The new prime minister of Japan, Yoshihide Suga, on the path traced by Shinzo Abe
In Japan, the very long period of government of Shinzo Abe, premier in 2006-2007 and then from 2012 to 2020, has ended. Forced to leave for health reasons due to the wear and tear of political activity, Abe has managed in recent years to carve out an important role in the international political scenario.
Among other things, he promoted Japanese rearmament by challenging the pacifist component present in the population of his country, and made alliances with all the neighboring nations fearful of the expansionism and aggressiveness of Xi Jinping's China. In this sense, he managed to restore political importance to Japan, and not just economic importance as it previously happened.
The game with the People's Republic of China, however, is still open. There is a dispute between the two countries about Japanese sovereignty over the small archipelago of the Senkaku islands, located in a strategic position and also claimed by Taiwan. But the dispute is much wider, since – as is well known – China also claims portions of the Pacific Ocean which, according to international law, are open and do not belong to any specific country.
Interestingly, 65-year-old Abe's successor is an older man than him. This is Yoshihide Suga, 72 years old. Little known abroad but known in Japan for his long political and administrative experience. Chief of Cabinet of Abe himself, he was also minister of the interior and of communications. His entire career took place in the majority Liberal Democratic Party, of which he has now become the leader, succeeding Shinzo Abe.
His face became known when, last year, on the occasion of the abdication of Emperor Akihito, it was he who announced the new kanji , that is to say the ideogram of the new imperial era (which is called Reiwa ). Only apparently modest task, given the prestige that the imperial dynasty continues to enjoy among the great majority of the people.
However, compared to Abe, Suga is a modest man of humble origins. It does not belong to any of the great families that have dominated the Liberal Democratic Party from the postwar period onwards. He is very attached to the ancient Japanese traditions, so much so that he only addresses his wife with the traditional honorific language ( keigo ). He therefore has an outdated world view which, however, seems to please the majority of his compatriots.
Now he will face some thorny issues that were already the concern of Shinzo Abe. For example, the marked demographic decline, very similar to the Italian one. And then a rather stagnant economy, whose conditions have worsened with the pandemic due to the coronavirus .
Since Suga has never been a prominent man in the Japanese political scene, it will be interesting to see how he will deal with relations with China, which in recent years has shown many signs of intolerance towards Japan. It also seems very likely that he will continue to move towards the rapid rearmament that Abe has promoted by challenging the pacifists on several occasions. Ultimately, however, it is clear that Japanese rearmament is a consequence of Beijing's increasingly expansionist policy in recent times. Furthermore, this policy has pushed many nations that suffered the not soft occupation of the imperial armies in the last war.
We will now see if Suga decides to repeat a symbolic gesture that Abe had already made in defiance of international criticism. In the center of Tokyo, a short distance from the Meiji University that I had the opportunity to visit, there is the famous shrine of Yasukuni , surrounded by a large park and with the huge torii typical of Shinto temples that clearly indicate it even in the distance.
Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan, the one that the entire population practiced before Buddhism and Confucianism were introduced from the Asian continent. Simplifying a lot, it is a form of sophisticated animism, with a very rich mythology that makes it in many ways similar to polytheism. Important are methods and rituals, which relate human beings and the kami , the spirits of nature that populate the entire universe and express themselves through nature itself.
Well, Yasukuni jumped to the headlines because Shinzo Abe (like others before him) went to visit. There, in fact, the souls of those who died in war for their homeland and for the Emperor are honored, including those of several politicians and generals judged as war criminals, and sometimes executed after the end of the Second World War. In short, the sanctuary has become the symbol of the resurgent patriotic nationalism, especially after the constant growth of tension with China.
But Yasukuni is not a Shinto temple like the others. Aside from the honor also paid to the souls of those who were judged to be war criminals, it also has a magnificent museum in which the relics of the imperial army, navy and air force dating back to the last world war are carefully preserved. I saw a specimen of the famous Mitsubishi Zero fighter that dominated the Pacific skies for at least two years before the advent of the new American aircraft. Many imperial flags, different from the current one, with the red rays of the sun expanding in every direction. Several cannons used to storm the British strongholds of Hong Kong and Singapore. Samurai swords belonging to senior officers. And souvenirs of battleship Yamato , flagship of Yamamoto's imperial fleet, are snapped up by Japanese and foreign visitors.
Will Suga have the same courage shown by Abe, going to Yasukuni to honor the memory of all those who fell in battle by saying the name of the Emperor? A symbolic gesture, certainly, but also of high significance to testify to the continuity of the spirit and traditions of the country.
The post The new prime minister of Japan, Yoshihide Suga, on the path traced by Shinzo Abe appeared first on Atlantico Quotidiano .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/il-nuovo-premier-del-giappone-yoshihide-suga-sulla-strada-tracciata-da-shinzo-abe/ on Wed, 30 Sep 2020 03:47:00 +0000.