For Trump, the four days in Japan must have been the first "blissful time" he had experienced during a foreign visit.　

It happened once. When the Korean War broke out, Dulles asked Shigeru Yoshida to rearm. He wanted to use Japan's war potential. Yoshida said he was on one pretext or another and did not respond at all. 　
Jul 09, 2019.
I give President Truman's message to you: 'Our America will stay as a victor's right. But while we will stay, we are not obligated to defend Japan.'
Jul 09, 2019
The 60-year Security Treaty that Nobusuke Kishi signed changed it to 'If you stationed Japan, you are obligated to defend Japan,' and everything was clear.
Jul 09, 2019
Be that as it may, there is no guarantee that there will not be others like Dulles who will continue to plan a "dual diplomacy" by weighing the Emperor and the Prime Minister, both at home and abroad.
Jul 09, 2019
Yukio Mishima once told me, "The Emperor is a Joker. He meant the all-mighty card in the card game.
Jul 09, 2019
I passed these words on to Ambassador Reischauer, the Ambassador to Japan, and asked him what he thought of the Ambassador. Reischauer replied, "I agree. It will continue to play a role when crises hit Japan in the future."
Jul 09, 2019
Joker will only play his role in times of crisis if he is on the other side of the curtain. How about coming to the forefront and acting like the British Royal Family?
Jul 09, 2019
He continued to be a source of worry for successive administrations with his statement, "I will defend the new Constitution to the death" (Asahi Journal), and his statement, "I will defend the Constitution of Japan" at the Asami ceremony after he accedes to the throne, and his unilateral statement "I will abdicate before my death."
July 09, 2019
The Constitutional amendment is an essential and urgent issue for "the political side to masterfully use the Emperor System and the Imperial Family, a work (tool) born of Japan."
July 09, 2019

The above is from a series of conversations between Gyo Tsutsumi and Koshi Kubo in the monthly magazine Hanada.
Every line is a must-read for all Japanese citizens.
Therefore, I transmitted them as titles, but all the chapters were subjected to the crime of search obstruction.
I am re-transmitting them.

The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
The Emperor is a Joker
Tsutsumi.　
It is called imperial diplomacy, but how about the Emperor coming forward too much?
There was once a time when this happened.
When the Korean War broke out, Dulles asked Shigeru Yoshida to rearm.
The U.S. wants to use Japanese forces, right?
Yoshida said he was on one pretext or another and did not respond at all. 　　
Dulles then gathered together Yasumasa Matsudaira and Takeshi Watanabe (bureaucrats in the Finance Ministry), who were close to the Showa Emperor and attempted "Emperor Diplomacy" through them.
It was a kind of dual diplomacy.
In front of them, Dulles said, I will tell you President Truman's message: "Our United States will be stationed there as a winner's right. However, we are not obligated to protect Japan, although we will stay. That is the president's message."　
It is a story that appears in Watanabe's memoir.
"Although the United States will stationed in Japan, it has no obligation to defend Japan.'' It was the Yoshida Security Treaty, which Shigeru Yoshida later signed alone.
The 60-Year Security Treaty, signed by Nobusuke Kishi, changed the Yoshida Security Treaty to "If the United States stays in Japan, it must defend Japan," and there was no inconvenience.　
In any case, there is no guarantee that someone like Dulles, who plans a "dual diplomacy'' that puts the Emperor and the Prime Minister in balance, will not appear in the future, either at home or abroad.
It is even though the Constitution of Japan strips the Emperor of any political authority.
Yukio Mishima once told me, "The Emperor is a joker."
He meant the almighty card in a card game.
I conveyed these words to Ambassador Reischauer and asked him, "What do you think, Ambassador?"
Reischauer replied, "I think so. It will continue to play a role when crises hit Japan in the future."　
The Joker is only on the other side of the curtain when the time comes to fulfill his role.
He is unsuitable to come to the forefront and act like the British royal family.
Mishima was very concerned about this issue when he used the term "popular emperor system."
Kubo.　
I guess the Emperor hates Mishima because he says things like that (lol).
According to "Asahi Monthly," when the Εmperor was a student at Gakushuin, he used to say to his schoolmates, "Mr. XXX is a nationalistic and disgusting politician," or "I hate what XXX writes.
The foreshadowed part was self-imposed by Asahi, and Kenichi Matsumoto went out of his way to add afterward, "It was Nakasone and Mishima," you know.　
His Majesty the Emperor as Crown Prince, who stepped out of the "place of nothingness" where the Emperor was supposed to be and actively asserted his "selflessness and inaction," continued to take the stance of "defending the new Constitution to the death" (Asahi Journal), "defending the Constitution of Japan" at the Asami ceremony after his accession, and unilateral "abdication before death" statements, as well as the "abdication before birth" statement. These statements have been the bane of successive administrations.　
For example, when South Korean President Roh Tae-woo visited Japan in May 1990, I heard from government leaders that their most significant concern and fear regarding the Emperor's speech was that Emperor Akihito might improvise something that the government had worked so hard to elaborate on.　
So, Mr. Tsutsumi's concerns will be addressed in the future, even in the context of the Imperial Family's diplomacy in 2025.
However, in the case of Trump's visit to Japan, the positive aspects of the Japanese national system, unique worldwide, with the 2,000-year-old Emperor as its symbol, and the sanctity of the imperial family to appease a raging god were seen.
I was interested in how Abe's political and imperial diplomacy worked perfectly.
I was interested in the harmony between Abe's political and Imperial Family diplomacy.　
However, the root of this problem lies not with the imperial family but with politics (secular power).
In other words, without tampering with the fundamental flaw of the postwar Peace Constitution, which is the lack of independence of the nation, without truly establishing its political entity based on the sovereignty of the people, the current Constitutional system is designed to push "imperial diplomacy" to the forefront and lean on it, so that even if it fails, the people cannot hold the Emperor accountable for the failure of its politics (decision making).
It is a wrong political use of the Emperor to use the current constitutional system as a cover for his non-decision and avoidance of political responsibility.
Even if it fails, the people cannot hold the Imperial Family responsible for the political (decision) failure.　
The best example is the drama of the Emperor's visit to China, promoted by Kiichi Miyazawa.
In any case, the drama of the Emperor's visit to China was a collaboration between the Tanaka faction (Takeshita and Kanamaru), the most powerful faction in the LDP at the time, who thought that "for economic development, it is acceptable to use the Emperor, even if it is a deviation from the Emperor's acts of state stipulated in Article IV of the Constitution," and the Tanaka faction, which supported the Emperor's visit to China "to protect, maintain and develop peace in Asia and to defend the Peace Constitution.
It was a de facto "bipartisan" collaboration between the Tanaka faction (Takeshita and Kanemaru), the most significant force within the DPJ, and most opposition parties.
These postwar constitutional and pacifist forces supported the Emperor's visit to China "to protect, maintain, and develop peace in Asia and to uphold the Peace Constitution.
Surprisingly, for them, achieving that "noble goal" was synonymous with friendly relations between Japan and China.　
What I would like to emphasize here is that constitutional revision is an essential and urgent issue for "the political side to masterfully use the Emperor System and Imperial Household, a work (tool) created by Japan," as Ango Sakaguchi wrote in his "The Continued Fall of Japan."

