Shinzo Abe to Japan: "Put on your big girl panties and deal with it"

[derby378]

Yeah, the new Prime Minister of Japan is a mixed bag from the little I've heard about him. But it's been at least 60 years since they surrendered to the Allies. Maybe it's time for us to just sit back and let the Japanese come to terms with their own national identity now that they have a real democratic government in control.

And that includes the rumblings that Japan may draft a new constitution that allows for an actual, full-fledged military. The main thing is to keep Japan a friend instead of an enemy. And with North Korea bullying Japan for the last 25-30 years, I think the Japanese have every right to stand up for themselves.

[Warren Stupidity]

1. "a real democratic government "?

Japan has an institutionalized de facto one party government. They are about as real a democracy as Mexico was under the 60 year rule of the PRI.

[malaise]

10. Bingo

sometimes I shake with anger at the inversion of reality that is planet earth today.

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. A military?

Refresh my memory, they used to have one, didn't they? How did that work out?

[acmejack]

4. The JSDF has a bunch of very capable Aegis destroyers

and some nice submarines too. They are quite proficient actually or were back in the days when I operated jointly with them. Theuy have been constrained by statute as to the size of their force and that is what they have been chafing at.

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. I doubt anyone over 70 would question their proficiency. n/t

[acmejack]

3. They are arguing with Russia & China too.

Along with South Korea.

snip>
Many contentious issues confront China and Japan. Among the most pressing is their thirst for energy. Japan depends on imports for 99 percent of its oil and natural gas; coastal China is similarly bereft of resources. Thus, the offshore oil and gas fields under the East China Sea are attractive "domestic" sources of energy for both Beijing and Tokyo -- and both have laid claim to them. China argues that the entire East China Sea continental shelf, extending eastward nearly all the way to Okinawa, is a "natural prolongation" of the Chinese mainland. Japan has declared its boundary to be a median line between its undisputed territory and China -- a line that runs roughly 100 miles west of the Okinawa Trough, which lies undersea just west of Okinawa and is where the richest petroleum deposits in the area are believed to be concentrated.

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060301faessay85210/kent-e-calder/china-and-japan-s-simmering-rivalry.html

snip>
On August 16, a Russian patrol boat fired a warning shot at a Japanese crab fishing boat near a disputed chain of islands. The warning shot killed one of the Japanese crew, making him the latest casualty of World War II. The incident sparked the most recent diplomatic incident over the islands Japan calls its Northern Territories and Russia the southern Kurils. Recent years have seen increased economic integration between Russia and Japan, but the disputed islands have prevented the signing of a treaty to officially end WWII between the countries and are an obstacle to further cooperation.

Nearly two weeks after the killing, the diplomatic dispute continued as Russia claimed that 39 Japanese fishing boats entered the disputed waters in an act of deliberate provocation. The Russian foreign minister said that bilateral ties could be affected if Japan does not take "urgent, effective measures" to prevent another incident. While this diplomatic row will continue to play out in the coming weeks, it is unlikely to affect the increasing economic and geopolitical cooperation between Russia and Japan.

http://pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=549&language_id=1

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Strange - in the UK calling someone a "big girl's blouse"

is saying they're soft. It seems roughly the opposite of that American phrase.

[derby378]

7. It's a relatively new phrase over here

Don't know who started it.

[hogwyld]

8. It's not going to matter in 50 years

Japan, with it's rapidly aging population will become a part of greater China.

[derby378]

9. ???

No chance in Hell of that happening - unless they go to war with each other. Not looking forward to that campaign.

[hogwyld]

11. It is inevitable

As China's economy continues to expand, while Japan's continues to either stagnate or contract, resource wars may eventually happen for either energy, (they both claim oil deposits in the S. China Sea, or for food. Japan and China harvest a large portion of their food from the sea, and the fisheries are dying off. Also, don't forget, that there is a centuries old animosity towards each other. China has the technology and numbers that Japan can not match. Once that happens, the Korean peninsula will finally be reunited, and China will control all of eastern Asia.