Japan
exorcises the ghosts of terrorism past
By Sean Curtin
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has scored a spectacular victory in
the make-or-break Iraq hostage crisis, which had threatened to derail his
premiership. In one of the most pivotal episodes in post-World War II Japanese
history, in one bold stroke Koizumi extinguished the nation's reputation for
being weak on terrorism, and in doing so he finally exorcised the
Shakespearean-like ghosts that have haunted Japanese diplomacy for the past
quarter of a century.
In 1977 Japan capitulated to terrorists - hence its reputation for being soft
and giving in. Then-prime minister Takeo Fukuda released six members of the
terrorist Japanese Red Army and paid US$6 million in ransom to free Japanese
passengers in an airline hijacking in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A human life, he said,
is more than the weight of the Earth, more valuable. Literally, "The life of a
person is heavier than the Earth." That redounded over the years - not to
Tokyo's honor. But in the current hostage crisis, Fukuda's son took a far
different, and clearly redemptive, stand. Yasuo Fukuda, Koizumi's chief cabinet
secretary, stood firm. Reminded of his father's now-infamous words, the younger
official said: "The times are different, and the context is also different."
With the release of all hostages, Koizumi may have emerged victorious, and
support for deployment is now about 53 percent, but the soul-searching in Japan
continues, and has intensified because of the 10-day ordeal. A significant
majority, 57.1 percent, of those surveyed by Kyodo News now want Koizumi to
review his position on maintaining strong military ties with the United States.
For Koizumi, the safe release of all five Japanese hostages in Iraq - without a
single apparent concession to the terrorist captors - was a resounding triumph
in the face of daunting odds. After all, frightening Japan out of Iraq would
have seriously, if not grievously, wounded the US-led "coalition of the
willing" - making it clear just how unwilling were its members. Koizumi's
successful firm stand also marks a monumental recrafting of the country's
global image and heralds the emergence of a more assertive and nationalistic
Japan on the world stage.
By standing firm against terrorist threats to execute three hostages, Koizumi
has demonstrated that his new Japan is a tough global player. He has also given
a massive boost to the country's resurgent neo-conservatives in their efforts
to redefine Japan along more aggressive nationalist lines.
Dramatic climax to hostage crisis
As in many of history's defining moments, the outcome was uncertain until the
very last moment. Indeed, it seemed that Koizumi's chances of prevailing were
wafer-thin, which made his final success all the more impressive. The final
hours of the crisis were some of the most gripping in recent memory, with the
premier's fortunes - and political prospects in summer elections - literally
changing by the hour.
Five civilians had been kidnapped in two groups, three and two. The demand: Get
Japanese humanitarian troops out of Iraq or your citizens die. News reports
later quoted released hostages as saying their captors told them: "If you were
American or British, we would kill you!" Recently released Korean missionary
hostages said their captors yelled: "Kill the Americans, kill the British, kill
the Japanese!"
The dramatic climax to the hostage drama came last Thursday, and it concluded
on Saturday. Thursday had dawned badly for the prime minister with news that
two additional Japanese civilians, Jumpei Yasuda and Nobutaka Watanabe, had
also been abducted, and an Italian hostage working for a US security firm,
Fabrizio Quattrocchi, brutally murdered by his Iraqi captors. Reports also
surfaced that on the previous day about 300 Iraqis had protested against the
presence of Japanese troops in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah, where they
are deployed on a strictly humanitarian mission, but now largely confined to
their fortress-like barracks.
It seemed the deteriorating situation in Iraq could not get any worse. For the
first time since the hostage crisis began, Koizumi started to show signs of
strain. He looked exhausted when he appeared before the national media. He
repeated his pledge that Japanese troops would remain in Iraq despite the dire
developments. "The Self-Defense Forces will not withdraw from Iraq," he said in
a weary tone, also denouncing the cold-blooded murder of the Italian hostage.
He declared, "We should not surrender to such an extremely despicable act as
this."
Despite his defiance, some commentators were already writing him off. They said
public opinion would not tolerate five Japanese hostages, and the death of the
Italian was increasing pressure for a troop pullout. It was Koizumi's darkest
hour.
Suddenly, just after 9pm, the wheel of fate or fortune moved dramatically in
the opposite direction. Out of the blue, it seemed, the initial trio of
hostages had been released. The nation was euphoric, and in the eyes of most
ordinary Japanese, Koizumi's hardline stance was completely vindicated. It was
an amazing reversal of fortune for a man who just a few hours earlier had been
visibly on the ropes.
