The Asahi Shimbun has long insisted that Japan should “learn from Costa Rica,” claiming that the nation flourished by abolishing its military and embracing peace diplomacy. Takayama Masayuki argues that this narrative is entirely false—an invention repeated for nearly 20 years by successive Asahi correspondents. Costa Rica abolished its military not out of pacifism, but to prevent coups, relying on the United States’ security umbrella. The case of Panama, often cited by Asahi, was not inspired by Costa Rica but resulted from the 1989 U.S. invasion that dismantled the Panamanian Defense Forces. Takayama concludes that Article 9 is propped up only by such distortions, and the Japanese public must recognize the Asahi’s misleading portrayal.

When one thinks about how to protect oneself from neighboring countries that commit serious acts such as abductions and territorial violations, the Asahi suddenly says we should “learn from the small nation of Costa Rica.”
“The country renounced its army in its constitution, invested the freed resources in education, and became one of the most stable nations in Central and South America.”
“It even persuaded its neighbors, and now Panama too has abolished its army.”
Article 9 of the Constitution is absolutely not mistaken.
As Donald Keene says, it is “the pride of Japan.”
Therefore, we must not think of admonishing China or Korea.
Rather, it is desirable for Japan to live through peace diplomacy just like Costa Rica, they say.

This “Learn from Costa Rica” story is itself a complete lie.
This lie, just like the case of Seiji Yoshida, was written and passed down for nearly twenty years by generations of Asahi correspondents such as Ken Fujimori and Chihiro Itō.
When they returned to Japan, they were invited to lecture at “Article 9 Associations” across the country, earned pocket money, and after retirement became professors at Senshu University, where they continued spreading the same lie from the podium.
Just as Harufumi Kiyota, who supported Yoshida’s lies, became a professor at Tezukayama Gakuin University, the Asahi ensures a secure retirement for its lie-writing reporters.

Their story always begins like this:
“In 1949, after settling the civil war, President Figueres dissolved the army he himself commanded and stipulated its abolition in the constitution.
He did so because a democracy does not need a military.”
That is the lie.

For example, Ayatollah Khomeini was able to accomplish the Iranian Revolution precisely because the Iranian national army submitted to him.
And the first thing he did after taking power was purge that army.
Because the army is capable of staging a coup.
For a ruler, it is the most dangerous entity.

Figueres thought the same way.
The correct explanation is that he abolished the army to prevent anyone after him from staging a coup against him.
That region is the backyard of the United States.
If another country violates the border, the United States will not allow it.
Figueres counted on that situation.
It was the clever survival strategy of a small nation.

Then what happens to public security if the army is abolished?
“Only a little more than ten thousand police officers are responsible for it,” Fujimori wrote.
The term “only” is a lie.
In proportion to its 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 missiles.
In emergencies they can conscript troops, so the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) calls them a “quasi-military force.”
In other words, “a force just one step short of staging a coup.”

The most laughable lie is the claim that “Costa Rica persuaded neighboring countries not to maintain armies, and this was realized in Panama and several other nations.”
Panama was invaded in a surprise attack by U.S. forces during the administration of President George H. W. Bush in 1989 and was occupied.
The purpose of the invasion was to capture General Noriega, who once worked for the CIA and knew American secrets.
After capturing him, U.S. forces dismantled the Panamanian Defense Forces entirely so that Panama would not retaliate against this outrageous invasion.
It is the same as taking away the Japanese military after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, depriving Japan of its right to retaliate.

Fujimori turned this into a “success of Costa Rica’s peace diplomacy.”
It means that Article 9 can be supported only by such lies.

To be continued.