

His slogan, front and center: \u201cMore than foreigners, Japanese are first!\u201d (Gakokujin yori nihonjin ga daiichi!). He\u2019s also calling for limits to foreign products being \u201cdumped\u201d (i.e., being sold overseas for lower than production cost or domestic pricing in order to capture market share \u2014 which is kinda rich to say given Japan\u2019s trade record) and for a hardening of policy against Japan\u2019s low birthrate (sorry, potential pun acknowledged). He also wants (see below within his public statement) an end to \u201csuperfluous (kajou na) support for foreigners\u201d, whatever that means.<\/p>\n

In case you\u2019re wondering whether anyone would have the courage to put this up on campaign poster walls (or wonder whether Japan\u2019s election laws would allow for such divisive language), he does and they do. If you want to know more about what Kaneko wants done, have a look at this.<\/p>\n

Keep an eye on this party, folks (http:\/\/www.shimpu.jpn.org<\/a>). It\u2019s the most brazen, but by no means the only xenophobic party of grumpy old Japanese men out there who want to jerk Japan\u2019s political chain hard right. It helps to have somebody extremely hard-line so that other hardliners (such as Ishihara\/Hashimoto\u2019s Japan Restoration Party \u2014 without the New Wind) look milder by comparison. Helps to normalize the invective.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11970<\/a><\/p>\n

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5) DVB News: Japan\u2019s lack of transparency threatens Burma\u2019s development (as PM Abe seeks to contain China)<\/strong><\/p>\n

A bit of a tangent today. The author of this article asked me for some input some months back, and I steered him towards some resources that talked about Japan\u2019s historical involvement with Burma (and deep ties between the ruling junta and Japan\u2019s WWII government \u2014 to the point of using the Imperial Army\u2019s public order maintenance style over its colonies as a template to repress domestic dissent). Even with recent changes in Burma\u2019s government, Japan\u2019s engagement style is reportedly not changing \u2014 it\u2019s still up to its old nontransparent policymaking tricks. I put up this article on Debito.org because it relates to the Abe Administration\u2019s perpetual use of China not only as a bugbear to stir up nationalism and remilitarization, but also something to encircle and contain, as Abe visits more Asian countries in his first year in office than any other PM (without, notably, visiting China). Nothing quite like getting Japan\u2019s neighbors to forget Japan\u2019s wartime past (and, more importantly, Japan\u2019s treatment of them as a colonizer and invader) than by offering them swagbags of largesse mixed with a message of seeing China instead as the actual threat to regional stability. Result: Who will agitate for the offsetting of Japan\u2019s historical amnesia if the descendants of their victims (or their governments, lapping up the largesse) will not? These are the \u201carrows\u201d Abe is quietly loosing, and this time outside Japan in support of his revisionism.<\/p>\n

DVB News: Japan\u2019s traditional approach to diplomacy \u2013 characterised by \u201cquiet dialogue\u201d \u2013 is becoming a threat to Burma\u2019s fragile reform process. In recent weeks, the Japanese government has demonstrated an alarming lack of transparency regarding both its role in Burma\u2019s peace process and land grabbing problems at Thilawa, Japan\u2019s flagship development project near Rangoon. Eleven News also reported on Tuesday that a Burmese parliament member demanded greater transparency about how Japanese financial aid is distributed to Burma\u2019s health sector\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11960<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u2026 and finally\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

6) Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Col 69, Nov 7 2013: \u201cJapan brings out big guns to sell remilitarization in U.S.\u201d about PM Abe\u2019s charm offensive through Gaijin Handler Kitaoka Shin\u2019ichi<\/strong><\/p>\n

JAPAN BRINGS OUT BIG GUNS TO SELL REMILITARIZATION IN U.S.<\/strong>
\n By Arudou Debito<\/strong>
\n JUST BE CAUSE Column 69 for the Japan Times Community Pages<\/strong>
\n The Japan Times, November 7, 2013<\/strong>
\nCourtesy http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2013\/11\/06\/issues\/japan-brings-out-the-big-guns-to-sell-remilitarization-in-u-s\/<\/a>
\nVersion with links to sources and comments at
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11962<\/a><\/p>\n

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That\u2019s all for this Newsletter. Thanks as always for reading!
\nARUDOU, Debito<\/strong>
\n DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 17, 2013 ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Table of Contents:
\n1) Post-passage of State Secrets Bill, watch as Abe further dismantles Japan\u2019s postwar anti-fascism safeguards
\n2) UN News: \u201cIndependent UN experts seriously concerned about Japan\u2019s Special Secrets Bill\u201d Fine, but too late.
\n3) Asahi: Hate speech protests spreading to smaller cities around Japan
\n4) Restoration Party Shinpuu\u2019s xenophobic candidate in Tokyo Katsushika-ku elections: \u201cPutting Japanese first before foreigners\u201d
\n5) DVB News: Japan\u2019s lack of transparency threatens Burma\u2019s development (as PM Abe seeks to contain China)<\/p>\n

\u2026 and finally\u2026
\n6) Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Col 69, Nov 7 2013: \u201cJapan brings out big guns to sell remilitarization in U.S.\u201d about PM Abe\u2019s charm offensive through Gaijin Handler Kitaoka Shin\u2019ichi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}