What is it about?
Japan's identity as peaceful or even pacifist is long thought to prevent the country's remilitarization. However, remilitarization and a national identity of "peace" are not mutually exclusive. In fact, Japanese right-wing politicians tend to use the "peace" identity to argue for and seek remilitarization in order to actively protect the "peace" - especially towards Japan's rivals, such as China. Such a peace discourse, then, can enable more tensions and increase the risk of conflict in East Asia.
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Why is it important?
How Japan sees itself in relation to China can be a helpful entry point for understanding the interactions between both countries. In particular, observers should be wary of misinterpreting Japan's peace discourse as a sure sign that Japan would not remilitarize.
Perspectives
Few states have seen a more consistently close link between "peace" and identity than Japan. This doesn't necessarily mean that Japan is more "peaceful" than other states. That "peace" has dominated the struggles in Japan's identity discourse instead implies that any policy to emerge must frame itself in terms of "peace" to gain any traction at all. At the same time, it's also important to note that Japan's peace discourse did not grow in isolation to the rest of world--rather, it also evolves along with changing international norms.
Professor Linus Hagström
Swedish Defence University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: War is peace: the rearticulation of ‘peace’ in Japan’s China discourse, Review of International Studies, June 2015, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/s0260210515000157.
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