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Peace Research
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1. Introduction
One difficulty is that the meaning of
Countries at war always say that they
'peace' varies in different cultures. It is
are fighting 'for peace'. If the true
essential to clarify the different concepts
meaning of the word 'peace' were clear,of peace, as the following examples
a great number of past wars might haveshow.
been avoided. While some may argue
The first is Japan during World War
that this lack of clarity is even advan- II. The government leaders stated that
tageous since it makes possible the in- they were fighting for 'peace in the
clusion of important human desires such East'. They called the pacifists and the
as justice and prosperity, the other side dissenters from the Emperor-system, as
of the coin is the danger of the conceptwell as the communists, 'aka' (red) and
being used to justify any kind of war. In suppressed them rigorously. Why did
this age of nuclear weapons we cannot this clash occur between the governuse the terms 'a war for peace' or 'a
ment leaders' concept of 'peace in the
just war' as excuses for starting a war. East' and the pacifists' ideal of peace?
Nuclear war is incapable of bringing
This cannot be fully explained unless
about 'peace', because it can only end we understand the traditional Japanese
it possible to prevent war - both nuclear village', which is still a strong social
war and the technically developed non-force, may indicate the characteristics
of the traditional concept. During the
nuclear war of today? How can we
national election of 1952 irregularities
achieve social justice without war?
In the following I wish to examine aoccurred in a certain village, and a girl
concept of 'peace' which may go somewho lived in the village wrote to a newsway towards solving these problems.
paper exposing them. When the police
We may be able to eliminate ambiguity began to investigate the village bosses,
in the concept of 'peace' and prevent
the eirl and her family were ostracized
and life was made so unpleasant for
abuse of the word by giving it a scientific definition. This may be an efthem that they were finally forced to
fective way to avoid confusion in disleave the village, because the villagers
cussion of peace. Here, however, I
thought that the family had disturbed
would rather emphasize the importance
'the peace of the village'.1 There were
of the study of the semantics of peace many occurrences of this kind before the
war when the whole country was
(i.e., how the word 'peace' has been
understood), and consider why 'wars forthought to be like a village (the present
peace' have been so successfully justi- situation is a little different). The confied in the past.
cept of 'the peace of the village' illus-
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insistence
on peace will have to resist.
trated above implies the preservation
of
the traditional system and customs,Accordingly,
howthe Japanese pacifists had
ever irrational the foundations on which
not 'peaceful'.
tradition.
living creature), and of santi which signifies a well-ordered state of mind and
is translated as 'peace' in English. As
Romain Rolland said in his Life of
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shalom~
Judaismshm
Greece
eirene
Rome
Pax
.anti
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thought that democracy would be destroyed by war. His treatise was the
first to discuss the relationship between
peace and democracy from the viewpoint that there can be no democratic
monoorder and prosperity without peace.7
of mind.
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fucianism, assumed an affirmative attitude to the secular world, unlike traditional Indian ethics, the aim of which
were inseparable.
who followed the principles of Buddhism and whose government was based
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French Revolution and the Paris Comattitude towards the bellum justum and
the historical development from Saint
mune when street fighting was more
Pierre to Rousseau and on down to
effective than today.
Kant. I also dealt with the Quaker and
Although violent protest is inappropriMarxist views of war and their applicaate in terms both of moral principle and
tion to actual events. But since this
national injustice should not be tolerated. The difficulty in this case is the
movement was necessary to force the
existence of sovereign states, which have
system to tackle the problem of improvretained huge military forces. Theoreting the situation of the Negroes. As a
ically, there is no reason why a man
result, legislation was carried out to
who kills one person within his counguarantee the right of Negroes to vote,
try's borders should be punished, while
and so on. Nevertheless, much more
one who kills many persons beyond the
pressure is needed to abolish the segborders during war is called a patriot.
regation and inequality which still exist. In this sense, Martin Luther King was
There are many Negroes and students
quite right in applying the 'philosophy
who feel impatient with the delay, andof non-violence from the streets of Selma
violent protest is advocated by some ofand Memphis to the ricepaddies of the
Mekong Delta and jungles of Vietthem. Violent protest, however, frenam'.'0
quently results in an escalation of violHowever, non-violent direct action
ence between protest movement and
within a nation, and disarmament in
the government which suppresses it. In
the present international situation have
terms of political effect, violent protest
a common difficulty: that there is no
cannot be successful in the long run.
