Part 12 : Let's find how to make the Earth more peaceful, now!

Hello to all the people of the world, especially the esteemed leaders of the world, the hopeful children who are our future, and the nurturing mothers who guide us all. This is Grandpa Hirojii, sending my heartfelt message Part 12 for world peace.

I would like to give you some hints on what each of us can do to contribute to world peace.

Today I will be talking about Chapter 9 : What It Means to Defend Japan - The Role as a Peaceful Nation-

Chapter 9: What It Means to Defend Japan - The Role as a Peaceful Nation-
What are we defending?
In Chapter 10, we will consider what it specifically means to "defend Japan." We say we defend Japan, but what exactly in Japan are we defending? The government often says, "We protect the lives and property of the Japanese people," but specifically, what are we protecting them from and how? Hiro-jii believes that "defending Japan" means first and foremost protecting Japan's territory, territorial waters, and its EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone). He will explain his thoughts, believing that unless these three are properly defended, the lives and property of the Japanese people cannot be protected.

The international community is still full of dangers. In an anarchic, ungoverned international society, being defenseless is as dangerous as abandoning the will to live. From the 13.8 billion years of history, the nation of Japan, the Japanese people, its culture, and the Japanese language would all vanish without a trace. It means that the history of Japan, which has continued from the Jomon period of the Paleolithic era over ten thousand years ago, would also disappear completely. Unless we seriously consider how to defend Japan, the peace, security, and prosperity of Japan, as well as world peace, will be uncertain.

Japan is surrounded by the sea on all sides, and it is often said that Japan is protected by the sea. I think that's true, but the area of Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is surprisingly twelve times the size of Japan's landmass, at 4.47 million square kilometers. This area is the sixth largest in the world. It's an incredibly vast area. If the Japanese archipelago didn't exist, what would happen to this Japanese EEZ? Of course, it would all belong to China. Since Japan is a country that extends along the Pacific side, closely nestled to the Chinese mainland, China probably thinks of Japan as a thorn in its side, or even a terribly annoying country that, if it weren't there, would mean everything would belong to China. That's the reality of Japan.

Looking at the map of Japan's EEZ on the Japan Coast Guard's website, you'll notice something strange. It's said that Japan's EEZ is about twelve times the size of its landmass, but it doesn't look that way. Let's look at Minamitorishima Island. As you know, the EEZ extends 200 nautical miles (about 370 kilometers). While an island is like a dot, the area of a circle is πr2 , as we learn in elementary school. Calculating the area of a circle with a radius of 200 nautical miles gives us about 430,000 square kilometers. The EEZ of this single island is larger than Japan's entire landmass of 370,000 square kilometers. Hiro-jii wonders if they are deliberately making Japan's EEZ look smaller, even considering the Mercator projection. He suspects it's to avoid making China think that Japan is such a powerful maritime nation.

If you look at the EEZ on a globe, you can understand how vast the ocean area Japan possesses. This EEZ is like territory that Japan acquired through diplomacy at the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. As technology advances, the rights to survey and develop these seabed resources all belong to Japan. Since Japan has exclusive rights, it will eventually become the world's leading resource-rich nation. Hiro-jii thinks the Japanese government showed foresight in this, but originally, it's an achievement from the Meiji government era.

China's landmass is 9.6 million square kilometers, and Japan's EEZ is 4.5 million square kilometers. In terms of landmass, Japan is one-twenty-fifth the size of China, but if you include the EEZ, it becomes half the size. Japan is by no means a small country.

How can we defend it?
Numerous excellent books on Japan's national defense, Self-Defense Forces, and security issues are being published one after another. Some of the books Hiro-jii referred to are listed below, but it's probably best to start by reading the ones with titles that seem interesting to you.

