L'imprégnation pacifiste

Abstract

Pacifism in Japan is very old, with roots going back a number of centuries. After the demise of militarism, the immediate post-war period saw it rise phoenix-like from the ashes. For the last 30 years, the pacifist movement has kept alive the opposition to the rebirth of militarism and has opposed the liberal party's policy of collaboration with the US. In fact, Japan has agreed to an increasingly tighter integration into the US defence strategy in the Pacific, even to the point of accepting the storage of nuclear weapons on her territory. Furthermore, as time has passed and Japan's power as an economic giant has increased, a certain number of Japanese intellectuals have developed the idea that a truly sovereign state must be armed. And this is mirrored in the ever-widening public acceptance of the build-up of the Self-Defence Forces. Nevertheless, a recent accident involving a nuclear submarine and a trawler demonstrated how delicate the whole matter remains, and that pacifism remains a sentiment firmly rooted in the Japanese psyche.