A poet Watanabe Hakusen composed a piece of Haiku; I saw a war standing at the end of the corridor.
This Haiku sounded very keen to us in the year 2022.
At ‘the end of corridor’ used to be located a toilet in a traditional house. Children were afraid of going there at night. Today, however, we acutely feel something horrible even in the daytime.
I SAW A WAR STANDING AT THE END OF CORRIDOR
The Haiku was composed in 1939 by the poet. It was two years earlier from the beginning of the Pacific War.
Very Few people envisaged a war
It was a time when people saw some complexed situation in the war of Japan against China; though people were talking about it in their living rooms, a very few people, some of the intellectuals, foresaw that a full-scale war would prevail. But for the majority of people a war was probably seen in a distance, like in the end of the hall.
Now get back to today. It may be true that many of us could barely envision a war.
At least until 2021 people had not imagined that a war would be arranged around us. But we see today social phenomena in which the government openly discussed possession of belligerent capabilities to attack enemies, announced to double the military budget, and told loudly to construct shelters in the Southwestern Islands.
We saw warfare was being prepared with an enormous speed in the year 2022 as if a span of ten years had been contracted to a single year. In the parliament, however, no sincere debates were held.
Newspapers report a ‘plan’ every day
Commercial newspapers in the country reported on the daily basis on a ‘security plan’, which we had never heard of. That began almost a month before the day when the Cabinet’s meeting approved the three documents on the national defense. The news coverage was made so repetitively that faits accomplis were piled up in a short duration of time. In the year-end we witnessed ‘the turning point in the history of national security policy’, which emerged like a monster.
Looking back the developments, the security documents do not mean a starting point.
In 2022 we faced the militarization plan of the Southwestern Islands, Japan’s military cooperation with New Zealand, Republic of Korea and the NATO members in the name of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific initiative, and joint development of remodeling long-range missiles. The government of Japan negotiated on purchase of Tomahawk missiles with the United States and held bilateral military exercises, enacting the Economic Security Act and compiling the appropriate fiscal 2023 budget. Now it integrates all the faits accomplis in its spectrum for further enhancement.
It is clearly simple whether you choose heightened deterrence or peace diplomacy. The former will evoke intensified deterrence of the adversary, leading to competitions in nuclear deterrence. For the latter, Japan, as a country which has Article Nine of the Peace Constitution, should take initiative in reducing deterrent potential to lead to disarmament in the world. It means the more developed ‘non-armed neutrality’.
Keep Article Nine eternally
It is no use crying over the ambiguous stance of the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP). Members of the Social-Democratic Party (SDP) who rejected to be absorbed into the CDP defended their party and fought together with us, the New Socialist Party, in the 2022 elections for the House of Councilors. A fortress has been built up to keep a spirit of ‘non-armed neutrality’. That was a unique political success in the year. One is not always up against the wall in all sides.
