POLITICS-JAPAN: Abductions Upset Tokyo’s Focus on Its Role in Iraq

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Apr 9 2004 (IPS) - Just as Japan has focused its foreign policy on its involvement in the reconstruction of Iraq, this week’s abduction of three of its volunteers there has jarred a largely pacifist population – and may well undercut Tokyo’s attempt to play a bigger role in international affairs.

Just as Japan has focused its foreign policy on its involvement in the reconstruction of Iraq, this week’s abduction of three of its volunteers there has jarred a largely pacifist population – and may well undercut Tokyo’s attempt to play a bigger role in international affairs.

Shock and dismay spread here over the volunteers’ abduction in Samawa, southern Iraq, and threats by insurgents called Mujahideen Brigades to burn them alive if Tokyo does not withdraw its soldiers from Iraq within three days.

"The news is horrifying. We are praying for their safety," a tearful Yosuke Imai, whose younger brother is among the hostages, said after reports Thursday reported the news of the kidnappings by groups opposed to the year-old foreign occupation of Iraq.

The youngest among the abducted volunteers, 18-year-old Noriyuki Imai, is a journalist.

Hundreds of peace activists demonstrated in front of government buildings Friday, waving placards and calling for the return of more than 500 Japanese Self-Defence Forces (SDF) stationed in Iraq since January. ”Koizumi – why don’t you go to Iraq instead of the hostages?” read one placard.

The abduction by groups who want all foreign presence out of Iraq stems from the ”stupid” policy of the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, said Akiko Osawa, a 34-year-old homemaker at the rally.

"The public was against getting embroiled in a U.S.-led war. The war is for the benefit of (U.S. President George W) Bush and Koizumi and has brought nothing positive for Japan," she said in an interview.

The dispatch of Japan’s SDF, which are the closest thing to a military the country has, has been a sensitive issue for some time but the abduction brings the debate out into the open.

Koizumi has cast Japan’s lot with the U.S. government’s lead role in the occupation of Iraq – Tokyo has been a long-time ally of Washington – but now the conservative prime minister is likely to face open opposition to Japan’s first post-war SDF deployment to a conflict area.

"The mood is touchy. Koizumi is putting on a show of strength, but he faces a dangerous situation where the public could turn against him any moment," said Koichi Ishiyama, a commentator on international affairs.

"He hopes that by appearing invincible he can persuade the people that Japan is a strong country. He’s playing on the mixed feelings at the moment," added Yasuo Kurata, a former journalist and writer. The incident has also turned the spotlight on how conservatives – mostly senior politicians with Koizumi’s Liberal Democratic Party who have long lobbied for a militarily strong Japan – have successfully been making inroads into national policy.

Already, this has led a new report that links Japan’s official development assistance – its most important diplomatic tool – to the country’s involvement in Iraq this year.

"Placing Iraq reconstruction on top is in line with Japan’s new ODA strategy to promote global security and peace, " said Yota Kato, an official at the Foreign Ministry.

Tokyo has already pledged 5 billion U.S. dollars in aid for Iraq, including 1.5 billion dollars in grants for 2004 over a four-year period from 2004 through 2007.

Recent surveys have been showing a gradual increase in support for the sending of Japanese troops to Iraq. Almost 60 percent of those surveyed in a Kyodo news poll in January reflected this sentiment.

Japan’s involvement in Iraq and siding with U.S. government policy is happening at a time when Koizumi is spearheading a move to reform, by 2007, the nation’s Peace Constitution, so-named because it is designed to curb military aggression after World War II.

If this constitutional change does happen, it will shake off the last shackles on a rich country that has been impatient to be recognised as a mature global power.

For the time being, the media seems to be willing to play along with Koizumi. Most editorials Friday did not call for the pullout of the SDF from Iraq.

The ‘Nihon Keizai Shimbun’ newspaper called for the immediate release of the hostages, noting they were there "with the aim of helping Iraqis”. The right-leaning ‘Yomiuri’ newspaper wrote: ”We can never submit to a cowardly threat."

Activists say the abduction in Iraq has ended Japan’s prized postwar pacifism and cut into the belief of many of those who believe that Tokyo, through the SDF presence, could help the Iraqis’ suffering.

But the bigger damage, says Rie Nagase of the non-government Asia-Pacific Resource Centre, is the blow Koizumi dealt to what could have been a genuine Japanese contribution to Iraq’s reconstruction – when he sided with the U.S. government and thus endangered the lives of Japanese aid workers.

"Japan’s peace-loving image has been destroyed. The government must take responsibility," he insisted.

But at the same time, some question the decision of the kidnapped volunteers to be in Iraq at this volatile period, pointing out that the SDF, rather than civilian volunteers, is better suited for humanitarian work.

"It’s terrible news. But I also think the abducted Japanese were naive to go alone to Iraq and they bear some of the blame for their situation," said Yojiro Nishimura, 34, an office worker.

But fears have now been raised that Japan’s SDF has become a target in the uprising by Iraqis against the U.S.-led occupation. Kurata adds that news of the soldiers’ death could become an even bigger headache for the Koizumi government.