--The Asahi Shimbun, March 29
EDITORIAL: Atmosphere of society lets Abe honk his adventurism horn
（社説）安倍政権の激走 「いま」と「わたし」の大冒険
The essential features of an automobile are to run, to turn and to stop. A balance between the three factors is just as essential in politics.
走る、曲がる、止まる。
これは自動車の基本性能だが、政治におきかえてみても、この三つのバランスは重要だ。
“What is sought in this Diet session is not mere back-and-forth criticism,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said emphatically during this year’s policy speech while pointing to the opposition gallery. “What is needed is action.”
「この国会に求められていることは、単なる批判の応酬ではありません。行動です」
先の施政方針演説で、野党席の方を指しながらこう力を込めた安倍首相。
Certainly, the Abe administration has been driving along so startlingly wild that eyes are readily drawn to the power of its engine and the orientation of its steering wheel. But the eyes should probably be more focused on the brakes than on anything else.
確かに、政権の激走ぶりには目を見張るものがあり、ついエンジンの馬力やハンドルの傾きにばかり気をとられてしまうが、最も注視すべきは、ブレーキだろう。
HEADING FOR SOMEWHERE, BUT NOT HERE
■ここでないどこかへ
The Constitution for reining in those in power; lessons of history; self-reflection and self-restraint by those in power; critical reviews of those in power by media and opposition parties. These gadgets have functioned as brakes on Japan’s politics during the seven decades since Japan’s defeat in World War II.
権力を縛る憲法。歴史の教訓。権力を持つものの自省と自制。メディアや野党による権力の批判的検証――。敗戦から７０年の間、これらは日本政治のブレーキとして機能してきた。
But the Abe administration and supporting members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party apparently believe that these brakes are the culprit for the slow run of this country.
しかし安倍政権やそれを支える自民党の一部は、ブレーキがあるからこの国の走りが悪くなっていると思い込んでいるようだ。
“You face criticism when you set out on action,” Abe told students of the National Defense Academy during their graduation ceremony. “Irresponsible arguments that are only aimed at stirring up anxiety, such as ‘Japan could be embroiled in war,’ kept recurring in the past. But history of the past 70 years demonstrates how ludicrous those criticisms were.”
「行動を起こせば批判にさらされる。過去も『日本が戦争に巻き込まれる』といった、ただ不安をあおろうとする無責任な言説が繰り返されてきた。批判が荒唐無稽であったことは、この７０年の歴史が証明している」。
The prime minister also referred to the Self-Defense Forces as “our military” during a recent Diet debate.
防衛大学校の卒業式で、首相はこう訓示した。国会では自衛隊を「我が軍」と呼んだ。
Abe has used such phrases as “departure from the postwar regime” and “take back Japan.”
Do those words mean adventurism that implies that the brakes are just embarrassments and that the engine should be opened at full throttle?
「戦後レジームからの脱却」「日本を取り戻す」とは、ブレーキなんか邪魔だ、エンジン全開でぶっ飛ばすぜという冒険主義のことなのだろうか。
“Now” is all that counts to those in the Abe administration. One might ask where they are heading, what makes them hurry so, and whether it is safe to do so.
But they would only respond: “Look at the way we are driving now. There was no administration before that dared to step so boldly on the gas pedal.” They will dismiss all criticism and say: “We are currently dead set on just heading forward for somewhere that is not here. Why do you want to meddle?”
「いま」がすべて。どこに向かっているのか、なぜそんなに急ぐのか、危ないではないかと問うても、いまこの走りを見てくれ、こんなにアクセルを踏み込める政権はかつてなかっただろうと答えが返ってくる。とにかく前へ、ここではないどこかへと、いま必死に走っている最中なんだ、邪魔をするのかと、あらゆる批判をはねのける。
That sort of curious logic is all the rage.
奇妙な論法が横行している。
MAN IN POWER HONKING HIS HORN
■権力者のクラクション
“Hakko ichiu,” a phrase that originally means “to bring the world under one roof,” was used during the Pacific War as a political slogan to justify Japan’s invasion of other nations.
「八紘一宇（はっこういちう）」。もともとは世界を一つの家とする、という意味だが、太平洋戦争中は日本の侵略を正当化する標語として使われた。
But Junko Mihara, director of the LDP’s Women’s Affairs Division, took that phrase out of the historical context during a recent Diet session. She referred to it as an “ideology that Japan has cherished since its foundation.”
自民党の三原じゅん子女性局長は先日の国会で、そのような歴史的文脈を捨象し「日本が建国以来、大切にしてきた価値観」と紹介した。
Things are interpreted so that they are convenient to “me” (Japan), and no consideration is paid to the presence of others. Such a narrow-sighted and rough world view keeps popping up.
