Speaker A
To say that Japan is a vassal state or a colony of America, or an occupied territory of the U.S. military, the key terms are "voluntary subordination" or "proactive subservience." That is.
Explores Japan's voluntary subordination to the U.S., revealing the deep political and military control behind Japan-U.S. relations.
Key Takeaways
- Japan's sovereignty is heavily compromised by its voluntary subordination to the U.S.
- The Japan-U.S. alliance is not equal but a form of American dominance over Japan.
- Japanese political and bureaucratic elites are often complicit or unaware of their subservience.
- Surveillance and covert control mechanisms ensure Japan remains tied to U.S. interests.
- True independence for Japan is hindered by both internal and external forces, including media manipulation.
What the video covers
- Japan is described as a vassal state or colony of the U.S. due to voluntary subordination and proactive subservience.
- The Japan-U.S. relationship is unequal, with the U.S. military and bureaucrats controlling Japan's policies behind the scenes.
- The Japan-U.S. Joint Committee and Security Consultative Committee play central roles in managing Japan's governance.
- Japanese elites often identify more as part of the American empire than as independent Japanese leaders.
- Surveillance, malware, and political pressure are tools used to maintain Japan's dependence on the U.S.
- Historical incidents like the Ozawa targeting and the 1995 US military rape case illustrate attempts to suppress independence movements.
- The media and government ministries act as public relations tools to maintain the status quo and suppress critical information.
- There is skepticism about the possibility of Japan achieving true sovereignty under current conditions.
- The video references a book co-authored by former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama that investigates who really governs Japan.
- The discussion highlights the need for public awakening to Japan's lack of independence and the influence of external pressures.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to Japan's Voluntary Subordination to the U.S.
- 01:08Historical Background and Post-War Japan
- 02:43Political Control and the Japan-U.S. Joint Committee
- 04:02Suppression of Independence Movements
- 05:01Surveillance and Covert Control Mechanisms
- 07:16Illusion of Equal Alliance and Elite Perspectives
- 08:19US Military Presence and Japanese Government’s Role
- 09:19Media Manipulation and Public Awareness
- 11:04Conclusion: Challenges to Japan’s True Independence
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Today, we will be hearing from Mr. Kimura, Professor Emeritus at Kagoshima University and a journalist. Mr. Kimura, thank you for joining us again.
Speaker A
Yes, thank you for having me. Last time, you spoke about nuclear weapons and how to achieve true peace, which is central to your peace studies, and you noted how incredibly strong the economic influence of the United States remains.
Speaker A
Regarding the Japan-U.S. relationship, while we have the security treaty, it is hard to deny that the Japanese Prime Minister acts as a puppet for the United States. I would like to discuss to what extent Japan can maintain sovereignty, why we feel compelled to
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follow America's lead, the underlying structure of this, and what is actually happening.
Speaker A
Well, Japan was defeated in World War II, came under virtually sole U.S. occupation, and in 1952, with the San Francisco Peace Treaty, gained a "conditional independence"—some even call it semi-independence—which brings us to where we are today after returning to the UN.
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However, the relationship between the U.S. and Japan is not that of equal allies; rather, it is more accurate to describe Japan as a vassal state, a colony, or an occupied territory of the American military.
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Is it not the case that the Japan-U.S. Joint Committee—where the U.S. side is mostly military and the Japanese side is mostly bureaucrats, with no involvement from politicians—is actually the organization running all of Japan's policies from behind the
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scenes? The book I released a few days ago was co-authored by former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Satoshi Shirai, a young political scientist who is now a professor at Kyoto Seika University. The book that the three of us put out explores the question of who
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actually governs this country.
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Yes. In conclusion, on the Japanese side, it’s the bureaucrats, and the United States is what drives those bureaucrats from behind the scenes and from above. When the Hatoyama administration was born in 2009 as the
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first full-fledged non-LDP government since the Hosokawa administration of 1993, the so-called Ozawa incident occurred. Allegations were brought against Mr. Ozawa, leading to two indictment resolutions by the Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution, though it ultimately came to nothing. I
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believe we can view the targeting of Mr. Ozawa and the Hatoyama administration as an attempt to crush their challenge to escape control by the U.S. and the bureaucracy through policies of independence from the U.S.
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and moving away from bureaucratic dominance. Regarding why Japan is so submissive and subordinate to the United States, there are various theories, but the keywords I would use are "voluntary subordination" or "proactive subordination." No, usually.
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To be voluntarily subordinate is a contradiction.
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Yes. It's like, "Are you kidding me?"
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Yes, that's the kind of relationship it is.
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It’s like they're saying, "Please, let us be subordinate." It really seems that way, as if they are leaping into their arms and begging to be subordinate; that is how Japan appears to me.
