Reply #9: I talked to a Japanese friend about this ...

[Lisa]

Poor sampling procedure, I know .... but if her comments are anything to go by, a significant number of Japanese people (especially young, educated ones) may be upset by Bush's move.

She says she is "puzzled" by the US suddenly appearing to "change its mind" and push Japan into this situation. After spending her childhood being told that war is a bad thing (not least because it led to Japan losing many people and having its society shattered) -- she really feels very uncomfortable about this development. She's been asking me a lot about the USA recently, because she hasn't visited there but is getting e-mails from her friends and family back home, asking about what Americans are like (some of them don't realize that she's pursuing graduate studies in Canada, not the States).

I am sorry to report that, judging by the questions she asked me for assistance in answering, that some people are assuming that Americans tend to be like George W. Bush. We spent a lot of time composing a stock answer to the effect that a) America is quite a diverse country, and b) most Americans didn't vote for Bush and may only be saying they support him because they want to appear united.


p.s. what Art mentioned about the decline in authoritarianism in the schools ... she may have been influenced by the more relaxed atmosphere, being in her late 20s. She's not a radical by any means, but if there are a lot of middle-class moderates like her, it will be an obstacle to militarization (even her upwardly-mobile friends, who normally are just thinking about their jobs/apartments/shopping, are starting to get interested in world events ... and they are not supportive of changing the constitution).