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What I said in Tokyo by Prof. Krugman
Aftermath (no, I don't enjoy this sort of thing):
https://www.gc.cuny.edu/CUNY_GC/media/LISCenter/pkrugman/Meeting-minutes-Krugman.pdf …

いかにもアメリカ人らしい気質です。
会合の情報は機密扱いでなされると思いきや、
クルーグマン教授、会議の記録メモを、全文、twitterで公開しました。
ドイツ出発前に、秘密を暴露された安倍首相、
困惑しているでしょう。
それには理由があります。
クルーグマン教授、へそを曲げたのでなないでしょうか。
麻生さんは戦争でもする気でしょうか。（発言内容）
あいかわらずあほうで、笑ってしまいました。
この資料造りに、３時間ほどかかりました。

ポール・クルーグマン Paul Krugman
日本の政府筋 officials との会合。2016年3月22日

http://srachai.dreamlog.jp/archives/5248042.html

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 31
EDITORIAL: Watchdogs of state secrets designations fail in first reports
（社説）秘密と国会　追認機関ではいけない

The Board of Oversight and Review of Specially Designated Secrets of both Diet houses on March 30 submitted their first annual reports to the president of the Upper House and the speaker of the Lower House.
　特定秘密の指定や解除の運用をチェックする衆参両院の「情報監視審査会」がきのう、年次報告書を衆参両院の議長に提出した。

The boards are tasked with checking the designation and declassification of state secrets by the government under the state secrets protection law, which came into force at the end of 2014.
２０１４年末に特定秘密保護法が施行されて以来、初めての報告書である。

Sadly, the documents indicate the watchdogs have done a poor job of monitoring the government’s moves to classify or declassify specific information. They can hardly claim to have carried out their responsibilities as the Diet organs consisting of lawmakers representing the people.
　しかし残念ながら、「監視」の名に値する内容とは程遠かった。これでは国民の代表としての国会の責任が果たせたとは、到底言えない。

The boards examined a total of 382 cases in which 10 government organizations, including the defense and foreign ministries, designated about 189,000 pieces of information as state secrets. To carry out their tasks, the panels referred to related documents, including a record book about the designation of specific pieces of information as state secrets, in addition to interviewing officials of the 10 organizations.
　防衛省や外務省など１０行政機関が指定した特定秘密３８２件（約１８万９千点）について、概要を記した「特定秘密指定管理簿」などをもとに、各省庁から聞き取りして確認した。

But only a few pieces of classified information have been disclosed as a result of the boards’ efforts. Most of the accounts about classification contained in the record book submitted by the government are too vague to help the boards judge whether the designation was appropriate or not.
One typical description about classified information in the document is “information provided by a foreign country.”
　だが、開示された特定秘密は数点だけ。政府が提出した管理簿の記述は「外国から提供を受けた情報」などあいまいで、指定が適正かどうか判断できる内容ではなかった。

The biggest problem is the flawed secrecy law itself, which doesn’t clarify the criteria for classification and could allow arbitrary and capricious withholding of information by the government.
　最大の問題は、何が秘密にあたるかが秘密、その範囲が恣意（しい）的に広がりかねないという、秘密法それ自体にある。

The opposition parties demanded that the government be mandated to submit information about designated secrets to the Diet. But the ruling coalition led by the Liberal Democratic Party rejected the demand, saying the government’s administrative power should be respected from the viewpoint of separation of powers.
　野党側は国会への情報提供を義務づけるよう求めたが、与党側は「三権分立の観点から行政権を侵してはならない」と受け入れなかった。

Why, then, did the ruling camp agree to set up secrecy watchdogs within the Diet?
ならばなぜ国会に監視機関を置いたのか。

The checks and balances system based on separation of powers requires the legislature to monitor and check the actions of the administrative branch of the government.
　三権分立だからこそ、行政権をもつ政府に対する、国会の監視機能が重要なのだ。

The watchdogs are the only institutions that can monitor the implementation of the state secrets law from outside the government.
政府の外から特定秘密の運用を監視できるのは、唯一、国会の審査会だけである。

The Diet should be alarmed by the situation and take steps to enhance the capabilities of the monitoring bodies.
国会は強い危機意識をもち、監視機能の強化をはからねばならない。

What is especially disappointing is the boards’ failure to make any judgment about the government’s decisions to classify specific information. Instead, the bodies only called for improvements in the way the law was implemented as their “opinions.”
　審査会の対応で物足りなかったのは、政府の特定秘密の指定状況が適正かの判断に踏み込まず、運用改善を「意見」として求めるにとどめたことだ。

