A case of interpretation? - Religion and Politics in Contemporary Japan - page 110

position, which was sometimes referred to as the position of sh - ganakatta
(nothing could be done), it might have had a negative e ect on the election,

which he also did not want to see. The question was then, why not, when he
was so adamant that they had compromised their

' most fundamental princi-

ples ect the views of many of the UNRC

members I interviewed: they would have preferred Komeito to have shown
more conspicuously its opposition to the US-led invasion. However, given the
circumstances of Japan

' ? The dilemmas described here re

' s alliance with the USA - a superpower set on going to

war, backed by other world powers - and Komeito being a small political party

that lacked su cient international diplomatic power, these young supporters

were also agreeing with the party that there was probably little they could do
to stop the war. Wavering between these two positions of doubt and ,

most of them chose to continue to support the party. Yet an uncomfortable
feeling of having compromised their ideals remained.
Hiromi, an outspoken 21-year-old female social science student (introduced
in Chapter 2) envisioned herself working in a job improving gender equality
in Japan. She related that when they were preparing the SU exhibition about
the Iraq War, the lingering doubt outlined by Tobi about why they continued to
support Komeito when such apparent inconsistencies had occurred over the
Iraq War was widespread. Hiromi, also concerned about

' reality '

People from outside
[SU] who unfortunately think that Komeito and SU is the same thing

'

' , found

'

it important that the students discuss what was on everyone s mind, namely,

why a party supposedly promoting peace did not maintain opposition to war
at all costs. She asked why when the Seikyo Shinbun at the time of the out-
break of the Iraq War made a statement against the war, there was nothing in
the Komei Shinbun. Some people were afraid that Komeito, because of its
government position, had implicitly supported the war. Hiromi, together with
the other organisers of the exhibition, found herself in a double bind. She had
doubts about Komeito

s decision and wanted to express them. At the same time,
as a member of UNRC, other students regarded her as capable of explaining
the political circumstances surrounding the international political situation
and why Komeito could not do more to stop the war. She felt the responsi-
bility of contextualising the complexity of the political situation and not only
give vent to her point of disagreement. While critical of Komeito, she also
wanted to demonstrate to her fellow students that Komeito

'

s position was not
simply the same as that of the LDP (which without quali

'

cation supported
the USA). The organisers of the exhibition faced a dilemma of wanting to
express their own concerns about the war, and to consider the implications of
Komeito

s position, while also believing that Komeito had probably tried to
do what it could to in

'

cult situation. If they were explicitly
going to criticise Komeito in the exhibition, it could have meant an adverse
e

uence a very di

ect on the upcoming election just a few weeks away. This they also did not
want to see, because it would probably just worsen the dilemma they were
currently facing, namely that Komeito had to compromise its principles
because of insu cient political mandate.