Auer in Nashville

When James Auer retired as the director for Japanese affairs at the US Department of Defense in August 1988, President Reagan’s term of office was set to end the following January. Auer thought to himself: Soon an era will end. I’d like to resign when the administration changes, and then go on to observe the Japan-US security relationship that I was involved with as a naval officer and a Department of Defense bureaucrat. And I’d like to put my experience to use as an outside advisor.

Just around the same time, there was a surge in the US public’s interest in Japan, which had undergone remarkable economic growth in the 1980s. Universities around the United States were establishing Japan studies programs. The chancellor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, showed an interest in Japan studies. Upon learning about this, Auer contacted Vanderbilt. The university said that it was going to establish a new Center for US-Japan Studies as part of the Institute for Public Policy Studies; it offered Auer the position of director. Vanderbilt University was his wife Judy’s alma mater; her parents lived in the city of Franklin on the outskirts of Nashville. She would be happy if she could live close to her parents. Auer decided to accept the university’s offer. His superior, Assistant Secretary of Defense Armitage, also approved his plan (Fig. 10.1).

As an aside, Lieutenant Commander Torkel Patterson, who had studied at the University of Tsukuba, succeeded Auer as the Director for Japanese affairs in the Department of Defense. Patterson was later put in charge of security policies regarding Japan and South Korea in the White House in both the George H. W. Bush and Clinton administrations. Patterson continued to speak actively on Japan-US security issues and East Asian security issues in general, even after he retired from the Navy with the rank of commander; he returned to the White House under the new George W. Bush administration.

Fig. 10.1
A photo of Dr. James E. Auer.

Dr. James E. Auer, Professor Emeritus, Vanderbilt University, Director, James E. Auer US-Japan Center. (Photo credit: Sankei Shimbun)

Full size image

Auer’s final day at the Department of Defense was the last Friday in August. The next day, he and his family moved out of their dear old house in Arlington across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. and headed for Franklin by car, so that Auer could start his new position at Vanderbilt as soon as the new semester began. Approximately a 30-minute drive from Nashville, Franklin is in the middle of tranquil countryside with undulating hills. It is also the site of a famous Civil War battle. The lots were quite a bit larger here than the areas around Washington, D.C. The Auers bought a house next to the dairy farm that Judy’s father ran as a hobby. Later, when his father-in-law passed away, the family bought the farm and has lived there ever since. Auer’s children grew up healthy in this blessed environment.

The Center for US-Japan Studies, Auer’s new workplace, is in an old stone building in a corner of the Vanderbilt University campus in Nashville. Built in the late nineteenth century, it was formerly a private residence. The university bought the house, used it as the chancellor’s official residence initially, and then converted it into a research building. Climbing the stairs to enter Auer’s office (which used to be the main bedroom), a visitor will see a painting of Admiral Heihachirō Tōgō on the wall. This painting has an interesting bit of history.

When Auer was doing research for his doctoral dissertation in Japan in 1970, he went to see the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) Officer Candidate School in Etajima, Hiroshima at the suggestion of Chief of Maritime Staff (CMS) Kazuomi Uchida. During his visit, he toured the school’s Museum of Naval History. Uchida had worried that Auer, as an American, might be offended seeing the display on kamikaze pilots, but Auer told him that he had not been offended at all. Instead, he was deeply impressed by a large oil painting of Admiral Tōgō at the triumphant fleet review after the Russo-Japanese War with Emperor Mutsuhito (Emperor Meiji) on the battleship HIJMS Mikasa. Admiral Tōgō is a person of respect for naval officers, regardless of their nationality. Auer told Uchida how taken he was with the painting; after some time had passed, he received an envelope by post. Enclosed he found an enlarged photograph of the painting displayed in the Museum of Naval History, taken on Uchida’s orders. Auer, grateful for Uchida’s generosity and thoughtfulness, took the photograph with him whenever he changed jobs. He even displayed it in the commanding officer’s cabin on USS Francis Hammond.

The photograph began to fade a few years later. Auer remembered a shop near Fleet Activities Yokosuka that sold paintings to US sailors. The shop’s owner, at his customers’ request, painted portraits of their girlfriends or pictures of warships. Auer sent the photograph to his friend Hideo Kimura, who lived in Yokosuka, and asked him to inquire if the owner would paint a replica of it for 300 dollars. Seeing the photograph, the owner showed an interest. Not only did he complete an oil painting of excellent workmanship that could pass for the genuine article, but he also mounted it in a fine frame. Auer displayed the “counterfeit” in his office in the Department of Defense and at Vanderbilt University. Whenever he has visitors who know about the history of IJN, Japanese or American, Auer shows them the painting, arousing their envy.

