2021/2/12
The following is an excerpt from an article by Meiji University Professor Emeritus Takanori Irie, published in today's Sankei Shimbun newspaper, entitled "A New Anglo-Japanese Alliance for Japanese Independence."
This article reveals important facts that the Japanese people and people worldwide were utterly unaware of.
It is a must-read for everyone living in the 21st century.
I have added emphasis to the text other than the headline.
At the end of last year, I read through Shin Okabe's "A New Anglo-Japanese Alliance: Bushido and Chivalry 100 Years Later" (Hakushusha).
I have never read a book that resonated with me so profoundly in recent years.
There are many reasons for this, but the first is that we are now at a time when we need to rethink in many ways the Japan-US Security Treaty and its system that we have maintained for about 70 years since the end of the war.
"Heavily Depend on" the United States
The Japan-US Security Treaty has played a significant role in Japan's security.
However, the agreement is one-sided because it stipulates that the US must protect Japan and does not mention Japan's obligations regarding the security of the US.
It also allows Japan to "free ride" on the security treaty due to the constraints of the Japanese Constitution.
Domestic harm to Japan has undoubtedly been one of the factors governing the postwar Japanese social climate and has not yet disappeared, namely, the robbing of the Japanese people of their "spirit of independence."
In recent years, the US has been seeing a resurgence of the so-called "Monroe Doctrine," a mindset that has consistently characterized the spirit of US diplomacy for the past 200 years, which rejects involvement in other countries, as seen in former President Obama's statement that "we are no longer the world's policeman" and Trump's phrase "America First."
Japan seems to have been satisfied with the attitude of "heavily depend on" the United States for a long time after the war, but this is no longer possible and nonsensical, and we have entered an era when this is no longer viable as a nation.
However, separately or simultaneously, the importance of promoting a "new Anglo-Japanese Alliance" has begun to attract the attention of many people, and I believe that we are now in an era when it is necessary to consider its contemporary meaning.
Background to the realization of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance
Here, I would like to briefly look at the history of the old Anglo-Japanese Alliance, which lasted for 19 years from 1902 (Meiji 35) to 1921 (Taisho 10).
I have only just finished reading "The Anglo-Japanese Alliance" (Kadokawa Sophia Bunko) by Hirama Yoichi (former professor at the National Defense Academy of Japan), which I believe is a strange coincidence.
Let us consider why Britain, the greatest of the great powers at the time, which controlled the seven seas of the world, realized the importance of Japan, a small island nation in the Far East, and decided to realize the alliance despite it being mocked as "the marriage of the moon and the soft-shelled turtle."
The background to this was that the great powers were impressed by the tenacity and discipline of the Japanese army during the Boxer Rebellion that broke out in the North China region of China in 1900.
The Boxer Rebellion was an anti-foreign movement that began when Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the Qing army to cooperate with the Boxers.
This secret society promoted the cause of "supporting the Qing and destroying the Western powers" and committed frequent murders.
When the Boxers cooperated with regular Chinese troops to attack the foreign legation area in Beijing, there were about 1,000 residents of the Western powers and Japan and about 3,000 Chinese refugees, and it was the fact that Japanese soldiers fought the best in the offensive and defensive battle.
To quote from Okabe's book, mentioned at the beginning, "The Japanese soldiers were by far the best. "
The British newspaper The Times praised them in an editorial, saying, "The whole world is grateful to Japan for the rescue of the legation area. ... No nation has fought as bravely and completed its mission as the Japanese. ... Japan is a nation worthy of being a companion to the West."
It is said that the Japanese army did not "rob or rape" at all, which impressed British envoy MacDonald.
He said, "I was convinced that Japan was the best partner in the East, and this led to the conclusion of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance."
The significance of Anglo-Japanese relations today
The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was formed this way, but it is a well-known historical fact that the United States, anticipating a war with Japan in the future, opposed the alliance and cleverly buried it at the Washington Conference in 1921.
It was unfortunate that Kijuro Shidehara, the then-ambassador to the United States, was manipulated by Secretary of State Hughes and unable to protect the national interest.
So, this is the historical flow from the conclusion of the old Anglo-Japanese Alliance to its collapse.
The British side led the Anglo-Japanese Alliance at the time, and even today, British leadership seems to have paved the path to a new alliance.
Unlike in the past, today, the "Five Eyes countries," including the United States, will likely support a new Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
This is because it would clearly reinforce the current Japan-US alliance while encouraging and supporting Japan's independence.
It wants to implore Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide and Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu to understand the true nature of the problem and take swift action.
