The House of Representatives was dissolved on November 16, approximately 100 days after Prime Minister Yasuhiko Noda promised to do so in the near future.
　On November 17, each newspaper contained headlines that reflected their views. For example, the Asahi Shimbun had a headline that read, “Regime change towards generalization.” Underneath this was a sub-heading that said, “Prime minister aims to be the top party.” During the general election held three years and four months ago, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won a great victory and regime change was accomplished with the backing of many media outlets, centered on the Asahi Shimbun. The phrase, “aims to be the top party” indicates that the Asahi Shimbun has yet to entirely abandon its expectations regarding the DPJ.
　The Nihon Keizai Shimbun contained a headline that read, “As the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and DPJ clash, third parties hold the key.” It seems like their true feeling is, “The DPJ is declining rapidly, while third parties are advancing forward.” Looking at the political party approval ratings released by each media outlet as well, the LDP is far surpassing the DPJ, and it seems very unlikely that the DPJ and LDP will actually clash. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun has a bit of sympathy for the DPJ as well.
　The headline in the Yomiuri Shimbun read, “Doubts about three years of DPJ government.” An article by Shin Nagahara, the head of the Political Section, contained extremely honest assertions. It read:
Three years and four months have passed since the last general election that resulted in the regime change that caused so much wild enthusiasm throughout the Japanese archipelago. First of all, Prime Minister Noda and the DPJ are being asked to synthesize the approximately three years of the DPJ administration, including both the Yukio Hatoyama and Naoto Kan cabinets. The party’s unrealistic manifesto declared that more than 16 trillion yen could be easily raised just by stopping the squandering of tax money. Its curtailing of the power of the bureaucracy also caused administrative chaos. The catch phrase of the DPJ’s popularization was “from concrete to people,” which caused the public works projects required for disaster planning and other purposes to atrophy. Both of the former prime ministers spoke of political policies as soon as they occurred to them, without indicating any paths to actually realizing such policies, including the concept of a “society without nuclear power” and moving the American base outside of Okinawa or outside of Japan. It’s true that the prime minister laid down a foundation for integrated tax and social security reform, which was not accomplished by the LDP administration. However, that is not a good reason to avoid directly facing the party’s negative bequests, including those from the Hatoyama and Kan eras.
　An article in the Sankei Shimbun, entitled, “Starting point for reviving Japan from its national crises,” read as follows:
As the entire Japanese archipelago is filled with a feeling of hopelessness, the first dissolution of the House of Representatives in around three years and four months has taken place. Can politics resolve the national crises that Japan is currently experiencing, including economic stagnation, changing energy policy due to the accident at the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, and threats to Japan’s territories- The next general election may be our last chance. At a DPJ joint plenary meeting held in the National Diet directly after the dissolution, Prime Minister Noda emphasized that, “This election will decide whether we go forwards or backwards.” As he says, this election is the starting point for Japan’s revival in which it can use the dissolution of the House of Representatives to move forward from the unsuccessful politics of the past three years or so.
　The responsibility for these national crises belongs to the citizens, who gave the DPJ a great victory from the simple desire to see what would happen if it was given power. Consequently, Japan has spent three years and four months in a state of supreme chaos in the realms of politics, the economy, and diplomacy. The only saving grace in these circumstances is that Shinzo Abe won the recent LDP presidential election; it is certain that the LDP will acquire a single-party majority in the general election and be given political power once again. At that time, I hope they will realize the concept of “ridding Japan from the postwar regime” that the first Abe administration spoke of six years ago.

　　President Abe is saying that we should recognize the right to collective defense, but he must advocate for many other things as well. The reason his previous administration did not last for more than a year is because it was defeated in the House of Councillors election. Rather than hesitating at that time, he might have been able to maintain a majority in the House of Representatives if he had dissolved the House of Representatives and held a double election, even if the number of National Diet members in the House of Representatives would have been smaller than at the time of Junichiro Koizumi’s postal privatization election. In other words, Abe’s cautiousness backfired on him.
　Because the LDP has lost power once, it must not be overly cautious – fortune favors the bold. The LDP used to be the ruling party, but now that it has lost power it should make an entirely fresh start and bring its views to the forefront as the new LDP. First of all, it should clearly negate the Nanking Massacre and comfort women issue, which are obviously not true. The LDP should also firmly state that it will not follow the Kono Statement and Murayama Statement that are related to these issues. During the time of the previous LDP administration, the mass media outlets – which have policies of anti-Japanese thinking – asked whether these statements would be followed or not with each change of prime minister. Now, the LDP should declare that it will not inherit such statements that are not based on reality.
