Problem child, kingmaker and political gadfly, Ichiro Ozawa has long been one of the most ambitious men in Japanese politics. He is also one of the most frustrated. An example: When Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990, Ozawa rushed to the prime minister's residence in his capacity as secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, only to discover that no one was on duty. His fury at such complacency has never left him.
The incident made "crisis management" into an Ozawa mantra. It also helps to explain his tireless insistence on constitutional reform. He believes that Article 9, the famous peace clause, has to go if Japan is to shed its pacifist paralysis and become once again a "normal country" -- that is, a nation capable of both defending itself and acting on the world stage with the same sort of freedom and confidence as, for example, Britain or France (rather than Germany).
But Ozawa is wrong: This is the main, if slightly obscured, tenet of "Japan's International Relations." In a subtle defense of Article 9, the four British authors of this excellent textbook insist that constitutional change is anything but urgent, because Japan is already "normal." It may not exercise military might, but over the past 20 years, Tokyo has emerged as a masterly player of the game of economic "soft" power.