安保法制施行を前にした自衛官とその家族

※須釜直美様(/naomi.sugama.1)のFB投稿(Jan. 19, 2016) https://goo.gl/96yPq7

(日本語投稿の改行はNaohisa Endoによる。)

とシェアされたJapan Times記事(Jan. 6, 2016) http://goo.gl/x536jO

　《皆さま どうかシェア拡散お願いします。以前投稿したジャパンタイムズ紙の記事を、NY在住で、息子さんをイラク戦争に従軍させてしまったことを悔いて、反安保関連法活動をアメリカで続けている　Nagashima Shizukoさんに意訳していただきました。

　日本の全国紙にはない海外の人の視点を共有していただきたいです。》

Masaki Tomiyamaさん まとめてみました。

　この記事は安保法制施行を前にした自衛官とその家族の姿を描いたものですが、肝心の日本の日本人には限定的にしか読まれていないのは残念です。和訳全文は著作権に触れるという問題がありましたので、ここではコメントを混ぜながら部分引用しました。

　「どうしても息子を戦争にやるわけにはいかないんです。息子が殺されるようなことも殺すようなことも、どちらも起きてほしくないんです。」 

　今言わないと後悔するからと、現役自衛官の父親としてたった一人で安保法制反対の声を上げ始めた富山正樹さん。

　数日に一度、地元福岡を基点にあちこちの街頭で恐れることなく人々に訴え続ける富山さんの元には、正直な声を出せない自衛官の家族がその行動を知ってこっそり連絡をしてきたり、話を聞いてもらいにそばに寄って来るとお聞きしました。

　その気持ちを推し量ると自分の昔の姿に重なるようで、心に刺さるものがあります。

　記事にあるように、富山さんはそのような暗がりで本当の気持ちを押し殺している人たちにとって、「灯台の光」のような存在でい続けてほしいと思います。

　安保法制強行採決前に北海道や東京の弁護士が設けたホットラインには、動揺する自衛官の家族や恋人たちから40件以上もの電話があったそうです。

　「小さい子供が二人いるのに、命令が出たら戦争に行く覚悟は出来ていると息子が言うんです。戦地に送られ人を撃って殺すようなことがあったら、息子は正気を失うかも知れません」と怯える母親、「夫は命令ならば戦地に行くと言うけれど、"帝国日本" の名のもとに戦地に送られて死んで行った兵隊たちのことを思わずにいられない」と打ち明ける妻。

「現役の自分が自衛隊への忠誠心を疑われるから、絶対安保法制反対の集会には近づくな」と言われ、国会前のプロテストに行きたくても行けなかったと話した家族も沢山いたということです。

　先日見たNHKスペシャルの「自衛隊はどう変わるのか」では、若い自衛官が

「戦場に行くとなったら、やってやるぞという気持ちより、怖いという気持ちの方が(強いと思うんですよね)。みんなそうだと思う。絶対に生きて帰って来るという保証はないので。」と言っていました。

　またこのようなやり取りもありました。

「自衛隊に入るまで戦場に行くかもとか考えたことありましたか？」

「………考えていないですね。」

「正直、全然考えていなかったですね。戦争を経験したことがないからだと思うんですけれど。実感がないというか。」

　その他の若い自衛官たちも少なからず不安を抱えているように見えたのは私の思い過ごしでしょうか。穏やかで優しげで、一人として「軍人」になって殺し合う戦地に行きたいというような風貌にはどうしても見えませんでした。

　しかしながらこのジャパンタイムズの記事の中では、現役自衛官や元自衛官が "平然として" 語るのは

「上からの命令に従うのが自分たちの仕事です。」

「戦争に行くことに不安は全くありません。」というような一辺倒な言葉ばかりでした。

　「安保法制施行後は自衛隊が世界の軍隊並みになる」と期待するという自衛官や、「日本が集団自衛権を行使できるようになれば、世界に於ける日本の地位が高まる」と言う自衛官の声がありました。「戦争放棄を定めた憲法9条があるので、第一次湾岸戦争のような同盟国の戦争時にも武力貢献出来ず、国際的評価を落とした」のだとも。

　外部への政治的な発言や自衛隊への忠誠心を問われる言動を禁じられ、本当のことは誰も言えない状況。それはここアメリカでも同じです。イラク戦争時、私が住む地区の地元紙に取材を受けた海兵隊たちが、個人の顔では