　Furthermore, the LDP should repeal the stipulations about our neighboring countries (the standards for textbook authorization specify that true historical events that occurred with Asian countries in the modern era will not be included). Abe should also state that he will definitely visit Yasukuni Shrine. If the new administration brought up all of these issues – which have been without exception censured in the past each time they were asserted on an individual basis – the mass media’s points of contention would fall apart and the administration would not be subjected to concentrated criticism.
　Moreover, the traditional mass media and its influence on citizens are changing due to the appearance of the Internet. In fact, at times one can gain the support of citizens by making enemies of the media outlets. The Grand Prize winner in the “True Interpretations of Modern History” essay contest held by the APA Group four years ago was Toshio Tamogami. His essay was uniformly attacked by all of the media outlets, but the online opinion was overwhelmingly in his favor. This clearly showed the difference between public opinion online and in the existing media outlets.
　Now that four years have passed, the influence of the Internet has come to surpass the existing media. The number of people who read newspapers grows smaller each year, and the number of officially announced copies printed is wildly different from the actual circulations. However, people who pay for insert ad-papers are without question charged based on the official circulation. Even though this is practiced by all newspaper companies, it is still wrong to justify such fraudulent acts and there is a need to fully research this phenomenon.
　If the Abe administration advocated for many points at question in a way that was based on reality, it would be submitted to a general attack by the mass media. At the same time, there is a good chance that this would help stir up the public opinion, obtain support from the citizens, and result in a complete victory for the LDP.
　The DPJ administration was created by the mass media. As a result, many citizens – who had great expectations regarding the DPJ’s pork-barrel manifesto that simply could never be executed – were manipulated. This has resulted in disorder and created a situation of national crises.
　The mass media has produced the world’s most anti-Japanese nation. As written in the Sankei Shimbun newspaper, the next election will be a starting point for Japan’s revival, and I believe it will be a very important one for this reason.

　　The Japan Restoration Party was formed from Osaka City Mayor Toru Hashimoto’s desire to participate in national politics, and has gained the endorsement of the citizens by facing off against the existing major powers. It has also merged with Shintaro Ishihara’s Sunrise Party. This party is tinged with political feasibility (such as abandoning nuclear power generation and abolishing the House of Councillors) because it is represented by Ishihara. The politicians in the DPJ have entirely different views – so much so that the party could be described as merely a benefit society for winning elections. However, if the Japan Restoration Party does not correctly choose its official candidates, it will become the very same thing. A series of people are defecting from the DPJ, which is the natural fate for a benefit society with no purpose but to win elections.
　Political parties should be created when politicians with similar policies gather together; by all rights they should be in charge of administration if the majority are of the same mind. The Japan Restoration Party may have taken in the Sunrise Party, which has different policies, in order to gain popularity. But in the end, it is thought that the Japan Restoration Party will not receive as many votes as it is hoping. In addition, if this party were to acquire a certain number of National Diet seats, chaos would certainly occur when it broke apart (just like when the People’s Life First party split off from the DPJ).
　In Japan, the constant post-election phenomenon is that swingback occurs to regain balance. The cycle is constantly repeated in which the party that wins a decisive victory is defeated in the following election. If the LDP wins by too large a margin in the general election, it will lose in the House of Councillors member election scheduled to take place in July of next year. In this way, both houses may remain in a twisted state. The best thing for Japan would be the construction of an Abe administration by gaining a majority of seats in both the House of Councillors and House of Representatives. If that isn’t possible, it should acquire more than two thirds in the House of Representatives – even by forming a coalition – and become able to pass measures in the House of Representatives even after they have been rejected in the House of Councillors. However, if the LDP actually gained a single-party majority in the next general election, it would still remain nothing more than a minority party in the House of Councillors. Therefore, it will need to form a coalition government in the meantime.
　For a political party to receive overwhelming support, it must expose the oppression that Japan has suffered up until now. Japan continues apologizing for fabricated incidents that did not happen, such as the Nanking Massacre and comfort women issue. A request submitted to the United States Congress regarding an apology for the comfort women was passed, and a strange statue has been set up in front of the Japanese embassy in Korea. These things would be acceptable if comfort women had actually existed, but the fact that Japan continues being criticized about false historical “facts” is the result of Japan’s amicable responses to such issues in the past.
　The most anti-Japanese country in the whole world is Japan. I have visited 77 countries and have continually held dialogues with leaders there; all of these people say that Japan is a wonderful country. In the past many people in Japan, including myself, have believed what the textbooks and media outlets say. But the more I speak with important people from overseas countries, the more I become aware of the absurd nature of the history that Japan believes in.

　　　The source of the warped history in Japan is the U.S., which dropped the atomic bombs without warning or notice – the equivalent of a crime against humanity.
