Japanese journalists warn against Japan becoming wartime aggressor again

TOKYO -- Japanese journalist Toshihiro Yoshida, a long-time observer and critic of Japan's military expansion and deepening military integration with the United States, warned Sunday that the Japan-U.S. alliance has steadily hollowed out Japan's pacifist constitution, while the government has continued to pursue military expansion instead of reversing the trend, raising the risk that the country could once again become a wartime aggressor.

Yoshida made the remarks at a lecture held in Tokyo and organized by the Association for Remembering and Passing on the History of the Chongqing Bombing. As the keynote speaker, he reviewed a series of recent developments, including Japan's efforts to strengthen sustained combat capabilities, deploy long-range missiles, and promote the nationalization of defense equipment production facilities.

He argued that the military buildup pursued by the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi would not only fail to improve regional security but actually risk plunging the region into a "security dilemma."

In an interview with Xinhua following the event, Yoshida said the Takaichi administration and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party have continuously exaggerated threats posed by neighboring countries and fueled hostile public sentiment in an attempt to divert attention from domestic problems, noting that framing neighboring countries as "imaginary enemies" is essentially an attempt to externalize domestic political issues and it is the wrong path.

"Japan, as a former wartime aggressor, inflicted tremendous suffering on the people of other countries, only to ultimately see the Japanese people themselves become victims of war. It is the profound lesson history has left Japan," Yoshida said. "To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, hate-inciting rhetoric in today's society must not be allowed to spread."

Yozo Ouchi, a journalist specializing in the Japan-U.S. security alliance and author of "Is the Japan-US Security Treaty Really Necessary?" also addressed the gathering.

Ouchi said that although the Japanese government has repeatedly portrayed the regional security environment as increasingly severe, there is in reality no "hypothetical enemy" capable of launching a military invasion against Japan, stressing that what is truly needed is diplomacy to ease military confrontation, rather than further military expansion.

Recently, Japan has strengthened military deployments in various parts of the country while advancing legislation and revising policy documents to pave the way for further enhancement of its defense capabilities.

The ruling coalition has also called for higher defense spending in its proposal to revise the country's three key security documents later this year, citing the need to prepare for potential "contingencies."

These developments have continued to fuel public concern in Japan over the country's accelerating military buildup.