Another treasure Auer keeps in his office is a pair of cufflinks that he understands Emperor Hirohito (Emperor Shōwa) had given to Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue. Auer had hoped to find an opportunity during his doctoral dissertation research in Japan to interview Admiral Inoue, who had steadfastly opposed fighting a war against the United States and took part in intragovernmental initiatives to end the war. Auer persistently requested an interview through former Naval Academy students from Inoue’s term as president there, including Auer’s friend Sadao Senoo. Having retired to his home in Nagai, Yokosuka, and withdrawn from public life, however, Inoue declined, giving illness as an excuse. He passed away 5 years later in December 1975. Auer, then studying Japanese at the Jesuit Language School in Kamakura, attended Inoue’s funeral in navy uniform. Two summers later, he also attended the funeral of Inoue’s wife, Fujiko. Wearing a white uniform with a black armband, Auer sat properly in Japanese fashion for about two and a half hours with the other Japanese attendees.

In April 1979, a farewell party was held in Tokyo for Auer upon his transfer to the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C. Takeo Itō, Senoo’s friend and Inoue’s grandnephew, handed Auer a letter along with Admiral Inoue’s cufflinks. Itō had been impressed when he heard from his family about an American Naval officer who had attended the funerals of Admiral Inoue and his wife. “He is an honorable naval officer,” he thought. And so, Itō gave Auer the cherished cufflinks that his granduncle had given him while he was still alive. According to what Auer had heard, Emperor Hirohito had been worried about Inoue, who had retired to Nagai after the war, so he sent his chamberlain to see how Inoue was doing and to give him a bit of money as a sign of sympathy. Living in a dilapidated house as he was, Inoue felt unable to offer the chamberlain a warm welcome and declined to accept the money, stating “Every one of the Japanese people is now struggling to survive.” Upon receipt of the chamberlain’s report on Inoue’s refusal to accept the money, the emperor asked that a pair of cufflinks be delivered to Inoue. Auer felt honored to receive a pair of cufflinks with such a venerable history; he wore them at the ceremony in which the Department of Defense awarded him a medal.

The Auers have one more IJN-related family treasure. Given to Auer by Hideo Kimura’s father, it is a piece of wood from the deck of the battleship HIJMS Mikasa, inscribed with the word katsu (to be victorious). Kimura’s father rendered services as a local representative, in cooperation with the US Navy, to permanently preserve HIJMS Mikasa, which had fallen into disrepair after the war and was about to be scrapped. Before his death, he offered to give this historic wood plank to Auer. Auer hesitated, saying that it should be passed down to his son, Hideo, but Kimura insisted that it should be in the hands of a naval officer. Auer had kept the treasure safe since. A few years ago, however, he consulted his friend, Hideo, and suggested that this valuable item be returned to Japan. Kimura instead advised Auer to give it to Teiichirō, his adopted son who goes by the name Tei. When Tei attained Eagle Scout, the Boy Scouts’ highest rank, Auer gave the wood plank to his son after reading congratulatory letters from Admiral Uchida and Admiral Nakamura at the award ceremony. Be an honorable Eagle Scout. Be proud to be Japanese. American attendees at the ceremony were all impressed, complimenting Auer on his excellent speech.

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Even after having left Washington and moved to Nashville, Auer continues to lead a busy life. At Vanderbilt University, he teaches students in the classroom, and writes articles as well. One of his courses is for ordinary students on international relations in East Asia with a focus on Japan-US relations, while another is on naval history, mainly for students in the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC). NROTC students are required to take a course on military history. Usually, a naval officer teaches this course. However, Vanderbilt University’s Department of History decided that course credits would not be given unless someone with a doctoral degree taught the course. And so, Dr. Auer was asked to teach the history of the rise and fall of sea powers, teaming up with an active-duty naval officer. Auer was an NROTC student himself at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and he embarked on his naval career after graduation. Almost 40 years later, he is enthusiastic about teaching youth who aspire to join the Navy just as he did in the past. Many of his former students have gone on to successful careers as active-duty naval officers.

