This essay, drawing on a dialogue between Shintaro Ishihara and Shizuka Kamei, exposes the reality that Japan’s Self-Defense Forces are forced into dangerous duties while remaining trapped in an ambiguous legal position.
It sharply criticizes the absurdity of being unable even to conduct night combat drills in joint U.S.-Japan exercises, the negligence of the defense bureaucracy that treats the lives of SDF personnel lightly, and the current condition of Japan, where the restoration of the right of self-defense and belligerency is obstructed by the GHQ-imposed Constitution.

2019-03-26
Even if Japan and the United States conduct joint exercises, they do not conduct night combat drills, so there is no point in it.
…That is what happens because Japan stands in a position where it does not wage war.
It is not a mysterious story.
It is simply a pitiful country.
Media organizations such as Asahi and NHK readily agree with foolish claims such as, “Not recognizing same-sex marriage or separate surnames for married couples is unconstitutional, therefore the Constitution should be amended,” and, as always, they use that to criticize their own country and their own government.
Where could one find greater fools than these.
For while they approve constitutional revision for such things, which are the very height of selfishness and the very height of human folly, they refuse constitutional revision for the purpose of amending the ultimate Constitution for dismantling Japan and weakening Japan that was imposed by GHQ, and above all for restoring the right of self-defense and the right of belligerency.
There is nowhere else in the world, outside of these people and China and the Korean Peninsula, where such a thing exists.
Where outside Japan is there a country without an army to defend itself.
Even Nazi Germany had an army, and in cooperation with its allies it dispatched forces overseas.
What follows is the earlier half that I omitted in the previous chapter.
Kame-chan, do you know the full story of Kanaguri Shiso in Idaten.
Kaku-san was ranting that “the Lockheed incident was a fraud”……
Is running away what defense means.
Kamei.
Ishihara-san, I read your dialogue in the April issue of Sound Argument with Masaru Sasaki, former Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary.
Ishihara.
In any event, the government’s response was a complete mess.
Last October, a 38-year-old Ground Self-Defense Force member who had participated in a trilateral joint exercise among Japan, the United States, and the Philippines in the Philippines was injured in a traffic accident and lost his life.
Unbelievably, after the accident, the Self-Defense Force member was simply left unattended for four days.
Kamei.
For four whole days.
Ishihara.
To confirm the facts, Sasaki-san and I went together to the Ministry of Defense.
But the vice minister who came out merely grinned foolishly and kept evading us, like pushing on a curtain.
Kamei.
Does he think that running away is what defense means.
Ishihara.
The Air Self-Defense Force has C-130 transport aircraft equipped with mobile medical units.
But they did not send one to the site.
When I asked the vice minister, he said, “Well, Ishihara-san, you understand, don’t you. It takes quite a lot of time for permission to come through.”
Hearing that answer, the two of us went home in anger.
The Diet too is half-asleep.
Even the defense committee, though one Self-Defense Force member had died, did not so much as pay a condolence visit.
Kamei.
That is because the Self-Defense Forces have an ambiguous standing.
Ishihara.
Once, when I was chairman of the Foreign Affairs Research Council, I was leisurely enjoying myself in the seas of Palau when I received a phone call.
It was to tell me, “After the fall of Pol Pot in Cambodia, Self-Defense Force personnel and volunteers were sent to the site to supervise and monitor the free elections, but one of the volunteers was shot dead by remnants of Pol Pot’s forces.”
An official from the Foreign Ministry came and said, “First I will explain the facts.”
Then he said, “Well, it was fortunate that the one who died was a civilian.
If a Self-Defense Force member had died, that would have been a real problem.”
I shouted at him, “You fool!”
It is a grave matter when Self-Defense Force personnel, who have been given only an extremely ambiguous status, die in the course of military operations.
And even if Japan and the United States conduct joint exercises, there is no point if they do not conduct night combat drills.
Kamei.
That is what happens because they stand in a position where they do not wage war.
It is not a mysterious story.
It is simply a pitiful country.
Protect the Self-Defense Forces.
Ishihara.
The Self-Defense Forces do not have the right of belligerency.
They are told not to fire their guns recklessly.
There was a time when Lieutenant Belenko of the Soviet military attempted to defect by making a forced landing at Hakodate Airport in the cutting-edge fighter aircraft known as the MiG-25.
Because it was the latest aircraft, the commander lined up anti-aircraft guns, thinking that the Soviet Union might come to retrieve it.
In the end, the Soviet Union did not come to retrieve it.
After that, Hiroomi Kurisu, then Chairman of the Joint Staff Council, repeatedly stated in Shukan Post that “There is a gap in the current Self-Defense Forces Law, and if Japan were subjected to a surprise invasion, the forces could not move until the Prime Minister issued a defense mobilization order.
It is possible that frontline unit commanders would take extra-legal action,” thus insisting that extra-legal measures should be recognized.
This became a political issue, and Noboru Kanemaru, the then Director-General of the Defense Agency, criticized him as violating civilian control and dismissed Kurisu.
Kamei.
Still, if Japan were to enter an actual state of war, most of today’s Self-Defense Force personnel would probably quit.
Japan has already become that kind of country.
Ishihara.
Masahisa Sato, now a member of the House of Councillors, was dispatched to Iraq when he was a Self-Defense Force commander.
There were 200 to 300 personnel under him, but bombers kept flying toward the base.
Since they had no means of resistance, all they could do was cover themselves with futons and sleep while trembling.
In the end, dozens grew sick of it and left the Self-Defense Forces.
To begin with, the Self-Defense Force personnel were not even supplied with morphine.
Sasaki-san, as Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary, appealed for the necessity of morphine, and only last October were medics finally allowed to carry morphine.
Kamei.
That was a victory for Ishihara-san’s persistence.
The rest omitted.