ABSTRACT
The concluding part summarizes the main findings of previous chapters. Pacifism is not an empty word as some authors suggest. Although it was created discursively in the wake of World War II, it has become sedimented into t Japanese society. While the discourse on pacifism has changed, the identity can still be found in social structures and popular emotions. The book has illustrated this in four case studies: education, the Constitution, security and regional multilateralism. These cases show that although Abe Shinzō is pushing for a complete rejection of the pacifist identity and continues to attack it on a variety of fronts, the identity exercises significant counter-pressure that inhibits many of his identity visions. In the short-term, then, we are likely to see a limited change in Japan’s society and foreign policy. In the longer-term, however, it is largely possible that Abe’s (and others’) revisionism will lead to a more significant transformation of Japanese national identity and foreign policy.
