JAPAN: (SNS) - In a surprisingly blunt speech to the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan on March 16, 1999, outgoing Japanese Ambassador to the United States Kunihiko Saito warned the United States to reduce its criticism of Japan, or risk reviving militant nationalist sentiment in Japan. And while he said continued U.S. pressure could hurt the Japanese economy and Japanese-U.S. relations, Saito warned that the biggest threat may be the revival of Japanese nationalism.

"Memories of the 1930s and 40s are still fresh in our minds. We should always be careful about the revival of nationalism," said Saito. "I'm not worried about a problem yet, but I don't think we should forget that only 50 or 60 years ago we made some big mistakes, and one of the reasons, in my view, was excessive nationalism," he added. Saito singled out the U.S. Trade Representative's Office as a major source of the unwelcome criticism.

He also warned of rising protectionist sentiment among U.S. companies and in Congress. "Tensions surrounding trade between our two countries have...increased in recent months," he said. "Our trade surplus with the United States has been increasing rather sharply and has become a political issue, at least in Washington," said Saito. He added, "If the United States economy starts to have problems, the issue of trade imbalance will surely become a very serious political issue between our two countries."

Raising the specter of Japanese militant nationalism to induce-more precisely to threaten-the United States into being more diplomatic in its criticism goes completely against this policy. Moreover, while made in the context of U.S.-Japanese economic relations, Saito's comments feed into several other heated policy debates as well.

The most prominent debate, and the one that has, understandably, been the most affected by Japan's wartime legacy, is over the role of Japan's military. Japan's Diet is scheduled to address new legislation in its upcoming session that is required to enable the revised U.S.-Japan Defense Guidelines to take effect. Central to this debate is the planned expansion of the roles Japan's "Self Defense Forces" can play and the geographic reach of Japanese military operations.

Under proposed laws, armed Japanese troops would be allowed to deploy abroad for the evacuation of Japanese and other foreign nationals from trouble spots, and to return fire in self-defense if fired upon. Additionally, while still vaguely defined, the area in which Japan can operate in support of U.S. forces will apparently be extended to cover Taiwan, something China vehemently opposes.

On March 16, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi warned that "Japan should take concrete steps...to limit its defense to its own territory and adjacent waters, and not embark on the road of becoming a military power." Saito's warning of growing Japanese nationalism is not merely a negotiating ploy. The country's economic troubles have been scarcely addressed and are far from over. As a result, relations with the U.S. can only be expected to deteriorate.

Japan is in the midst of a fundamental reevaluation of the Japanese military's roles. And in the midst of this, Tokyo is facing calls from Southeast Asia for it to take a leadership role in Asia. Sovereignty, leadership, defense, foreign economic pressure, all push nationalism to the core of Japan's domestic political debate. The question is, with Japan no longer shy about depositing the nationalism threat smack in the middle of the negotiating table, and the United States likely to be unresponsive, has Japan set off on an irreversible course?