Through a dialogue with Emmanuel Todd, the argument that nuclear imbalance destabilizes East Asia is examined, highlighting the necessity for Japan itself to confront global realities and make its own sovereign choices.

On that “balance,” Emmanuel Todd, PhD in history from University of Cambridge,
2016-10-31
The following continues from the chapter that ended with “Japan’s irresponsible unarmed posture is destabilizing the balance of East Asia.”
Regarding that “balance,” Emmanuel Todd, a French historian with a doctorate from Cambridge University, stated the following in a dialogue with Wakamiya Yoshibumi, then editorial chief of the Asahi Shimbun, a leftist figure famous for saying, “Why not just hand Takeshima over to South Korea.”
Todd
What is frightening about nuclear weapons is their uneven distribution. The tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred because only the United States possessed nuclear weapons, whereas they were not used during the U.S.–Soviet Cold War. India and Pakistan came to the peace table only after both acquired nuclear weapons. The Middle East is unstable because only Israel has nuclear weapons, and East Asia cannot be stable if only China has them. Japan should have them as well.
Wakamiya
Japan, you say.
Todd
Iran and Japan are both major countries in regions exposed to threats, and they share the fact that they are not nuclear-armed. If Japan and Iran were to possess nuclear weapons under certain conditions, the world would become more stable.
Wakamiya
That is an extremely provocative opinion. Hiroshima’s Atomic Bomb Dome was made a World Heritage site out of a desire for nuclear abolition. The rejection of nuclear weapons is part of Japan’s national identity, and Japan has no option to go nuclear.
Todd
I too visited Hiroshima first when I came to Japan. I understand national sentiment, but one must also face the realities of the world. A larger structural problem than North Korea lies in the two unstable giant systems of the United States and China. As I explained in my book After the Empire, the United States is in decline under enormous fiscal deficits and therefore tends to resort quickly to military force. That is Japan’s sole ally.
Wakamiya
Indeed, the Iraq War exposed America’s problems.
Todd
China, on the other hand, faces tensions such as wage stagnation and various social disparities, and it directs domestic dissatisfaction outward through “anti-Japanese” nationalism. And that country is Japan’s trading partner.
Various opinions exist across the world.
Whichever path is chosen, it must be chosen by the Japanese people themselves.
To be continued.
I am almost certain who is writing this genuine essay that all Japanese citizens must read, but I will address that later, and in the next chapter I will introduce more of Emmanuel Todd’s dialogue from the sources he cited.