Yea the snideness of that last sentence is a bit much, seeing as its current pacifism was bought with American blood and is secured by the Pax Americana.
That'd be accurate. I suppose my stance would be that Japan's current pacifism was imposed on them at the cost of all their soldiers. In my mind 'bought' assumes intentionality, and I don't believe that pacifism was the goal of Imperial Japan.
Fair enough, I removed the last sentence, but I stand by the snideness nonetheless.
If nihonde wants to contrast Japan's pacifism with America's violence, they would do well to remember how much easier it is to remain pacifist when someone else has to take the bullets for you.
You're employing a strawman in suggesting open military conflict is the only way in which Japan is a benefactor of America. In reality, America's dominance of the ocean's secures Japanese commerce and frees up money they would otherwise have to spend on defense - indeed, Japan's sophisticated economy benefitted a great deal by essentially having it's sovereignty guaranteed with no investment in a standing military. American power in the Pacific protects the Japanese from the ascension of China and probably somewhat from the belligerence of Russia - if America withdrew it's implicit military support of Japan, do you think the Japanese have the power to keep the Senkaku Islands from being annexed by China?
None. But AFAIK the US is obligated by treaty to defend Japan against any external military threats, meaning any potential conflicts Japan might have with its neighbors would be fought on Japan's behalf by the US. Japan is ostensibly pacifist because it's "military" isn't Japanese, it's American.
I guarantee you that "Japan is ostensibly pacifist" because the people who live here right now have no interest in war. The only signals of war and conflict here are American.
No normal people in Japan are interested in the territorial conflicts with China, or constitutional debates about self-defense, or where to stage American military hardware, except that they would like all of that nonsense to end so that they can get on with their lives.
Your 'Pax Americana' is doublespeak on the highest order, as Americans go around the world setting and lighting their own powder kegs.
Yesterday, a V-22 Osprey flew low over my house, and while it is a marvelous sight on many levels it is ultimately the only emblem of death and destruction on a landscape of almost unimaginable serenity. My neighborhood is all bamboo swaying in the wind, old people on bicycles running errands, kids playing baseball and catching beetles, some lazy cats and a lazy river...and here comes a fucking V-22 Osprey overhead.
Meanwhile, a Marine in Okinawa is accused of killing a young Japanese girl. These things just simply do not happen very often in Japan, so the attention on this murder is intense. Okinawa is a really nice place, and the people there would prefer not to deal with this cyclone of...death and destruction in their midst. It made sense at one time, but it really is not that time anymore.
I know that you have a hard time overcoming the urge (programming) to see America as the great liberator of the world, policing the wild streets of lesser, unruly regions that would be lost without Uncle Sam, but...at some point, the big bully protecting the block becomes the only problem that anyone on the block is having.
The ironic thing is that I agree with you far more than I disagree with you, and I'm anything but "programmed to see America as the great liberator of the world". I would like nothing more than for the US to reduce its global military presence, because I think the age of nuclear superpowers and the "Pax Americana" is coming to an end, and, as you said, the US is becoming the problem.
However, you seem to be incapable of perceiving Americans as anything but mind-controlled militarists, or of seeing Japan's relationship with the US military as anything more complex than a violent foreign intruder forcing its will onto a pure and innocent yamato nadeshiko, so I'm going to stop trying to engage you in thoughtful conversation on this topic.
To be honest, I enjoyed this conversation, even though I probably project some unfair assumptions onto you. I'm an American myself, so I'm also well aware of the beautiful side of American life. I guess we're ultimately in agreement that the best of America happens when we look after ourselves and our own homestead, and the same is true of Japan. I just get so damn frustrated when America can't seem to resist the urge to own everyone and everything, which is basically a destructive impulse. At the end of the day, national boundaries are not important, and the most useful qualities for the long-term preservation of our human race are humility and thoughfulness.
