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Strategies & Market Trends : John Pitera's Market Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: NOW who wrote (5535)	2/8/2002 2:15:45 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 33421

Well, here's a couple of places to start: japanesestudies.org.uk www3.tky.3web.ne.jp g21.net "In a recent JPRI paper Chalmers Johnson (2000) outlines the recent drift rightwards in Japan and what he calls the deteriorating security situation in East Asia under Japanese and American pressure. He cites the 1999 New Year speech by the Minister of Justice Nakamura Shozaburo denouncing the Japanese constitution denying Japan the right to engage in war; the chief of the Japanese Defense Agency, Norota Hosei's announcement in March 1999 that "under certain circumstances Japan enjoyed the right of "preemptive attack" (sensei kogeki) and that it was thinking of making such an attack against North Korea." There are about 1,000 right wing groups in Japan, totaling some 100,000 members. Among other issues, they advocate a return of power to the emperor (which, as an institution, is still revered). I don't consider it too much of a stretch that Japan endures sufficient economic pain over the coming years that pressure is exerted for the emperor to step in and exert his authority. I believe this would be particularly appealing to the older Japanese (over 60), who will within a couple of years, make up some 25% of Japan's total population. I admit... a lot of things can happen, but as with the rise of Hitler out of Weimar Germany, people often wish to regress back to "better times" (before WWII, that is.. hehe), and the office of the emperor as a divine being (which he still is regarded as such) would have great appeal. And of course, the emperor is not the true power behind the government... Such a scenario is still several years down the road, but with what seems to be an inevitable scenario of economic humiliation awaiting Japan, it's certainly possible. Hawk