「イラクを良くするために行けと言われて来たけど、俺たちはむしろ悪くしてると思うよ。」

「イラクの人たちは俺たちの助けなんて必要としていないよ、全然。」と口をそろえて言ったり、ブッシュ大統領はベトナム戦争に行かなくても済むように父ブッシュに工作してもらったとか、軍歴を偽ったとか、あからさまに批判をしたりするのに、公の顔になると処罰を恐れてまるで別人のように

「兵隊としては上官の命令に従うだけ」

「ミッションを信じる気持ちには全く揺るぎが無い」と述べるのだと書いてありました。日本での自衛官への圧力は遥かに強いと思います。

　それにしてもNHKスペシャルを見た後だったので、ジャパンタイムズでは自衛官の本当の顔が描かれているのだろうか、という思いが残りました。果たして自衛官の言葉にあるように、武力貢献の出来ない日本は世界での地位が低いのか？

　オノヨーコから憲法9条のことを聞き、それにいたく感動したジョンレノンが世界中で歌われ続ける「イマジン」を書いたのだという逸話が、まるで実話のように語られるほど、世界の多くの人たちが「自分の国にも9条があるといい」と、平和憲法に憧れています。

　確かにドナルドトランプのように「アメリカは日本が危ない時に助けに行かなくてはならないのに、日本はアメリカが危ない時には助けに来ない」と日本を見下ろしているアメリカ人もいるけれど、トランプは危険な差別主義者だと今アメリカ中に不安をまき散らしている人物です。このような人たちには尊敬されなくて結構だと思うのです。

　一番引っかかったのはこの中に出てくる現役自衛官が「アメリカでは兵士は一般から敬意を受ける対象だが、日本ではそうでない。」と述べた部分です。本当にそうなのか。この部分については書くことがたくさんありそうです。米帰還兵にも意見を聞きました。改めてポストしたいと思います。

以下はJapan Times記事(Jan. 6, 2016) http://goo.gl/x536jO

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reviews the honor guard at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Dec. 16, before addressing a meeting of senior Self-Defense Forces officers. | KYODO

Prospect of war a vexed issue for SDF staff, their families

BY TOMOHIRO OSAKI

STAFF WRITER

JAN 6, 2016

Masaki Tomiyama is desperate.

Every few days, he takes to the streets of his Fukuoka neighborhood with a microphone in hand, and makes an impassioned speech against a set of unpopular security bills bulldozed through the Diet by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling bloc four months ago.

The 52-year-old is fighting for his own son — a junior Ground Self-Defense Force serviceman who he fears may be dragged into foreign conflicts once the contentious law takes effect in March as scheduled. The law, enacted based on Abe’s reinterpretation of the pacifist Constitution, enables the Self-Dense Forces to fight abroad as part of collective self-defense — or defending allies from aggression — marking the first time Japanese forces could engage in combat since World War II.

“I can never, never allow my son to go off to a war,” Tomiyama said of his 21-year-old son in a recent interview.

“I don’t want him to get murdered. Nor do I want to see him turn into a murderer.”

Unlike many family members of SDF personnel, Tomiyama freely speaks out against the government — although he admits it is a matter of time before the military tracks down the son and somehow “starts treating him unfavorably.”

As the law’s implementation nears, Tomiyama’s one-man fight sheds light on the simmering dismay felt by many SDF families at the possibility of their loved ones being entangled in U.S.-led wars.

Interviews with former and current SDF servicemen, however, point to a widening gap between the way families and the members perceive the law, with the latter mostly unfazed by the prospect of partaking in a foreign war.

Some, in fact, wholeheartedly support the law, optimistic it will help put the SDF on a par with military forces worldwide and even dispel deep-set public animosity against their organization.

Shunji Suga was one of the Tokyo-based lawyers involved in launching a two-day telephone hotline for SDF families in mid-September to allay their distress linked to the security bills’ imminent enactment.

Suga’s project coincided with a similar service spearheaded by Sapporo-based lawyer Hirofumi Sato, and together the two hotlines garnered about 40 calls from worried parents, wives and fiancees of SDF personnel, the lawyers said.

“At that time, lots of families opposed to the bills said they were frustrated because they couldn’t join anti-war rallies near the Diet building,” Suga said.

By law, SDF personnel are prohibited from engaging in political activities, such as by supporting demonstrations or proclaiming opposition to a particular political party. As such, Suga said, many SDF members pressured their families to steer clear of these rallies to avoid their loyalty to the military being questioned.

“My son says he’s determined to go to war if he is ordered so, even though he has two little kids,” a mother of a 40-something Ground Self-Defense Force member told the Tokyo hotline, according to a document provided by Suga. “I never dreamed my own son would fight in an armed conflict. . . . I’m worried that shooting somebody to death might make him lose his sanity.”

