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"GFJ Commentary"
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"GFJ Commentary" presents a view of members of GFJ on relations of Japan with the rest of the world and other related international affairs. The view expressed herein is the author's own and should not be attributed to GFJ.
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What We Expect from India
By IWAKUNI Tetsundo
Member of the House of Representatives (Democratic Party
of Japan)
To most Japanese, India is emotionally quite accessible even though it is as far away as ten-thousand kilometers. This sentiment could be explained by the fact that India is the birthplace of Buddhism while almost eighty percent of Japanese are Buddhist. Thus a sense of affinity toward that country was nurtured here. In Japan, especially in the provinces, Shintoism and Buddhism co-exist in a peaceful manner, which is quite rare in the world. This is partly because the two teachings were politically syncretized in the past and partly because Buddhism somehow fit into the indigenous mentality of Japanese people. Japan is the only country in the world where the sum of the number of worshippers of two religions in the country amount to almost double the whole population. Our conventional wisdom dictates that there are far more Buddhists in India, the cradle of Buddhism, than there are in Japan. But this is far from the case.
There are only eight million Buddhists in India, accounting for only 0.8 per cent of the whole population, which is heavily outnumbered by those in Japan, accounting for 80 per cent of the population. Today's India is a minor country as far as Buddhist influence is concerned. However, not a few intellectuals and leaders of the country admire the values of Buddhism. I was truly impressed when I met some executives of Confederation of Indian Industry the other day, who made an impassioned appeal to us that they need Buddhism, which Japan long ago derived from India and has cherished ever since, to be returned back to India with "interest." Indeed, we expect much from India for its contribution to world peace. Jawaharlal Nehru, then Prime Minister of India, on his visit to Japan in 1957, addressed us, stating that the stockpile of weapons of mass destruction owned by major powers endangers world peace, and collaboration for world peace must be called for. This clearly shows his determination to pursue disarmament and world peace.
This same India, however, later embarked on the development of nuclear weapons and is now a nuclear power. Fifty years after Nehru's visit to Japan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh delivered a speech on his visit here in 2008, in which he never once mentioned disarmament or abolition of nuclear weapons. In a meeting with Prime Minister Singh, I named nuclear weapons and human avarice as two major factors that pose a threat of annihilation to humankind. Then I pointed out that while the "Nuclear Club" is scrambling for the scarce resources of the world by force of its overwhelming military might, the "Avarice Club" composed of wealthy states and speculators is taking control of natural resources and energies through the market. A mere fact that starvation and unemployment, even in the absence of war, incite mass murder on a daily basis is proof enough to show that human avarice is far more destructive than nuclear weapons. Laws or treaties are, in this connection, no deterrent against human avarice.
I believe that nothing can deter human avarice except sound religious thought and ethical philosophy as are shown in such teachings of Buddism as "Inexhaustible as our delusions are, I aspire to extinguish them all" or "Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are." Amid this once-in-a-century economic and financial crisis, there is again, I am afraid, a budding prospect of a once-in-a-century world war. It is exactly in this connection that we have much to expect from India, as a country that gave birth to one of the greatest intellectual assets in human history.
(This is the English translation of an article written by Mr. IWAKUNI Tetsundo, Member of the House of Representatives (DPJ), which originally appeared on the BBS "Giron-Hyakushutsu" of GFJ on June 1, 2009.)
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For more views and opinions in the backnumber of "GFJ Commentary," the latest of which are as follows, please refer to:
http://www.gfj.jp/eng/commentary/backnumber.html
No.23 On Democratizing the World
by YANO Takuya, Research Fellow, The Japan Forum on International Relations (JFIR)
(30 April 2009)
No.22 Suggestions from Japan for Post-Kyoto Protocol Framework
by SUZUKI Keisuke, Member of the House of Representatives (LDP)
(4 February 2009)
No.21 How We Should Respond to Terrorism
by HOSONO Goshi, Member of the House of Representatives (DPJ)
Executive Research Advisor of International Development Center of
Japan
(2 December 2008)
No.20 The Question is Afghanistan
by IRIYAMA Akira, Guest Professor of Cyber University, Executive Research Advisor of International Development Center of Japan
(10 December 2008)
No.19 Hailing Prime Minister Aso's Stance towards China
by YUSHITA Hiroyuki, Visiting Professor of Kyorin University
(20 November 2008)
No.18 Georgia Crisis Reveals Limits of the European Neighborhood Policy
by KOKUBO Yasuyuki, Professor of University of Shizuoka
(15 October 2008)
"GFJ Updates"
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"GFJ Updates" introduces to you latest events, announcements and/or publications of GFJ.
Announcement
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The Global Forum of Japan (GFJ), under the co-sponsorship with ASEAN Institutes of Strategic and International Studies (ASEAN-ISIS), will convene "THE 8th JAPAN-ASEAN DIALOGUE : Japan-ASEAN Cooperation amid Financial and Economic Crisis" in Tokyo on September 11, 2009.
For more information, please refer to; http://www.gfj.jp/jpn/dialogue/33/program.pdf
Attention to the readers of GFJ E-Letter; GFJ would like to invite the first 15 applicants to the Dialogue. Should you wish to attend the Dialogue, please inform us of your name, affiliation, title, phone number, and e-mail adress, by FAX (+81-3-3505-4406) or e-mail ( info@gfj.jp) until August 24. English-Japanese simultaneous interpretation will be provided at the Dialogue.
Publications
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The Global Forum of Japan (GFJ), under the co-sponsorship with the National Committee on American Freign Policy(NCAFP), organized the Second "Japan-US Dialogue" on the theme of "US-Japan Relation Under the New Obama Administration" on 24 April 2009 in Tokyo.
For the full text of the "Report of The Second Japan-US Dialogue on 'Japan-US Dialogue" on the theme of "US-Japan Relation Under the New Obama Administration", please refer to:
http://www.gfj.jp/jpn/dialogue/31/main.pdf
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