Japan, viewing the world in terms of civilization and barbarism, took the path of reduction of armaments based on moral politics, while Europe, viewing the world in terms of war and peace, promoted the expansion of armaments. Consequently, when Europe and Japan encountered each other again a few centuries later, Japan was inferior in military strength. First China had been forced to acknowledge the West_s military superior through its defeats in the Opium War (1840_42) and the Arrow Incident (1856). Realizing that _to defeat the barbarian, we have to master the barbarian_s superior techniques and strengthen our defenses,_ China embarked on a policy of modernization based on Western technology aimed at the improvement of its military preparedness.
In 1871_73 Japan dispatched the Iwakura Mission to strengthen relations with its allies and study Western learning. In the Mission_s report Bei_Kairan Jikki (A true account of the tour in America and Europe), it alluded to the moral politics of China and Japan: _The people of China and Japan have since ancient times supported themselves through farming and adhered to the principle of morality in politics. Nevertheless, confronted with military might of the West, it recognized that Japan had no choice but to strengthen its armaments and justified this course of action as follows: _The reason why civilized countries maintain an army may on the surface seem similar to the predilection of barbarian countries for the use of force, but in essence it is completely different. The predilection of barbarian countries for the use of force lies in their inclination to wage war against each other, while civilized countries maintains an army solely for the purpose of defending themselves against foreign invaders. In a world characterized by interaction between various countries_large and small, strong and weak_the abolition of the armies that protect countries is unthinkable. For this reason, civilized countries must always keep armed forces._
In short, while espousing the world view of moral politics that saw bellicosity as _barbarian,_ the Japanese converted to power politics on the ground that the maintenance of defensive capability was as an essential condition for a civilized country. In 1872, Japan adopted a conscription system for adult males of twenty or over, and in 1880 it commenced production of the Murata gun, which replaced imported guns. Having converted to power politics, Japan defeated China in the Sino_Japanese War of 1894_95 and, taking its place among the Great Powers, proceeded to expand its dominions.
Since the Meiji Restoration, Japan has even contributed to the extension of the international law based on the European world view of war and peace. Although Grotius_s De Jure Belli et Pacis written in 1625 and the Constitution of Japan promulgated in 1946 differ in their mode of expression, they are essentially the same in that they view the world from the standpoint of war and its regulation. Phrases in the Japanese Constitution such as _desire peace for all time and renunciation of war clearly express this European world view. The spirit of the first paragraph of Article 9, _... the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation or the use of force as a means of settling international disputes, can also be found in Article 2 of the United Nations Charter: _All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations._ This in turn is based on the Atlantic Charter of 1941 which stated that _... all the nations of the world, for realistic as well as spiritual reasons, must come to the abandonment of the use of force. Going back even further, the Kellog_Briand Pact of 1928 (signed by the United States, France and 63 other nations) also called for the renunciation of war and settlement of problems by peaceful means, and one of the clauses in Kant s Perpetual Peace (1795), is titled _standing Armies Shall in Time be Totally Abolished._
Since the world view based on war took root and spread steadily in Europe from the publication of Grotius_s treatise, achieving the status of an unquestioned assumption, this has tended to obscure its historical origins.