“He keeps telling me he has to go to war for the sake of Japan’s national interests. But that thinking reminds me of those soldiers who marched toward the war under the rule of Imperial Japan, only to wind up getting killed,” said another soldier’s wife.

Despite such widespread trepidation among families, SDF servicemen themselves don’t seem to share their despair, and many even seem nonchalant.

“As an SDF member, you’re not supposed to think for yourself. All you do is obey an order from above. It doesn’t matter whether you like the assignment or not,” former serviceman Yoshifumi Uzawa, 27, said. Uzawa said he believed the majority of SDF members were not worried about possibly being involved in a foreign war.

Take Akira Terada, a Kanto-based high-ranking serviceman in his 20s.

“I have no qualms about going to war. If it’s my mission, all I do is perform it as I’m told,” Terada (not his real name) said, asking that his identity be withheld to protect privacy.

The serviceman, who has a 30-plus group of subordinates and whose main responsibility is to draw up an annual training plan for his troops, said he was “largely supportive” of the security law.

Terada said he believed enabling the SDF to exercise its right to collective self-defense will elevate Japan’s global standing to a point where it will “finally be treated as an equal” to its ally nations such as the U.S.

“Because of the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution, Japan isn’t in the same league as other countries,” the serviceman said, noting how Japan suffered international disrepute when, in its response to the outbreak of the first Gulf War in 1991, it didn’t commit troops to the U.S-led coalition force but opted for what was dubbed “checkbook diplomacy” by contributing $13 billion to help repulse Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

By strengthening Japan’s ties with the U.S., the law, he added, will also serve as a powerful deterrent against global threats such as China’s increasing assertiveness.

Tomoaki Hida, 27, who left the SDF earlier last year after about 10 years of service, said he hoped the legislation will pave the way for the defense force’s transformation into a full-fledged military. Hida (not his real name) likewise noted he didn’t wish to be identified to avoid causing trouble for a family member still in the military.

“I never understood why we were not treated as soldiers, but (instead like) public servants, even though there is no denying that the SDF, in practice, is a military,” Hida said.

The pacifist Constitution, which proscribes Japan’s possession of war-waging capacity, has long forced the government to maintain that the SDF is a quasi-military organization specializing in self-defense. More muscular defense policies set forth by the security legislation, Hida said, signaled an improvement in the SDF’s status and hopefully will result in the organization being granted more budgets to further enhance its weaponry.

Serviceman Terada agrees.

Noting the SDF’s weaponry, such as guns, artillery, missiles and tanks boast a “top-notch” quality, Terada, too, voiced confusion that he was not seen as a soldier.

“In countries such as the U.S., for example, soldiers are often an object of public admiration, whereas in Japan SDF personnel still face staunch public antagonism. In some regions, we can’t even hold a drill amid strong complaints from residents over noise,” Terada said, adding he hoped the law will raise public awareness of what “noble” jobs the SDF does.

“We risk our lives to protect our people just like police and firefighters do. I hope, for example, that the law will eventually make the SDF one of the most popular professions among kids.”

Terada, however, may be too optimistic.

Applications this year for training positions to become petty officers and sergeants were the lowest in nine years at 25,092, representing a 20 percent decrease from a year earlier, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman confirmed.

The ministry accepted applications for the position from Aug. 1 through Sept. 8, which coincided with the Diet’s heated debate over the security bills ahead of their enactment.

The spokeswoman attributed the drop to the improved economy and a resulting increase in job openings among private companies. She rejected that public misgivings about the security bills scared away young job-seekers.

The decrease in young applicants could be exacerbated by the security legislation, dealing a further blow to the SDF’s already serious manpower shortage and, ultimately, taking a heavy toll on the mental health of personnel, according to Mari Tamagawa, a former SDF member who now works as a clinical psychotherapist in Hiroshima.

Defense Ministry data show that while the number of officers and other veterans accounted for more than 90 percent of quotas as of the end of March, junior members such as seamen and airmen were in short supply, at 74.6 percent of quotas.

The number of these young personnel, Tamagawa said, could take a further hit now that more parents appeared to be opposed to the idea of their children joining the SDF due to what they saw as the increased danger of them being ensnared in a U.S-led war.

“The SDF, then, would naturally become desperate to hire as many applicants as possible, even at the cost of lowering expected standards for them,” Tamagawa, 42, said.

“But the increase in subpar personnel means competent members will need to take up the slack and be burdened with a heavier workload to the point that they burn out, break down and, in the worst-case scenario, commit suicide.”