The Center for US-Japan Studies also accepts students from Japan. Auer has looked after young bureaucrats from governmental institutions such as the Defense Agency,Footnote 1 the Ministry of International Trade and Industry,Footnote 2 and the National Police Agency, as well as other civilian students. Over the years, several former students have invited Auer to their weddings, and he has taken the trouble to fly to Japan and attend. He cherishes his relationships with former students more than most Japanese professors do.

The Japan-US Security Relationship in the 1990s

Auer’s activities are not limited to Nashville. He often flies to Washington, D.C. to meet security policy experts and hold discussions with them. He testifies on US policy toward Japan in the congressional committees on foreign affairs. He is also invited to various conferences and symposia across the United States and gives lectures on Japan-US security relations. In addition, he visits Japan every year to meet and discuss issues with people in various fields, including JMSDF personnel, those in charge of security policy, politicians, academics, and journalists. The sight of Auer stressing the importance of the Japan-US alliance has become a familiar one at conferences on Japan-US relations. In fact, throughout the 1990s, Auer was asked to express his views on many occasions.

Even as the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union proved the effectiveness of the Japan-US security arrangements, these events also brought them up for review. What would the Japan-US alliance’s raison d’être be post-Cold War? Could the alliance be maintained with the current strategy and equipment? What should be changed and what should remain the same? How should roles and missions be shared in the future? Even after Japan’s lack of participation in the Gulf War led to tensions in Japan-US relations, those in charge of security policy in both countries continued their search for answers to these questions.

The Clinton administration, inaugurated in 1993, attached relatively little importance to Japan-US security relations initially. It emphasized economic and trade relations instead, aiming to obtain concessions from Japan even if it meant sacrificing cooperation on security issues. Hence, Japan-US relations during the new administration were under considerable strain at first. The aggressive trade policy of the Clinton administration, which focused on concrete results rather than process, triggered strong opposition in Japan. Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa clearly refused President Clinton’s demands at the 1994 summit. Japan-US relations faced a serious crisis.

Security experts in and out of government, including Auer, were worried about the situation. As Japan and the United States locked horns with each other over economic and trade issues, East Asia remained in a state of tension. It was dangerous to have shaky Japan-US relations when the international situations involving China and the Korean Peninsula were unstable. In fact, the United States came close to launching a military campaign in 1994 after it obtained proof that North Korea was developing a nuclear program. Japan was completely unprepared; there was no preexisting cooperative arrangement between Japan and the United States. Had war broken out, Japan might have panicked, leading to a further rift in Japan-US security arrangements.

In addition, Americans were concerned about Japan’s security policy because of a report written by the Advisory Group on Defense Issues, established initially as a private advisory body to Prime Minister Hosokawa and chaired by Hirotarō Higuchi, then chairman of Asahi Breweries, Ltd. One of the members was Makoto Sakuma, formerly CMS and chairman, Joint Staff Council. The Higuchi Report (as it came to be called), issued in August 1994 under then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, gave the impression that the Japanese government was focused on promoting multilateral security cooperation rather than upholding Japan-US security arrangements.

Such uncertainty was unsustainable. The sense of crisis shared by policymakers in both countries led to a push to review the structure of the bilateral security arrangements. A series of dialogues between Japan and the United States, both official and unofficial, culminated in the Japan-US Joint Declaration on Security announced by Prime Minister Ryūtarō Hashimoto and President Clinton in Tokyo in April 1996. The declaration reaffirmed that the Japan-US security arrangements were vital for not only both countries but also the whole Asia-Pacific region, as well as for global peace and prosperity. Discussions continued following the declaration, leading to the creation in 1997 of the new Guidelines for Japan-US Defense Cooperation (also simply called the New Guidelines). Japan enacted domestic laws in response, including the Law Concerning Measures to Ensure the Peace and Security of Japan in Situations in Areas Surrounding Japan. A cooperative scheme between Japan and the United States to deal with emergencies near Japan was tentatively established, although it had some flaws.