* Magosaki Ukeru, 13-sai kara no Nihon Gaiko (Japan's Diplomacy from Age 13), Kamogawa Shuppan, 2019
* Magosaki Ukeru, Sengo-shi no Shotai 1945-2012 (The True Nature of Postwar History 1945-2012), Sogen Sha, 2012
* Watanabe Soki, Dare ga Daini-ji Sekai Taisen o Okoshita no ka: Hoover Daitoryo 'Uragirareta Jiyu' o Yomitoku (Who Caused World War II?: Reading President Hoover's "Freedom Betrayed"), Soshi Sha, 2017
* Hoover, Herbert (2011). Freedom Betrayed: Herbert Hoover’s Secret History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath (Hoover Institution Press Publication)
* Kitaoka Shinichi, Kokuren no Seijigaku: Nihon wa Doko ni Iru no ka (The Politics of the United Nations: Where is Japan?), Chuokoron-Shinsha, 2007
* Ogawa Kazuhisa, Media ga Howanai Senso no Rearu: Nihon no 'Senso-ryo' o Tettei Bunseki (The Reality of War That the Media Doesn't Report: Thorough Analysis of Japan's "War Reparations"), SB Shinsho, 2022
* Ogawa Kazuhisa, Futenma Senki (The Futenma War Chronicles), Bungeishunju, 2020
* Ogawa Kazuhisa, "'Nichibei Domei no Rearizumu'" ("The Realism of the Japan-U.S. Alliance"), Bungeishunju, 2017
* Ogawa Kazuhisa, Nihonjin ga Shiranai Shudanteki Jieiken (The Collective Self-Defense Right That Japanese People Don't Know), Bungeishunju, 2014
* Niwa Uichiro, Senso no Dai-mondai: Soredemo Senso o Erabu no ka. (The Big Problem of War: Will We Still Choose War?), Toyo Keizai Inc., 2017
* Yamada Katsuya, Nihon wa Genshi Bakudan o Tsukureru no ka (Can Japan Make an Atomic Bomb?), PHP Shinsho, 2009
* Tainaka Masato, Kaku ni Shibakareru Nihon (Japan Bound by Nuclear Weapons), Kadokawa Shinsho, 2017

Let's also take a look at the Senkaku Islands. They are Japan's inherent territory, but there are constant disputes with China ever since seabed resources were discovered nearby. Chinese naval vessels enter the EEZ and then immediately leave. They don't land. Why? Hiro-jii imagines it's because they are afraid of Japan's crucial defense asset, its submarines, and the U.S. nuclear submarines. If they detect any movement of ships trying to land, they would be immediately spotted, and they know that if they were to attempt a landing, they would be promptly sunk, which is why they don't come. In the international community, it's common sense to always warn the other party if they enter. If you do nothing, they will become increasingly brazen and enter more and more. The same applies to airspace.

There is constant jostling for position; this is the reality of the international community. No one will crack down on rogue nations that shamelessly try to take what belongs to others without any justification. It would be ideal if we could resolve things through dialogue, but as I've said many times, the international community is anarchic and ungoverned, so even if a thief breaks in, you can't arrest them and take them to court. There's no police or court. You have to defend what you need to defend yourself; this is the international community.

During the two Mongol invasions, the Battle of Bun'ei in 1274 and the Battle of Koan in 1281, under the rule of Regent Hojo Tokimune and the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan, the defense system of the Japanese army under the Kamakura Shogunate's gokenin system was solid. Ultimately, the arrival of Mongol reinforcements was hindered by the difficulty of crossing the sea, and the Mongols gave up on invading Japan. This is a history of the sea protecting Japan.

The introduction of firearms to Japan was in 1543, and the Battle of Nagashino was about 30 years later in 1575. Oda Nobunaga's army routed the Takeda army with about 3,000 matchlock rifles. Within 40 to 50 years of their introduction, Japan's matchlock production surpassed Europe's to become the world's largest. It is said that there were 500,000 firearms in Japan at the end of the Warring States period. The ambitions of Europe, which aimed for colonization through the propagation of Christianity, did not bear fruit in Japan because Japan was full of samurai and firearms. After all, visible military power was necessary.

Japan is a peaceful nation. It has a constitution that renounces war. However, national defense is a completely different matter. Just like the Toi invasion in the Heian period and the Mongol invasions in the Kamakura period, the possibility of being attacked without warning remains unchanged even now. Unfortunately, Japan's Self-Defense Forces, as an independent nation, cannot freely possess the equipment it needs. This is because it is placed under the command of the U.S. military through the Japan-U.S. alliance. The reason for this is that postwar Japan, like Germany, is not allowed to have its own independent defense capabilities. Japan maintains its security through the Japan-U.S. alliance, and Germany through its alliance with NATO. There are neighboring countries that make a fuss about what would happen if Japan were to invade the continent again, but please don't worry at all. The Self-Defense Forces do not possess any military strength capable of carrying out landing operations on neighboring countries, etc. They are not allowed to. This is the nature of the Japan-U.S. security arrangement. Postwar Japan has not yet become fully independent, and the reality is that it is not allowed the freedom to defend its own country by itself. If you are interested in these circumstances, you can study them as much as you want in the books introduced above.

Due to its defeat in the war and the peace constitution, various things have become taboo in Japan. Clearly, the existence of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, which is one of the world's leading military forces, is still not stipulated in the constitution. It is treated as not being a military force, but rather like a specialized disaster relief unit. Without the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, Japan is a country that cannot defend itself, and Japan, which is not even allowed to freely possess the equipment it needs, unfortunately still does not seem to be a truly independent nation.