(Irie Takanori)
The following is an excerpt from an article by Meiji University Professor Emeritus Takanori Irie, published in today's Sankei Shimbun newspaper, entitled "A New Anglo-Japanese Alliance for Japanese Independence."
This article reveals important facts that the Japanese people and people worldwide were utterly unaware of.
It is a must-read for everyone living in the 21st century.
I have added emphasis to the text other than the headline.
At the end of last year, I read through Shin Okabe's "A New Anglo-Japanese Alliance: Bushido and Chivalry 100 Years Later" (Hakushusha).
I have never read a book that resonated with me so profoundly in recent years.
There are many reasons for this, but the first is that we are now at a time when we need to rethink in many ways the Japan-US Security Treaty and its system that we have maintained for about 70 years since the end of the war.
"Heavily Depend on" the United States
The Japan-US Security Treaty has played a significant role in Japan's security.
However, the agreement is one-sided because it stipulates that the US must protect Japan and does not mention Japan's obligations regarding the security of the US.
It also allows Japan to "free ride" on the security treaty due to the constraints of the Japanese Constitution.
Domestic harm to Japan has undoubtedly been one of the factors governing the postwar Japanese social climate and has not yet disappeared, namely, the robbing of the Japanese people of their "spirit of independence."
In recent years, the US has been seeing a resurgence of the so-called "Monroe Doctrine," a mindset that has consistently characterized the spirit of US diplomacy for the past 200 years, which rejects involvement in other countries, as seen in former President Obama's statement that "we are no longer the world's policeman" and Trump's phrase "America First."
Japan seems to have been satisfied with the attitude of "heavily depend on" the United States for a long time after the war, but this is no longer possible and nonsensical, and we have entered an era when this is no longer viable as a nation.
However, separately or simultaneously, the importance of promoting a "new Anglo-Japanese Alliance" has begun to attract the attention of many people, and I believe that we are now in an era when it is necessary to consider its contemporary meaning.
Background to the realization of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance
Here, I would like to briefly look at the history of the old Anglo-Japanese Alliance, which lasted for 19 years from 1902 (Meiji 35) to 1921 (Taisho 10).
I have only just finished reading "The Anglo-Japanese Alliance" (Kadokawa Sophia Bunko) by Hirama Yoichi (former professor at the National Defense Academy of Japan), which I believe is a strange coincidence.
Let us consider why Britain, the greatest of the great powers at the time, which controlled the seven seas of the world, realized the importance of Japan, a small island nation in the Far East, and decided to realize the alliance despite it being mocked as "the marriage of the moon and the soft-shelled turtle."
The background to this was that the great powers were impressed by the tenacity and discipline of the Japanese army during the Boxer Rebellion that broke out in the North China region of China in 1900.
The Boxer Rebellion was an anti-foreign movement that began when Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the Qing army to cooperate with the Boxers.
This secret society promoted the cause of "supporting the Qing and destroying the Western powers" and committed frequent murders.
When the Boxers cooperated with regular Chinese troops to attack the foreign legation area in Beijing, there were about 1,000 residents of the Western powers and Japan and about 3,000 Chinese refugees, and it was the fact that Japanese soldiers fought the best in the offensive and defensive battle.
To quote from Okabe's book, mentioned at the beginning, "The Japanese soldiers were by far the best. "
The British newspaper The Times praised them in an editorial, saying, "The whole world is grateful to Japan for the rescue of the legation area. ... No nation has fought as bravely and completed its mission as the Japanese. ... Japan is a nation worthy of being a companion to the West."
It is said that the Japanese army did not "rob or rape" at all, which impressed British envoy MacDonald.
He said, "I was convinced that Japan was the best partner in the East, and this led to the conclusion of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance."
The significance of Anglo-Japanese relations today
The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was formed this way, but it is a well-known historical fact that the United States, anticipating a war with Japan in the future, opposed the alliance and cleverly buried it at the Washington Conference in 1921.
It was unfortunate that Kijuro Shidehara, the then-ambassador to the United States, was manipulated by Secretary of State Hughes and unable to protect the national interest.
So, this is the historical flow from the conclusion of the old Anglo-Japanese Alliance to its collapse.
The British side led the Anglo-Japanese Alliance at the time, and even today, British leadership seems to have paved the path to a new alliance.
Unlike in the past, today, the "Five Eyes countries," including the United States, will likely support a new Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
This is because it would clearly reinforce the current Japan-US alliance while encouraging and supporting Japan's independence.
It wants to implore Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide and Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu to understand the true nature of the problem and take swift action.
(Irie Takanori)
