George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 279

< Episode 278 >

“No, it’s not. The ‘elder’ I know said the same thing.”

I couldn’t know who the elder Abe was talking about, but if the next prime minister called him an elder, he must be someone who held a key position in the present or in the past.

If Bush wanted to, it wouldn’t be too difficult to find out who the elder was. He didn’t need to mobilize the intelligence agencies; he could simply ask.

“Anyway, the important thing is the nuclear power plant. I’ve already finished talking with the current Prime Minister Koizumi, but…”

Frankly, I wasn’t very curious about who that elder was. It wasn’t just idle curiosity; I simply didn’t have the time. In fact, it felt almost stubborn to hope that a nuclear accident wouldn’t occur in Japan, a foreign country, not my own.

‘But if I can help, I should.’

Unlike Bush, who was clearly trying to figure out how to minimize damage even if a nuclear accident occurred, Abe quickly grasped the situation and realized there was only one possible answer.

“A nuclear power plant?”

“That’s right. To be brief, I want you to respond quickly if an accident occurs at a nuclear power plant in the future.”

There were several things to point out. Abe didn’t really understand why Bush was so fixated on nuclear power plants in the first place. If he had to guess, it was probably because of the potential radiation leaks from a nuclear power plant explosion.

But how much radiation would actually leak, even in a worst-case scenario? Japan’s radiation blocking and removal technology was advanced enough to handle even a significant accident. It was obvious that there would be no major problem if they acted quickly enough.

Most importantly, this felt like interference in Japan’s internal affairs.

“It conflicts quite a bit with our culture, but isn’t this interference in internal affairs?”

“I’m talking to the ‘next’ prime minister, not the current prime minister. Looking at it that way, it’s not easily seen as interference in internal affairs.”

It was pure sophistry, but not entirely wrong. Honestly, if someone else had said it, it would have been a violent remark that would have made me get up from my seat right away, saying that the logic was a mess.

But the man showing off with that arrogant American expression was someone qualified to say such things.

But sophistry is still sophistry.

“I’m not a civilian; I’m a person in public office.”

Abe shook the badge of the assemblyman hanging on his suit. He was immediately struck by how the badge on his chest was only meaningful in Japan. Japan and Korea were the only countries that gave badges to their assemblymen.

Fortunately, Bush seemed to have roughly understood Abe’s actions.

“At least you don’t have enough influence to respond directly when a nuclear accident occurs. So just take it as a word of blessing.”

“A word of blessing. That’s a good way to put it.”

If I could end it with just a word of blessing, I would rather just listen to it as a word of blessing. But Abe knew better. This wasn’t just a friendly word of blessing or advice; it was closer to a ‘threat’.

Abe mobilized all his capabilities and racked his brains, but the answer that came out only repeated the question, ‘Why are you so obsessed with this?’

‘I heard they’re focusing on cracking down on drugs these days. Did they even make ayahuasca [a traditional South American psychoactive brew] with the confiscated drugs and drink it?’

I don’t know well, but unlike other drugs, I heard that even if you take just one bite, you will vomit and it is not addictive, but isn’t it too attractive to close your eyes and try it once for fun? Of course, Abe wouldn’t do it.

Anyway, if I find out why Bush is so obsessed with overseas nuclear power plants, wouldn’t Abe be able to easily judge what he can get and what he can’t get? Politics is not that difficult. Politics is about creating and protecting lines to the best of your ability.

In that sense, the man in front of me, who was drinking sake as if he was sick, was a role model for Abe. Didn’t he create lines as if he was manipulating them with his own hands, and sometimes pushed and pulled to solidify his power?

‘Sometimes even illegal acts.’

The most frightening thing here is the illegal act. He perfectly succeeded in packaging illegal acts as being for the people. Originally, an illegality that gains sympathy from everyone is not an illegality. How many dictatorships has he done in the self-proclaimed land of freedom?

Now all that’s left is the third constitutional amendment. Or something similar. Power is inherently like sand, easy to grab, but if you try to preserve it for a long time, it slips through your fingers. If you want to hold on tight, you have to sprinkle water on the sand.

In the medieval feudal society, that was easy, but in modern times, it was too much to even hold the sand while sprinkling water.

‘Come to think of it, I’m also clinging to constitutional amendment.’

Looking at it this way, there was a strange commonality.

‘Oh, damn the culture. Is it culture to quietly shower in radiation and die?’

Culture is not something that ripens over a set period of time, but something that suddenly blooms, but at least as far as Bush knew, the culture of showering in radiation disappeared about 50 years ago.

What’s not compatible with Japanese culture, is it some kind of atomic retro craze? Are you perhaps talking about the harakiri [ritual suicide by samurai] culture? Well, the harakiri culture did shock Europe. Even that was his subordinates cutting their stomachs, not himself.

