2010-11-9

My views on the “argument for nuclear armament.”
In the first place… fundamentally, absolutely… small, poor countries… and, what is more, countries like these invariably turn out to be dictatorships, far removed from democracy… should never have been allowed to possess nuclear weapons.
They should have been stopped, even if that meant striking their manufacturing facilities.
Why?…
Because in my mind there is a “theory of war” that none of you would ever conceive of.
For that reason, I had not wanted to mention this matter at all, but seeing this morning’s full-page advertisement by people from Okinawa made me think.
If that were the only way to completely resolve the problems being imposed… being forced upon the people of Okinawa, I would say Yes to “becoming a country that possesses nuclear weapons.”
If, no matter how much we convey the story of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there continues to be no end to countries in this world incapable of possessing even “a fragment of the world spirit”…
And if Japan continues to be threatened by such countries, then not for the sake of hegemony…
But to tell the world… possess “a fragment of the world spirit.”
Passage omitted.
To stand against fascist one-party dictatorships and the like… America, the world—that is, twentieth-century capitalism—that is your role, is it not?
That is precisely why we accepted even the Plaza Accord… and even now, every day, on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, are we not accepting everything?
Europe, too, cannot go on forever forcing that role upon America alone and thinking only of its own prosperity.
I love Europe, but… it is also a historical fact that Europe could produce only colonialist hegemonic states…
Passage omitted.
And yet, we cannot remain naked forever before countries that lack “a fragment of the world spirit,” can we?
It is just as a British member of Parliament wrote… in a lengthy essay on Japan’s national security in this week’s issue of Newsweek, is it not?
It is common knowledge throughout the world that Japan is a country capable of doing such a thing faster than anyone else in the world…
Passage omitted.
You…
I firmly believe that what must come first is for you to consider what to do about countries that, even now, in the twenty-first century, will not seek to possess “a fragment of the world spirit,” or, because of their systems of government, cannot possess it.
In last week’s issue of Newsweek, Ezra Vogel, professor emeritus at Harvard University, the author of Japan as Number One, who has spent half a century analyzing developments in East Asia, including Japan and China, declared categorically, “There is no possibility of Japan becoming a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.”
If that is so, then all the more, Britain, France, you… cannot keep forcing upon the United States alone… the role of telling problem states,
Possess “a fragment of the world spirit,” can you?
It is for you to act, rather than Japan… I believe that is your responsibility as members of the Security Council.
Because in today’s world, no country longs for peace as much as Japan does… to the point that you laugh at us… to the point that you ridicule us… longs for peace.
If you cannot understand that this is… because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki…
I emphatically point out that you are unqualified to be members of the Security Council.