July 4, 2023

The Honorable Rahm Emanuel

Ambassador to Japan from the United States　（→PDF）

Dear Sir:

We the undersigned are a group of volunteers, addressing you on behalf of the Japanese government and people. By design we write to you on July 4, a great holiday that stands for America’s independence.

Our message concerns the recently passed LGBT law for which Your Excellency vigorously lobbied. This unrestrained advocacy on your part—or so we feel—was at odds with ambassadorial decorum and with our dignity as a sovereign nation.

It only stands to reason that foreign ambassadors must respect the culture of the country in which they are stationed. As it happens, our country has historically developed a unique culture of tolerance towards sexual minorities which Your Excellency’s attitude hardly seemed to recognize.

It is unwise to assume that specific values derived from one’s own history and culture are universal. Moreover, the blanket application of such value standards creates cultural conflict and gives rise to social disruption. We are concerned that the enactment of this law will unjustly infringe the rights of women and children by placing a particular emphasis on LGBT differences.

Moreover, Your Excellency’s use of the ambassador’s office in promoting this bill has been a clear act of overreach and interference in our internal affairs. At a press conference at the Japan Press Club on 15 February of this year, Your Excellency demanded that the Prime Minister and the Diet “not only improve understanding [of LGBTQ people] but also take clear and necessary measures against discrimination.”

We have no doubt that Prime Minister Kishida's decision to go to such lengths to force the passage of this bill was a direct response to Your Excellency’s personal lobbying. No matter the merits, this issue deserved to be discussed within the scope of Japan's sovereignty, without being subjected to political pressures from a foreign envoy.

On the occasion of the recent G7 Hiroshima Summit, you took the initiative to submit a letter to Prime Minister Kishida, jointly signed and addressed to Japan by the ambassadors of the other G7 countries. This letter called for the development of legislation to protect LGBT rights—on grounds that Japan was lagging behind other G7 countries in the development of anti-discrimination laws regarding LGBT people.

Ironically, it was your own country that conspicuously lacked—and still lacks—an anti-discrimination law on LGBT matters at the federal level. But the propaganda campaign depicted Japan as a backward country in matters of sexual diversity. This created a mischievous impression which obviously harmed Japan’s reputation. It will certainly encourage prejudice against Japan and might even lead to international isolation.

LGBT laws have caused serious social division, conflict and confusion within their Western countries of origin—especially in the United States. Your Excellency's advocacy does not represent the totality of US opinion on this subject but only a part of it. Meanwhile, Your Excellency’s assertions distort the perceptions of the Japanese people towards the US and worsen the feelings of Japanese towards the US.

We the undersigned stand in solidarity with the good people of your country who value freedom and democracy. We call for genuine friendship based on mutual respect for cultures, rather than the imposition of values based on partisan viewpoints.

At the recent G7 Hiroshima Summit, President Biden entered Japan from the US military base at Iwakuni, which is a portion of our national territory still outside our sovereignty. In the context of our bilateral relations, which are presumed to be on equal footing, the fact that the American President entered Japan from a US military base on our territory was a breach of diplomatic etiquette towards our country and an affront to our dignity as a sovereign nation.

Many Japanese citizens are outraged by Your Excellency's words and actions as described above. But successive LDP governments up to the present time have continued their policy of subservience to your country and have not given a legitimate voice to the wishes of the Japanese people.

Therefore, as the people's volunteers, we convey this protest to Your Excellency with a demand that you apologize to the people of Japan, withdrawing those words and actions of yours that could be described as interference in our internal affairs. We also strongly urge that American officials on future visits not enter our sovereign territory from US military bases located in Japan.

For decades, Japan’s prime ministers up have yielded to U.S. interference in our internal affairs because our country never regained its sovereignty after American occupation forces took it away at the end of the last world war. We hope that recent incidents will be used as an opportunity to reestablish our sovereignty and create the basis for an alliance between equals.

Sincerely yours,

National Volunteer Association for Equal US-Japan Relations

Representative

Tatsunori Orimoto, Chiba Prefectural Councillor

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿Tatsunori Orimoto＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿[YT1] 

Nobuyuki Fukushima, Member of the House of Representatives

Takashi Tanuma, Chiba Prefectural Assembly member

Takashi Ishimoto, Iwakuni City councillor

Masakazu Iwata, Edogawa Ward councillor

Eiji Kosaka, Arakawa Ward councillor

Yumi Kobayashi, Suginami ward councillor

Mitsuhiko Sano, Tokorozawa City councillor

Nobuhiro Sugimoto, Gosho City councillor

Hitomi Tomura, Asahi City councillor

Keisei Toriya, Shimanto City councillor

Kuniaki Furuki, Yamato City councillor

Kohei Hosaka, Yotsukaido City councillor

Hikaru Nishimura, Former member of the Osaka Prefectural Assembly

Supporters：

Koubou Inamura, Former Vice Chairman of Japan Post

Kousuke Ono, Representative of Great Asia Study Group

Masayasu Kai, Representative of Michibata

Munenori Kaneko, Director, Satomi Institute for Japanese Studies

Kuniya Kihara, Attorney-at-law

Mitsuhiro Kimura, Representative of Issuikai

Kazuo Sato, Chairman, Association for the Honour and Recognition of Heroic Spirits

Katsuhiko Takaike, Attorney-at-law ,Chairman, Association for the Creation of New Textbooks

Toshio Tamogami, Former Chief of the Air Force Staff

Takahiko Tsubouchi, Editor-in-Chief, Ishin to Koua

Okisuke Touyama, Chairman, Kuretake-kai

Shingo Nishimura, Former member of the House of Representatives

Daisuke Hariya, Chairman of the Unification Front Volunteer Army

Takeru Fukunaga, Representative of Fuji kadou Kai

Nana Honma, Representative of the Nanohana Kai

Satoru Mizushima, President, Channel Sakura

Kikuji Minamide, Attorney-at-law

Haruki Murata, President, Citizens' Association Against the Suffrage of Foreigners

Tetsuhide Yamaoka, Strategic Information Analyst

 [YT1]折本さんの署名