Japan Speaking Tour #3 – Tokyo crowd deeply appreciative
By Pat Elder
September 25, 2024
The Tokyo audience was eager to hear what we had to say. Progressive views are largely shut out of most Japanese media outlets. No one left during the entire presentation, and we could not get to all of the questions.
On Saturday, August 10 our speaking tour of Japan addressed an overflow crowd at the Yutoriro Civic Center in Tokyo. 140 people crammed into the conference hall to hear our presentations on geopolitical realities in East Asia, military contamination, and a novel perspective on military life in the Japan Self Defense Forces.
It is increasingly apparent to me that Japanese intellectuals suffer from a lack of information on geo-political and environmental news that runs counter to the regular pablum they consume from the homogenized Japanese media. For instance, Google searches in the Japanese language on these issues return a small fraction of what we receive in English. In addition, the schools teach a horse-blinded view of history with a strong emphasis on conformity. The frightening net result is the formation of a nation that is again willing to wage war.
Audience members often said they had never considered some of the issues we had addressed while they were deeply appreciative of our presence.
Matt Hoh, an Advisory Board member of Veterans for Peace, prerecorded a video that Rachel Clark, our coordinator, translated for the audience. The audience was spellbound. Matt gave an extraordinarily compelling overview of US foreign policy objectives in East Asia. The audience was captivated when he addressed widespread skepticism of the mainstream corporate media in the U.S. that largely mirrors the policies of the U.S. government. Matt underscored the importance of investigative journalism and ways of bringing truth to more people. He asked those in attendance how would the Japanese people benefit from the rapid militarization of Japan and its close military ties with the United States.
Steve Rabson, Professor Emeritus of Brown University, gave a compelling presentation on the tense geopolitical confrontation between China and the U.S.
Steve spoke of the Japanese government's refusal to exercise the nation's rights of sovereignty over the U.S. military. He addressed Japan’s refusal to require inspections of bases spreading PFAS-contaminated water to local water supplies and the refusal to ban flights of the deadly Ospreys, and cover-ups of sex crimes including the recent assaults by U.S. soldiers. Steve fielded questions from the audience, Time wouldn’t allow us to get to all of the questions.
Rachel Clark interprets Ann Wright’s comments into Japanese while I listen.
Many of us know and love retired U.S. Army Colonel Ann Wright who spoke of ways to reach a peaceful settlement of the geo-political situation in East Asia. Ann apologized for not being with us, explaining her commitment with the Gaza flotilla. Ann encouraged the audience to connect the dots, so to speak, between U.S. backed militarism in the Middle East and Ukraine to the escalating situation in East Asia. Ann has a large following in Japan.
Ken’ichi Narikawa gave an exceptionally powerful talk. He spent 27 years in the Japanese Self Defense Forces. He spoke of shifting foreign policy objectives and a dangerous trend toward military escalation. He addressed how Japan recruits youth, with tactics mirroring what we see in the U.S. The audience was shaken by Ken’ichi’s presentation. It underscored the dearth of alternative information available in Japan.
I talked about PFAS – no surprise there. While Japan has a voluntary advisory of 50 parts per trillion for two kinds of PFAS in drinking water, I showed a chart with dozens of species of fish with PFAS levels up to 7 million parts per trillion. The fish remain unregulated while the U.S. military is responsible for much of the contamination. Rachel Clark did an amazing job translating everyone’s comments.
The Downs Law Group helps to make this work possible. Their support allows us to research and write about military contamination around the world. They’ve helped us buy hundreds of PFAS kits and they’ve helped pay for flights and hotels. The firm is working to provide legal representation to individuals in the U.S. and abroad with a high likelihood of exposure to a host of contaminants.
The Downs Law Group employs attorneys accredited by the Department of Veterans Affairs to assist those who have served in obtaining VA Compensation and Pension Benefits they are rightly owed.