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President, GFJ
"GFJ Commentary of the Month"
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"GFJ Commentary of the Month" presents a monthly publication of views of members of GFJ on relations of Japan with the rest of the world and other related international affairs. The views expressed herein are the author's own and should not be attributed to GFJ.
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Japan's 'Virtue' and the Abduction Issue
By YAMAUCHI Masayuki
Professor of The University of Tokyo
An American scholar cites two incidents that took place in Asia as milestones of the Twentieth century which are of world-historical importance. One is Japanese-Russo War of 1904, in which Japan for the first time in history repelled European rule over Asia, and the other the division of the Korean Peninsula after cease-fire of the Korean War in 1953. The Twenty-first century will also witness the world being shaken up by high profile of Asia, where China and India are on the sharp rise and considered a menace. Meanwhile, the global universalism which centers on the Western capitalism including that of the U.S. wreaked wars and revolutions, thereby creating tensions and chasms among peoples over the semantics of public good on a level of civilization.
New challenges by the Islamic world and frontal countercharges by the U.S. for instance pose serious issues of terrorism as well as disparity upon humanity in the Twenty-first century. We should bear afresh in mind that abduction conducted by North Korea is nothing but diabolical terrorism. Regardless of the fact that North Korea itself is the tragic artifact of the division of Korean Peninsula, or whether the U.S. removes North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, Japan's basic stance against North Korea would not budge an inch.
No society is more afflicted with the tension between individual person's interest and public good than today's Japan. That is why we must not neglect the weightiness of the Abduction Issues which have a vital interest with the fundamentals of humanism. We, Japanese are firm in our conviction that it is highly important for us to think out in a comprehensive approach how the civilization and order of the Twenty-first century should be. We must therefore retrieve the abduction victims back home. As Machiavelli, an Italian political philosopher, once said, it is 'virtue' that is indispensable to establish and maintain a stable political order. In an era when virtue is decaying and self -interested people abound, it is Japan's mission to disseminate in and outside the country the way to revitalize the notion of public good, while trying to reconcile both public and private life in harmony. We could say that the solution of the abduction issue is the touchstone for our goal.
(This is the English translation of an article which originally appeared on the BBS "Giron-Hyakushutsu" of GFJ on 5 July, 2008, and was posted on "GFJ Commentary" on 30 September, 2008.)
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For more views and opinions in the backnumber of "GFJ Commentary," the list of which for the past six months is as follows, please refer to:
http://www.gfj.jp/eng/commentary/backnumber.html
No.16 On Japan's Use of Space for Defense Purposes
by KINOSHITA Hiroo, Advisor of National Small Business & Information Promotion Center
(23 August 2008)
No.15 For the Agriculture with Security, Safety, Low Price and Stability
by IWAKUNI Tetsundo, Member of the House of Representatives (Democratic Party of Japan)
(24 July 2008)
No.14 Promote Active Diplomacy in the Arctic Circle
by KAWAI Masao, Visiting Professor of Hakuoh University
(20 June 2008)
No.13 Japan Forlorn in the World
by MORI Toshimitsu, Adviser to a financial corporation
(16 May 2008)
No.12 New Movement of the International Whaling Commission
by OKAWARA Yoshio, Chairman of the Global Forum of Japan
(23 April 2008)
No.11 Unsustainable Chinese "Continental Shelf" Theory
by YUSHITA Hiroyuki, Chairman of the Global Forum of Japan
(19 March 2008)
"GFJ Updates"
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"GFJ Updates" introduces to you latest events, announcements and/or publications of GFJ.
Announcement
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The Global Forum of Japan (GFJ), under the co-sponsorship with ASEAN Institutes of Strategic and International Studies (ASEAN-ISIS), organized "THE 7th JAPAN-ASEAN DIALOGUE: Prospect of Japan-ASEAN Partnership after the Second Joint Statement" in Tokyo on 25 September, 2008.
On the following day of the Dialogue, "Policy Recommendations Drafting Meeting," which was closed to the public, was held for the first time in the history of the "Japan-ASEAN Dialogue" in order to work on Policy Recommendations based on the achievements of the discussions in the Dialogue. GFJ and each of the ASEAN-ISIS member institutes submitted the Policy Recommendations to the respective governments of Japan and ASEAN.
For more, please refer to:
http://www.gfj.jp/eng/dialogue/30/pr.pdf
http://www.gfj.jp/eng/dialogue/30/outlines.pdf
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