Dr. Toynbee highly praised Japan’s ultimate victory over Western imperialism… yet the fact that the Japanese people themselves deny this achievement is a factor that endangers the world.
Dr. Toynbee highly praised Japan’s ultimate victory over Western imperialism… yet the fact that the Japanese people themselves deny this achievement is a factor that endangers the world.
January 10, 2022
The following is from a paper by Reitaku University Associate Professor Jason Morgan, published in today’s Sankei Shimbun.
It is essential reading not only for the Japanese public but for people around the world.
The two-page article in today’s Sankei Shimbun, following this paper, clearly reveals that the Japanese Communist Party and the Constitutional Democratic Party are nothing more than parties of a colonized mentality.
The Communist Party, from its inception, was a Comintern satellite party, and even today, it remains an anti-Japanese party aligned with communism.
The Arrival of the “White Ships” and a Crisis in Japanese Governance
One day, a foreign-flagged ship suddenly appears off the coast of the Japanese archipelago.
Its leader claims the ship has come for mutual peace and prosperity.
But the threatening posture is unmistakable.
Rather than mutual peace, isn’t the real objective the establishment of a new order in the Western Pacific?
Indeed, one by one, the nations surrounding Japan are becoming client states of the country that owns this ship.
Yet the Japanese government, numbed by decades of peace, hesitates to respond.
Japan’s bureaucrats endlessly shuffle responsibilities, believing that handling things the same way as always will somehow work.
Will Japan be in time? Can it protect its independence?
Anxiety spreads. The future is uncertain.
Reading the above, many may be reminded of the historical moment in 1853 when Commodore Perry’s “Black Ships” arrived from the United States.
But this is not history—it is a crisis unfolding right now.
Not the Late Edo Period, But a Present-Day National Crisis
In 2022, the foreign vessels threatening Japan are Chinese Coast Guard ships, heavily armed and operating under the Chinese Coast Guard Law.
They act under the guise of law enforcement, earning the nickname “a second navy.”
These are “White Ships,” not Black Ships.
What China is bringing to Japan is not peace or prosperity, but a new order in the Western Pacific—and ultimately, the entire world.
In December last year, Sargis Sangari, a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and personal friend of mine, sounded the alarm on Japan’s national security to lawmakers and officials in Tokyo.
Mr. Sangari is the founder and CEO of a think tank focused on Middle East affairs.
According to Sangari, this is a reoccurrence of 1853.
China’s rise, like America’s once was, is a global game-changer.
Japan’s usual way of doing things will not suffice.
He also made another important point worth considering:
That the United States, in its dealings with Japan, exhibits a form of “neo-colonialism.”
Concerns Over an Unhealthy Dependency
What does “neo-colonialism” mean in this context?
It suggests that the U.S. has extended its imperial-style influence over mainland Japan, following the dismantling of the Japanese Empire after World War II.
Why is it that Japanese politicians make no effort to defend their own country?
Perhaps the root lies in this neo-colonial mindset.
Indeed, in just three years, we will mark the 80th anniversary of the postwar regime—a milestone hardly worth celebrating.
Regrettably, America’s neo-colonialism has become normalized among Japanese political elites.
This unhealthy dependency is what Sangari is warning against.
Before confronting China, Japan’s politicians can’t even bring themselves to diplomatically boycott the so-called “Genocide Olympics.”
Under this neo-colonial system, Japan appears to have surrendered its sovereignty—and perhaps even its very identity as a nation.
One could argue this is a problem America created, so Japan is simply reaping what was sown.
But nearly 80 years have passed since the war—Japan can no longer blame America.
Breaking free from the postwar regime is now Japan’s own responsibility.
Would the Japanese people truly be indifferent if their nation became part of China?
It’s understandable that the complicated legacy of modern history—captured in the very phrase “postwar regime”—makes Japan hesitant to confront China.
To See Clearly, We Must Understand Modern History Properly
One of history’s cruel ironies is that Japan lost its own independence in order to protect the sovereignty of other Asian nations from Western imperialism.
It’s a deeply complex history.
But modern history alone does not determine Japan’s fate.
War and the postwar regime are not the entirety of Japan.
Taking a longer view of history, it becomes clear that Japan being under the control of a foreign empire is an utterly abnormal condition.
To Avoid the Nightmare of the Chinese Communist Party
British historian Arnold Toynbee, in his A Study of History written between the 1930s and 1950s, recognized the uniqueness of Japanese civilization.
American political scientist Samuel Huntington, in his 1996 book The Clash of Civilizations, also emphasized Japan’s civilizational individuality.
Japan is a great civilization, rich in historical independence and cultural identity—belonging to no other empire.
If this historical trajectory is finally properly understood, then it becomes obvious what Japan must do.
Japan must revise the American-imposed constitution—an ID card of its neo-colonial status—recognize the Self-Defense Forces as a proper military in the constitution, strengthen its capabilities, and fully prepare for any challenge from China.
Dr. Toynbee praised Japan’s ultimate victory over Western imperialism.
Yet the fact that the Japanese themselves now deny this achievement is becoming a source of global danger.
To shatter the nightmare “new order” that the Chinese Communist Party is attempting to impose on Japan and the world,
Japan must reclaim the independence it once lost while trying to protect other Asian nations from Western empires,
and finally cast off its status as a neo-colony of the United States.
Unless Japan does this, the next generation will no longer be able to inherit a nation called Japan.
The country may well fall under the control of the Chinese Communist Party.