A case of interpretation? - Religion and Politics in Contemporary Japan - page 121

take a stance on defence as a party in government, mean when Komeito was
now having to be more nationally representative and politically answerable to
the country as a whole?
Supporters were becoming open and

flexible towards the need to take a
more pragmatic approach, but how far would they be willing to stretch this

flexibility in light of ideological, if not more serious ethical and humanitarian
dilemmas? There were people both within and outside its support base for
whom Komeito was seen as a serious breach of its own ideology,

indeed, even perhaps as joining hands with right-wing, nationalistic politi-
cians. On the other hand, as optimistically suggested by Toyama, supporters
did understand that Komeito was confronted with a whole range of political
issues in a new and concrete way with which they would have to deal if they
wanted to remain part of the government. As a party in government, the
economy, defence, job-creation, national health and pension reform were
issues that had to be tackled by concrete policy proposals and decision-
making rather than more simply approached in terms of ideology, where
budget was much less important. It prompted questions as to how Komeito
would or could emerge as a major player in national politics. As we shall see
in Chapter 5, after 10 years of coalition, Komeito

' s ' 'flexibility' '

uence on the LDP is
considerable. Moreover, the LDP became increasingly dependent on Komeito
voters to support candidates in areas with no Komeito candidates. However,
at what expense did this come for the ideals of the party and its supporters?
Supporters believed that Komeito had always taken a clear position on
Japan

' sin

'

s military past, for example, stating that its:

foreign policy agenda for Asia rests with the proper recognition of
history

…

Japan is forever obligated to work for the sake of peace pre-
cisely because it perpetrated acts of naked military aggression against its
Asian neighbours during World War II, causing untold su

…

ering and

death.

(Komei 2004a)

Supporters knew that this was a di erent view from that taken by many LDP

politicians. This position was something with which all the young people I
spoke to agreed; in Soka Gakkai, Japan s military aggression during World

War II is often spoken about. Supporters were adamant that Japan needed to
publicly recognise and apologise for its military past, something Ikeda has
stressed for decades. Komeito had also long advocated the building of a
national monument free of religious and pre-war connotations to replace the
Yasukuni Shrine as a monument for Japan

'

s soldiers who died in war, a view
that was again echoed by young Komeito supporters. Their views contrasted
sharply with the attempts to whitewash history found to be central to the
Ministry of Education

'

s controversial textbook reform (Kersten 1999; Rose
2000; Okada 2002; Nozaki and Inoguchi 2000; cf. Harootunian 1999). Some
people may argue that Komeito is advocating a non-religious monument

'