Republication Date: 2026-07-24
Original Publication Date: 2011-10-31

This chapter examines the conflict between capitalism and democracy, America’s increasing inclination toward financial capitalism, the Annual Reform Recommendations, postal privatisation, Japan’s postal savings, and the TPP. It argues that Japan should prosper alongside the United States and help lead the world as a nation capable of establishing a more complete democracy and genuine freedom, and that the answer to Japan’s national strategy lies in The Turntable of Civilization.

To the officials of the United States government: pay just 2,100 yen in the twenty-first century and read my answer now.

2011-10-31

I once thought in terms of democracy rooted in capitalism, or capitalism rooted in democracy.

A long time ago, however, a Nobel Prize–calibre American scholar wrote a book whose title, as I recall, concerned the conflict between capitalism and democracy.

That conflict is only natural.

From that time onward, I abandoned the vague definition with which I had previously begun.

It is widely known that, for more than thirty years, America had increasingly inclined toward capitalism.

More particularly, it had inclined toward financial capitalism.

It is also widely known that, throughout the postwar period, Japan conducted its politics in accordance with the Annual Reform Recommendations presented by the United States.

The last and greatest of those demands was the opening of Japan’s postal savings system—in other words, the dismantling of the postal system.

It is also widely known that America’s objective was to gain access to the more than 500 trillion yen accumulated in Japan’s postal savings accounts.

It is likewise widely understood that America did not believe that this pool of money had yet been fully opened.

When, then, was the idea of the TPP conceived?

It was conceived by an America that remained excessively inclined toward financial capitalism.

Put simply, was its true objective not the desire of American financial institutions, insurance companies, and other interests to capture the more than 500 trillion yen accumulated in Japan’s postal savings system?

I want to say this to America.

As I have stated repeatedly, I recognise the United States as the hegemonic nation in the true meaning of the term.

When you became the hegemonic nation, however, the population of the world was only half what it is today.

The world’s population has now reached seven billion.

It is self-evident that the United States can no longer cover the entire world by itself.

That is precisely why the “Turntable of Civilization” has turned toward Japan.

Japan must stand alongside the United States as a nation capable of pursuing a more complete democracy and establishing genuine freedom.

In other words, you must not proceed on the basis of the petty idea of seizing the 500 trillion yen accumulated in Japan’s postal savings system.

Instead, you must enable Japan—your only and most powerful younger brother—to flourish as thoroughly as your own country.

You must enable Japan to prosper to the fullest possible extent.

The United States and Japan must continue to prosper together and lead the world for another 170 years, until the Turntable of Civilization turns toward the next nation in the sequence that I have predicted and described.

I declare that Japan’s future does not lie in the TPP.

The future of Japan, and indeed the future of the world, lies in my answer: The Turntable of Civilization—An Answer Concerning National Decision-Making and National Strategy.

To the officials of the United States government: pay just 2,100 yen in the twenty-first century and read my answer now.