白泉の句が詠まれたのは１９３９年であり、太平洋戦争が始まる前々年だ。
まさか戦争までは
すでに泥沼の日中戦争の渦中であり、戦争は茶の間で暴れていたのだろうが、当時の知識人にとっても全面戦争は予感こそすれ、未だ「廊下の奥」だったということか。
とすれば、現代のわれわれが「まさか戦争までは」と思うのは無理もなかったかもしれない。
少なくとも昨年までは、「敵基地攻撃能力保有」が当然のように言われ、防衛費が倍増し、南西諸島への「シェルター」建設が声高に叫ばれるようになるとは、思わなかったにちがいない。
今年は、10年を１年に短縮したような速度で戦争準備が進んだが、国会ではほとんど議論にならなかった。
「計画」の報道連日
「国家安全保障戦略」など安保関連「３文書」の閣議決定を控えた１カ月余りの間には、聞いたこともないような「計画」が連日のように報じられ、瞬く間に積み上がり、年末には「安保政策の歴史的大転換」が化け物の様に姿を現した。
だが、振り返ると「安保３文書」は出発点ではない。
南西諸島の軍事化計画、「自由で開かれたインド・太平洋構想」の名のもとに、ＮＺ、韓国、ＮＡＴＯ諸国との軍事連繋協議、長距離ミサイル改造の受注、米国とのトマホークの購入交渉、日米共同軍事演習、経済安保法、そして２０２３年度予算案と、この１年で既成事実化されたことを集約し、格段に推し進めようとするものだ。
「抑止力」強化論に立つか、平和外交に徹するか、問題はまことにシンプル。
前者は「敵の抑止力」を肥大化させ、「核抑止力」競争に帰着する。後者は平和主義の憲法９条をもつ国として、「抑止力」削減の率先垂範により世界の軍縮に向かう。「非武装・中立」のバージョンアップにつきる。
小さくともキラリ
立憲民主党の惨状を嘆いても、はじまらない。立憲民主党への合流を拒んだ社民党が新社会党と手を携え参院選で健闘し、小さくともキラリと光る「非武装」の精神を育むトリデができた。今年の唯一の政治的光明であった。世に「八方塞がりはなし」、少しは明るい気持ちで２０２３年を迎えたい。
英訳版↓
No. 1288 Reflecting Year 2022
A poet Watanabe Hakusen composed a piece of Haiku; I saw a war standing at the end of the corridor.
This Haiku sounded very keen to us in the year 2022.
At ‘the end of corridor’ used to be located a toilet in a traditional house. Children were afraid of going there at night. Today, however, we acutely feel something horrible even in the daytime.
I SAW A WAR STANDING AT THE END OF CORRIDOR
The Haiku was composed in 1939 by the poet. It was two years earlier from the beginning of the Pacific War.
Very Few people envisaged a war
It was a time when people saw some complexed situation in the war of Japan against China; though people were talking about it in their living rooms, a very few people, some of the intellectuals, foresaw that a full-scale war would prevail. But for the majority of people a war was probably seen in a distance, like in the end of the hall.
Now get back to today. It may be true that many of us could barely envision a war.
At least until 2021 people had not imagined that a war would be arranged around us. But we see today social phenomena in which the government openly discussed possession of belligerent capabilities to attack enemies, announced to double the military budget, and told loudly to construct shelters in the Southwestern Islands.
We saw warfare was being prepared with an enormous speed in the year 2022 as if a span of ten years had been contracted to a single year. In the parliament, however, no sincere debates were held.
Newspapers report a ‘plan’ every day
Commercial newspapers in the country reported on the daily basis on a ‘security plan’, which we had never heard of. That began almost a month before the day when the Cabinet’s meeting approved the three documents on the national defense. The news coverage was made so repetitively that faits accomplis were piled up in a short duration of time. In the year-end we witnessed ‘the turning point in the history of national security policy’, which emerged like a monster.
Looking back the developments, the security documents do not mean a starting point.
In 2022 we faced the militarization plan of the Southwestern Islands, Japan’s military cooperation with New Zealand, Republic of Korea and the NATO members in the name of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific initiative, and joint development of remodeling long-range missiles. The government of Japan negotiated on purchase of Tomahawk missiles with the United States and held bilateral military exercises, enacting the Economic Security Act and compiling the appropriate fiscal 2023 budget. Now it integrates all the faits accomplis in its spectrum for further enhancement.
It is clearly simple whether you choose heightened deterrence or peace diplomacy. The former will evoke intensified deterrence of the adversary, leading to competitions in nuclear deterrence. For the latter, Japan, as a country which has Article Nine of the Peace Constitution, should take initiative in reducing deterrent potential to lead to disarmament in the world. It means the more developed ‘non-armed neutrality’.
Keep Article Nine eternally
It is no use crying over the ambiguous stance of the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP). Members of the Social-Democratic Party (SDP) who rejected to be absorbed into the CDP defended their party and fought together with us, the New Socialist Party, in the 2022 elections for the House of Councilors. A fortress has been built up to keep a spirit of ‘non-armed neutrality’. That was a unique political success in the year. One is not always up against the wall in all sides.
Let’s have hopeful New Year.
December 28, 2022