“Abe Will Watch His Mouth in the U.S. When He Mentions Comfort Women”

-Prior to Japanese Prime Minister Abe’s visit to U.S., there have been concerns about the relationship between the U.S. and Japan. What do you think about that?

“Mr. Abe and the U.S. neocons have something in common in that they both prefer pressuring over negotiation, and they pressure rogue states for change of regimes. However, the failure in Iraq has made U.S. neocons step back, and this has also caused an about-face policy change on North Korea. Therefore, it is possible that a neocon like Abe and post-neocon U.S. could collide with each other.

- The Abe’s administration wants to amend the constitution during his term of office. What do you think of this?

“Ideology is one of the most important characteristics of neocons. As a foreigner, I don’t have to tell them to do this or that regarding a constitutional amendment. And I understand the argument that Japan’s 60-year-old constitution is too old for the country so they feel that it needs to be amended. But the administration has tried to amend its constitution not along with certain policy changes but in an ideological sense. Since Japan’s current constitution was made by the General Head Quarter in the postwar era, Japan wants a constitution made by themselves. But the problem is that there is no clear direction where Japan want to go with the constitutional amendment.”

- Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party has planned that it will conduct the House of Councillor`s election this coming July under the catchphrase, “Free from the shackles of the post war regime.”

“If the catchphrase had been known abroad, it would have definitely caused a huge misunderstanding because it is hard to understand and seems so odd in the eyes of foreigners that a leader of a democratic nation would change its regime. And the catchphrase gives us an impression that Abe is downplaying the weight of the word “regime.” If the country wants to go away from the post war regime, what kind of new regime does it want? Maybe Abe wants to try to free Japan from its “postwar liberal democracy and pacifism. A prime minister should dream about ideology in his bed and pursue national interests in accordance with reality.”

sya@donga.com