THE RISING EAST

By Richard Halloran

Japan has crossed the Rubicon, with surprisingly little opposition at home or abroad, by starting to dispatch armed soldiers to Iraq in their first deployment to a combat zone since World War II.

In a departure ceremony in northern Japan, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Self-Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba presented the colors, or flags, to a detachment of 500 soldiers standing rank on rank in black berets, camouflage and black boots.

Their commanding officer, Col. Yasushi Kiyota, told his troops, their families and the dignitaries: "We shall overcome all obstacles, no matter how difficult, and all return safely." Those listening said he emphasized the last point.

A convoy of Japanese troops crossed the border from Kuwait into southern Iraq last month, headed to their new base in Samawa. Advertiser library photo • Jan. 18, 2004

The ceremony was televised and evidently seen all over Japan, where it was greeted with complicated feelings. Japanese parents were worried — as are all parents when their sons and, in this case, a few daughters — are sent in harm's way.

Japan has sent perhaps a dozen peacekeeping and humanitarian missions abroad in as many years, but only after most danger has passed.

At the same time, say Japanese who watched the ceremony and related events, there was evidence of a quiet pride that Japan has begun to shed the cocoon of pacifism in which it has wrapped itself for nearly 60 years, and started to accept responsibilities and risks in the international arena.

A soldier addressing the departure formation spoke of representing "our country of bushido" — the way of the warrior, honorable in the days of yore, but corrupted by the militarists of pre-war Japan.

In Hawai'i, a resident of Saipan — an island occupied by Japan before and during World War II — approved of Japan "paying back for some of the things they did then."

Japanese opposition politicians protested the dispatch of armed soldiers — without much fervor — contending that it violated Article IX of the Constitution, which prohibits the use of armed force to settle disputes.

About 4,000 protesters rallied in Hibiya Park in Tokyo with banners that read: "We don't need a war." In a land where protests involving tens of thousands have been fashioned — kabuki style — into an art form, a protest of 4,000 is not worth the ink it takes to report it.

Abroad, China and South Korea, which nurture historical animosities toward Japan, appear to have taken the deployment calmly; most press reports have been limited to factual accounts of the departure.

A military officer in the Philippines, which was brutally conquered by Japan in 1942, said in Hawai'i: "It's OK, even though we have not totally forgotten what they did."

In a round-table discussion at the East-West Center, six scholars specializing in Asia were unanimous in saying they expected little criticism of Japan over the deployment.

"Too many people in Asia have too many other things on their minds," said one.

North Korea, which is at odds with Japan on several scores, was among the few to be openly critical: Rodong Sinmun, an official newspaper, said, "This is a prelude to the overseas aggression of the Japanese militarists, which may bring immeasurable misfortune and disasters to humankind again in the 21st century."

Ever since Julius Caesar led his legions across the Rubicon River in northern Italy in 49 B.C., that passage has come to represent

decisions from which there is no turning back. Japan, which plans to send about 1,000 troops to Iraq in coming weeks, has passed its point of no return.

What of the future?

A study by Col. William E. Rapp of the U.S. Army War College notes: "Japan is in the midst of a fundamental re-examination of its security policy."

He concludes, however, that "Japan remains deeply ambivalent toward security expansion" and suggests "Japan will continue slowly and incrementally to remove the shackles on its military security policy."

Some years ago, a Japanese whose name is lost in memory wrote: "Japanese mothers must understand that they are not the only ones who do not wish to send their sons to die in battle."

Because Iraq is a dangerous place for Americans, Australians, British, Koreans, Poles and everyone else — not to mention Iraqis themselves — the Japanese are likely to suffer casualties there. Then Japanese mothers will experience, sadly, for the first time in six decades, the profound sorrow of mothers everywhere who have lost their sons in hostile action.

Richard Halloran is a former New York Times correspondent in Asia and a frequent contributor.