Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has recently come out to make the case for "same work, same pay." Call me a cynic, but I suspect an ulterior motive. For years, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's policies have focused on helping prop up struggling corporations and their managers, with working people treated as more of a nuisance. It is therefore hard to believe that the LDP has suddenly grown a heart that aches over the travails of millions of unemployed, underemployed, underpaid, unpaid and otherwise un-somethinged workers.

Let's look at the government documents distributed at the ninth conference for the Japan Plan for Dynamic Engagement of All Citizens (the odd fixed English translation of Ichioku Sokatsuyaku Kokumin Kaigi), held June 2.

The name of this plan riffs discordantly on the prewar "Ichioku sōgyokusai" slogan used to mobilize the citizenry for war. That phrase referred to all Japanese sacrificing themselves like gyokusai, or shattered jewels, for the sake of the Emperor. Abe continues to try to return Japan to what he and many other nationalists see as the country's glorious fighting past, setting aside the tragic outcomes that don't fit the sparkling narrative.