It is hard to think of any good reason why they didn’t admonish the government to mend its way.
より強い「勧告」になぜ踏み込まなかったのか。

Even so, the boards’ “opinions” contain some ideas worth serious consideration.
　一方で、「意見」の中身には耳を傾けるべきものもある。

For example, they proposed that the Cabinet Office’s inspector general for public records management, who is responsible for reporting on the appropriateness of classification to the prime minister, should also report to them. The government should give serious thought to this proposal.
　例えば、秘密指定が適正かどうか、首相に報告する内閣府の「独立公文書管理監」に対し、審査会にも報告するよう求めたことだ。政府は真剣に検討してもらいたい。

The new national security legislation took effect on March 29, giving the government more power and discretion to take policy actions concerning the deployment of the Self-Defense Forces and other issues.
　安全保障法制が施行され、自衛隊の運用など安保政策をめぐる政府の裁量の幅が広がった。

If the secrecy watchdogs lack the teeth needed to properly monitor the way the secrecy law is implemented, the government could make a wide range of arbitrary decisions without knowledge of the people.
そのうえ特定秘密への監視機能の弱さが放置されれば、国民の目の届かないところで、政府の恣意的な判断が際限なく広がる恐れがぬぐえない。

The Diet needs to recognize its responsibility to monitor the government’s actions in this respect as the representative of the public and make constant efforts to improve the implementation of the law and rectify its problems. Such efforts would put necessary pressure on the government.
　国会が「国民の代表として監視する」という責任を自覚し、運用改善と法改正に向けた検討を不断に重ねることが、政府に緊張感を持たせるはずだ。

The boards must not become watchdogs in name only that merely rubber-stamp the government’s decisions.
　形ばかりの監視で、政府の追認機関になってはならない。

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 28
EDITORIAL: Minshinto’s task is to become viable foe of 'sole winner' Abe
（社説）民進党発足　１強と対峙するには

Minshinto (The Democratic Party), formed from the merger between the Democratic Party of Japan and the Japan Innovation Party, was officially inaugurated at a party convention on March 27.
The new party’s first task is to try to close the gap between the ardor of its members and the cool indifference of the public at large.
　新たな旗のもとに集った議員の熱気と、国民の冷めた空気。まずは、この差を埋める努力から始めるしかない。

　民主党と維新の党などの議員が合流し、新しい民進党としてきのう党大会を開いた。

Shiori Yamao, a 41-year-old Lower House member who made news headlines for confronting the Abe administration over the problem of children on waiting lists for child-care facilities, has been chosen to head the new party’s policy research committee. But since almost all party executives, including leader Katsuya Okada, have essentially retained their posts from their DPJ days, critics point out that the party name is the only thing that has changed.
　待機児童問題で安倍政権を追及する若手の山尾志桜里氏を政調会長に起用したが、岡田代表らほとんどの役員が民主党からの横滑り。党名以外にどこが変わったのかとの批判もある。

The public’s chilly reaction is quite understandable.
　冷ややかな視線を浴びるのも無理はない。

After coming into power in 2009 to end decades of rule by the Liberal Democratic Party, the DPJ did nothing but repeatedly betray the hopes of voters who were looking forward to a new era in Japanese politics.
　自民党の長期政権に代わる新たな政治への期待を背負って０９年に発足した民主党政権は、国民の思いを裏切り続けた。

The DPJ proved itself incapable of living up to its campaign pledges. Its attempts at government led by politicians, rather than by bureaucrats, went nowhere. And the party eventually split over the controversial issue of a consumption tax hike.
　実現できないマニフェスト、空回りした政治主導、そして消費増税をめぐる党の分裂。

The impression cannot be denied that the new Democratic Party did nothing more than welcome back to the fold some of the DPJ members who had broken away at that time.
その時に出ていった議員の一部とよりを戻しただけだ、との印象はぬぐいようがない。

While the DPJ languished after its fall from power, the Abe administration consolidated a “sole winner” political system by winning three national elections in a row, starting with the 2012 Lower House election that was called upon the dissolution of the chamber by then Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
　政権を失った民主党が立ちすくむうちに、安倍政権は、民主党の野田内閣による１２年の衆院解散から３度続けて国政選挙に勝ち、「１強」の政治体制を築いてきた。

Abe stresses that the LDP’s return to power has improved the economy, claiming there are 30 percent fewer bankruptcies on his watch than when the DPJ was at the helm.
　安倍首相は「民主党政権時代より、企業倒産件数は約３割減った」などと、政権交代で経済は上向いたと強調する。

But on the other hand, the public’s discontent continues to run deep over growing social disparities and other issues, including that of children who cannot enter child-care facilities.
半面、格差の拡大や待機児童問題などへの国民の不満は根強い。

