Close behind is probably the most ferocious and brutal demon: navy growth. Takaichi’s requires constitutional revision aren’t remoted slogans, however a prelude to Japan’s navy buildup.
by Gong Rong
In historical Greek mythology, Pandora pried open a field given by Zeus, unleashing the demons of greed, struggle, and falsehood upon humanity, with solely hope trapped perpetually on the backside.
Today, in Twenty first-century East Asia, Japanese Prime Minister and right-wing politician Sanae Takaichi, together with her obstinacy and political ambition, has turn out to be the “Pandora” of the brand new age.
Emboldened by her victory within the 2026 Japanese House of Representatives election, she might personally pry open Japan’s long-sealed “Pandora’s box” and launch three demons: constitutional revision, navy growth, and historic distortion.
These demons will break the seal of postwar peace, cross the authorized pink line of the victory in opposition to fascism, flip Japan’s rightward shift right into a substantive risk, and pose a grave hazard of resurgent Japanese militarism for the worldwide group. Every step she takes to interrupt free from the constraints of the postwar order pushes regional peace towards an unknown and threatening edge.
The first demon Takaichi will unleash is constitutional revision, instantly concentrating on Article 9 of Japan’s peace structure.
Article 9 of the 1947 peace structure locations Japan inside a peaceable institutional framework via the ironclad provisions of a everlasting renunciation of struggle and the upkeep of no common navy forces. It additionally varieties a key a part of the postwar worldwide order established by the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation, and the Japanese Instrument of Surrender. In different phrases, Japan’s structure is just not merely a home matter.
Since getting into politics, Takaichi has made repealing this clause her final purpose. During the latest election, she clamored for placing the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) within the structure and defining them as a “formal military organization,” overtly calling on voters to permit her to revise the structure.
Yet this seemingly easy authorized modification would fully negate the core spirit of the peace structure. Once the JSDF positive factors navy standing within the structure, Japan will shift basically from “exclusive defense” to full militarization. A two-thirds majority within the Diet is the important thing to breaking the seal. The escape of this demon will instantly trample on the victory in opposition to fascism of final century and take away an important institutional bulwark for peace in postwar East Asia.
Close behind is probably the most ferocious and brutal demon: navy growth. Takaichi’s requires constitutional revision aren’t remoted slogans, however a prelude to Japan’s navy buildup.
Initiated by Takaichi and Japanese right-wing forces, Japan’s navy growth has manifested in an alarming set of figures and actions: its protection finances for fiscal yr 2026 has soared to 9.04 trillion yen (about 58.9 billion U.S. {dollars}), marking 14 consecutive years of development. It is growing offensive missiles with ranges exceeding 1,000 km and establishing a “Space Operations Group” to increase its navy attain into outer area. Finally, the Japanese navy is stress-free restrictions on weapons exports, densely deploying missiles within the southwestern islands, and constructing a “forward deterrence system” concentrating on neighboring international locations.
The Takaichi authorities has additionally overtly examined the waters for revising the Three Non-Nuclear Principles, crossing a harmful pink line. Japan’s re-militarization is totally deviating from its claimed objective of self-defense and dangers fueling an arms race throughout the Asia-Pacific.
A 3rd demon can be historic revisionism and falsehood, probably the most malicious of all. It distorts historic reality and serves because the ideological breeding floor for constitutional revision and navy growth.
Takaichi’s right-wing orientation has been evident for the reason that first day she entered politics: More than 30 years in the past, she publicly challenged then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, questioning “on what grounds Japan’s war of aggression is deemed wrong.” In the many years after, she has been a frequent customer to the Yasukuni struggle shrine and overtly denied Japan’s crimes, such because the Nanjing Massacre and the pressured recruitment of consolation ladies. She even wrote prefaces for books glorifying Adolf Hitler and has grown ties with neo-Nazi forces.
The horror of this demon of falsehood lies in its try to erase the scars of historical past: When a nation refuses to withstand its wartime crimes and but wields navy may, it undermines regional mutual belief and betrays the reminiscence of justice and peace. Shrouded within the lie of normalizing the nation, Takaichi’s sinister agenda of reviving militarism can’t be hid.
These three demons don’t function in isolation however are deeply intertwined. Historical revisionism supplies the mental foundation for constitutional revision and navy growth, constitutional revision confers “legitimacy” for a navy buildup, and navy growth turns a harmful try to revise historical past into actuality.
Takaichi has even linked the Taiwan query to Japan’s proper of collective self-defense, claiming {that a} Taiwan contingency threatens Japan’s survival, utilizing China’s inner affairs as a pretext for its navy growth.
As the three demons tear aside the seal of peace, Asian international locations might as soon as once more face a repeat of Japanese aggression.
Pandora opened the field out of ignorance and recklessness; Takaichi’s try to pry open Japan’s “Pandora’s box” is deliberate, long-premeditated.
Her radicalism is just not an remoted, impulsive transfer, however the inevitable results of many years of rightward drift in Japanese politics and the resurgence of right-wing forces.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s incremental constitutional revision and lifting of the ban on collective self-defense paved the best way for the right-wing to emerge stronger than ever. The United States has lengthy connived with Japan to loosen navy restrictions to advance its personal Asia-Pacific technique. Inside Japan, because the technology that skilled the struggle passes away, the pressure for peace has weakened, and the military-industrial complicated and right-wing populism have shifted to the fore. Takaichi has seized this chance and, via the House of Representatives election, positioned her private political ambitions above regional peace, pushing Japan deep into the abyss of a radical rightward shift.
In mythology, hope was finally saved inside “Pandora’s box.” Today, nonetheless, there’s hope for East Asia so long as the worldwide group acts collectively.
China has firmly opposed the revival of Japanese militarism and labored along with Russia and different international locations to defend the postwar worldwide order. Insightful folks inside Japan have protested Takaichi’s push for constitutional revision and navy growth. Peace-loving forces throughout Asia and the remainder of the world are sounding the alarm.
These beams of hope are shiny sufficient to pierce the darkness. Only when the worldwide group stays vigilant and collectively urges Japan’s right-wing to face historical past squarely and halt constitutional revision and navy growth can the peace structure as soon as once more turn out to be Japan’s pink line. Only then can there be hope for peace within the Asia-Pacific, quite than being perpetually trapped on the backside of “Pandora’s box.”
Editor’s be aware: The creator is a commentator on worldwide affairs.
The views expressed on this article are these of the creator and don’t essentially replicate the positions of Xinhua News Agency.