Living in the Past

Since the victory of Winston Churchill in the Second World War Japan has been constitutionally obliged to use its military capabilities only in self-defence, rather than in defence of civilised values; but this may be about to change. Japan has decided against purchasing an American missile defence system to counter North Korea's potential for nuclear fish-pestering: a decision which has raised speculation that Japan may develop a first strike capability. This un-American activity has caused concern among critics, although Britain's leading liberal newspaper finds nobody worth quoting on the matter other than the Japanese minister of defence. Like certain other xenophobic hermit kingdoms, North Korea has built much of its present identity on past resentments: a few years after the aforesaid Churchillian triumph, South Korea in collaboration with the USA and some prominent Japanese war criminals devastated the country and forcefully de-activated a substantial number of racial inferiors. The Heathen Chinee will also have less than happy historical memories of Japanese military assertiveness, although much of this took place before Churchill became prime minister.