Hiroshi Sakamoto, a recently retired government official from Hokkaido, home
prefecture of two of the hostages, described the jubilant scene to Asia Times
Online: "When we heard the news of the hostage release, people began cheering.
I felt so happy. All over the country people were celebrating. In Hokkaido,
crowds gathered outside the hostages' houses."
Even though two hostages remained captive, the release of the three who had
been given a death sentence set off a wave of national jubilation, instantly
transforming an embattled prime minister into a national hero. Saturday brought
the release of the two remaining hostages, bringing down the final curtain on
the 10-day ordeal.
Poll boost for Koizumi
Opinion polls released on the weekend demonstrated the comprehensive nature of
Koizumi's triumph. A Kyodo News survey found that 68.4 percent of the public
positively evaluated Koizumi's handling of the crisis; 61.3 percent thought the
government was correct in not yielding the terrorists' demands for a withdrawal
of Japanese troops, while a mere 8.8 percent disagreed.
With regard to the military deployment in Iraq, a significant 53.2 percent of
those polled said they backed it, while 38.2 percent were still opposed. This
is the first time support for the dispatch has surpassed the 50 percent level
since troops were first dispatched in January. Not surprisingly, support for
Koizumi was up, registering 55.6 percent, a 7.2-percentage-point increase from
the previous survey.
However, as Asian Times Online predicted, the crisis has also forced the public
seriously to evaluate the merits of the US-Japan alliance, which many believe
has made the country a prominent target for international terrorism. The Kyodo
poll suggested that 57.1 percent of people now want Koizumi to review his
stance on strong ties with the US, while just 36.6 percent think such ties
should continue unchanged. If this shift in attitude persists, it could lead to
a redefining in the basic nature of Japan's relationship with the United
States.
Confucian symbolism underpins Koizumi's triumph
An important aspect underpinning the shift in public opinion is a
difficult-to-define Confucian-type symbolism. To understand this almost
intangible element in the equation, one needs to trace the origins of how Japan
came to be considered weak in the face of terrorism.
The perception dates back to an infamous case in September 1977, when a Japan
Airlines flight was hijacked over India and forced to land in Dhaka. The
terrorists demanded that six Japanese Red Army members be released from prison
and a $6 million ransom be paid in exchange for the lives of the passengers and
crew. The Japanese government obediently complied with the demands, allowing
the hijackers to fly off scot-free to Algeria with their comrades and a hefty
booty.
The prime minister of the day, Takeo Fukuda, justified his capitulation with
the phrase that has lived on in memory: "The life of a person is heavier than
the Earth." The ghosts of the Dhaka retreat-defeat have haunted Japan ever
since. In true Shakespearean fashion, a quarter of a century later, the
opportunity arose for Fukuda's son, Yasuo Fukuda, to help rectify his father's
mistake; a concept immensely appealing to Japanese society, with its heavy
undercurrents of Confucian philosophy.
Since taking office, Koizumi's most faithful lieutenant has been Yasuo Fukuda,
his chief cabinet secretary and trusted right-hand man. Along with Koizumi,
Fukuda took an extremely tough and high-profile stance on the hostage-taking.
At the beginning of the crisis, the press quoted the late prime minister
Fukuda's famous words to his son, who replied, "The times are different, and
the context is also different."
The release of all five captives unharmed has given an immense resonance to the
son's comments and, most important, in the minds of many Japanese Fukuda's
present-day pronouncement signifies a cleansing of the past and the beginning
of a new phase in Japanese history.
Hostage crisis marks defining moment for Japan
While Koizumi's Iraq troubles are far from over, his success in resolving the
hostage crisis marks a defining moment in modern Japanese history. A recent
editorial in the right-wing Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper rather understated this
significance. The paper wrote, "A quarter-century after the Dhaka incident,
Japan appears to have at last become an 'ordinary nation' in crisis
management."
In the short term this new "ordinary nation" status will allow Koizumi to keep
Japanese troops in Iraq. Even if they remain barricaded and isolated in their
remote desert fortress, they will still help US President George W Bush, who is
currently reeling from Spain's announcement that it is quitting his coalition
in the wake of the Madrid bombings in which at least 200 people perished.
In the long term, this "ordinary nation" status will enable Japan to redefine
itself and adopt a more assertive stance in international affairs, finally
throwing off the constraints placed upon it after World War II. For Koizumi,
the Iraq hostage crisis has almost certainly clinched his place in history as
one of Japan's great nationalist leaders.
J Sean Curtin is aGLOCOMfellow at the Tokyo-based Japanese Institute of Global Communications.
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