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Yellow handkerchiefs for Iraq-bound
troops
By J Sean Curtin
TOKYO
- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, in a solemn
send off to 550 Iraq-bound troops, on Sunday emphasized
the humanitarian nature of their unprecedented mission
and the hopes that they will return safely from the
war-ravaged and dangerous nation. Serious casualties
could be a political disaster for Koizumi, but political
support for the controversial mission is inching upward
in the polls.
The troops will soon depart from a
military base in the northern city of Asahikawa, and the
send-off ceremony was highly emotional, with the troops,
their relatives and national television crews all
present. Koizumi carefully underscored the themes of
humanitarianism and safety, both of which are critical
to his public relations strategy to win support for the
controversial troop dispatch in this overwhelmingly
pacifist nation.
Recent opinion polls suggest
that this approach is working, as the number of people
saying they support sending troops to Iraq is gradually
increasing. Koizumi's governing Liberal Democratic Party
(LDP) allies are waving yellow handkerchiefs -
especially in front of cameras - to show support for
noncombat Japanese troops about to embark on their
dangerous mission in what is still considered a combat
zone. The handkerchief device is evocative of the yellow
ribbons familiar to supporters of United States soldiers
deployed overseas, but few ordinary Japanese carry them.
The military ceremony officially marked the
first large-scale dispatch of Japanese troops into a
combat zone since World War II - an advance team of more
than 35 troops is already on the ground in Iraq. Men and
women from the Ground Self-Defense Forces based in
Asahikawa will be deployed to the southern Iraqi city of
Samawah in four separate groups starting on Tuesday. The
first contingent will comprise about 80 military
personnel.
Many Asahikawa residents were unhappy
about the dispatch and about 50 of them marched around
the base to protest Koizumi's visit. Among them was
Hidenori Sasaki, a Lower House lawmaker for the
opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).
"I
am demonstrating because the troop dispatch is a clear
violation of our war-renouncing constitution. Japanese
soldiers should never be sent into a war zone, where
they might have to fire their weapons in anger," Sasaki
said.
Inside the base, Koizumi sought to counter
these criticisms by stressing the humanitarian nature of
the mission. He told neat lines of armed troops in
camouflage uniforms and green berets, "You are not going
to war. You are not going to use military force or
engage in combat." He added, "Your actions will help the
Iraqi people, giving them the hope they need to rebuild
their country." Near the end of his speech he said, "I
pray from my heart that you will all return home
safely."
Public opinion begins to
turn
His address was just one part of a 30-minute
military ceremony, which repeatedly emphasized the twin
objectives of a humanitarian mission and a safe return
for the troops. In the final phase of the ceremony, some
military personnel gave short speeches about how they
intend to assist the Iraqis with everything from
supplying water to providing medical and nursing care.
Outside the base, opposition lawmaker Sasaki remained
unconvinced by Koizumi's arguments: "In the past, the
Self-Defense Forces have only been sent on peace-keeping
operations like the 1993 Cambodia mission when they were
under United Nations authority. In Iraq the situation is
completely different. The country is under American
military-occupation and in a state of war. France,
Germany, Russia, China, none of these key UN countries
are sending troops, so why is Japan?"
Ryoji
Yamauchi, president of Asahikawa University, explained
his own opposition in another way: "By sending troops to
Iraq, Japan is losing something extremely precious.
Since the end of World War II, no Japanese soldier has
shot or killed any human being. That is something for
Japan to be truly proud of and it's worth fighting to
preserve."
Despite strong initial public
opposition to the dispatch, since advance troops arrived
in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah on January 19,
opinion polls indicate that support for the policy is
gradually rising. A recent Mainichi Shimbun survey
showed both support and opposition for the dispatch
exactly equal at 47 percent, while a Yomiuri Shimbun
poll registered 53 percent in favor. Two earlier surveys
by NHK broadcasting and the Kyodo News Service conducted
prior to the initial dispatch both showed about 51
percent were against the troop deployment, while roughly
42 percent supported it. Opinion appears to be moving in
Koizumi's direction.
