2026-01-31
The image of a peaceful nation embodied in the slogan “Follow Costa Rica,” which The Asahi Shimbun has advocated for many years, is a fiction that distorts the facts.
Masayuki Takayama sharply exposes the true reason for the abolition of the military, the reality of the police force, the history of the invasion of Panama, and the fact that Article 9 of the Constitution can be reinforced only through falsehoods.
This article presents an excerpt from the heart of his argument.
The Lie Behind Asahi’s Call to “Follow Costa Rica”
2017-08-09
I wrote that Masayuki Takayama is a man of unyielding principle.
A friend recommended one of his books to me.
Xi Jinping, If You Want to Be “Anti-Japanese,” Follow Asahi’s Example, by Masayuki Takayama, Shinchosha, ¥1,400.
The following is taken from pages 117 through 120.
The Lie Behind Asahi’s Call to “Follow Costa Rica”
The falsehoods of The Asahi Shimbun are not limited to Seiji Yoshida.
The worthless countries surrounding Japan commit serious acts of wrongdoing, including abductions and territorial violations.
While Japan was considering how to defend itself, Asahi began telling it to follow the example of the small nation of Costa Rica.
“This country constitutionally renounced its military and invested the resulting savings in education, thereby becoming one of the most stable countries in Central and South America.”
“It also urged its neighboring countries to do the same, and Panama has now abolished its military as well.”
Article 9 of the Constitution is by no means mistaken.
As Donald Keene said, it is “Japan’s pride.”
Therefore, Japan must not even think of admonishing China or Korea.
Rather, it is supposedly desirable for Japan to live by peaceful diplomacy, just as Costa Rica does.
This entire claim that “Costa Rica should be our model” is a lie.
As in the case of Seiji Yoshida, successive correspondents, including Ken Fujimori and Chihiro Ito, continued writing and perpetuating that lie for nearly 20 years.
When they returned to Japan, they were invited to lecture by local “Article 9 Associations” across the country, accumulated modest sums of money and, after retirement, became professors at Senshu University, where they repeated the same lies from the lectern.
Just as Harufumi Kiyota, who supported Seiji Yoshida’s lies, became a professor at Tezukayama Gakuin University, Asahi has established a system of retirement security for journalists who write lies.
Their story begins as follows: “After bringing the civil war to an end in 1949, Figueres dissolved the army he himself had commanded and stipulated its abolition in the Constitution, because democracy has no need for a military.”
That is the lie.
For example, Ayatollah Khomeini was able to accomplish the Islamic Revolution because Iran’s national military submitted to him.
The first thing he did after taking power was purge that military.
Why?
Because a military can stage a coup.
It is therefore the most dangerous institution for anyone who holds power.
Figueres thought the same way.
The correct explanation is that he abolished the military so that no one else could subsequently use it to stage a coup against him.
That region is America’s backyard.
If another country violated Costa Rica’s border, the United States would not permit it.
It could be described as the cunning of a small country that had taken those circumstances into account.
What, then, happens to public security after the military has been abolished?
“Just over 10,000 police officers are responsible for it,” Fujimori writes.
The word “just” is the lie.
Measured as a proportion of the population, the number of police officers is nearly twice the number of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces personnel.
Moreover, they are equipped with attack helicopters, rocket launchers, and even missiles.
Because conscription is also possible in an emergency, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) describes the force as a “paramilitary.”
In other words, it means “a force only one step short of an army capable of staging a coup.”
An even more laughable lie is the claim that Costa Rica “called upon neighboring countries not to maintain militaries and achieved that objective in several countries, including Panama.”
In 1989, during the administration of the elder President Bush, the United States military launched a surprise attack against Panama and occupied the country.
The purpose of the surprise attack was to abduct General Noriega, a powerful figure who had once worked for the CIA and knew American secrets.
After capturing the general, the United States military dismantled the Panamanian military itself so that Panama, angered by this outrageous American invasion, could not undertake armed retaliation.
It was the same as depriving Japan—which retained the right to retaliate for Hiroshima and Nagasaki—of its military.
Fujimori transformed this into an achievement of Costa Rica’s peaceful diplomacy.
Presumably, this means that Article 9 of the Constitution can be reinforced only through such falsehoods.
To be continued.