February 20, 2008
Changing Views of Democracy in the U.S. - Japan Alliance
David R. Leheny
Professor of East Asian Studies, Princeton University
Minutes of the 20th Meeting of the 66th Year
The 20th meeting of the 66th year of the Old Guard was called to order at the Carl Field Center by President Joe Giordmaine at 10:15 AM. The attendance was about 95. He read the minutes of the February 13thmeeting at which David Crane, the CEO of NRG Inc, spoke about Global Warming and the Future of Nuclear Energy. There were no guest introductions. Reporting for the Membership Committee, John Schmidt honored two new emeritus members, Ed Crane and Robert Waldman. He reminded those present that we will be voting on the admission of four new members next week and said that heir biographical pages were available. Mr. Giordmaine announced that the speaker next week will be Emily Croll, former Senior Administrator of the Barnes Foundation. The meeting will be at the Friend Center.
Scott McVay then introduced the speaker of the day, Professor David Leheny, the Henry Wendt 1955 Professor of East Asian Studies in the Department of East Asian Studies at Princeton University, whose topic was “Changing Views of Democracy in the U.S Japan Alliance.” Prof. Leheny came to Princeton in September of 2007 from the University of Wisconsin, where he had served since 1998. In 2000 he served in the Office of Counterterrorism in the Department of State. Among the books he has written are Think Global Fear Local, Sex Violence and Anxiety in Contemporary Japan (2006) and The Rules of Play, National Identity and the Shaping of Japanese Leisure (2003).
Professors David Leheny, the Henry Wendt 1955 Professor of East Asian Studies at Princeton University, spoke about “Changing Views of Democracy in the U.S Japan Alliance.” First, he expressed his gratitude to Princeton alumni for their generosity to the University, especially Henry Wendt who endowed the Chair that he now occupies.
Throughout the post World War II era diplomats and writers in the U.S. and Japan have had different views about the roles of the two countries in Southeast Asia. He told about the book in which Shinzo Abe, the former Prime Minister of Japan, stated that Japan needed immigrants. Using the Irish immigration to the US to bolster his argument, he wrote that the Irish came to build a new nation. But Leheny is quite sure that his Irish forebears came to the US because they needed food. This illustrates the fact that people in Japan often have quite different interpretations of events than people in the US. They always see themselves as the leading country in the region. Similarly, US officials continually see the US as the leader.
A recent set of articles in the US foreign policy press states that the US and Japan are in the process together of building a democratic alliance in Asia. One of the authors wrote that this alliance was based on the common value of democracy, but this view did not recognize that Japan since the early twentieth century had seen itself as the logical leader of the East, serving as a protective barrier between the weak nations of the East against the rapacious nations of the West.
US thinkers emphasized that Japan was a democracy which had free elections, the right to organize, etc., but in of foreign policy US leaders assumed that we have the right to go into other countries and show them how to become democracies. After World War II the goal of the US was to stimulate the economic development of Japan. Therefore, it allowed the economic planners of the former government to remain in place, and the result was the dramatic economic growth of Japan, in contrast to what happened in Iraq when the US forbad former Baathists from taking any part in the new government.
Japan adopted a similar policy toward its neighbors. In the 1930s a Japanese communist by the name of Kanami Akamatsu argued that Japan was destined to organize the regional economies of Southeast Asia. Later, in 1961, after Japan had modernized and industrialized extremely rapidly, Akamatsu believed that Japan should use its international aid programs to replicate the Japanese development model in the rest of Asia, promoting active government involvement to guide and direct economic development, rather than to rely solely on market forces. The dramatic economic growth of Southeast Asia followed.
Prime Minister Montier Mohammed of Malaysia was an admirer of Japan. He argued that Malaysia should be looking to Japan for advice on how to get ahead. So Malaysia allied itself closely with Japan. As Japan grew in economic clout, people in the US began to fear that Japan was getting ahead of the US, but then the Japanese bubble popped in the 1990s. That plus the growing influence of China caused the Japanese to entertain serious self-doubt.