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Well, of course. The eyes of the U.S. and others are watching every corner of Japan, keeping track of the movements of every politician and business elite, knowing all their scandals through wiretapping and surveillance. There is also the fear that, when push comes to
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shove, those things could be leaked, causing them to lose their political life or their status. But I don't think that's the only reason. This is something that Snowden, that American intelligence operative who defected to Russia, talked about in Oliver Stone's
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film: that when he was at Yokota, he had embedded malware throughout Japan, into every single network. And if Japan ever tried to become independent or distance itself from America, that malware would activate and destroy every piece of infrastructure.
Speaker A
Naturally, that includes nuclear power plants as well. So, I think there is an aspect where we are effectively tied down or trapped in a dual sense.
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However, for the elites who are voluntarily and actively subservient to America, there seems to be very little awareness that they are being controlled or ordered around. Rather than seeing themselves as Japanese elites, they are tied together by a
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strong shared consciousness as elites of the American empire, centered on the U.S., intending for—or perhaps wanting—Japan to become a deputy administrator of that empire. But in reality, America does not position the Japanese as equals or anything of the
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sort. So, while people often talk about a "true equal alliance," "the evolution of the alliance," or "equality," I think that is entirely an illusion.
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After all, politicians, bureaucrats, scholars, and journalists who have studied in the U.S. through programs like Fulbright have, if not brainwashed, been so overwhelmed by America that they believe the U.S. is the only true model. There is a strange tendency to
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be convinced that moving closer to that model is the best for our national interest and that it is something wonderful. So, even if they are actively subservient to America, they justify it by saying that all of America's allies and friendly nations
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around the world are subservient to some degree because American power is so overwhelming, so it is not a problem. Rather, the thinking of these Japanese elites—the proactively and voluntarily subservient faction—is that they want to take on a role in
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controlling the world alongside America. So, regarding the US military withdrawal, for instance, back in 1995 during Governor Ota’s term, there was the rape incident, and when there was talk of the US military pulling out, it was the Japanese side—specifically
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the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—that stopped it.
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Yes. They begged them not to leave. There was growing pressure to revise the Status of Forces Agreement, and the US was even prepared to consider it, but Japan insisted it wasn’t necessary
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and offered to just handle it through administrative adjustments instead. You could call it "reading the room," but how should I put it? It’s like a total colonial mindset. I identify as being on the liberal side, but of course, I work with conservatives too.
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Yeah. I’ve even worked together with people like Mr. Kimura from the Suikai. Regarding the US-Japan relationship.
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My position is that I can work with them as long as the demands aren't unreasonable, but looking at successive LDP administrations, including the current one, they’re just sycophants.
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Yes. To put it strongly, it’s a treacherous regime, and there’s no way around saying it. Moreover, looking at their recent policies, it seems they are intentionally steering Japan toward weakening and self-destruction. It’s unbelievable that Japan is the only one
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among the OECD countries to have stagnated for over 30 years.
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Yeah. While this is certainly a domestic issue, it’s even more so a matter of external pressure, such as having international rules forced upon us.
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Japan is being exploited in that way, and I suspect there are people who know this and are happily implementing those policies anyway, so unless that changes, the issue of US dependence will never fundamentally...
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change. I don’t think it will change. It can't be solved, which is why I published a book titled "Break with the Never-Ending Occupation." Given what you’ve just said, is the Japan-US Joint Committee the central body functioning as the core of this grip on
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Japan?
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Well, it’s not just that, but things that were kept hidden until now have recently come to light. The Japan-U.S.
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Security Consultative Committee. Well, that... And it’s not just that. There is this thing called the Japan-U.S. Economic Requirements document; the U.S.
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presented these demands to Japan. While it's supposed to be a mutual exchange, Japan has unilaterally been forced to accept.
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Yes. Most people didn't know about that until recently, and even now, the vast majority of people still don't.
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Wouldn't you agree? Yeah. We aren't really an independent country at all. Ah. So, why did this only happen to Japan?
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In Europe, Germany and Italy were defeated Axis powers, but they were integrated into frameworks like NATO and the EU, placed within systems involving other nations. In Japan’s case, it was a bilateral relationship.
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It became a direct, sole occupation by the U.S. military, so I believe that more direct control has continued to remain strong to this day. Iraq was occupied by the U.S., but the Iraq that followed has become quite independent
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—overwhelmingly more independent than Japan, and they are managing on their own. And looking at South Korea, which is said to have fought as an ally on the Korean Peninsula, and its relationship with the United States, at first glance, you might think it’s
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only natural for South Korea to be more subordinate than Japan, but that is not the case. Yeah.
