His granddaughter is named Yuko; she is 68 and, by her own words, very much like her grandfather.
To that end she is running for office, as an independent for parliament's upper house. The election is in July. The Associated Press reports:
An ultra-nationalist, her mission is to restore Japan's honor by scrapping its pacifist constitution and enacting a full-fledged military, giving the country the clout she says it deserves.
"I was born as Hideki Tojo's granddaughter, and as a Japanese national. I cannot see Japan go on like this, with no confidence or pride," Tojo told The Associated Press. "I do not think the war dead gave their lives for a country like this."
Her views are part of a resurgent right-wing fringe in Japan that espouses a hard line in territorial disputes with the country's neighbors and a rose-tinted view of its past militarism. However, she may be too far to the right even for Japan's nationalists, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who have distanced themselves from her.
3 comments:
Remember Tojo. He's the reason why we still have a military presence in Japan. The Pearl Harbor strike was about OIL....remember?
A radical right reemerging in Japan, China developing a blue-water navy...and we are bogged down in the desert. It's a game of chess and there are checkers men at the helm.
A militarily emasculated Japan is nothing more than a liability for the United States when faced with the rapid escalation of Chinese military power. Unlike Europe, where there were other nations to pick up the military slack for a weak Germany, the United States can only look to South Korea and Japan for assistance in countering a militarily aggressive China.
The United States should encourage the responsible development of a Japanese military that can function beyond the present constitutional limitations of the Japanese Self Defense Force.
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