Certainly, Article 9 of the Constitution stipulates the renunciation of war, the non-possession of war potential, and the denial of the right of belligerency. However, since our country is an independent nation, it goes without saying that even the inherent right of self-defense as a sovereign state is not denied. The Japanese government interprets that, since its own right of self-defense is not denied, possessing the minimum necessary practical capabilities for self-defense is constitutionally permissible.

In other words, deciding things for ourselves and defending our own country ourselves is a matter of course. Ideally, we wouldn't need the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, but if we were to cover everything on our own, it would require considerable expense, and we would have to introduce tax increases and universal conscription. For the time being, the security treaty is cheaper and also serves as a strong deterrent against surrounding countries.

According to Professor Kazuhisa Ogawa's Nihonjin ga Shiranai Shudanteki Jieiken (The Collective Self-Defense Right That Japanese People Don't Know) (Bungeishunju Shinsho, 2014), there are only two options for Japan's defense capabilities to ensure its security: one is armed neutrality, where Japan does not align with any country and achieves peace and security with its own military strength, and the other is to form an alliance with a country like the United States and work together to achieve peace and security. Non-armed neutrality is completely unrealistic, so we would have to choose armed neutrality, but this is expensive. Defense spending would easily jump to 20 or 30 trillion yen annually. Effectively utilizing the Japan-U.S. alliance has a clear difference in cost-effectiveness. Moreover, the U.S. military bases in Japan are strategic strongholds for the United States comparable to its mainland. Their fuel reserves, ammunition reserves, and intelligence volume have the functions of a mainland base. The operational range of the U.S. Seventh Fleet and the Marine Corps, which can deploy from Japan, extends from the International Date Line in the Pacific to the entire Indian Ocean. The situation is such that no country other than Japan can support such a U.S. military presence. For the U.S. military, Japan is now an indispensable and crucial partner.

Of course, Japan's defense capabilities also need to be strengthened independently. To protect Japan's seas, Japan has quietly transitioned to a four-aircraft carrier system. The Japanese government calls the four ships – Izumo, Kaga, Hyuga, and Ise – destroyers, but internationally they are recognized as full-fledged helicopter carriers. Hiro-jii saw them in Yokosuka. They are huge. The Izumo and Kaga are 248 meters long, which is 10 meters longer than the Kaga (238 meters), the latest aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy that sank in the Battle of Midway during World War II. This Kaga was written with a different Chinese character.

Japan does not possess nuclear submarines, but it is said to have an invincible torpedo that can approach enemy ships from the world's deepest depths. Japan also has an eight-Aegis vessel system, which will be expanded to twelve in the future. Its sea defense capabilities are all-encompassing: anti-aircraft, anti-ship, and anti-submarine. China does not have Aegis vessels, so its movements are always completely visible. Does this give you a little peace of mind? Aegis is the shield possessed by the goddess Athena in Greek mythology, signifying protection from all obstacles. By the way, the price is high: one trillion yen for two ships. That's the equivalent of every Japanese citizen paying 10,000 yen. Many people may not be comfortable with large numbers, but it's useful to remember that one trillion yen is a burden of 10,000 yen per citizen. In other words, 10,000 yen multiplied by 100 million people equals one trillion yen.

In the past, the Japanese Navy built the Taiho, the largest unsinkable aircraft carrier. However, it was sunk by a single torpedo from a U.S. submarine almost on its maiden voyage. It is still said that three U.S. nuclear submarines can target all Chinese naval vessels. That's how strong the Japan-U.S. alliance is.

Even though the Japanese archipelago has long been said to be a country protected by the sea on all sides, if it were connected to the Chinese mainland by land, Japan would have to build a wall comparable to the Great Wall of China along its border with the United States. Japan's greatest ally in defending its land and the key to its defense capabilities is, and always has been, the sea.

I will not discuss the Self-Defense Forces' strength and equipment any further. The important thing is to firmly grasp the essentials for defending Japan. If we understand the basics, we won't fall into the "trap of ignorance" and we won't be unduly afraid. The most important thing is to tirelessly continue dialogue so that war does not break out and Japan is not attacked. That's all there is to it.

Another important aspect of Japan's security is not being looked down upon or underestimated in an anarchic world. Ideally, this should be achieved without spending too much money, but sometimes visible defense capabilities are necessary. It is extremely dangerous for the international community to develop an image of the Japanese people as being naive about peace and ignorant about security.

Nuclear Armament
Let's also consider Japan's nuclear armament. Some research suggests that technologically advanced Japan could technically possess nuclear weapons within three years. Japan has a large amount of plutonium, often referred to as nuclear waste from nuclear power plants, with no clear disposal plan for the future. Some might argue that instead of spending enormous national taxes on expensive Aegis vessels and F-35 fighters from the United States, Japan should consider becoming the world's strongest nuclear-armed nation with an independent, exclusively defense-oriented military capability. Of course, doing so would likely lead to immediate economic sanctions, severe criticism from the international community, and diplomatic isolation for Japan.

