Published on April 21, 2019.
Based on a chapter originally published on October 9, 2015, this essay examines the reality that Japan was bearing nearly one-fifth of the United Nations budget while still remaining outside the circle of permanent powers, exposing a contradiction in the postwar international order.
It highlights the fact that Japan’s contribution exceeded the combined total of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, while the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia remained delinquent in payment, and argues that Japan and Germany were in fact the nations sustaining the UN financially.
The essay insists that the idea that “Japan is supporting the world” is not an exaggeration, but a view rooted in reality.

2019-04-21
A single country bears as much as one-fifth.
That country is a small island nation in the Far East, and a defeated nation.
I feel deep indignation at this fact, and at the same time a strange sense of superiority.

The following is from a chapter I published on October 9, 2015.
Masayuki Takayama, a true man of backbone, wrote in one of his works…
that Japan’s assessed contribution to the United Nations was greater than the combined total of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom…
so I searched in order to verify it.
The writer, who did not give his name at all, but who was, like Takayama, a true man of backbone, had written something entirely correct.
The bold emphasis other than the title, and the comments marked with an asterisk below, are mine.
Payment of contributions to the United Nations, number one in the world.
Our country bears no less than 19.9% of the entire UN budget.
In terms of burden ratio, the United States is actually first at 25%, but the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia have left their contributions in arrears for years and show no sign of paying.
Japan is second at 19%, and Germany is third at 9.8%.
France is fourth at 6.3%, Russia fifth at 5.7%, the United Kingdom sixth at 5.3%, and China ninth at 0.9%.
What Masayuki Takayama had written was, naturally, entirely correct.
At present, the top three countries alone cover 54% of the total.
But have you noticed.
Japan and Germany, which bear these high rates, are non-permanent members.
As you know, the permanent members are the victors of the Second World War.
For that reason alone, they have remained permanent members for half a century, intervened in conflicts and started wars only for their own interests, and exercised veto power.
They are countries whose baseness knows no bounds.
And they leave their payments in arrears as much as they please.
Japan must hold stronger authority within the United Nations and at the same time face it with a resolute attitude.
Incidentally, in the year 2000, Japan’s burden ratio would be raised to 20.6%.
Among 185 member states, all contributing to the budget, one single country bears as much as one-fifth.
That country is a small island nation in the Far East, and a defeated nation.
I feel deep indignation at this fact, and at the same time a strange sense of superiority.
The reason the United Nations can function economically at present is none other than that Japan and Germany pay their assessed contributions without falling into arrears.
These two countries, having become defeated nations and been placed in a weak position, both became economic powers and are supporting the United Nations.
How unsightly the permanent members are, spending their days in military expansion and war.
“Japan is supporting the world.”
Even if that is a somewhat slanted way of looking at it, it is all right to think so.