The new old great player

[abomvubuso]

120 years ago, Japan split away from the rest of Asia and sided with the Western "great powers", adopting the ideology of imperialism in the process. August 1, 1894 was the day when Japan declared war on China and pushed the Chinese army out of Korea. A few years later, Japan defeated Russia as well, and became the first Asian state to ever defeat

Comments

[the_rukh]

What does defense even mean these days?

[abomvubuso]

Those ministries/departments should all be renamed to "Ministry/Department of Offense".

[the_rukh]

Or at least Department of Combat or something like that. I feel like we'd have to justify missions more if it wasn't an action of "defense" always. "We're sending the department of Blowing Things Up in to Iraq for a peacekeeping operation" sounds like it deserves a bit more explanation.

[airiefairie]

Understandable or not, Abe's new determination to stop the Chinese ambitions for hegemony in the region are also poisoning the domestic political climate as a collateral consequence. There've already been numerous suspicions of infringements upon fundamental rights at home. Especially the new law about confidential information that restricts the contacts between state officials and journalists, which looks like a first step toward police state.

It is a slippery slope, as the government could brand any information concerning nuclear security "confidential", and that, in situations like Fukushima, could be a very serious problem.

[kylinrouge]

Good write-up. Always interesting to hear about the 'Western' power of the Pacific.

[nairiporter]

Commendation seconded/thirded.