In response to this new situation, Japanese loyalist Taro Aso, who was a former foreign minister under Abe, wrote a book, the title of which in English means Japan the Tremendous, in which he articulated a new argument, namely that Japan is best positioned to teach democratic values, not primarily economic strategies, to other nations in Asia. He tells a story about workers from India who previously had a reputation for being lazy. They thanked Aso because Japanese workers had taught them how to work hard. Today he urges Japan to coach other nations in a natural progression toward democracy, and thus to encircle China and counterbalance its influence.
In the question and answer period following Leheny’s talk members asked questions about relations between Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and mainland China.
Respectfully submitted,
Dave McAlpin
Scott McVay then introduced the speaker of the day, Professor David Leheny, the Henry Wendt 1955 Professor of East Asian Studies in the Department of East Asian Studies at Princeton University, whose topic was “Changing Views of Democracy in the U.S Japan Alliance.” Prof. Leheny came to Princeton in September of 2007 from the University of Wisconsin, where he had served since 1998. In 2000 he served in the Office of Counterterrorism in the Department of State. Among the books he has written are Think Global Fear Local, Sex Violence and Anxiety in Contemporary Japan (2006) and The Rules of Play, National Identity and the Shaping of Japanese Leisure (2003).
Professors David Leheny, the Henry Wendt 1955 Professor of East Asian Studies at Princeton University, spoke about “Changing Views of Democracy in the U.S Japan Alliance.” First, he expressed his gratitude to Princeton alumni for their generosity to the University, especially Henry Wendt who endowed the Chair that he now occupies.
Throughout the post World War II era diplomats and writers in the U.S. and Japan have had different views about the roles of the two countries in Southeast Asia. He told about the book in which Shinzo Abe, the former Prime Minister of Japan, stated that Japan needed immigrants. Using the Irish immigration to the US to bolster his argument, he wrote that the Irish came to build a new nation. But Leheny is quite sure that his Irish forebears came to the US because they needed food. This illustrates the fact that people in Japan often have quite different interpretations of events than people in the US. They always see themselves as the leading country in the region. Similarly, US officials continually see the US as the leader.
A recent set of articles in the US foreign policy press states that the US and Japan are in the process together of building a democratic alliance in Asia. One of the authors wrote that this alliance was based on the common value of democracy, but this view did not recognize that Japan since the early twentieth century had seen itself as the logical leader of the East, serving as a protective barrier between the weak nations of the East against the rapacious nations of the West.
US thinkers emphasized that Japan was a democracy which had free elections, the right to organize, etc., but in of foreign policy US leaders assumed that we have the right to go into other countries and show them how to become democracies. After World War II the goal of the US was to stimulate the economic development of Japan. Therefore, it allowed the economic planners of the former government to remain in place, and the result was the dramatic economic growth of Japan, in contrast to what happened in Iraq when the US forbad former Baathists from taking any part in the new government.
Japan adopted a similar policy toward its neighbors. In the 1930s a Japanese communist by the name of Kanami Akamatsu argued that Japan was destined to organize the regional economies of Southeast Asia. Later, in 1961, after Japan had modernized and industrialized extremely rapidly, Akamatsu believed that Japan should use its international aid programs to replicate the Japanese development model in the rest of Asia, promoting active government involvement to guide and direct economic development, rather than to rely solely on market forces. The dramatic economic growth of Southeast Asia followed.
Prime Minister Montier Mohammed of Malaysia was an admirer of Japan. He argued that Malaysia should be looking to Japan for advice on how to get ahead. So Malaysia allied itself closely with Japan. As Japan grew in economic clout, people in the US began to fear that Japan was getting ahead of the US, but then the Japanese bubble popped in the 1990s. That plus the growing influence of China caused the Japanese to entertain serious self-doubt.
In response to this new situation, Japanese loyalist Taro Aso, who was a former foreign minister under Abe, wrote a book, the title of which in English means Japan the Tremendous, in which he articulated a new argument, namely that Japan is best positioned to teach democratic values, not primarily economic strategies, to other nations in Asia. He tells a story about workers from India who previously had a reputation for being lazy. They thanked Aso because Japanese workers had taught them how to work hard. Today he urges Japan to coach other nations in a natural progression toward democracy, and thus to encircle China and counterbalance its influence.
In the question and answer period following Leheny’s talk members asked questions about relations between Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and mainland China.
Respectfully submitted,
Dave McAlpin