Trump makes Japan nervous over Korean crisis
TOKYO — Takehisa Kamiyama worries about the prospect of nuclear war with North Korea. More specifically, he worries that Donald Trump will start one.
“Considering the character of the U.S. president, I have fears the U.S. will act in a military way,” he tells me through an interpreter as we chat on a street near Japan’s imperial palace.
“I don’t want that, because South Korea and Japan are very close to North Korea. We have nowhere to evacuate to.”
Kamiyama, a former political operative who now acts as a special adviser to a health products company, is not atypical. While most of the ordinary Japanese residents I’ve talked to over the past few days say they don’t expect a war, many are fearful nonetheless.
They are also skeptical about the ability of their own political leaders to meet the challenge.
Almost everyone has an opinion on Trump’s role in the Korean crisis. The U.S. president has been all over the map on North Korea. Most recently, he has been deliberately provocative — mocking the country’s dictator, Kim Jong Un, as “Little Rocket Man,” publicly undercutting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s efforts to open channels of communication with Pyongyang and threatening military action.
“I’m worried by both his language and his actions,” says Kamiyama. “He says things but he also does things. “He might make war.” A little farther down the street, property manager Shoko Fukada makes a similar assessment.
“I wonder about his belligerent rhetoric,” she says. “It’s nice that the U.S. protects Japan, but if he continues to talk in this most belligerent way, it might lead to war.”
A man who doesn’t want his name used is more forgiving.
“He (Trump) is talking in a very warlike way but I think he has a solution in mind,” he says. “I think that in the end there will be a diplomatic solution.” Still others support the U.S. president root and branch. Hu Tong, a Chinese national working part-time in a Tokyo coffee shop, thinks Trump is great.
“I think Trump is a very good and a nice president for the U.S. and the world,” says Hu. “Japan has an alliance with the U.S. Trump will not change that . . .
“Because of Trump’s efforts, we will see improvements in the North Korean situation. He has business experience.”
Chikara Toji, a pensioner, goes even further. “In the short term, (Trump’s rhetoric) may make the situation worse,” he says.
“But considering the track record of North Korea, I think we will have to do something drastic.” Like a pre-emptive strike? “That depends on the situation,” says Toji. “I suspect there will be a military clash. I think we should be prepared for Japan being attacked.”
Throughout these conversations, the issues of Trump and North Korea remain entwined with Japanese domestic politics.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calculates that his conservative Liberal Democratic Party will be returned to power in the Oct. 22 election, in part because he is seen as better able to deal with North Korea than his main adversary, the equally conservative firebrand Yuriko Koike.
If my conversations with people are any indication, Abe may be right. Even those who don’t like the current prime minister say that he is more capable of handling the Korean crisis than Koike, who currently serves as the elected governor of Tokyo.
That may be in part because she is a woman (Japan is still a relatively conservative country).
But it is also because she is seen by many as an opportunist who won the governorship last year simply to use it as a springboard into national politics.
“I think Koike san still has a lot to do as Tokyo governor,” says property manager Fukuda. “Considering his past record, I think Abe would be better.”
That sentiment is echoed by others. “I think he (Abe) is co-ordinating with Trump,” says one man. “I agree with what they are doing. I support what they are doing.”
Thomas Walkom is in Tokyo as a guest of the Foreign Press Center Japan, a non-profit organization with links to the Japanese government. The opinions expressed are his own.