In July last year I took issue with an article written by former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa ("Japan-U.S. Security Treaty: A kind of insurance policy" July 11, 1998). In his recent May 31 article "A de facto treaty revision," Hosokawa called for "a full dress debate on se curity issues, including not only those issues that involve the Constitution but also those pertaining to the modalities of the Japan-U.S. alliance." I fully agree.
Hosokawa writes ominously about the direction in which Japan is proceeding and he is not alone. The Washington Post's Jim Hoagland wrote recently that Japan is moving, albeit almost imperceptibly, "in one constant direction: toward greater self-reliance in military and security affairs and international politics."
Hosokawa argues that the recently enacted defense-guidelines bills were passed with only cursory debate, and are at least questionably unconstitutional. Hoagland warns that Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi will travel to China in July "with a new set of made-in-Japan priorities" that represent "a process of change that Washington needs to watch." I disagree, but Hosokawa and Hoagland's articles help make the case for the former's call for a thorough debate in Japan.