And as evidenced by his decision to allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense and enact a divisive national security legislation, Abe has been walking a precarious path that may well lead the nation astray from its Constitution.
　首相はまた、集団的自衛権の行使容認や安全保障法制に見られるように、憲法の枠組みを越えかねない危うい道を進む。

What lies at the end of the path is constitutional revision, the sole purpose of which is to change the Constitution itself.
その先に見すえるのは「変えること」を目的とした憲法改正だ。

There are many frustrated voters who are apprehensive of the Abe administration’s style of politics but do not see any alternative. One indication of their frustration is that voter turnout languished just above 52 percent in the 2013 Upper House election as well as the 2014 Lower House poll.
　安倍氏の政権運営に危うさは感じるが、ほかに選択肢が見あたらない――。こんなもどかしさを抱く有権者は多い。安倍政権のもとでの１３年参院選と１４年衆院選がいずれも５２％台の低投票率だったことは、そのひとつの証左だろう。

At the inaugural party convention, Okada expressed “deep remorse” for the DPJ’s failure to live up to the people’s expectations while it was in power. On that note, his party must take the first step forward.
　岡田代表は党大会で、民主党政権時代に期待に応えられなかったことを「深く反省する」と語った。そのうえに、新たな一歩を踏み出すべきときだ。

As the largest opposition party with 156 Diet members, can the Democratic Party become a formidable opponent of the “sole winner” Abe administration? The answer to this holds the key to whether Japanese politics will emerge from its lethargy.
　衆参で１５６人の野党第１党となる民進党が、１強に対峙（たいじ）しうる存在になれるかどうか。それが、政治に緊張感を取り戻せるかどうかのカギを握る。

“Liberty, coexistence and responsibility for the future” are the Democratic Party’s founding principles. The party promises to rectify disparities in education, employment and gender-related matters, and defend constitutionalism. The party is at least heading in the right direction.
　民進党は「自由、共生、未来への責任」を結党の理念とし、教育、雇用、男女の三つの格差是正や立憲主義の堅持を打ち出すという。方向は妥当である。

But the only way in which it can regain the lost trust of the voting public is to commit itself to what every political party is tasked to undertake with patience, which is to heed the voice of each citizen and challenge the ruling party with concrete and persuasive policies.
　国民一人ひとりの思いをすくいあげ、具体的で説得力ある政策として政権にぶつけ続ける。
　政党にしかできないこの地道な作業を通じてしか、信頼を取り戻すことはできない。

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 29
EDITORIAL: Diet must debate constitutionality of new security legislation
（社説）安全保障法制の施行　「違憲」の法制、正す論戦を

The new national security legislation expanding the scope of Japan’s military operations took effect on March 29.
　新たな安全保障法制がきょう施行された。

The ruling coalition, led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, rammed the legislation through the Diet in September in the face of anxiety and opposition among many citizens and criticism by constitutional scholars that it is unconstitutional. The controversial set of laws is now in force.
　昨年９月、多くの市民の不安と反対、そして憲法専門家らの「違憲」批判を押し切って安倍政権が強行成立させた法制が、効力を持つことになる。

The legislation, composed of two statutes incorporating the content of 11 bills, significantly expands the scope of Self-Defense Forces operations outside Japan. It allows Japan to exercise its right to collective self-defense by changing the government’s interpretation of the Constitution.
It also enables the SDF to provide logistical support to the forces of the United States and other countries and engage in a wider range of United Nations peacekeeping operations.
　１１本の法案を２本にまとめた法制には、憲法解釈の変更による集団的自衛権の行使容認、米軍など他国軍への兵站（へいたん）（後方支援）、国連平和維持活動（ＰＫＯ）の任務拡大など、幅広い自衛隊の海外活動が含まれる。

The Abe administration railroaded the broad security legislation through just one session of the Diet. Many observers say Abe was in a rush to get the legislation passed because he promised in his April 29 address to a Joint Meeting of the U.S. Congress to “achieve” the legislative reform “by this coming summer.”
　安倍政権はこれだけ広範な法制を、わずか１会期の国会審議で成立させた。背景に、首相自身が昨年４月に訪米中の議会演説で「（法案を）夏までに成就させる」と約束した対米公約があった、との見方が強い。

After the legislation passed the Diet, Abe said he would “make tenacious efforts to explain” it to the public. But he has failed to deliver on his promise.
　法制の成立後、首相は「これから粘り強く説明を行っていきたい」と語ったが、実行されていない。

The Diet debate on related issues since then has been far from sufficient.
その後の国会審議も十分とは到底言えない。