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South Korea has actually changed the Status of Forces Agreement, including rights regarding the environment, to make it more equal.
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They’ve changed it, and South Korea’s nationalism is extremely strong, so I think the power of the people to reject American influence is greater than in Japan.
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I think so. I believe there was a lot of information here that many of you didn't know. To break away from this state of subordination to the U.S.
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Yeah. What exactly should we do to wake up to this? The mainstream media does not broadcast the crucial facts. Of course, the fact that the government—the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense—acts as a public relations
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office that doesn't release the most important information is the biggest factor, though. That is precisely why we, at the independent internet media outlet ISF, continue to disseminate information. Today, we have the internet, so every single person can become their own media; it is an era
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where we can select information and disseminate it ourselves. Yes. So, using that as a weapon, first, you need to know and think for yourself, use your own head, and instead of stopping your thinking, you must discern the truth.
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Yeah. So, sharing what you've learned with as many people as possible through horizontal networks—that's possible in this day and age, and I think that's the fastest way to start.
Speaker A
Well, film is also a weapon we can use. Yes. That’s true. Yeah. So, regarding why Japan couldn't achieve true independence...I think the background to that is that the old media played a huge role, specifically through media manipulation.
Speaker A
Well, besides the media, another major factor is the judiciary. The judiciary. Yeah. Information and the judiciary, yes.
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Yes. For instance, in the Ozawa case, the reason Mr. Ozawa was cornered like that was because of the media and the prosecutors.
Speaker A
Yeah. The prosecution side acted in accordance with the wishes of the United States. And then, the media uncritically broadcast the prosecutors 'announcements, treating him as if he were a criminal.
Speaker A
That is the reality of what happened. Conversely, even with the Liberal Democratic Party's slush fund issues, the prosecutors hold the discretion to decide whether or not something is criminal. They cut off a couple of people as scapegoats, and the rest are
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all basically let off the hook, or found innocent, so to speak. They can eliminate targeted individuals or political elites, but no matter how many crimes key figures—the pillars of pro-US subservience—commit, they are never touched. That dual function is exactly what the prosecutors are
Speaker A
doing. Yes. Changes in government occurred with the Hosokawa administration in '93 and the DPJ administration in 2009, and while bureaucrats share all sorts of things, including secrets, with ministers and the prime minister under an LDP government...
Speaker A
Yeah. Under the DPJ administration— which included the Social Democratic Party—they didn't tell them everything. The bureaucrats hold the authority to decide which ministers in which administration get told what.
Speaker A
Huh. It’s not the politicians. It’s not the political parties. This is also an extremely important point.
Speaker A
Yes. Yes. That is the reality of the situation. So, Japan has been operating under the dual control of the bureaucracy and the U.S. However, it's now becoming clear —even appearing in the Iran war— that while Japan is called a colony of
Speaker A
the U.S., isn't the U.S. actually a colony of Israel? That’s coming to light and becoming a major issue.
Speaker A
Yes. It is becoming an issue. Yes. How did a small number of people, specifically Israel and the Jewish lobby in the U.S., come to have enough power to control America?
Speaker A
They control finance and information, and they have the power to influence elections. I think it’s largely because they have control over scandals like the Epstein files. What gives me hope is that, little by little, people are waking up—if you want to
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call it that—by seeking out information themselves, making their own choices, and arriving at the truth or the facts.
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And I hope that the film I produced, " Japan Competition Bureau," can serve as a catalyst for that.
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The same goes for our program, and this, Yes. the Limit Breaker program as well.
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I believe they are all fulfilling that role. Yes. I've put the link in the description for the film "Japan Competition Bureau," which was planned and created by Mr. Kimura, so please be sure to check it out. I think this will
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help you understand that this kind of information is truly important, and it might just be the spark for your own awakening. Next time, we’ll dive deeper into media, which is another crucial topic, especially since Mr.
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Kimura is also an expert journalist in that field. We look forward to seeing you in the next episode. Thank you very much for joining us today.
Speaker A
Thank you very much. This was Limit Breaker. Thank you for watching this video. What I shared in this video is really just the tip of the iceberg. Since YouTube is a gateway for so many people, I can't really
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discuss topics that are too deep or sensitive information that requires a certain resolve to understand. If you aren't satisfied with surface-level info and want to grasp the essential 100%of the truth, there is more. Check the description box for a link to my
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LINE, where I'll be sharing the core content I couldn't cover here.
Topics:Japan US relationsvoluntary subordinationJapanese sovereigntyUS military occupationJapan US Joint Committeebureaucratic controlpolitical subservienceAmerican empiremedia manipulationJapan independence
