Show years since World War II the United States and Japan have become inseparable in many ways “Japan's ties with the United States are almost a given” says Masakazu Yamazaki one of Japan’s leading intellectuals who has studied at Yale and taught at Columbia "We share similar political systems freedom of speech and cosmopolitan cultures Much of our music has begun to blend as have our societal As Americans we pride ourselves In the structures I cannot imagine Japan getting as close to any other Asian country as it is with the United States" Reading Japan's moods now Japan's leaders seem to be away from the strong bilateral relationship that has guaranteed economic and military security in East Asia for SO years Part of this is a reaction to But America's economic and strategic courting of China and an obsession with the Middle East Part is a consequence of the globalization of the world's economy And part is their realization that American solutions are not always relevant to Japan's unique society Fukushiro Nukaga a deputy secretary general of the ruling Liberal )emocratic Party did not hesitate when I asked him to describe the point of greatest friction in US Japan relations -- ‘‘America must stop forcing its issues on other countries” said the former defense minister on our differences and fiercely protect them The Japanese tradition is that of a "nation family” with strong allegiance to the common good We settle our issues through loud disagreement believing that cultural r-m- r m abrasion is the grist of political creativity They believe in How the Japanese define self- - defense in a complex world has become a politica hot potato harmony preferring internal debate and poli- cies designed to bring the nation together We are restless inventive quick to discard They are patient adaptive i An andent people with modern tastes Tho intereoction with a genius for perof the traditional ana thi cosmopolitan b a given in today's Japan At fection Our successes loft a goisha buys a Coka from a vending machine while at right two women in Western dress shop near Tokyo's Shinjuku Railway Station and failures are largely individual Theirs has become ever more unstable due to Chinese belong to the group and if an individual fails he quickly accepts responsibility to growth and North Korea's acquisition of nuclear weapons There have been suggestions from some preserve the group's integrity quarters that Japan break free of its defense rela"America's little brother" tionship with the United States and from others that it develop its own nuclear capability been has with Japan Our relationshipunique and vital to both Domestically the country's population is shrinkcountries Japan renounced war after ing and growing older Japanese leaders will soon World War II with a constitution that be struggling with the dilemma of either following the US' model and dramatically increasing immilimits its use of military force strictly to gration or of possibly reducing Japan's standard of It has survived living and international influence due to a dwindling for half a century in one workforce of the world's most unDefining stable regions by exOkamoto a special adviser to the Japanese changing vital bases for - self-defen- se "self-defens- and minister of the economy w ho is known as a strong friend of the US "You must avoid US military protection' Japan's postwar growth w as the impression that globalization equals Americanization" based largely on exporting goods to the United States not a simple thing to read Japan's moods In its makeup and its approach toward problem-solvin- g Japan is in antithesis the of the United many ways almost inextrica- States We are a multicultural they backed us It is bly intertwining our economies in the process And immi- so completely in international af- grant nation scarcely 2tX) years old They are an fairs that they ancient ethnically homogeneous people who can trace their imperial were criticized as “America’s little brother" being But times change and relationships evolve How much does Japan mean to us now? And just as important how much do we mean to the Japanese? Much has been written about Japan's economic troubles but the greatest issues facing the country are long-terincidental to its economy East Asia family's roots back more than 2(XX) years Two views on terror Top and canter Japanese warships return from Indian Ocaan missions with tha US Navy Bottom: m Protesters in Tokyo daay tha US-ia- d war on terror PARADE MAGAZINE JANUARY 13 2003 PAGE 5 e" Yukio who spent several years at the Japanese n is a supporter of the defense alliance “Our relations with the US are at a very mature state" he says ‘The trend is toward bolstering the US relationship rather than the embassy in Washington US-Japa- other way around” Mentioning Japan's strong supwar against international terrorport of the US-le- d ism he points out that Japanese naval ships regular- US Navy ships in the Indian Ocean in today’s comHow Japan defines plicated world has become a political hot potato Shinzo Abe a congressman who serves as the prime minister's deputy chief cabinet secretary' caused a stir ly operate with self-defen- several months ago w hen he claimed that developing nuclear weapons might be justifiable Abe son of a foreign minister and grandson of a prime minister studied at the University of Southern California He is one of several prominent Japanese along with chief cabinet secretary Yasuo Fukuda himself the son of a prime minister who are pushing for a more n independent defense relationship ‘The is Abe for our security" alliance necessary says “But US-Japa- continued |