CASTING A WIDE NET
　■投網をかけるように

This situation represents a crisis of Japan’s constitutionalism, which means the government’s power is defined and limited by the Constitution. This extraordinary and dangerous situation must not be allowed to continue.
　憲法が権力を縛る立憲主義の危機である。この異常事態を放置することはできない。

The “unconstitutional” legislation, not based on broad public consensus, should be rectified. It is necessary to sort out the content of the legislation so that at least the unconstitutional parts will be repealed. The Diet, especially the opposition camp, needs to play a vital role in this undertaking.
　幅広い国民の合意を欠く「違憲」法制は正さねばならない。法制の中身を仕分けし、少なくとも違憲の部分は廃止する必要がある。国会、とりわけ野党が果たすべき役割は大きい。

The Abe administration has maintained that the legislation is constitutional because it only allows Japan to exercise its right to collective self-defense in limited situations.
　安倍政権は、集団的自衛権の行使容認は限定的で、だから合憲だと説明してきた。

On the other hand, the administration has continued giving equivocal answers at the Diet to questions about the limits to the exercise of this right by Japan in an apparent attempt for the government to secure as much discretion as possible in assessing situations.
　一方で、政府の裁量をできるだけ広く残そうと、「限定」の幅についてあいまいな国会答弁を繰り返してきた。

This will allow the government in power to interpret the scope of the limits in any manner it chooses.
時の政権の判断で、いかようにも解釈できる余地が残されている。

The administration’s move to make it possible for Japan to engage in collective self-defense operations was prompted primarily by the challenge of countering the growing military power of China through enhancing the deterrence provided by Japan’s security alliance with the United States.
　集団的自衛権を容認した眼目は、中国にいかに対抗し、抑止力を高めるかにある。

Here’s the idea behind the move. Japan needs to ensure that U.S. forces will maintain their presence in the Asia-Pacific region while compensating for the relative decline in U.S. military power by enhancing the SDF and expanding its security cooperation with other countries in the region.
　米軍をアジア太平洋地域に引き留め、そのパワーが相対的に低下しつつある分は、自衛隊の強化や地域諸国との連携によって補う。そんな考え方だ。

The legislation is designed to allow the SDF to operate in wide areas outside Japan by eliminating a broad range of obstacles and impediments to the SDF’s joint operations with U.S. forces.
This approach can be likened to casting a wide net to catch as many fish in as wide an area as possible.
　米軍との共同行動に支障を来さないよう、投網をかけるように幅広く、海外で自衛隊が動けるようにしておく。

This means the SDF will expand its joint military drills, information sharing and cooperation concerning military equipment with the forces of the United States and other countries. Such efforts will be made not just during security emergencies but in peacetime as well.
有事だけでなく平時から米軍など他国軍との共同訓練や情報共有、装備面での連携が進むことになる。

ARTICLE 9 AS BASIS FOR DIALOGUE
　■９条を対話の基盤に

The problem is that the administration, to achieve its security policy goals, has relaxed the restrictions that the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution had imposed on the SDF’s overseas operations.
　問題は、そのために自衛隊の海外活動に一定の歯止めをかけてきた「９条の縛り」を緩めてしまったことだ。

At the end of February, the Commission on the Future of the Alliance, a study group comprising Japanese and American experts including Richard Armitage, a former U.S. deputy secretary of state, released a report titled “The U.S.-Japan Alliance to 2030.”
　２月末、アーミテージ元国務副長官ら日米の有識者らによる日米安全保障研究会が「２０３０年までの日米同盟」という報告書をまとめた。

Stressing the importance for Tokyo and Washington to have a coordinated China strategy, the report urged Japan to “have fully funded, modern and highly capable military forces” and called on the two countries to “at least coordinate, and if possible integrate, their policies and actions elsewhere in Asia and beyond.”
　日米の対中戦略の共有が不可欠だと強調し、「十分な予算に支えられた軍事力」「アジアやより広い地域で日米の政策、行動を可能ならば統合する」ことを日本に求めた。

This is a clear call for integrating the two nations’ security policy development and execution in all aspects, including defense budgeting.
防衛予算の拡大をはじめ、あらゆる面で日米の一体化をめざす方向だ。

But the national interests of the United States don’t necessarily coincide exactly with those of Japan with regard not only to how to respond to China’s rise but also to other key issues.
　だが、中国との関係に限らず、米国の利益と日本の利益は必ずしも一致しない。

The question facing Japan is if it can decline any strong security policy request from the United States, which has a history of launching misguided wars.
　時に誤った戦争に踏み込む米国の強い要請を断れるのか。

