On the Process of "Normalization" of Japan |
The change of government in Japan at the end of October this year raises the question of continuity regarding the process that began two decades ago and was termed “normalization” in expert circles.
Takaichi’s government will continue Japan’s “normalization” process.
The trend towards positioning Japan and Germany as “perfectly ordinary countries” became an inevitable consequence of the self-assessment by the current generation of Germans and Japanese as nations owing nothing to anyone. Nations that have the right to act in the spheres of foreign policy, national security, and military development as they see necessary. Of course, it would be highly desirable for this process to take into account the concerns of other countries, including those of a historical nature. But this is a common problem for all participants in world political games without exception.
As for Japan, it is necessary, we repeat, to proceed from the inevitability of its abandonment of all post-war (self-)restrictions in the field of security, which, however, already today are largely symbolic. Public opinion polls in recent years consistently indicate the mood of the Japanese is in favor of abandoning even the “symbolism.” In this regard, the view that the positive role of the post-war (“anti-war”) Constitution in the process of recovery, rapid economic development, and the acquisition of undoubted authority on the international stage by modern Japan has now been exhausted is noteworthy.
Within the comprehensive process of the country’s “normalization,” let us note two of its aspects that have been at the center of discussions in recent years. First and foremost, the prospect of Tokyo possessing its own nuclear weapons is being discussed particularly sharply. Recall that since the late 1960s, Japan has adhered to the so-called “Three Non-Nuclear Principles” (not to possess, not to produce, and not to permit the introduction of nuclear weapons), which, however, do not have a legally binding character. In particular,........