COMING UP
ON
KOKO GA HEN DA YO NIHONJIN

A political poster in Fukushima portraying the U.S. military as an occupying force in Japan.

January 19, 2000
"Waste in Japanese Society"

OK, looks like I was in the previews for this one, so I'll definitely be on the air.  One of the topics discussed was the U.S. military presence in Japan, for which I am strongly in favor of.  As usual, the conversation centers on so-called U.S. efforts to take over the world, to which I took major objection to.  The fact of the matter is that Japan enjoys a very special position as an economic power at peace, a status that is ensured only by the U.S. presence.  The Japanese self-defence forces are no match for the militaries in surrounding Asian nations, North Korea in particular.  The very publicly embarrassing incident a number of years ago involving the rape of a young Japanese girl by 3 U.S. soldiers in Okinawa spurned the battle cry of right-wing forces that want the U.S. military out.  The PR campaign to create a fearful image of American soldiers has been largely successful, but public debate has very rarely produced substantive discussions on issues of national security.  Not that I believe that all points made in favor of kicking out the U.S. military are unjust.  Simply that, particularly on this show, the discussion is based on paranoia and an ignorance of the facts.  Let's just see if they show me all angry again...