If you look at harakiri in detail, it’s really funny that they only cut the stomachs of their subordinates and cut off their necks day and night, so how can this not be a sloppy culture?

‘Medieval feudal lords in the guise of democracy.’

The reason why the story is going around in circles like this is nothing special. Even if they say the same thing, they understand it differently, and they want different things, so they’re just circling around the outside.

What Bush wanted was just to shut up and say, ‘Oh, of course, we should respond quickly for the sake of the people,’ even if it was just words, and Abe wanted to say, ‘Then what will the US President do for me?’

Of course, this would never come out of his mouth, so the story just went around and around like a squirrel on a treadmill. It was a battle of the century between a word of blessing mixed with subtle threats and listening to it with one ear and letting it flow out with the other.

For about an hour like this, Bush discussed safety while sipping the highest-grade sake like water, and Abe discussed power.

What they had in common was that they both drank because they were frustrated that the story didn’t make sense. Abe was worried that what he was doing now might be Japanese instead of English, and Bush had to worry about whether the American accent sounded a little different in Japan.

That’s how everything was about to end lukewarmly.

“I lost.”

What is the biggest problem with alcohol?

“What are you talking about?”

That’s because of the disadvantage of getting drunk.

“What do you all want from me, even giving me the title of next prime minister?”

This was not just asking Bush. There was also dissatisfaction with Nakasone, who was playing with Abe as if he was teasing him. Nakasone gave the answer as constitutional amendment, but would he be the one who would push Abe as the next because of that constitutional amendment? If you ask, a demon of doubt blooms in one corner of your heart again.

People become honest when they are drunk, as the saying goes, ‘in vino veritas’ [Latin for “in wine, truth”]. It’s because there’s something wrong with the brain. Those who say they endure with self-control even when they drink are all illusions. Those people just have genes that make them less drunk.

“What you want.”

On the other hand, Bush didn’t show it, but inside, a sense of embarrassment was raging like a wave. The reason why he judged him to be the next prime minister was that Koizumi was about to step down, and Aso Taro, who could be said to be Abe’s rival, was quite incompetent.

What is the ability of a politician, not a leader? It is not the ability to make enemies, nor is it the ability to make friends. These can be weapons, but they are only a means to an ultimate goal.

That is to consolidate power. It is to create a stepping stone so that it can remain immovable like a pine tree no matter what happens.

Any means is good. It’s good as long as you can increase the weight of the stepping stone.

In that sense, Aso Taro was excellent as a politician, but not as a leader. Moreover, not the complex aspects or the surface obtained through unofficial information, but the real political situation inside the Japanese political world. And decisively, even the future knowledge that Bush has.

Abe was definitely quite good before he became obsessed with long-term rule.

Long-term rule is like a sword. At first, it cuts well, but the more you use it, the duller it becomes and the teeth fall out, and at some point, it no longer works. That moment is the moment when long-term rule ends.

Long-term rule is similar to dictatorship, but the difference is that in the case of dictatorship, the blade can be revived by extreme methods. Of course, if that extreme method fails, most of them will disappear as dew on the gallows, but long-term rule will not die even if it gets a little bit of criticism.

Anyway, to discuss the conclusion, Bush was thinking of Abe as a ‘competent politician’ and ‘the most promising next prime minister’ right now.

‘In an emergency, he is incompetent, but in peacetime, he couldn’t be better.’

This was Abe as Bush saw him.

“I think I already said it.”

The role of firefighter in the Japanese branch that will be formed in case of emergency in this crazy nuclear fission East Asia. That was what Bush truly wanted.

He could have just said, ‘Don’t spread radiation.’

“That only sounds like re-educating your own people. We have our own way.”

What came out of Abe’s mouth was truly absurd, but this was also the current state of Japan. The people are not interested in politics. The National Assembly is made up of bloodlines, and the people do not express any dissatisfaction with this.

Well, maybe one or two people might express dissatisfaction, but those people despair in the people’s unresponsiveness, cannot endure the absurd reality, and become traitors. The Meiwaku [trouble-avoidance] culture, and everything else, was only for the purpose of maintaining the current system.

There is a Japanese way. That’s right. Japanese-style democracy that hasn’t changed since the old days. I could understand what Nakasone was shouting. Japan has not changed, and therefore has not been defeated. Even if there was something like defeat, it was only a temporary hesitation to gain momentum.

“Then you know my way too.”

George W. Bush’s way! The way he grabs and shakes whatever he doesn’t like was so famous.

Thinking about it that far, I was a little scared. I thought that if he made up his mind, not Abe, but Japan itself might be shaken. A normal leader would prioritize calculated reason over his emotions, but he was a human being who built meticulous calculations based on his emotions.

At that moment when Abe was troubled and hesitated because he didn’t know how to answer, the chief of staff, who had been standing like a stone statue behind him, approached Bush with a serious expression and delivered ominous news.

“Mr. President, something big has happened in the Middle East.”