Diplomacy is not merely dialogue but a comprehensive struggle to maximize national interests. This essay explains why Japan is constantly pressured by China and South Korea, pointing to distorted media narratives, education, and a fundamental misunderstanding of diplomacy.

“They are employed with tax money to serve the interests of the entire nation, on behalf of all its citizens.”
2016-10-31
The following is a revised and more readable version of the first chapter released today in order to inform all Japanese citizens of the truth that only genuine scholarly work can convey.
All emphasis within the text, except for headings, is mine.
At present, there is no proper dialogue or negotiation with China or South Korea.
They impose their own convenient rules, and when circumstances change, they unilaterally discard even the rules they themselves created.
While the United States demands “only money,” China and South Korea demand “money, territory, technology, power, resources, and even history itself.”
■The Japanese View of Diplomacy
So why is Japan spoken down to so relentlessly by China and South Korea.
This is because media outlets that report only their favorable aspects while concealing their abusive and delusional statements, along with biased education, have thoroughly stripped Japanese people of any sense of crisis and of “national defense awareness.”
As a result, in Japanese elections, an overwhelming number of voters do not use a candidate’s awareness of national defense as a selection criterion, and candidates therefore avoid emphasizing it.
Such a trend, however, is extremely dangerous for Japan.
Conversely, why are China and South Korea able to say whatever they want.
It is because they have identified the discrepancy, or weakness, in how Japanese people are perceived by the world.
A clear example is the tendency among Japanese people to mistakenly believe that diplomacy simply means “dialogue.”
Diplomacy is not equal to dialogue.
Dialogue is only a very small part of diplomacy.
Diplomacy is the act of making every possible effort to force another country to accept one’s own national position.
The ultimate goal of diplomacy is for each country to maximize its own national interests.
“Dialogue,” “international goodwill,” “aid,” “disputes,” “war,” “media interference,” “intelligence activities,” “alliances,” “private-sector exchanges,” “sanctions,” and “blockades” are all merely types of diplomatic tools used toward that goal.
National representatives do not meet their foreign counterparts to make friends.
They are employed with tax money to bring benefits to the entire nation, on behalf of all its citizens.
Every country has a responsibility to use various means and make every possible effort to achieve its national objectives.
When diplomacy is misunderstood as “dialogue,” non-dialogue measures—especially “coercive measures”—are assumed to belong only to barbaric nations, leading to extreme misconceptions such as believing that “war and diplomacy are opposites.”
In reality, however, diplomacy is the result of all these measures acting together in combination.
To be continued.