Former TV Asahi employee and journalist Toru Tamagawa appeared live as a commentator on the station’s “Hatori Shinichi Morning Show” (Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM) on January 17. He commented on the results of the latest public opinion poll. In the program, he reported the results of a poll conducted by ANN over the weekend. It showed that 67.5% of respondents “support” the Takaichi Cabinet and 15.4% “do not support” it, an increase of 8.8 percentage points from the previous survey conducted immediately after the Takaichi Cabinet was formed. In response to the question, “In the event of an armed conflict between the U.S. and China over Taiwan, is there a fear that Japan could be involved?” 77 percent of respondents answered “Yes, there is a fear,” 14 percent answered “No, there is no fear,” and 10 percent answered “Don’t know or do not answer. When asked, “Do you think it is necessary for Japan to use force based on the right of collective self-defense?” 33 percent said “Yes,” 48 percent said “No,” and 18 percent said “Don’t know or do not answer. Tamagawa commented, “The results of the public opinion poll show that the majority of respondents answered ‘no’ to the question of whether it is necessary to take steps to use force based on the right of collective self-defense, and I think the Japanese people are still calm. However, “I still think that 33% of the respondents said it is necessary,” he commented. Sayo Saruta, a lawyer and representative of the New Diplomacy Initiative, responded, “This is connected to the meaning of the right of collective self-defense, and I was answering because I don’t understand it. There is a public opinion survey that has been conducted by Kyodo News, Jiji Press, and a think tank. According to the survey, only 12% of the respondents said it would be better not to send the Self-Defense Forces. Mr. Tamagawa said, “I see,” and then stated, “I think it would be better to think again calmly about what would happen if a war were to break out. Of course, we can immediately assume that if we enter a state of war, there will naturally be casualties among the Self-Defense Forces, but that’s not the only thing,” he added. A think tank has estimated the impact on Japan’s economy if trade with China were to be completely cut off, and if trade with China were to be cut off, GDP would decrease by 7% in the first year. That has rarely happened in Japan up to now. What will happen if there is a 7% decrease in GDP? Of course, it is easy to imagine that Japan will fall into a major recession. Considering Japan’s current finances, there is a possibility that the country’s finances will be attacked by such an event, and that the government bonds will plummet. The government needs to answer questions like this after taking into account the various effects that such a move would have on Japan’s finances. Whether or not the government can make a calm decision depends on the public. If the people are willing to accept the situation, the government will not be able to stop even if it tries to make a calm decision, and I think the people have a great responsibility.
