This essay challenges the belief that Japan’s postwar peace was achieved by renouncing war or by Article 9 of the Constitution, and argues that peace has been maintained through deterrence. It stresses the necessity of viewing ideals and reality simultaneously in matters of national defense.

A person who has reached a certain level of maturity should view ideals and reality at the same time.
2016-10-31
The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
■Japanese Awareness of National Defense
First, there are phrases often heard, such as “Japan was peaceful because it renounced war,” or “Japan did not fight a war for sixty years after the war because it has Article 9 of the Constitution,” but these are complete falsehoods.
The source of peace is not “because war was renounced,” and the reason Japan did not go to war is not “because Article 9 exists.”
Then why has Japan managed to avoid war.
What kind of power did the so-called peace constitution actually have.
Here, in order to slightly change the angle of perspective, I will attempt an illustration by replacing the form with the “bullying problem,” a type of “personal conflict.”
Here, I will not discuss “the causes of bullying,” “how to eliminate bullying,” or “which side, the bully or the bullied, is at fault.”
I will narrow the point of this analogy to one.
That is whether there is any power in a claim of peace made by the bullied side if one of those being bullied were to unilaterally declare “the renunciation of fighting.”
To put it more simply, if the bullied side alone renounces fighting, would bullying disappear.
The answer, regrettably, is no.
If bullying could disappear so easily, there would be no hardship.
In reality, it is often those who cannot fight due to circumstances, or those who lack the will to fight, who are more likely to be bullied.
Whether it is “world peace” or “a daily life free from bullying,” words alone are not sufficient to realize ideals.
Many Japanese people readily understand that bullying does not disappear through simple measures, yet they struggle to understand that war also does not disappear through simple measures, fleeing from the burden of thinking and merely chanting “oppose armament” and “oppose war.”
However, peace cannot be achieved through “unarmed neutrality” as advocated by the Socialist Party, nor through the Communist Party’s calls for “opposition to the deployment of the Self-Defense Forces, absolute defense of Article 9, and anti-Americanism.”
Moreover, not all countries in the world are “benevolent nations that can be reasoned with if one just talks.”
Nevertheless, why has Japan been able to live in peace for sixty years after the war, without being invaded, despite being surrounded by “dictatorial communist states with completely different values” such as China, Russia, and North Korea.
The answer is simple.
It is because behind Japan stood the world’s strongest U.S. military, displaying overwhelming force.
It was certainly not thanks to the peace constitution or Article 9 of the Constitution.
Many Japanese people feel resistance even at the mention of the term “military power,” yet the peace that Japanese people enjoy every day is maintained “by military power.”
Of course, war should never be waged.
Not because it is barbaric.
Nor because of repentance.
But simply because “it is a loss for both sides.”
And the ideal of opposing war is a noble and indispensable principle for human beings to live as human beings, and it is something the world should continue to uphold.
But at the same time, one must not avert one’s eyes from “reality.”
A person who has reached a certain level of maturity should view ideals and reality at the same time.
Throughout history and across cultures, there has never been an example where fights and conflicts were eradicated simply because many people gathered together, and human desire clearly includes those who can be controlled by reason and those who cannot, and in fact the act of war continues to exist on this planet without disappearing.
That is the “reality” that cannot be denied, no matter how much one wishes to do so.
A state should not merely speak of ideals, but at the same time choose “realistic methods,” avoid war, and protect its citizens.
Japan is in a particularly serious situation in that it relies on the military power of other countries while shouting “oppose war,” without possessing its own “power-backed deterrence to prevent war before it occurs,” unlike other nations of the world.
To be continued.
The above is taken from http://ccce.web.fc2.com/a.html.