Abe has said that Japan will make its own independent decisions as to whether it should exercise its right to collective self-defense. But will this be really possible for Japan when the effectiveness of Article 9 as a protection against the risk of becoming involved in overseas conflict has been seriously undermined?
集団的自衛権の行使について、首相は「（日本が）主体的に判断する」と答弁したが、９条という防波堤が揺らぐ今、本当にできるのか。

Japan should be well aware of the fact that the United States, while wary about China’s military buildup, has been working eagerly to build sturdy multiple channels of dialogue with the country.
　留意すべきは、米国自身、中国を警戒しながらも重層的な対話のパイプ作りに腐心していることだ。

To protect its own peace, Japan should also pursue close dialogue and a broad range of cooperation with China.
日本も自らの平和を守るためには、中国との緊密な対話と幅広い協力が欠かせない。

The Abe administration, however, has been focusing its security policy efforts on bolstering Japan’s alliance with the United States, allowing erosion in the human interactions underpinning the bilateral ties with China.
　それなのに日本は日米同盟の強化に傾斜し、日中関係の人的基盤は細るばかりだ。

Given Japan’s geographical proximity to China and the complicated and troubled history of their bilateral relations, the Japanese government needs to perform a delicate balancing act in dealing with its neighboring giant.
中国に近い地理的な特性や歴史の複雑さを思えば、その関係はより微妙なかじ取りが求められる。

Japan should restrain itself from getting embroiled in U.S. military actions and stick to its traditional strictly defensive security policy to avoid an arms race with China. The functions of Article 9 can, and should, serve as a foundation for Japan’s efforts to strike a proper balance between deterrence and dialogue.
　米国の軍事行動とは一線を画し、専守防衛を貫くことで軍拡競争を避ける。憲法９条の機能こそ、抑止と対話の均衡を保つための基盤となる。

DIET HAS A VITAL ROLE TO PLAY
　■問われる国会の役割

An Upper House election will be held this summer. Simultaneous polls of both chambers of the Diet appear to be in the cards.
　夏に参院選がある。衆参同日選の可能性も指摘されている。

In a move with significant political implications, the Abe administration has decided to postpone until after the Upper House poll some important new steps based on the security legislation. They include expanding the scope of Japan’s peacekeeping missions to allow SDF personnel to come to the assistance of members of U.N. and private-sector organizations and other countries’ troops who have come under attack during such operations. The administration has also delayed the introduction of a bill to revise Japan’s Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement with the United States to expand the SDF’s logistic support for U.S. forces.
　そんななか安倍政権は、平時の米艦防護やＰＫＯに派遣する自衛隊の「駆けつけ警護」、米軍への兵站を拡大する日米物品役務相互提供協定（ＡＣＳＡ）改定案の国会提出など、安保法制にもとづく新たな動きを参院選後に先送りしている。

The Abe administration is again concentrating its political energy on economic issues before a key election with a clear intention to shift the focus of its policy discourse to security topics after the poll. The administration adopted the same strategy for its initiatives to enact the state secrets protection law and the security legislation.
　選挙前は「経済」を掲げ、選挙が終われば「安保」にかじを切る。特定秘密保護法も安保法制も同じパターンだった。

This time, too, the administration will try to push through the related measures all at once if the ruling camp is victorious in the election.
　政権は今回も、選挙に勝てば一気に進めようとするだろう。

The Abe administration has taken a series of foreign and security policy measures aimed at concentrating power in the hands of the government. They include the enactment of the state secrets protection law and the creation of the National Security Council.
　安倍政権は特定秘密保護法、国家安全保障会議（ＮＳＣ）の創設など、政府への権限を集中させる外交・安保施策を次々と打ち出してきた。

That has made it all the more important for the Diet to perform its function of checking the actions of the executive branch. But the Diet’s performance has been deeply disappointing.
　だからこそ、国会のチェック機能が重要なのに、肝心の国会が心もとない。

The Diet has not even bothered to consider the joint opposition bill to repeal the security legislation or the counterproposals made by the opposition parties. This fact is a clear and undeniable sign that the Diet has become dysfunctional.
野党が共同で提出した安保法制の廃止法案や対案を審議すらしない現状が、国会の機能不全を物語る。

The opposition parties have a crucial mission to carry out. They need to expand electoral cooperation among themselves and strengthen their solidarity with citizens.
　野党の使命は極めて重い。政党間の選挙協力を着実に進め、市民との連帯を広げる。

They also have to protect the nation’s constitutionalism and redress the “unconstitutional” legislation. The mission requires fresh and serious debate on the future of politics in this nation.
立憲主義を守り、「違憲」の法制を正す。それは、日本の政治のあり方を問い直す議論でもある。