Recently in Japan, for instance, violenthistorical evidence that justice was ever
guaranteed by these methods. In the
students protests were used by the police as an excuse for an increase in
former case, a careful investigation of
the philosophy and strategy of Mahatma
armaments. and in the end were harshly
and Martin Luther King gives
suppressed. We are not in the age of Gandhi
the
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neutral country.
of an unarmed nation?
spondents to a public opinion poll consucceed in providing the first example ducted by the Asahi shimbun thought
should be, something other than a military force. For instance, a poll taken
by the Yomiuri shimbun at the end of
1968 produced the following results: to
the question 'How should we deal with
the present Self Defence Force?' the
answers were 'We should strengthen it',
bombings, 313,161 victims of which still should be as it is, there are many who
survived in 1967 (this figure was of
think that its raison d'etre is not military
those who were recognized by the govaction, but chiefly rescue-work at times
ernment); and second, the war in Vietof disaster.'3 For instance, 80 % of the
nam means for many Japanese an inrespondents in a 1966 government surcrease in the difficulties caused by
vey thought that 'the Self Defence Force
is most useful for' rescue work at times
American military bases, such as airplane crashes, misconduct of GIs and
of disaster, and other non-military cooperation in civilian life.14
Despite this attitude, Japan is directly The government party, which has
committed to the Vietnam War because
been in power almost permanently since
she provides the United States with
the war, intends to revise the Constitumilitary bases under an obligation imtion to make full-fledged military forces
posed by the security treaty between the constitutional. They have so far been
prostitution.
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ing the trend of public opinion, has inthe Asahi poll, 67 % thought that the
American nuclear umbrella actually
directly involved Japan in the Vietnam
War and has strenthened the Self Deendangered Japan, while only 12 %
thought it safe. To the question whether fence Force, the government party has
Japan would be safer if it had its own been in power continuously for more
nuclear weapons, 21.4 % thought it than twenty years, and there is not much
safer, while 55.6 % thought it less safe. likelihood that the governing party will
In the same poll, 49.7 % thought that be changed in the near future.
war is not permissible even in self defence. These facts leave no doubt but
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belong to an established organization, again shall we be visited with the horthey feel it necessarry to do something rors of war through the actionof governon their own initiative. Sometimes, theyment', then can the Japanese have a
are so distrustful of the leadershipof any
great future. Of course, this can be
huge organization that they start form-achieved only through perennial resising very small groups, which can be
tance to the government by non-violent
controlled by the members themselves,
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pp. 126ff.
7 Isocrates, On the Peace, with an English Translation by George Norlin, vol. 2., The Loeb
Classical Library (London, 1929).
8 J. Duncan M. Derrett, 'The Maintenance of Peace in the Hindu World: Practice and
Theory', The Indian Year Book of International Affairs, vol. VIII. 1959, pp. 361-387.
9 Max Weber, Gesammelte Aufsaitze zur Religionssoziologie, Bd. I (Tilbingen, 1922), p. 441.
10 New York Times, April 7, 1968.
11 Article Nine of the Constitution clearly states: 'Aspiring sincerely to an international
peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign
right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes.
In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as
well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state
will not be recognized.'
12 Published in The Asahi shimbun, January 5, 1969. This poll used a random nation-wide
sample of 3,000 persons over 20 years of age.
13 The Yomiuri shimbun, January 1, 1969. The sample of 10,000 interviewees was chosen
by stratified random sampling from persons between 19 and 79 years of age.
14 Asahi shimbun anzenhosh5 chosakai (The Asahi shimbun Research Group on the
Security Problem), 70-nen no seiji kadai (Political Tasks in 1970), 1967, p. 162.
15 The Tokyo shimbun, January 1, 1969. This poll used a random nation-wide sample of
3,000 persons over 20 years of age. For more detailed information about Japanese public
opinion on foreign policy, see Takeshi Ishida, 'Japanese Public Opinion and Foreign Policy',
Peace Research in Japan, ed. by the Japan Peace Research Group (Tokyo, 1967).
16 For more detailed characteristics of Japanese Society, see Takeshi Ishida, Japanese
Society (New York: Random House, forthcoming).
17 For more detail, see Takishi Ishida, 'Emerging or Eclipsing Citizenship - A Study of
Change in Political Attitudes in Postwar Japan', The Developing Economies, vol. VI, No. 4
(Dec. 1968), published by the Institute of Asian Economic Affairs, Tokyo.
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