Why I Went to Iraq. Reflections of a Japanese Hostage (Imai Noriaki & Norma Field)

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Wednesday, January 2, 2008 at 21:05

The December 2003 deployment of Self-Defense Force troops to Iraq by the Koizumi administration took Japan closer to the practical repudiation of the non-belligerancy principle of Article 9 than any prior move in its more than half-century of existence. Of course, as the very existence of "self-defense forces" attests, Article 9 had already been subjected to considerable abuse by interpretation, virtually since inception. Nevertheless, the deployment to Samawah was controversial. It stirred visible opposition in the beginning even though it soon faded, at least from public view. Thus is a status quo created. When three young Japanese were captured and held hostage for eight days in April of 2004, however, with withdrawal of the troops made the condition for their release, controversy erupted with a vengeance. Once they were released, however, relief was quickly overwhelmed by hostility. Encouraged by the mass media, members of the general public and politicians vented their wrath on the young people and by extension, their demanding families who had caused so much "trouble" through their "selfish" actions. Quite apart from sanctimonious pronunciations about "personal responsibility," the government, by disclosing the public sums spent on the hostages, including stiff reimbursement fees for official return transport that it insisted upon, effectively reinforced the image of the three as thoughtless trouble-makers. And last but hardly least, the Internet, especially the anonymous 2-Channel discussion board, played a memorable role in fanning the flames of furor. Eighteen year old Imai Noriaki tells why they went to Iraq and what they found there and on their return to Japan.

Norma Field teaches in the Department of East Asian Languages & Civilizations of the University of Chicago. This article was prepared for Japan Focus. Posted on December 29, 2007.

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Why I Went to Iraq. Reflections of a Japanese Hostage (Imai Noriaki & Norma Field)