　During the end of World War II, the Soviet Union had conquered Berlin and was attempting to communize all of Europe. It also threatened to communize Asia – including the Korean Peninsula, China, Southeast Asia, and India – as well as the Africa countries. The U.S. dropped the atomic bombs on Japan to forcibly stop World War II from turning into World War III, a war against the communization of the world. In this way, the U.S. halted the actions of the Soviet Union by intimidating it with nuclear weapons.
　The U.S. dropped the atomic bombs on defenseless citizens, with no warning, slaughtering countless people in an inhuman way. Still, it did not want to be criticized for dropping these bombs after the end of the war. In order to prove that many people could be killed even with firebombs in regular bombing during the Great Tokyo Air Raid, the U.S. systematically threw firebombs, caused fires, and cut off retreats. By carpet-bombing the middle of the city, the U.S. massacred a total of 100,000 people.
　Furthermore, the U.S. landed on Iwo Jima – a place with little strategic importance for occupation – and fought a fierce battle with the Japanese Army, which was desperately defending itself from underground barricades. More American than Japanese soldiers were killed in order to provide a foundation for predicting that one million American soldiers would die if fighting were to take place on the Japanese mainland.
　Perhaps because of these stratagems, even now many Americans believe that the dropping of the atomic bombs was necessary in order to save the lives of the American troops. However, that belief is incorrect. It’s likely true that racial discrimination was part of the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan with no warning. Afterwards, the U.S. used the Tokyo Trials to guide Japanese people into believing their country was bad, which is how it covered up its sin of dropping the atomic bombs. For that reason, we must reconsider all of the past history that relates to Japan.
　World War II was not a reckless, aggressive war started by Japan. The U.S. aspired to gain the entire Pacific Ocean. It established War Plan Orange, a strategy against Japan, because Japan could have been a hindrance directly after its victory in the Russo-Japanese War. There was no way to avoid a decisive battle between the U.S. and Japan; Japanese people must understand anew the entire history, from a birds-eye view, in which Japan fought to put a stop to the ambitions of the U.S.
　All of Japan’s territorial issues were created by the U.S. During World War II, if the U.S. had threatened the Soviet Union with nuclear weapons, it’s likely that the Soviet Union would have immediately accepted a ceasefire and wouldn’t have invaded the Northern Territories. Korean President Rhee Syngman was the puppet of the U.S. – I doubt he would have drawn the Rhee Syngman Line to include Takeshima if the U.S. hadn’t said to do so. The U.S. continues claiming that the Senkaku Islands are part of the area protected by the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, but the U.S. also maintains it neutrality and does not take part in territorial issues.
　Japan is confronted with such territorial issues, and requires support including that from the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan (U.S.-Japan Security Treaty). However, this situation is a convenient one for the U.S. – it’s a mistake to think the U.S. will protect Japan because of this treaty. To begin with, some say that the U.S. Forces stationed in Japan according to the treaty are actually a measure to prevent Japan from becoming a country with a strong military once again. The U.S.-Japan Security Treaty contains no clause for automatic entry into war. Even if Japan was attacked by another country, I suspect U.S. would only fight with us as a friendly force after considering its own interests and disadvantages. If Japan came to recognize the exercise of the right to collective defense, this situation might change somewhat.
　American National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger held discussions about the restoration of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China. He said the traditional U.S.-China relationship would not allow for Japan to strengthen its armaments and become a major military power once again. The reality of the world depends on a balance of power. If one realizes this, it’s easy to see that the preamble to the Constitution of Japan – which reads “trusting in the justice and faith of the peace-loving peoples of the world” – is merely a pipe dream. All independent states have the right to create their own constitutions, yet Japan has been forced to have its current constitution that includes articles that are nearly impossible to amend. No amendments have taken place for this reason.
　After the next general election, Japan should invalidate this constitution – which was created in a time of emergency during Japan’s occupation – by passing a resolution with majorities in both the House of Representatives and House of Councilors. We should then enact an independent constitution that is in line with the current era; clarify that we will maintain our right to self defense as an autonomous, independent country; augment defense expenditures that have long been kept low; and create a military balance with the bloated China. These measures would not be taken with the aim of becoming a major military power – they would lead to stability in East Asia by preserving a balance of military strength with our neighboring countries.
　In the next general election, I predict that the Abe LDP – which advocates for the necessity of devoting energy to economic measures, even by revising the Bank of Japan Act – will experience a great victory. The New Komeito and Japanese Communist Party will likely gain around the same number of seats as they have now, the DPJ and People’s Life First will be utterly defeated, and the Japan Restoration Party will not acquire enough seats to hold a casting vote.
　If the LDP established a single-party administration by raising all points at issue at one fell swoop, Japan could move towards becoming a country that has genuine historical views and is worthy of pride. I definitely want this to happen, and I keenly hope that President Abe will embark on bold election strategies.

11:48 p.m., November 26, 2013（Monday）