Despite clear confirmation that UN Special Rapporteurs do not represent the official position of the United Nations, the name “UN” still carries disproportionate authority in Japanese political discourse. This section examines Japan’s postwar “UN illusion” and how it persisted long after Japan regained full sovereignty.

This section explores how Japan’s postwar reliance on the United Nations evolved into a form of institutionalized belief.
Even after explicit clarification by António Guterres that UN Special Rapporteurs do not speak for the UN itself, Japanese political discourse continues to attribute excessive authority to the organization.
The phenomenon reflects historical circumstances rooted in defeat, occupation, and the search for international legitimacy, yet it has persisted long beyond the restoration of full sovereignty.
To be continued.

2017-06-27
What follows is a continuation of the previous chapter.
However, it must not be forgotten that the opinions of Special Rapporteurs do not constitute the opinions of the United Nations itself.
This fundamental principle was clearly conveyed very recently, on May 27, by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
During their meeting held in conjunction with the G7 summit in Italy, the Secretary-General explicitly stated that the opinion of Special Rapporteur Joseph Cannataci, who opposed Japan’s anti-terrorism preparation bill, did not represent the view of the United Nations as a whole.
He reportedly stated that “Special Rapporteurs of the Human Rights Council act in their personal capacity separate from the United Nations, and their assertions do not necessarily reflect the consensus of the UN.”
Even so, in Japan’s political and other debates, the name “United Nations” continues to carry great weight.
It may be likened to the hollyhock crest of Mito Kōmon or the imperial brocade banner at the end of the Tokugawa period.
Yet in the case of the United Nations, there is in fact no such real power.
It can be said that Japan has unilaterally enshrined the UN as a sacred international organization with actual authority.
Such overestimation of the United Nations in Japan may be called a “UN illusion.”
Postwar Japan can be said to have been persistently haunted by this UN illusion.
The United Nations, needless to say, is an international organization established shortly after World War II with the hope of preventing another global war, and as of May 2017 it has a total of 193 member states.
In Japan, devotion to the United Nations was extraordinarily strong from an early stage in the postwar period.
The UN was always enshrined as a “temple of peace.”
There were even serious proposals by University of Tokyo professors advocating that Japan entrust all of its defense to UN peacekeeping forces.
Even in relatively recent years, figures such as Ichiro Ozawa, then a leading figure of the Liberal Democratic Party, argued that Japan’s diplomacy should be based entirely on “UN-centered” or “UN-first” principles.
Such UN faith in Japan may have had reasonable grounds in the early postwar era.
After all, Japan was a defeated nation.
It was an occupied country that had lost its independence.
In order to finally regain independence and international recognition, reliance on the UN and integration with it may well have been the only possible path.
However, that extraordinarily strong faith continued for many long years even after Japan had become a fully sovereign and respectable independent nation.
To be continued.