An Interview with Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister
Who Assumed Office in September 2011 (Provisional Translation)

Question:
Through the activities conducted by the SDF personnel in the Great East Japan Earthquake, the SDF have been receiving attention as never before. Please tell us your feelings when you first assumed the post, considering that you assumed office as Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister in such a time.

Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister:
It has been nearly 15 years since I first became elected as a member of the House of Representatives in 1996, having been a member of the Shizuoka Prefectural Assembly before that. I spent around half of that time involving myself in security-related issues such as the Committee on Security, the Special Committee on Responses to Armed Attacks, the Special Committee on Anti-Terrorism, and the Special Committee on Terrorism/Iraq. Therefore, I was very grateful when I received the message for appointment, and I felt my spirits rise in the sense that my experience can finally be put to use. Now, I work daily to support the Minister and handle practical affairs while keeping a meticulous eye on various details.

Question:
What is your impression of the MOD/SDF when seen through your handling of the practical affairs?

Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister:
I am from Shizuoka prefecture, so I used to frequent the camps and bases in my local area, as well as the exercise area in Gotemba. That has not changed since I became a member of the Diet, and I have had many occasions to make contact with the SDF. I have been to the radar sites up in Wakkanai to the north and in Miyakojima to the south. However, I made these visits as a member of the opposition up to 2009.
I have already visited a few places since assuming office as Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister, and each visit gives me the realization that I am inside the chain of command. Also, this is something that I had felt before becoming Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister, but I have always felt a sense of reassurance from the well-disciplined personnel whenever I visited the camps and bases, so when I see these personnel lined up in perfect order waiting long before my arrival, it makes me want to straighten up as well.
I am proud of our SDF personnel. I have renewed my conviction to not only encourage them, but to do what I can to create an environment where they can even more fully fulfill their duties. I could only give proposals during my days as a member of the opposition, but now I am in a position to execute them, so I strongly feel that the Ministry’s top three politicians should create the conditions for the SDF personnel to work to their maximum potential.

Question:
Before becoming a politician, you had experience working as a reporter for a newspaper. Has that experience worked to your advantage in your current job?

Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister:
When I have an occasion to give greetings to the personnel, I usually prepare a script in advance. However, I have a habit of thinking about some other words or phrases that would work to further boost their morale, or whether using a different wording would give them more fortitude. This is probably something that was nurtured in my days as a reporter. Therefore, when I give the actual speech, I often deviate from the script and initiate changes on the spot.

Question:
Has there been anything in particular that you found memorable since assuming office?

Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister:
I went to Iwo Jima the other day. This was my first visit since becoming Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister, but I had made two visits before that. There is a Marine SDF (MSDF) and an Air SDF (ASDF) base in Iwo Jima, and we have standing personnel located on these bases. On that occasion, I went on and made a visit to Minamitorishima (Marcus Island) at the easternmost tip of Japan. The island is located roughly 2,000 kilometers away from Tokyo, and we have a MSDF Auxiliary Air Facility Squadron stationed on this tiny island, and the personnel there were working in their duties. I was terrifically impressed with the fact that the SDF was present in this isolated island located just within the perimeter of our territorial waters to defend Japan. The camps with ample equipment and bases with popular base festivals and air festivals usually receive the bulk of attention, but it made me feel something that the SDF are here protecting us like this all around Japan, even in places where people are not aware of their presence. Iwo Jima was the final linchpin in our defenses for the Japanese mainland, and is well known as the place where we fought a grueling 35-day battle with the United States. So it was deeply moving to see that the SDF is continuing its presence on such an island, and I have nothing but respect and praise for these people. I would like to continue in making visits to as many camps and bases as my time will allow me. Moreover, I would like to go and visit the personnel in small units located in isolated islands and remote places where the Ministry’s top three politicians have not been able to go in the past.

Question:
Please give your message to all the SDF personnel in Japan.

Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister:
Having seen the SDF personnel in action during the Great East Japan Earthquake, I feel that a lot of Japanese people have come to realize that there are these people in Japan who can be so reliable in times of need. I have heard stories about a person who used to feel scared or intimidated when seeing a personnel in camouflage gear but now felt relieved when seeing such a personnel during the disaster. It was the sight of these personnel getting covered in mud and dirt while helping the disaster victims that caused these changes in perception.
The same thing applies to the international community as well. Through the sight of the SDF personnel laboring with sweat in foreign lands, the people from outside Japan will get to know and understand Japan and the Japanese people. Moreover, the sincere work done by the SDF personnel has won high acclaims and we have received requests for the SDF to come on a separate occasion. Therefore, I would like the SDF personnel to be aware that they are carrying the flag of Japan and the weight of Japan on their backs. The national character that the Japanese people had displayed during the disaster where they maintained order and morality despite the times of hardship impressed many other countries, and it raised their opinion of Japan and the Japanese people even higher. I would like the personnel that will be dispatched to international cooperation activities to remember that they have come to a country where they have been receiving such opinions, and to conduct their activities as if they are the embodiment of Japan. This also goes to the personnel who will not be going overseas and will be remaining in Japan. I would like everyone to maintain the sense of awareness that they are the SDF personnel, that they are carrying the weight of Japan on their backs.

Question:
Please tell us what motivated Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister Watanabe to pursue the course of becoming a politician.

Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister:
My father was a politician, so I’m what you might call a second-generation politician. However, in my younger days I hadn’t wanted at all to become a politician. That was because my father consistently failed to get himself elected from the time when I was five to fifteen years old. Now it was quite heartbreaking to see your father losing out on an election during the critical phase of your life when you are at your most sensitive times and building your own character. When I was in primary school, I used to see my classmates poking my father’s picture on an election poster with their umbrellas, and that was really heartrending (laugh). So to be more accurate, what I hated was being in a house that was involved in elections, rather than politicians. On the other hand, I used to go in and out of the Diet member’s building when I was a student, and in 1983 when I became aware of politics, the downing of Korean Air Lines flight 007 occurred and that came as a shock to me. Back then, the Cold War was still ongoing and the place where the Korean Air Lines aircraft crashed was in the sea off the La Perouse Strait. Here we have an unbelievable situation where a civilian aircraft had been shot down at a place so near to us. That was when I first became aware that Japan as an island nation was constantly being exposed to danger. After that, I had various other things to think about which ultimately led me to decide to pursue politics, but I feel that the downing of Korean Air Lines flight 007 was one of the things that really motivated me.

Question:
Please tell us how you spend your holidays, and your hobbies.

Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister:
When I am not going back to my local area and staying in Tokyo, I often go to look for ingredients to use in ochazuke. I drop by places such as Shinbashi and Ginza where product exhibitions are being hosted, and buy things like Nametake that has been prepared using traditional methods and Nozawana that are sold in these fancy-looking bottles (laugh). So my refrigerator in the Diet member’s building is filled with these ingredients for ochazuke. I guess I enjoy buying these small things from time to time. When I go and visit the camps and bases, I usually buy something from the shops there. I bought some postcards at Minamitorishima, ‘Navy Curry’ at Kanoya, and an ear pick at a shop within the MOD. Then I also like vehicles, so I personally enjoy visiting the various camps and bases.

Question:
Lastly, please give your message to the Japanese people.

Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister:
Defense issues and diplomacy is said to be a field in which the people have relatively little interest. I think that is because it is difficult to relate to them in one’s daily lives. However, if we do not think about the safety of our country, there will be no hope for the country to develop further. I hope that everyone will have an interest in the state of Japan in the World, the World as seen from Japan, and defense issues as seen through the SDF. The age when only a specific person or people think about the defense of Japan has come to an end. I feel that now we have entered the age where each individual Japanese person should think about how we should defend this country.

interviewer : Y.Watanabe
photograph : M.Okado
(transferred from "MAMOR" February, 2012 issue)