Auer has actively expressed his opinions on these issues. In particular, he has repeatedly objected to basing the study of the roles the JSDF should play under the New Guidelines on the premise that Japan will not exercise its right to collective self-defense. If the Japan-US alliance is to play a meaningful role for both countries in the future, Japan should change its past policy and examine the possibility of exercising its inherent right to collective self-defense. Under the current interpretation of the Japanese Constitution regarding the right to collective self-defense, JMSDF ships cannot fire shots to defend allied sailors unless the JMSDF ships themselves are under attack, even if they are engaged in logistical support in the vicinity and directly witnessing US Navy ships under attack. If a situation were to arise in which US sailors were suffering heavy casualties and JMSDF ships nearby did nothing to help them, the Japan-US alliance would collapse immediately. To prevent such a scenario, Auer maintains, the Japanese government should revise its current strict interpretation of the Constitution that Japan’s exercising its right to collective self-defense is unlawful.Footnote 3

When JMSDF-US Navy cooperation successfully deterred the Soviet Navy in the 1980s, Japan’s position was that the action had been carried out within the scope of its right to individual self-defense. But from an American point of view, it was, in fact, nothing other than the exercise of the right to collective self-defense. Both Japan’s participation in RIMPAC and US provision of Aegis system technology to Japan were possible only because the United States saw Japan as an ally who would fight beside it. Japan should abandon its factitious official position as soon as possible to make Japan-US defense cooperation truly meaningful.

In March 1996 China conducted a military exercise, including a missile launch, to coincide with the presidential election in Taiwan, which led to a tense situation in the Taiwan Strait. When the US Navy dispatched two carriers in response, Auer argued that JMSDF destroyers should also have been deployed to deter China.

Many national security experts in Japan shared Auer’s position. Hisahiko Okazaki, a noted former diplomat, argued that suggesting Japan might exercise its right to collective self-defense would be an effective deterrent in itself.

The Admirals Today

Auer has enjoyed a long relationship with Japan: it has been 37 years since his first visit to the country as an ensign and 30 years since he stayed there to research the JMSDF’s founding. His many friendships with Japanese are the most significant assets Auer has acquired through the years. The Tan-Tan Kai, with Rear Admiral Sumihiko Kawamura’s lead, is still held every year when Auer visits Japan. The members, all getting older, are still going strong.

Kazuomi Uchida has already turned 85. He has retired from all public positions, but he is hale and hearty. Last year, in recognition of his achievements as an IJN officer and as a JMSDF admiral, he was granted the title of honorary townsman by his hometown of Shōboku-chō, Okayama Prefecture. In commemoration, he received gifts including a large quantity of rice, along with narazuke (vegetables pickled in sake lees). When he was informed about the award, Uchida returned to his hometown. In a gathering with the influential townsmen, he recounted, “I came home after the war to work as a farmer. But I wasn’t any good at making straw rice bags. I remember an inspector telling me to do it over. He had to help me make them. Do you really want to make such a poor farmer an honorary townsman?” Everyone laughed, approving of his honorary title. Surprisingly, the very inspector who helped Uchida make straw rice bags was there in attendance; he came forward and they shook hands. Uchida looked very amused and delighted as he shared this story with everyone at the Tan-Tan Kai.

Teiji Nakamura has not attended the Tan-Tan Kai in a while, for he has been busy taking care of an ill family member. In 2000, Auer decided to go and visit Nakamura at his house, finding him very fit and cheerful. Nakamura often writes to me, covering postcards in his meticulous handwriting to tell me his impressions of what I have written. He is generally favorable about the content, but he does not like being written about. As usual, he never boasts about his achievements.

In 2000, 15 years since retiring as the CMS, Manabu Yoshida became the president of the Suikōkai (the association of naval personnel), following in the footsteps of Uchida, Nakamura, and Ryōhei Ōga who had all previously held that position. Yoshida calls himself Instructor Nakamura’s unworthy pupil at the Naval Academy, from which he graduated (75th class); he keeps busy flying all over the country. Since the Suikōkai’s members are mainly former IJN personnel who are aging, in April 2001 the association was incorporated with the Kaijō Ōbi-kai,Footnote 4 an association of retired JMSDF personnel. The task of promoting harmony between the two associations and leaving good naval traditions for future generations fell to Yoshida, who represents the close-knit class that was the last to graduate from the Naval Academy. As a JMSDF veteran, Yoshida has also served for many years as the president of the Japan America Navy Friendship Association (JANAFA), endeavoring to promote friendship between the US Navy and the JMSDF. He still communicates frequently with former US commanders he worked with when he was CMS, including Vice Admiral Zech and Admiral Foley.

