From the Yomiuri Shimbun, an editorial wrestles with the matters that will likely dominate Japan's politics throughout the next decade. The Yomiuri succeeds, recognizing the various responsibilities commensurate with a nation boasting the second largest economy in the world; no longer an imperial nation driven to conquest by militarists or a country struggling with defeat in war and imported concepts of individual rights, Japan has reached a rite of passage. Why isolationism? Why pacifism? Those ideals are finally under scrutiny:

The new year has dawned, and members of the public appear to be feeling insecure about the future. This sentiment may reflect the widespread uncertainty about what course Japan - and the rest of the world, for that matter - will take during this period of historical transition.

...What should be done to overcome this host of domestic and overseas problems that pose threats to this country's security, and at the same time ensure Japan's peace and prosperity? The roles to be played by politicians in this respect have never been so important as today. Leadership, foresight, strategy, decisiveness and action are crucial to meet these challenges.

...No politician should be so misguided as to believe that the Koizumi administration will be endangered if SDF members are killed during their activities in Iraq. Such thinking reflects a tendency among many members of the population to pursue peace for Japan even at the expense of our obligation to help defend global security in what could be termed "one-nation pacifism." That kind of indulgent mind-set should be regarded as a remnant of the mistaken notion held by the public about peace during the days since the end of World War II. The country should grow out of such a mentality.

As they say, read the whole thing. People who sputter about the United States serving as "the world's traffic cop" may not realize that by imagining such overextension they deny the possibility of other democratic nations finally contributing wholly to security, carrying the geopolitical and military weight of their own region. Why is America still stuck with the bill, fifteen years after the end of the Cold War? Multilateralism works best, you know, when nations are of a similar mind and level of commitment. Let's hope progressives like the Yomiuri aren't simply engaging in wishful thinking. If Koizumi can gradually draw the Japanese out of their diplomatic seclusion, the free world will have a measurably powerful advocate in the Pacific.