Newsletter No. 565
News-Analysis
March 29, 2007

 

JAPAN STRENGTHENS ANTI-TERRORISM MEASURES

Although we don’t hear as much about the “war on terrorism” in the media as we did a year or two ago, the Japanese bureaucracy continues to push forward on these issues.

Most significantly, the Defense Ministry announced yesterday the establishment of a 3,200-strong “Central Quick Response Team,” which is basically an elite antiterrorist unit. Defense Ministry Spokesman Yuki Karigome told the Mainichi: “There is a growing need for vigilance at home in light of a growing danger of terrorist attacks on Japan, as well as fears of nuclear proliferation.”

Additionally, MOFA this week held a seminar in Tokyo encouraging Asia-Pacific countries to join international counter-terrorism agreements. The full MOFA announcement is provided below.

I even have a personal story to add. Yesterday morning I was awoken by a phone call. Who would be calling me at this hour? It was none other than the counter-terrorism section of the Fukuoka Prefectural Police department.

Readers of Shingetsu Newsletter No. 209 from last March may recall that I visited the Kokura Police Department to obtain copies of their “NO TERROR” poster and tissues. I gather that it is because of that visit that they wanted to meet me again. They have a new poster of which they wanted to give me copies.

So, yesterday afternoon two antiterrorism policemen came to my university office. They gave me about twenty copies of the new poster and a basket of sweet cakes as a gift. The new poster also has the “NO TERROR” slogan at the top, but also includes the following text in Japanese only: “Let’s Prevent International Terrorism and Illegal Overstays!” The poster further explains, “[Overstays] can easily serve as a hotbed of crime, and we fear that it may incubate terrorism!”

There is also on the poster the new “mascot” cartoon character called “Fukkei-kun” (i.e. Fukuoka Keisatsu / Fukuoka Police). This is a perky, big-eyed, round-headed running policeman character who appeals, “If you have doubts, immediately call the police!”

The two antiterrorism policemen stayed in my office for about an hour, but they were no more intimidating than any other ordinary Japanese. I told them that I seriously doubted that Fukuoka Prefecture is on anyone’s list of targets for terrorism, and that any threat that did exist would probably be confined to more symbolically emotive targets in Tokyo or some another metropolis. In any case, I regard it as much more likely that if Japanese interests are indeed targeted by some international terrorist group, it would probably occur at a Japanese embassy abroad, or perhaps at a popular tourist destination in another country.

However, most of our conversation focused on the posters of Ryoma Sakamoto and Akira Kurosawa movies that are hanging in my office, and we had a good discussion about Japanese baseball and our shared dislike for the Yomiuri Giants. Indeed, they seemed much more interested in those topics than they did in terrorism. I’m not entirely sure why they visited me at all, except perhaps just to check me out and see what kind of fellow I was.

SEMINAR ON THE PROMOTION OF ACCESSION TO THE INTERNATIONAL COUNTER-TERRORISM CONVENTIONS AND PROTOCOLS
March 27, 2007

1. The Seminar on the Promotion of Accession to the International Counter-Terrorism Conventions and Protocols for the Asia-Pacific countries will be held in Tokyo from March 27 (Tue) to 28 (Wed).

2. The Seminar will be attended by government experts from the ASEAN countries, Fiji, Papua New Guinea in charge of ratification of the International Counter-Terrorism Conventions and Protocols and domestic legislative procedures related to them in their countries. From Japan, Mr. Masayoshi Hamada, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, will deliver opening remarks, and Mr. Akio Suda, Ambassador in Charge of International Counter-Terrorism Cooperation, and officials concerned at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will attend. The Seminar will be also attended by representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI), Australia and the United States.

3. The upcoming Seminar is the fourth of series of seminars for the purpose of supporting the efforts of the Asia-Pacific countries through introducing the legal structures and experiences of Japan and other countries and also the efforts of the international organizations concerned to promote accession by the Asia-Pacific countries to the International Counter-Terrorism Conventions and Protocols.