This shift is also clearly
noticeable in Asahikawa. Kumiko Fujiwara, a housewife,
said: "Since the first troops arrived in Samawah, the
number of people who are openly saying that they are
against the deployment has definitely decreased, while
those who support it have suddenly become pretty vocal."
Yamauchi explained the increasing support:
"There are four basic reasons behind the increase in
support. First, people think that now our troops are
actually in Iraq we have to support them. Second, they
feel that they have no choice but to support the policy
as it is what [United States] President [George W] Bush
wants and we need to keep the US-Japan alliance strong
because of the threat from North Korea. Third, people
genuinely feel that Japan should make some kind of
contribution to the international reconstruction effort
in Iraq. Fourth, since Koizumi became prime minister,
Japan has become much more nationalistic, so it is
easier to accept a resurgent militaristic policy."
Exploiting sympathy lifts poll
numbers
Kunio Sasaki, an opposition DPJ member of
the Asahikawa city assembly, offered another
explanation: "Koizumi is attempting to exploit public
sympathy for the troops and their families. By whipping
up emotions, Koizumi is hoping to sidestep the reasons
why we are dispatching the military and avoid the real
arguments." He elaborates, "Playing on people's natural
sympathy for the troops and their families, Koizumi is
blurring the issues. Regrettably, this tactic is proving
to be highly effective and more people are beginning to
support the dispatch."
The departure ceremony
focused media attention on more than 600 family members
of Iraq-bound soldiers who attended the event. Near the
very end of the proceedings, some of the troops on the
main stage produced pictures of their families for the
media to photograph. This moving gesture highlighted the
human dimension of the mission, which is something the
government and its supporters are anxious to promote.
In Asahikawa, some political groups have tried
to generate support for the military by hanging up
yellow handkerchiefs around the city to remind people of
the troops in Iraq. Both NHK News and the influential
Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper have reported on the yellow
handkerchief movement. Like America's yellow ribbons,
Asahikawa's yellow handkerchiefs are meant to symbolize
people's desire for the safe return of the troops.
However, despite good media coverage, families of
service personnel and ordinary citizens have so far
shown little interest in the idea.
Junichi
Fujiwara, a college professor in the city, said: "There
are no yellow handkerchiefs hanging outside ordinary
people's houses in Asahikawa. The only ones you see are
hanging from the windows of big companies, hotels and
large stores which support the LDP. Ordinary people are
not hanging them up." David Long, who lives near the
military base, comments, "There were absolutely no
yellow handkerchiefs in this neighborhood until last
Thursday when they put a bunch up around the base for
Koizumi's visit."
Hiroshi Sakamoto, a senior
local government official, dismissed the entire
movement, "You won't find any ordinary people carrying
yellow handkerchiefs. They are for media consumption and
are being supplied free by the LDP and its supporters."
Keiko Yamauchi, a former Social Democratic Party
lawmaker and Asahikawa resident said, "The yellow
handkerchief movement is dominated by conservative and
ultra-right organizations. It certainly has nothing to
do with the families of service personnel or ordinary
citizens and is an attempt by ultra-nationalists to
hijack people's emotions for their own ends."
While yellow handkerchiefs have yet to catch on,
this might change if Japanese troops sustained heavy
casualties. A few hours after the Asahikawa ceremony
ended, there was a horrific reminder of Iraq's deadly
dangers. Two suicide-bombers murdered nearly 60 innocent
people in two separate acts of mass slaughter in the
northern Iraqi city of Irbil.
Should Japanese
troops fall victim to such an atrocity, it could derail
the country's Iraq policy. Even though the government's
current strategy of heavily emphasizing the humanitarian
nature of the mission and promoting its emotive aspects
has increased support for the dispatch, it leaves
policymaking vulnerable to unpredictable swings in
public opinion.
J Sean Curtin is a
GLOCOM fellow at the Tokyo-based Japanese
Institute of Global Communications.
(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd.
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