The supreme officer of the JMSDF in 2001 is CMS Admiral Kōsei Fujita of the Defense Academy’s ninth class (Class of 1965). He is the sixth to hold the post after Admiral Makoto Sakuma, the CMS during the Gulf War in 1991. Since that time, many events have required the services of the JMSDF. The Great Hanshin Earthquake occurred in January 1995; the JMSDF was dispatched alongside the other services of the JSDF for disaster relief. While the media’s coverage was thin, a cumulative total of 679 vessels were deployed, and their rescue activities were appreciated by the earthquake victims. In January 1997 the Russian tanker Nakhodka had a maritime accident, causing an oil spill in the Sea of Japan. The JMSDF prevented the spill from spreading and assisted in the cleanup; a total of 920 vessels were deployed on that occasion. The August 1998 North Korean missile launch over the Japanese archipelago was first detected by the Aegis destroyer JS Myōkō, which was dispatched to the Sea of Japan. In March 1999 two unidentified ships, assumed to be North Korean, were spotted in the Japanese territorial waters to the east of the Noto Peninsula. In the first maritime security operation in JMSDF history, the destroyers JS Myōkō and JS Haruna pursued the ships and ordered them to stop, and then fired warning shots, while P-3C antisubmarine patrol aircraft dropped depth charges as a warning. Although these actions did not lead to the capture of the unidentified ships, it was the first time the Japanese public witnessed the JMSDF’s operational capability. Thus, the JMSDF has increased its presence considerably over the decade since the dispatch of minesweepers after the Gulf War. There have been some issues, such as the arrest of an active-duty JMSDF officer who leaked information to a Russian military attaché. But it appears that the Japanese people feel that the JMSDF, as a whole, is doing well.

Japan-US Exchanges Among the Younger Generation

The leaders of today’s JMSDF are from the same generation as the sons and grandsons of Uchida and Nakamura. Although the speed of promotion varies with the individual, some of those born in the late 1950s/early 1960s, now in their early 40s, have been promoted and play essential leadership roles: commanding officer of a ship; commander of an escort division; and section chief or director in the MSO. They were, at most, junior high school students in the late 1960s/early 1970s when the left-wing movement was at its height. Unlike the slightly older generations who had joined the JMSDF through the Defense Academy or civilian universities and were regarded as oddballs for going against the trend of the times, the younger generation did not find joining the JMSDF unusual in any way. Instead, many joined the JMSDF because they were attracted to the work of the Self-Defense Forces, or because they had a longing for the sea or the sky. One, for instance, joined the JMSDF as if by fate; his father, who was in the export-import business, named him Umio (“Man of the Sea”) when he was born. Another joined the JMSDF because his father, who had joined in the early days when it was still the Coastal Safety Force, persuaded his son to follow in his footsteps.

One JMSDF officer had planned to take over his parents’ company after studying management at the Defense Academy. When he told one Defense Academy instructor of his intentions, he was harshly reprimanded. Reluctantly, he stayed in the JMSDF because his family’s company went bankrupt. Still, he thought about quitting after making lieutenant, either to start a business in tourism or farming, or to rebuild the family business. He had no time to ponder his future career after joining the JMSDF, however, as he was kept extremely busy—first in Etajima, then on an overseas training cruise, and then as a newly commissioned officer. He was assigned to serve on various ships, and when he attended the JMSDF Command and Staff College, he thought about national security for the first time. Then he found himself in charge of defense policy. And so, he gave up thinking about making a life outside the JMSDF. His job was tough and always a challenge, but he did not complain. Before he knew it, he had become a full-fledged JMSDF officer.

Many of these middle-ranked officers have studied in the United States or have experience in being in close contact with the US Navy through RIMPAC and other joint exercises. Unlike the first postwar generation of JMSDF officers, they do not have any peculiar inferiority complex or enthusiasm for the United States. Japan has been an affluent society for as long as the younger officers can remember, and they find nothing particularly surprising when they visit the United States. After all, their generation has grown up eating McDonald’s hamburgers since their junior high school days. They have a generally good impression of the US sailors they interact with closely. A submarine officer said people in Portsmouth, UK, threw eggs at him when he passed through on an overseas training cruise. However, when he crossed the Atlantic on the same cruise, he thought the Americans were very kind and cheerful, by contrast; they treated him extremely well in the United States.

They also consider their skills equal to the US Navy’s. If anything, they are confident that they are superior in some fields. One JMSDF officer, a helicopter pilot, went to Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation’s headquarters in Connecticut to accept delivery of a new model of helicopter; there he showed Sikorsky’s test pilots—former US Navy pilots—the full extent of his maneuvering skills. They treated him with a great deal of respect after that. “Americans have unconditional respect for anyone highly skilled,” he said. On the last day of the orientation flights, an American test pilot he made friends with took the trouble to fly to Manhattan and circle over the Statue of Liberty. The JMSDF’s new helicopter, emblazoned with Japan’s national flag, circled many times above Lady Liberty’s torch.