「わたし」を中心にものごとを都合よく把握し、他者の存在をまったく考慮に入れない。狭隘（きょうあい）かつ粗雑な世界観が、あちこちから漏れ出している。
During a live appearance on a commercial TV station’s news program last year, Abe said that he believed the broadcaster was airing street interviews “selectively,” a practice that he found “odd.”
首相は昨年、民放ニュース番組に出演し、テレビ局が「街の声」を「選んでいる」「おかしい」などと発言した。
When he was recently told in the Diet that saying such a thing could amount to applying pressure on news reporting, the prime minister dismissively said he had “freedom of speech,” creating a wag-the-dog situation.
先日の国会で、報道への介入と言われても仕方ないと批判されると「言論の自由だ」と突っぱねた。
“Freedom of speech,” which is a right of individuals not to be oppressed by those in power, is being brandished by the man in power.
権力が抑圧してはならない個人の権利である「言論の自由」を権力者が振りかざすという倒錯。
The prime minister also said, “(Those who disagree with me) perhaps feared they could be refuted if they opened an argument with me.” He added: “Will they cringe at only that? Shame on them.”
首相はさらに「私に議論を挑むと論破されるのを恐れたのかもしれない」「それくらいで萎縮してしまう人たちなのか。極めて情けない」とも述べた。
Perhaps Abe lacks the fundamental awareness that he has the highest political power.
ひょっとして首相は、最高権力者であるという自覚を根っこのところで欠いているのではないか。
One probably couldn’t be blamed for flinching momentarily if a large car comes nearby and honks. That is exactly why power should be exercised in a restrained manner so as not to cause the public to flinch.
巨大な車にクラクションを鳴らされたら、周囲が一瞬ひるんでしまうのは仕方ないだろう。だからこそ権力は国民をひるませないよう、抑制的に行使されねばならない。
No prime minister should be influenced by the impulsive inner calls of “now” and “me.”
首相たるもの「いま」「わたし」の衝動に流されるべきではない。
The shame should be directed at Abe, who has yet to learn the manners of a man in power, such as restraint and self-control, and keeps honking his horn as he drives around.
情けないのは抑制や自制という権力の作法を身につけず、けたたましいクラクションを鳴らして走り回る首相の方である。
ANXIETY-RIDDEN SOCIETY
■不安社会とブレーキ
Yet, the Abe administration can continue on its wild run because the atmosphere of society is somehow backing that behavior.
そうは言っても、安倍政権が激走を続けられるのは、社会の空気が、なんとなくそれを支えているからだろう。
A protracted economic slump; the rise of China; widening social disparity; the Great East Japan Earthquake; and the hostage-taking of two Japanese citizens by the Islamic State extremist group ... . Many factors have steadily built up frustration, a sense of crisis and anxiety about not knowing what is at the root of the anxiety.
長引く不況。中国の台頭。格差社会の深刻化。さらに東日本大震災、過激派組織「イスラム国」（ＩＳ）による人質事件などを経て、焦燥感や危機意識、何が不安なのかわからない不安がじわじわと根を張ってきた。
“You could be defeated unless you worked as one under the nation to face challenges. So you should refrain from pouring cold water on the government and help the state achieve its best performance.”
国ぐるみ一丸となって立ち向かわなければやられてしまう。国家が最高のパフォーマンスを発揮できるよう、政府の足を引っ張ってはいけない――。
Such sentiment is spreading.
そんな気分が広がり、
And this is perhaps indirectly causing the advent of a society where top-down decisions are preferred to thorough discussions, and the convenience of the state and groups of people are put ahead of the rights and freedoms of individuals.
熟議よりもトップダウン、個人の権利や自由よりも国家や集団の都合が優先される社会を、知らずしらず招き寄せてはいないだろうか。
When might is master, justice is servant.
無理が通れば道理が引っ込む。
Elements that do not fit in collective unity are expelled under the labels of “anti-Japan” and “traitors.” An extremely infantile argument is being made that media criticism against Abe amounts to “hate speech” against him.
「反日」「売国奴」。一丸になじまぬものを排撃する一方で、首相に対する批判はメディアのヘイトスピーチだという極めて稚拙な言説が飛び出す。
It has recently been said that the media are cringing.
昨今「メディアの萎縮」と呼ばれる事態も、
However, it is not merely a situation of the media flinching at the high-handed manners of the Abe administration. The actual situation is that the media are being mired in a “liquefied society” where reasoning has receded.
強権的な安倍政権にたじろいでいるという単純なものではなく、道理が引っ込み、液状化した社会に足を取られているというのが、
This is our actual, albeit shameful, feeling about the matter.
情けなくはあるが、率直な実感だ。
We should not shut our ears and turn a blind eye to a society where cars without brakes are honking loudly. Something could and should be done now by every single member of society, to say nothing of the media.
ブレーキのない車のクラクションが鳴り響く社会。メディアが耳をふさいでやり過ごしてはならない。そしていま、この社会に生きる一人ひとりにも、できることはあるはずだ。
