Rethink Japan pacifism, advises ex-PM
TOKYO: Former Japanese prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, a World War II naval officer and one of Japan’s longest-serving premiers, marked his 100th birthday yesterday with a call to revise the nation’s post-war, pacifist constitution.
Nakasone, who trod the world stage with US President Ronald Reagan and Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during his 1982-1987 tenure, has long advocated amending the US-drafted charter to clarify the ambiguous status of the military – a goal shared by incumbent premier Shinzo Abe.
He urged politicians to seriously tackle the matter, which remains a contentious topic among the Japanese public.
“To resolutely open the path to the nation’s future… is the essence of politics,” Nakasone said in a statement issued to mark his birthday that was carried by Japanese media.
Known for his “Ron and Yasu” friendship with Reagan, Nakasone made headlines after taking office when he said that, in the event of a war, he would make Japan an unsinkable “aircraft carrier” for US forces and bottle up the Soviet navy. He also broke an unwritten rule of limiting the annual defence budget to 1% of gross national product.
Nakasone is a former lieutenant in the Imperial Navy who lost his younger brother in World War II.
He outraged Asian countries when he made an official visit to Tokyo’s Yasukuni shrine, where convicted war criminals are honoured along with Japan’s war dead, on the 40th anniversary of Japan’s surrender. He did not repeat the pilgrimage after it sparked riots in China.
Nakasone was forced to retire in 2003 when he was 85, along with other elder statesmen, by then premier Junichiro Koizumi, who was keen to rejuvenate the Liberal Democratic Party’s image as a party of staid, elderly politicians.
Commenting on the reasons for his longevity, Nakasone cited a disciplined life, interest in nature – and an insatiably inquiring mind.