At the same time, however, these officers are awed by the US Navy, the most powerful in the world. JMSDF personnel who have never fought in an actual war respect US sailors who have been in numerous combat situations. “On any given day, they appear to be undisciplined and do things without enthusiasm. I always wonder how they can work like this,” says an officer who returned from study in the United States. “But in actual combat, they are really strong. We can’t do the same thing.” One logistics officer will never forget what he saw on his visit to Naval Station Norfolk to observe during the Gulf War. Lines of trucks stretching continuously for several miles made orderly deliveries of vast quantities of provisions of every kind, including Coca-Cola, eggs, and bread, to vessels headed to the Persian Gulf. He says he realized this was what it meant to wage a war. JMSDF personnel are often aboard the same vessels with US naval officers in joint exercises; studying side by side with them at US Navy schools; or discussing Japan-US security policies, including the Guidelines, with them. These experiences help them to develop a deep understanding of the US Navy’s might and, behind it, the national power of the United States. They feel that, if by any chance Japan had to fight another war, they would rather be fighting on the same side as the United States.

These middle-ranked officers worry that daily contact between the JMSDF and the US Navy might have lessened somewhat since their days as young officers. There was a time when they boarded US Navy ships during RIMPAC and were put on watch duty in the engine room right away. The exchanges between sister ships belonging to the US Fleet Activities Yokosuka and the JMSDF Yokosuka Naval Base across the bay were flourishing. They always visited each other to promote mutual friendship. In recent years these activities have become less frequent. Young JMSDF officers and sailors on the front line of the Japan-US security arrangements have surprisingly little direct and frank daily contact with US naval personnel.

Young pro-Japanese US Navy officers stationed in Yokosuka express similar concerns. One commander, a big fan of Japan who taught at the JMSDF Officer Candidate School in Etajima for a year, worries that the US Navy in Yokosuka, as a whole, is not as enthusiastic about the exchanges with the JMSDF as compared to a few years ago. “When I was an ensign and lieutenant junior grade, our superior officers always used to pester us, asking what we were doing with the JMSDF sister ship that week. Nowadays, they don’t ask those questions anymore. It’s too bad.” A female officer who had studied at Keio University and served on the Seventh Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge in Japan before being recently transferred to Washington, D.C., concurs. “I think the JMSDF personnel should be invited to traditional American festivals like Halloween and Thanksgiving, but it doesn’t happen so easily. In contrast, the JMSDF invites us on every occasion.”

According to these US Navy officers, there are a few reasons that exchanges with the JMSDF have grown sporadic. First, thanks to efforts made by the Japanese government, the residential environment of US Naval officers has improved in recent years and the number of personnel living outside the base has decreased. As more and more houses were built exclusively for US forces personnel, interactions with the JMSDF personnel and other Japanese have become less frequent. Being on the base or living in an exclusive residential area is just like living in the United States. It is possible to live without interacting with the local people—a wasted opportunity when you have come all the way to Japan.

Second, whereas the US Navy’s budget and personnel have been reduced, the volume of its work has not—if anything, it has increased. Navy personnel no longer have the time and scope for exchanges with the JMSDF as they did before. They say it is surprisingly hard for US sailors, overburdened with daily tasks, to go out of their way to seek exchanges with JMSDF personnel.

Third, there is a question of leadership. Unless the commanders of the Seventh Fleet and of US Naval Forces Japan express strong intentions to promote exchange with the JMSDF, their subordinates will not act on their own initiative. For the last few years, no one has sensed any such firm intention. The commanders themselves are also busy. The extent of their interest in Japan varies by individual. Some always carry out their duties with an eye toward Washington or Honolulu. Some might be unhappy with the Japanese attitude toward the US Navy regarding such issues as night-landing training for carrier-based aircraft in Atsugi or the proposal for US Navy vessels to call at Kobe port. Officers who have many friends in the JMSDF say that, above all, an explicit declaration of intention from the top is needed to maintain a smooth relationship between the JMSDF and the US Navy in the future.

