News Analysis: Time to rein in Japan's prowling "beasts"

TOKYO, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- This fall, a wave of "unchecked bears" has gripped Japan, turning many parts of the country into zones of fear.

According to data from Japan's environment ministry, 88 people were attacked by bears in October alone, seven of whom died, with both figures marking record highs for a single month. In the seven months through October, the number of bear attack victims in the country totaled 196, a record high for the same period in the past five years.

What made people even more unsettling is another recent trend. These wandering bears are a stark metaphor for another, far more dangerous "beasts" stirring in Japan and beyond: the resurgence of historical revisionism and militarism, which is wantonly trampling on justice and conscience, and the post-WWII international order.

To understand the parallel, start with the bears. Environmental scientists point to several causes for their incursion into human spaces. Global warming has disrupted the growth of acorns and other foods bears rely on to survive hibernation, driving them from their mountain habitats in search of sustenance. Urban sprawl has blurred the line between wilderness and residential areas. And once bears taste the easy calories of garbage or unattended food near homes, they keep coming back, lured by a "reward" that erodes their instinct to stay in their own territory.

Now consider Japan's recent political behavior: a pattern of provocation that mirrors the destructive, boundary-crossing behavior of bears.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, barely a month into office, has emerged as an aggressive voice in this trend.

She has made blatantly erroneous remarks about Taiwan, interfering in China's internal affairs and even suggesting possible military involvement in the Taiwan Strait, which drew strong protests from China and a wave of condemnation across Japan and around the world.

Tokyo also stoked a long-simmering dispute with South Korea by expanding an exhibition hall that asserts Japanese sovereignty over a set of disputed islets called Dokdo by South Korea and Takeshima by Japan. The move was so provocative that South Korea canceled planned joint search-and-rescue drills.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), too, has sounded the alarm. DPRK media criticized Takaichi's calls to boost defense spending and revise three key national security documents ahead of schedule, accusing Tokyo of shedding its "mask of a peaceful nation" to reveal an ugly "warlike face."

Russia, meanwhile, announced an indefinite ban on entry of 30 Japanese citizens accused of fanning anti-Russian sentiment. Sergei Shoigu, secretary of the Russian Federation Security Council, recently noted the contradiction between Japan's claims of wanting "normalized relations" and Takaichi's embrace of historical revisionism.

These reactions from Japan's major neighbors are not random. They come as the year marks the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II, a milestone that should have been an occasion for reflection, but instead has become a platform for entrenching a distorted view of history by the Japanese side. The roots of this distortion, like the roots of the bear crisis, are deep and systemic.

The "macro climate" here is decades of flawed historical education and political gaslighting. As the generation that lived through Japan's wartime aggression fades, the country's public memory has shifted from acknowledging its role as a "perpetrator" of wartime crime across Asia to framing itself as a "victim." Historical revisionists have exploited this shift, infiltrating politics, media, and academia to chip away at the remorseful tone of the Murayama Statement made in 1995, which is regarded as the pinnacle of Japan's apology for its wrongdoing before and during World War II.

In 2015, when marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gutted that legacy with his own statement, declaring that it's unnecessary for Japan's future generations to keep apologizing. This year, plans for an official statement to mark the 80th anniversary were scrapped under pressure, cementing revisionism as Japan's de facto official stance. Takaichi, a political heir of Abe, has only accelerated this trend.

The "micro climate" is the manipulation of public opinion by right-wing forces. Politicians like Abe, Taro Aso, and Takaichi have discovered that "tough" rhetoric on certain issues may help gain political popularity, which has created a perverse incentive: Ruling party members, and even some opposition figures, now compete to outdo one another in hawkishness, chasing the political "sweetener" of public approval just as bears chase easy human food.

The result is a country increasingly drifting rightward, with xenophobia and populism on the rise.

There is a lesson in how Japan is responding to its bear problem: It is deploying practical, defensive measures, including pepper spray, reinforced garbage bins, and even rifles, to protect communities and push bears back to where they belong.

Bears that keep wandering into human spaces face severe consequences. The same is true for a Japan that lets historical revisionism and militarism run unchecked. The world is watching. It is time for Tokyo to step back from the edge and rein in the "beasts," which will surely be heavily battered by the force of justice. ■