The DPJ Should Take the Lead to Break the Ice in Northeast Asia
From "Cold Politics, Hot Economy" to "Hot Politics, Hot Economy"
Utako Obata

With the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) becoming Japan's ruling party after its landmark victory, many analysts and experts in China as well as Korea expect the present unstable situation in Northeast Asia to improve. The DPJ has always been friendlier towards Japan's neighboring countries than the LDP. New Prime Minster Yukio Hatoyama has stated clearly that he will not visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine. But such cosmetic changes will not be enough to improve the cold political relations in the region.
China's leaders have long maintained that a major obstacle to better bilateral ties is how the Japanese government views the facts of Japan's invasion of China and other Asian countries in the WWII-era. From Japan’s neighbors' perspective, the Japanese government under the LDP’ s virtually uninterrupted rule since WWII has not shown sincerity in this regard. As a recent example, Toshio Tamogami, a former Air Self-Defense Force chief of staff in the LDP government has continued to insist that Japan’s war in the East Asia in the 20th century was a "campaign of racial liberation from white rule, which is seen 'positively' by many countries".
An essay written by Tamogami last year, titled "Was Japan an Aggressor Nation?" was submitted to the APA Group (a hotel and condo developer which is run by a right-wing owner who has strong ties with a former hawkish prime minister Shinzo Abe) for an essay contest in October of 2008. Tamogami’s essay won first prize and in the following month it was published as a book titled, Japan Is Not an Aggressor. In the essay, he justified Japan's aggression in China and its colonial rule of the Korean peninsula including the Annexation Of Korea in 1910. Although Tamogami was dismissed as chief of staff, the LDP government took no action to stop the publication of the book.
On the contrary, under the LDP-led conservative government, Tamogami was virtually transformed into an icon of right-wing politicians through his frequent appearances in the media and at lecture meetings in many parts of the nation. The book has, so far, sold over 100,000 copies. It is possible that a certain number of copies were bought up by the APA Group itself and then distributed to each APA hotel throughout Japan including Naha, Okinawa. Thanks to Tamogami, a segment of Japanese society has come to support such a revisionist view of Japan's war past.
Hirofumi Hayashi, an expert on modern Japanese history including Okinawa's wartime history, pointed out that Tamogami was appointed chief of staff of the ASDF at a time when the Abe Cabinet was promoting "a departure from the postwar regime". Abe rejected the "masochistic view of history", because he believed such a historical view has made the Japanese lose self-confidence. At that rime, Abe had instructed textbook publishers to modify statements relating to the mass suicide forced by the Imperial Army during the battle of Okinawa. There is, thus, a cozy relationship among, Tamogami, Abe and the APA group owner.
In order to boost Japan’s sluggish economy, the crucial card the DPJ can play is a foreign policy. The party is likely to try to cultivate a sound international environment, especially in Northeast Asia, to help improve Japan’s economic situation. First of all, the party is expected to reduce the hostility of Japan's neighbors that has resulted from such a revisionist view of history as Tamogami's. After so many years of LDP rule that failed to tackle the issue squarely and sincerely, the Hatoyama government should better do this with the spirit of Yu Ai (a sense of mutual support based on individual freedom and dignity), if his administration really wants to create the relationship described as "Hot Politics, Hot Economy" in the region.