Much of the motivation for Abenomics, Japan’s bold gambit to breathe life into its economy, comes courtesy of Beijing. It was fear of a rising, more assertive China that led the Liberal Democratic party to turn to the jingoistic Shinzo Abe in the first place and convinced many Japanese to hold their nose and vote for him. It was the same conviction that persuaded Mr Abe himself that something had to be done to rid the country of 15 years of deflation and to build a prosperous country capable of defending its interests. For a while Mr Abe, a revisionist who thinks Japan has been unfairly singled out for criticism about wartime atrocities, concentrated on getting his economic plan up and running. Now, more than a year into a premiership likely to last at least until 2016, he is pushing his nationalist agenda more forcefully – with some worrying implications for Japanese democracy.
In December Mr Abe visited the controversial Yasukuni shrine against the advice of Washington and in defiance of diplomatic sense. The prospects of dialogue with Beijing – and perhaps even South Korea – have sharply receded as a result. Before his visit to Yasukuni, the government rammed home a secrecy bill that is too draconian. There is always a balance between security and freedom of speech. But Japan’s law tilts too far towards secrecy.
Suspicions about the state secrets law have been reinforced by Mr Abe’s clumsy attempt to rein in NHK, the national broadcaster that is Japan’s equivalent of the BBC. In December the NHK board appointed Katsuto Momii as president. He has alarmed many by suggesting that NHK should not challenge the government on important issues. “We cannot say left when the government says right,” is how he put it.