I even asked a generative AI about this, and it responded, "Although Japan already possesses the technology for nuclear development and ICBM development, considering the importance of Japan's pacifism and international trust is more crucial. Therefore, the Japanese government is currently pursuing a policy of developing technologies such as missile defense systems and cruise missiles." It strongly cautioned against such extreme opinions as being far too dangerous.

According to research by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), an NGO that won the Nobel Peace Prize, the total annual global budget for nuclear weapons-related activities across the US, China, Russia, and other countries amounts to over eleven trillion yen. Japan's defense budget for fiscal year 2024 has already reached eight trillion yen, and the budget for defense capability development for the five years from 2023 to 2027 totals forty-three trillion yen. Former Prime Minister Kishida stated nonchalantly that this amount would not increase further, but this is an enormous expenditure. It's all our tax money. Forty-three trillion yen translates to a burden of 430,000 yen per citizen. The total reconstruction budget for the Great East Japan Earthquake over thirteen years was thirty-two trillion yen.

Is it truly unacceptable for Japan to develop and possess its own nuclear weapons, instead of relying on the US nuclear umbrella or nuclear sharing dependent on the US? Can't we follow the example of the Tanegashima firearm production in the past? And wouldn't it be effective for Japan to become the strongest nuclear deterrent power and declare to the world that it will absolutely not initiate a first strike? Including not only nuclear weapons but also technologies for delivery systems such as ballistic missiles, could Japan become the world's leader in less than thirty years? History has already proven that Japan is a country capable of becoming the world's best in anything. This is what the world fears.

Japan cannot go to the aid of the US if it is attacked, but Japan constantly asks for help when it is attacked. Isn't Japan just a profitable customer that keeps buying defense equipment? There are no tactical or strategic nuclear wars. If even one small nuclear weapon is used again, it will be the end of the Earth. There will be no stopping it. When and for what purpose are nuclear weapons intended to be used? Grandpa Hirojii doesn't understand.

Around the 7th century, gunpowder was invented in China, and by the Song Dynasty in the 11th century, it was used as a weapon. In the late 18th century, the Industrial Revolution began in Britain, and the invention of the steam engine increased industrial production, creating a relationship where capitalists paid wages to laborers. The Industrial Revolution led to an increase in carbon dioxide emissions, and the Earth gradually became warmer.

Conversely, what if we could make all countries believe that investing in nuclear weapons is a futile choice, force all countries' military industries to shut down, and direct all funds and wisdom towards preventing global warming, combating infectious diseases, and exploring space? I believe it is the mission of Japan, the only country to have experienced atomic bombings, to propose this to the world. Is Grandpa Hirojii's idea reckless?

Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Hamas – who can stop them? Just as everything has an end, wars will eventually end, but solutions that rely solely on force will never lead to lasting peace. Grandpa Hirojii wants to believe that there is surely a way to find a path to true reconciliation.

On July 16, 1945, just before the end of the Pacific War, humanity's first nuclear test was conducted at Trinity in the United States. As soon as humanity acquired nuclear weapons, they were immediately dropped on Hiroshima on August 6th and Nagasaki on August 9th.
A scientist named Oppenheimer created them, and this invention has placed a terribly dangerous weapon in the hands of humanity. Knowing the devastating power of nuclear weapons, knowing how many exist around the world, Grandpa Hirojii wants to say that they must never, ever be used. We must unite our efforts to eliminate the possibility of leaders falling into the "trap of ignorance" and pressing the launch button for nuclear missiles due to a lack of understanding and wandering in the darkness.

Sun Tzu's Words
The final words of this chapter are, "To subdue the enemy without fighting," a famous quote from the ancient Chinese military treatise The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Establishing a national defense system with self-defense capabilities that make the enemy think resistance is futile will cost money. Training will also be necessary. In war, the damage is enormous, whether you win or lose.

At the risk of causing disapproval, as a mental exercise, it might be worthwhile to consider and prepare for a simulation of Japan's nuclear armament, including all aspects such as the pros and cons, technical feasibility, budget, and political impact. However, the hurdles are likely to be quite high, so it will probably be impossible for the time being.

Therefore, Grandpa Hirojii has changed his thinking a little. In Grandpa Hirojii's experience, the thought of waging war or intimidating with force against a country whose people I have enjoyed meals with never arises. The desire to attack simply doesn't emerge. This is where the soft power diplomacy mentioned earlier becomes effective. Each person becoming able to communicate with foreigners, trying to understand them, and gradually increasing the number of Japanese friends abroad – ultimately, isn't this the most suitable approach for Japan? Grandpa Hiro wants to believe that this steady effort is the most effective. How to effectively implement this for everyone may largely depend on the country's education policy.

To be continued.