International Research Institute for Controversial Histories
Guest Fellow
Tsukasa Shirakawa
1. The origin of the SCJ’s Galapagos-like pacifism
The Science Council of Japan was established in 1949 under the rule of the Allied Forces General Headquarters (GHQ), when everything held affirmative prior to the Pacific War was negated without reason. This very atmosphere turned the national academy fundamentally aiming to support Japan’s science and technology into a propaganda organ with Galapagos-like pacifism .
The then Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru was dissatisfied with the Science Council of Japan because while using the Government budget, all the SCJ did was to criticize the government and engage in political confrontations. So, Yoshida tried to change it from a government organ to a private one. But the SCJ’s first President Kameyama Naoto, citing the GHQ foremost, checked Yoshida and thus, eventually the time was up for Yoshida’s efforts.
Initially, when he took office, General Douglas MacArthur of the GHQ was very enthusiastic about the demilitarization of Japan. In thought and academic aspects, he was most attentive to two issues: the purge of public officials, which started in 1945, and the establishment of the Science Council of Japan.
2. The Science Council of Japan was filled with leftists
In the purge of public officials, many statesmen who held conservative views, journalists, business leaders, scholars and teachers were expelled from their jobs. Among those expelled, there were many people indispensable in the task of restoring Japan in the postwar years. It was only since 1950 that those indispensable workers gradually came to be exempt from the purge.
On the other hand, in the Science Council of Japan, from the very beginning, the subsidiary of the Communist Party named Democratic Scientists’ Association (DSA) was dominant. Against the re-armament, the Science Council of Japan issued a statement to the effect that the Council shall not engage in any study that may contribute to the development of military technologies. Incidentally, this statement was repeated as the statement of study of military security in 2017. Regarding national security, the SCJ has not changed its standing for sixty-six years.
The DSA lost support after it criticized Stalin in 1965 and practically ceased to exist in the 1960s. However, the Japan Scientists’ Association (JSA) succeeded it. The JSA is partially influenced by the Japanese Communist Party and the latter has kept certain influence over the Science Council of Japan, using this academic organization.
After DSA ceased to exist, its branch of jurists called “legal sub-committee” continues to operate even today and acts as a brain for the pro-Constitution movement or as an organization of activists. Incidentally, among the six SCJ members “who were denied appointment,” three of them, Mr. Matsumiya Takaaki, Mr. Okada Masanori and Mr. Ozawa Ryuichi are related to the legal subcommittee of the Democratic Scientists’ Association.
We should bear it in mind that although GHQ gave birth to the Science Council of Japan, it did not expand it. MacArthur himself gradually lessened his initial prejudice against Japan and finally started rearming it. On the other hand, the Science Council of Japan accepted MacArthur’s initial prejudice as it was and has preserved it.
I just mentioned that the first President Kameyama name-dropped GHQ in protesting against Prime Minister Yoshida’s intention to make the SCJ private. The Science Council of Japan has been very much proud of the fact that it came into being through GHQ, which was more powerful than the Japanese Government, while ideologically influenced by the Communist Party. This sense of pride seems to make the Science Council of Japan always act arrogantly in dealing with the Japanese Government.
3. The organization ailed by the “Pre-war Syndrome”
The year 1965, when Japan Scientists’ Association was born, was the “era of the students’ movement.” The Japanese Communist Party was promoting a peace movement with the goal to stop nuclear bombing and further accelerated it into a movement opposing the Vietnam War.
Part of the Science Council of Japan still carries the mentality of the students’ movement deeply soaked in pacifism and leftist ideology, which were present even in its prime age. This is clear from the scenes of scholars who “were denied assignment” loudly expressing themselves in front of the TV cameras.
Listening to anti-Government statements voiced by the Science Council of Japan, we can see its morbid, short-circuited thinking that connects everything to the pre-war situation or claims that “whatever conservative administration does leads to militarism.” I call it “Pre-war Syndrome.”
When statesmen of the ruling party try to enhance the national security policy, those who have internalized the pre-war syndrome hear “military boots” resounding from nowhere and become hot with flames of justice, thinking “unless we do something against it, Japan will become militarist.” This is the source of energy that keeps Galapagos-like pacifism going to this day within the Science Council of Japan.
4. The right to appoint resides in the Prime Minister
As the theoretical grounds for criticizing Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide’s refusal of appointment in 2020, it was mentioned that Niwa Hyosuke, Chief of Home Affairs of the Nakasone Cabinet, responded that “it is mere nominal recommendation and those recommended by the Council will not be refused and will be nominally appointed.”
In the background of this response, there was a change in the membership nomination. The SCJ members used to be elected among recommended candidates, but then the procedure was changed to a system of recommendation by the sitting SCJ members. By the latter method, it became easier for the Science Council of Japan to arbitrarily select its members.
However, the status of the member of the Science Council of Japan is special national civil servant to be appointed by the Prime Minister, which is clearly stated in the Science Council of Japan Law. It is the duty of a civil servant to follow the appointment by the Prime Minister. There is no need to account for the personnel appointment.
In addition, the final report of the Council for Science and Technology in 2003, based on the Fundamental Law on Reform of Central Ministries, Agencies and others, states, “As to the form of establishment, the way academies in major European and American states are is considered to be ideal, and regarding the Science Council of Japan, we will evaluate the progress in the reform within the next decade and discuss adequate way of establishment.” Following this, the Science Council of Japan should be reformed in one way or another by 2013.
5. The Science Council of Japan should promptly be dissolved
Surveying proposals made by the Science Council of Japan so far, we cannot find any example of its significant social contribution that the entire nation can duly appreciate. In 2000, there was a case of fabrication in the field of archaeological society. The Science Council of Japan failed to propose any solution. In recent years, there have been many anti-Government proposals and when it comes to the covid disaster, the SCJ did not come up with any proposal. The Science Council of Japan, having assembled the top brains in Japan and being versed in overseas information and knowledge, has been busy protesting against the issue of the refused appointment, but failed to produce any proposal as a government organ during the hardest time for the Japanese people. A billion yen out of the precious tax money is annually spent on the SCJ. The Science Council of Japan seems not to feel duly responsible for meeting the people’s expectations.
In addition, the Science Council of Japan holds certain influence over the examination members of the Science Council of Japan Promotion Foundation in deciding the allocation of \237.7 billion scientific research fees for the fiscal 2021 as authorities in various fields of science. Through its enormous influence in allocating the scientific research fees, the SCJ controls the entire academic society, driving the academic world toward left, marring the Government’s national security policy and making Japan fall behind other countries in dealing with national security.
Moreover, some members of the Science Council of Japan are related to the so-called “seven schools of national defense” of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, some apply to the “One Thousand People Plan” by the Chinese Government recruiting foreigners, and there is a case in which Japanese cooperated in Chinese military study, while opposing Japan’s own military study.
Most of physics and engineering scientists’ specialties span both military and civilian fields. However, the Science Council of Japan is so insistent on being a propaganda organization firmly opposing military study on its own that not a few scientists find it difficult to carry out their study in Japan. The SCJ is led by assertions of those in humanities study and pro-Communist Party members while members in physics and chemistry are obliged to follow them. Thus, only partial assertions made by ultra-left SCJ members turn out to be the assertions representing the entire Science Council of Japan.
In historical examination of the Science Council of Japan, we must say that the SCJ is too much influenced by the Japanese Communist Party, which has a mere one percent support rate among the Japanese voters. The Japanese Government should promptly start dissolving the Science Council of Japan for the sake of Japan’s national security and other important issues.