Reiwa's Diplomacy in Japan on Both Sides
Kubo　
By the way, in terms of Japanese diplomacy in Reiwa, it should be noted not only the brilliant Abe diplomacy, which has attracted the attention of countries around the world but also the imperial diplomacy in which the new Emperor and Empress hosted President Trump as Reiwa's first state guest at a palace dinner.　
The Emperor's visits to foreign countries and the reception of state guests are not acts of the state as stipulated in Article IV of the Constitution. However, these two are the two wheels of postwar Japanese diplomacy.
The fact that these two wheels were in perfect harmony is what makes Reiwa's diplomacy so noteworthy.　
During the four days of Trump's visit to Japan, Abe entertained the new Emperor with golf, sumo wrestling, robatayaki, and other hospitality, and the people of Japan also warmly welcomed the new Emperor, who was being received as a guest of honor for the first time.
At the beginning of the subsequent Japan-U.S. summit meeting, Trump expressed his gratitude, saying, "I am very happy to have been invited to the great event of your accession to the throne."
For Trump, the four days in Japan must have been the first "blissful time" he had experienced during a foreign visit.　
On the other hand, in the United Kingdom, where Queen Elizabeth II received Trump as a guest of honor after he visited Japan, the opposition Labour Party and civic groups held protest demonstrations in London. They treated him as an "uninvited guest."
Some people have foolishly explained this difference between the people of the two countries as a difference in political awareness, but this is a difference in the degree to which civility is respected.
In other words, as the Japanese nation is at the beginning of the Reiwa, Trump has been invited as a guest of honor, and the new Emperor is being treated as such, the people of Japan should refrain from any behavior that might cause embarrassment and give a warm welcome to the new Emperor.
The presence of the Emperor played a significant role in this.　
I believe that for the first time, Trump has learned the meaning of the existence of the Japanese Emperor, who is revered by the people as an "authority" because he is "selfless" and "ineffectual" and in a "place of nothingness," unrelated to worldly power.　
When considering Reiwa's diplomacy with the Japanese Imperial Family, it is essential to note that before her marriage, Empress Masako was the eldest daughter of the then Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Hisashi Owada, who was an active diplomat working on the front lines of foreign affairs.
Before their marriage, when Masako had lingering regrets about her career as a diplomat, His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince made a persuasive overture to her, saying, "Isn't the job of a diplomat the same as that of an empress?　
However, it is well known that when she finally became Crown Princess, she was so busy with imperial events and official duties that she could not even attend official events due to health problems, let alone balance her diplomatic work, which His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince had promised to do.　
However, upon the abdication of Emperor Akihito, Empress Masako, who replaced Empress Michiko as the new Empress, was as healthy as a fish out of the water, and she attended the general reception alongside the new Emperor.
This article continues.　

2024/5/11 in Kyoto