Moneybox

Re: Re-armament makes sense for Japan

wayhey1 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:20:56 GMT

That is possibly the worst idea i have ever heard.

Re: Re-armament makes sense for Japan

Freetrader2 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:05:10 GMT

Japan IS rearming, although they euphemistically still refer to their military as "self-defense forces". They first broke the traditional post-WWII "1% rule" -- by spending more than 1% of their GDP on defense -- a few years ago. It's a good thing too. The cornerstone of peace in the Far East, now and in the future, is the US/Japan military alliance. The South Koreans want a strong Japan as well; in the short term, to keep the North Koreans out, but in the long term, somebody has to counterbalance China, which is shaping up nicely as the regional bully of the future. Yes, Yasukuni is embarrassing, and the Japanese haven't owned up to their past as well as the Germans have, but that was really our (the US's) doing, since we wanted Japan to recover as quickly as possible from WWII, but most of the talk about Yasukuni is from the Chinese, who have their own, somewhat cynical reasons for constantly talking about it -- they want to justify their own military build up, although everyone knows that the idea of Japan attempting to recreate the 'Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere' is laughable. That's just fine with the Chinese, since it keeps the conversation away from Taiwan and Tibet.

Re: Re-armament makes sense for Japan

disigny — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:46:49 GMT

Yeah, Re-armament made a lot of sense for Japan the last time they tried it, right? But the rest of the world , hypocritically, didn't let them get away with it..But to get real for a moment: producing armaments is not quite as useful as digging holes in the ground, and then filling them up, which at least is not damaging. disigny

Re-armament makes sense for Japan

GreenwichJ — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:31:06 GMT

One of Japan's problems is its high savings rate. Mobilising these savings in an effective way is difficult.

Japan makes brilliant machinery, yet it constitutionally bars itself from competing in the lucrative international arms market. Honda and Mitsubishi could produce extremely cutting-edge jet fighters and stealth frigates, but instead they're reduced to trying to sell compact cars in a recession.

Changing this situation would be a way to give the economy a new focus. Unfortunately, Japan has never properly apologised for what it did in World War Two, and its leaders often pay their respects at the Yasukuni shrine - a bit like Angela Merkl laying a wreath on the grave of Heinrich Himmler.

So while the military option would make sense economically - and perhaps with a view to defending Japan from North Korea - it would horrify China, South Korea, and even the US.