Notwithstanding the various issues mentioned above, the JMSDF and the US Navy are the armed forces that form the backbone of the Japan-US alliance, which sustains security in the Western Pacific. The political situation surrounding them will not change that easily, and there is no major security crisis in East Asia at the moment. But you can never tell what the future holds. To prepare for an emergency, the sailors of the JMSDF and the US Navy must conduct joint exercises and carry out daily missions together. The current middle-ranked officers will mostly be retired in 20 years’ time. Those who retire, saying “Negaimasu (please take over),” will be succeeded by the younger generation currently undergoing training at sea and in the sky. The new officers who will depart from Etajima on an overseas training cruise in March 2001 are 23 or 24 years old. They had just started junior high school when the Gulf War broke out. Even the memory of the Gulf War is just history for these young JMSDF personnel. Still, they will be in the position to maintain and strengthen the JMSDF and the Japan-US alliance 20–30 years from now.

Lowering the JMSDF Ensign

In the fall of 2000, I visited the JMSDF Sub Area Activity Hanshin in Kobe; I had been asked to give a lecture to the Suikōkai members living in the Kansai area. Soon after arriving, I was greeted by Rear Admiral Kōichi Furushō, commander of Sub Area Activity Hanshin. Eight years earlier, when I had been invited to the graduation ceremony in Etajima, then-Captain Furushō, as the chief of the public affairs section, had shown me around. Now, promoted to rear admiral, he led the officers and sailors of the Hanshin base.

I was to dine with some of the Suikōkai’s core members following the lecture in the base’s auditorium. While waiting for Rear Admiral Furushō to change his clothes before dinner, I went out to see the three minesweepers moored at the pier that had come from Hakodate, Hokkaido. These vessels happened to be in port to undergo an examination at the Degaussing Range Station on Awaji Island. Minesweepers like these had disposed of mines off Wonsan and other ports during the Korean War and had traveled across the ocean to dispose of mines in the Persian Gulf after the Gulf War. Never had I seen a real one this close up before.

As I walked along the pier, I heard about these ships from the base’s general affairs division director, who used to serve in the minesweeping force himself. It was almost time for the lowering of the JMSDF ensign. “Five minutes until the JMSDF ensign is lowered,” we heard announced over the loudspeaker. Alongside the JMSDF ensign hoisted at the stern of each minesweeper, two JMSDF officials stood preparing to lower it; a third official waited along the bow flag. Whereas the JGSDF and the JASDF always lower the national flag at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, the JMSDF lowers the flags precisely at sunset every day: on onshore bases, the national flag is lowered; on vessels, it is the JMSDF ensign. As it was in the past with the Imperial Japanese Naval ensign, the JMSDF ensign is treated as the national flag on JMSDF vessels. The tradition of treating the naval ensign as the national flag and lowering it at sunset is common among navies around the world.

The skies over Kobe were clear, with cirrus clouds floating in lines above the port. Just as the sun set, painting the clouds a beautiful rose madder red, a bugle sounded. The JMSDF personnel and sailors walking on the base all stood still and saluted in the direction of the JMSDF ensign. From the distant base headquarters, “Kimigayo,” Japan’s national anthem, began to play. The JMSDF sailors standing on the bow of the minesweepers lowered the bow flag quickly, then turned and saluted the JMSDF ensign at the stern. The national flag flying in front of the headquarters was slowly lowered to the strains of “Kimigayo.” Almost simultaneously, the JMSDF ensigns were lowered. No loud noises were heard during the ceremony; the minesweepers just swayed slowly. The JMSDF sailors held their salutes until the JMSDF ensign and the national flag were completely lowered. My guide, the division director, was also standing at attention and saluting. Once all the flags had been lowered, the JMSDF personnel resumed walking again, as if suddenly regaining consciousness.

For JMSDF personnel, the ceremony of lowering the JMSDF ensign at sunset is an everyday sight. It is unchanging, whether in the icy cold of winter or the scorching heat of summer. For an outsider like me, however, this brief ceremony with its moment of solemnity, held against the crimson sky on a fall evening, felt refreshing. Uchida and Nakamura once saluted the JMSDF ensign the same way. The minesweeping crews dispatched to the Persian Gulf also saluted the JMSDF ensign. Day after day, the salute is made on bases and vessels around Japan. It is not just the JMSDF—navies around the world hold the same flag lowering ceremony. It is how they all confirm that the day has ended peacefully and the work of defending the home country is done for the day.

Soon, the curtain of night descends, and officers and sailors of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force turn in for the night. In the morning, a new day begins with the raising of the JMSDF ensign.