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By Kawanaka Yo
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At the same time, I wish to be a person who reaches out to others when they are in trouble. Moreover, in spite of the growing political cynicism in Japan, or perhaps because of it, increasingly I feel an imperative to make myself aware so that I can take action.
That is an aim is more easily framed in words than it is acted upon. Despite my efforts to inform myself about the problems of this world, I still find myself struggling to come up with a concrete plan for what I can do.
When I was a primary school student, I wanted to choose global warming (climate change) as the theme for my independent summer research project. But my father told me the problem was too big and complicated. He suggested that I should choose something more manageable.
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But those nightmares faded as I was educated in high school and university, replaced by positive images in the news of a growing Japan as if they had been goblin stories used to scare children. Before I knew it, I had become a typical adult, and that earlier sense of crisis vanished.
But I read a book recently that brought those memories rushing back. The compact little book in Japanese is titled: A Farewell to Arms: The Crisis of Global Warming and Article Nine of the Japanese Constitution.
Unlike most writing that alludes to an abstraction called global warming, or narrates the tale of a nightmare world that is oddly detached from our daily lives, this book lays out a concrete plan for addressing climate change for Japan, and for each citizen, and it places Japan's peace constitution at the center of that strategy. That is to say that our peace constitution, which politicians are trying so hard to convince us is outdated, something that keeps us from becoming a "normal" country, is in fact the only way forward for Japan.
The author, Emanuel Pastreich, is an expert on Japanese literature who takes a deep interest in the specific social and economic issues of Japan. I found what he has written so effective because he starts with a heightened consciousness about the crisis in human civilization itself, rather than attacking some politician.
There is much diffuse awareness of climate change out there, but it remains a vague affair.
That lack of focus makes us hesitate to express what we feel in words. Pastreich, however, does not waver in his writing. He delineates the true dangers of climate change, and of nuclear war, without fear of their magnitude, nor does he consider his career or various powerful interests when he writes.
While others talk about how to win the next election, he focuses on the long-term threats that others that wish to obscure. The book argues that threats like climate change should not only be addressed, but should be the focus in the Japanese policy-making process. Most politicians pretend that climate change is not a serious topic and the newspapers refuse to make reference to this scientific fact.
Must not "national defense" consist of strategies for dealing with the severe, record-setting heat that bears down on us every summer and the extraordinary torrential storms that are drowning people as they flee from their homes? After reading the book, I asked myself, should we not put all our technology and expertise into assessing what the situation will be in 10 or 20 years and preparing for it now?
Pastreich makes a bold statement that Japan's Self-Defense Force should be turned into an organization dedicated to responding to climate change, not just the impact of climate change on the military. He sees a fundamental transformation of the mission of the military as an opportunity for the nations of East Asia to join hands in creating a promise for the future. It is an odd argument in that it suggests he is not afraid to irritate traditional leftists who would like to abolish the military.
The book is not just about Japan. Pastreich makes it clear that his ultimate concern is the disturbing transformation of his own country. He explains how he was compelled to write in part because he felt responsible as a product of a nation that has descended into endless war.
It there is any chance for people around the world to overcome their hatred and mistrust, to come together for a common cause, that chance must lie in our response to climate change. Climate change threatens all life on Earth and in the response to that overwhelming threat offers a new possible vision for humanity.
How did we get this concept of security so terribly wrong? Is it in Japan's "national interest" at this time to buy weapons from other nations and to deploy the Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense system to protect it from North Korea?
People have been driven to frenzy by the propaganda produced by the weapons manufacturers, propaganda that suggests that such weapons are somehow necessary for national defense. If those people were presented with the facts, they would see that there is a true danger out there, but that danger cannot be fought with weapons.
Rather, the armies of the world must put down their weapons and work together to respond to climate change. Such an argument may strike many as unrealistic, but it implies the pursuit of a peaceful global society that is not a fantasy, but rather a realistic policy. Such an approach is our only option now.
Policy in Japan these days does not offer much hope. Young people lose themselves in smartphones to flee from the stress of a loathsome society. They hope that the adults who promote such cruelty and coldness in our society will somehow start to think about our future. But there are no signs that those in charge are interested in the truth, or concerned about the future.
Must it be forbidden from discussion in the media, or in conversations, to mention that just a bit further up this road of mass consumption we will find a place where our youth are starving from famine, and have no place to live, as a result of climate change?
The book offers hope in this moment when the drive for a military buildup, in Japan, in the United States, and around the world, has grown so strong that voices for peace can only manage to suggest that we produce fewer weapons, or different weapons. Few, indeed, can present with confidence an alternative vision for the future that is readily implemented.
The core of the book is the hidden potential of Japan's peace constitution. For Japan to publish a book by an American scholar (written in Japanese for a Japanese audience) when all American officials and think-tank experts are demanding that Japan join a catastrophic war with Iran and build up its military for deadly confrontation with China gives me some sense of hope.
I recently heard two women sharing their dreams of work and of marriage over an evening meal. Young people like them, who dream of the future while struggling to live their lives as best they can, will drive the changes in our society. It is those young women I thought about as I read Pastreich's book.
Although Professor Pastreich has written a powerful book, on many occasions when I asked him about Japan's future, he responded simply, "I have no idea."
He could have put together an erudite response to my question, but rather chose to answer, "I have no idea." I suspect that his response implies that what happens next involves unknown quantities that none of us can determine.
There is a bit of potential mixed into that response.
We do not know what potentialities await us. It is precisely because we do not know what will happen next that the lives of young people have become so uncertain. "A Farewell to Arms" suggests that we have a moral responsibility to think, concretely, about what that future will be and to take concrete action now, in our daily habits, and in our advocacy for political change, that will affect the course of events.
I think that people like me, uncertain about our lives, worried about the shifts in our society,
concerned about Japan's future, can find concrete suggestions in this book for a new future. The time has come for us to rethink our lives and to discover what is necessary for the planet's ecosystems ― of which we are a part ― to survive.
Yo Kawanaka is a peace activist and author in Japan who started her activities in the protests against the response to the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. She joined the Asia Institute in 2017 and works there on environmental issues, peace and security, and mental health issues.
