This letter was delivered after a speech in English and Japanese on March 28th on the occasion of the meeting of the secret US-Japan Joint Committee. I call for the abolition of the US-Japan Joint Committee which is held between US military representatives and high level Japanese political appointees in government, the establishment of a Japan-US Peace Committee committed to promoting peace and addressing real security issues, and the adoption of an amendment to the US constitution based on the Japanese constitution’s article nine.
March 28, 2024
Brigadier General George B. Rowell IV
Deputy Commander, United States Forces Japan
Topic: Ending the Japan-U.S. Joint Committee, establishing a Japan-US Peace Committee, and advocating for a peace amendment to the Constitution inspired by Japan’s article nine
Dear General Rowell:
Thank you for receiving the letter from me and a group of concerned American citizens of February 1, 2024 that we mailed to you concerning the Japan-US Joint Committee and its unconstitutional role in both American and Japanese government policy. I enclose with this letter a copy of that previous letter for your reference. We welcome an open discussion with you and all current members of the Japan-US Joint Committee as to the role of that committee.
Today, joining with our Japanese friends, I repeat the request for the abolition of that unconstitutional committee. I would like to make two additional suggestions to you for our future discussions concerning the US-Japan alliance.
I make these suggestions, in contrast to the content of the last letter, as an individual American citizen who has been deeply involved in US-Japan relations for the last 38 years. My work with Japan started with my study of Japanese at Yale College as a senior in 1986, continued when I attended graduate school at University of Tokyo (1988-1992) and Harvard University (1992-1998) in Japanese studies, advanced when I worked as professor of Japanese studies (and researcher at the Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security Program) at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1998-2004), and as visiting scholar at University of Pennsylvania and George Washington University (2004-2007), and then as director, and later as president, of the Asia Institute, which has offices in the Republic of Korea, the United States, and Japan (2007-present). I do not represent anyone else in making these suggestions, granted that I have consulted with many Americans and Japanese about these ideas.
First, I propose that we establish a Japan-US Peace Committee that is explicitly dedicated to bringing together government and military officials, experts, and ordinary citizens from both the United States and Japan to discuss which policies should be pursued in both countries as part of the US-Japan alliance so as to assure that our primary goal is the promotion of a lasting and substantial, robust and resilient, peace in East Asia, and around the world. I offer to help organize such a committee and I propose that this committee can replace the current Japan-US Joint Committee.
This Japan-US Peace Committee will function in accord with the procedures described, and the ideals embodied, in the constitutions of the United States and Japan, and it will consult directly with the government institutions of the United States and Japan as defined by those constitutions, seeking out the opinions of the government officials and citizens of both nations, consulting with experts in both nations, and doing so in a constitutional, transparent and accountable manner, while offering full records of all discussions that must be made public. There will be no role for private corporations, banks, consulting firms, private military and intelligence contractors, or other unaccountable for-profit institutions in that committee.
The second suggestion is an amendment to the United States constitution that is inspired by Article Nine of the Japanese constitution and that makes explicit the commitment of the United States to peace and that asserts the essential anti-imperialist, republican and democratic import of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
I offer a proposal for what this 29th amendment might be based on primary consultations, but I suggest we should make this proposal to the American people, and that we should listen carefully to the Japanese people as well. This 29th amendment would follow the recently adopted 28th amendment known as the Equal Rights Amendment,
This amendment is essential for holding up the spirit and the imperative of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, and asserting our independence from imperialist ventures that threaten to draw us into unending foreign wars.
Remember what John Quincy Adams wrote,
“The United States knows that she should not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy, for once enlisting under other banners than her own, she would involve herself, beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force so that, although she might become the dictatress of the world, she would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.”
I am sure that you are fully aware, as a military officer, of the tremendous dangers the United States faces as a result of the increasing control of local economies by global financial institutions, the privatization of the military, and the decay of the branches of government of the United States as defined by the Constitution.
These dangers cannot be attributed simply to an individual, or to some bad apples.
We must affirm the connection between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, texts which define what is and what is not the government, and the citizens of our nation. We all have an ethical imperative, especially as members of the military, to protect our citizens from all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to remain loyal to the Constitution.
The pledge to uphold the Constitution is not an empty ritual, nor is it the hollow words of political trickers. Upholding the Constitution means the rejection of kings and aristocracy, the rejection of inherited privilege in its many forms, and the commitment to a government of the people, by the people and for the people, through the pursuit of policy that is transparent, accountable, and that places the welfare of our citizens, and the rule of law, as the highest goal.
We should adopt a constitutional amendment, the twenty-ninth amendment, that will spell out a fundamental shift in the concept of security for the United States, one that takes its inspiration from Article Nine of the Japanese constitution.
The Constitution, and the amendments to it, serve a lodestar, a compass that leads us forward as citizens striving to create peace and establish true human security, the fundamental priority for the nation, and for the world.
Here is draft for this amendment that can serve as the starting point for a serious scientific debate as to how we can best realize this transformation of our nation.
Twenty-ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution
“The United States will assume the pursuit of peace to be its primary goal in foreign and domestic policy, make a peace economy its highest priority, and in that process reduce its nuclear weapons to zero within ten years, and demand that all other nations reduce their nuclear weapons to zero as well.
Other dangerous weapons such a depleted uranium, mines and cluster bombs, biological and nano weapons, electromagnetic and infrared weapons, and the project of information warfare will be ended decisively. The United States will oppose efforts to wage war by conventional, nuclear, or psychological, biological, or nano-technological means.
The United State military will be restructured to focus on the long-term security of the United States, calculated in the hundreds of years, giving up its short-term obsession with weapons and war, and devoting itself to preventing the destruction of the environment, earth, water, and air, the rising power of the rich and powerful, the use of technology to manipulate citizens and to destroy information, and other threats to human security.
Americans will only be deployed outside of the United States in a transparent and accountable manner for multinational efforts that are clearly defined, and such deployments will only be for a proscribed period of time.”
Your corrections, and suggestions, are welcome.
Let us advance the debate about what exactly the text of this amendment should be, and how we can create a nation dedicated to peace and security in the United States that will replace the nightmare tyranny of war and consumption that is presently being drawn toward the apocalypse by the dark horses of debt, consumption, and extraction.
I also include for your reference a copy of my recently published book “The Bitter Tonic Known as Truth” which outlines honestly the tremendous challenges that we face today.
Circles and Squares 