God is the premise of every existence.

The self is the premise of every conscious being.

 

The most important problem of the economy at present is that we place our self-interests at the center of the economy.

Because our self-interests control the economy, the public interest is absent from the economy. In other words, just causes and basic principles are absent from the economy, and only egotism becomes the basis for justifying economic activities.

But insofar as you fear and respect a god, you can still have some hope. However, if you cannot even believe in a god, what you have will only be avarice.

A nation cannot replace god. This is because a nation is unable to become any absolute existence.

 

God is the reason why those who believe in god cannot lie nor break a promise. Human relationships are the reason why some people do not believe in god. Therein lies the problem. While your relationship with god is absolute, your relationship with other people is relative. Those who do not believe in god will shamelessly lie and break a promise to suit changes in the situation, environment or premise. A free economy is maintained when people do not take bribes and they observe their contracts. This is because they have an absolute belief in god as the premise upon which they can believe in strangers and conduct transactions with strangers.

It would be too risky to not understand this properly and trade with anybody. War today is changing from something extraordinary to a rather ordinary occurrence. We will have to cope with not only wars started with an explicit declaration of war between regular armies, such as in the way that wars were fought in the past, but also conflicts against invisible enemies, such as non-regular armies and anti-Japanese groups. Moreover, asymmetrical wars, including wars between a nation and pirates, terrorists, cyber-terrorists, guerillas and criminal groups occur regularly. In those situations, we will need to change our strategies from those used for battles between regular armies in a war.

In considering your strategies, context will be important to you. As Carl von Clausewitz said, strategies may be thought of as mathematics. In other words, logic is important in planning strategies. The U.S. has deviated from this principle of strategies.

The problems of Japan’s relations with China are none other than problems of Japan’s relations with the U.S.

We should not forget the fact that we have to think about everything on the basis of our relations with the U.S. This means that we will be unable to ultimately make a compromise with a country whose thinking and regime are different from our own.

 

The first thing to do is to ascertain who is your enemy and who is your friend. There are two types of countries: countries with which you can solve problems without using power even if you fight with them, and countries with which you cannot settle disputes ultimately without the use of power. What divides the two groups of countries is their political regimes, thinking, beliefs and religions, because countries accept no compromises about these matters.

The turning point is whether the other country is one against which you have no alternative but to fight using power or one with which you can settle problems without power.

Japan and the U.S. have a political system, economic system and the concept of a nation in common. You cannot ultimately keep peace only though a balance of power with a country with which you are unable to share a political regime, economic structure and a concept of a nation.

Anti-Japanese feelings are anti-American sentiments in reverse. You should understand this well. Some of the countries competing with the U.S. think that it would be better not to oppose the U.S. directly. It is an old trick of these countries to target U.S. allies that are weak militarily.

 

A war today is said to take on the aspect of an all-out war. The meaning of the word “all-out” is changing from “extraordinary” to “ordinary,” too. We are now being involved in a war whether we like it or not.

It is dangerous to look at national defense in connection with a particular ideology. People cry out, “Peace! peace!,” but what is peace? Peace refers to a situation where there an absence of war or battles. Thus, if you want to know the meaning of peace, you need to know the meaning of war.

War is an act of forcing your country’s intention on another country by means of violence. War may also be the act of attempting to control another country by means of violence.

If you look at battles only from their negative aspects, you will not get any answers to the questions mentioned above.

In this world, there are many people who like to fight. This is borne out by the fact that many movies have war as their theme.

 

Why do we fight?

We fight because our life is premised upon dying.

We fight because we are too proud just to be born, grow old and die naturally.

Our fight takes aim at dishonesty, absurdity and vice in the world, too. Unless you understand this point, wars will never go away. When people fight, they pursue just causes.

It is important for you to redirect the energy of your fighting spirit to more constructive and more productive uses instead of thinking of fighting only from a negative viewpoint. A good example of this can be seen in sports. Fighting turns into competition in the market, making the economy more vital. In the political world, fighting can be observed in elections. And fighting offers the driving force in the area of sports, too. Fighting can serve as the power for moving the economy forward.

Those for whom staying alive is a matter of course and those who barely make ends meet living each day from hand to mouth have a completely different awareness of fighting from the beginning.

 

What is important is not fighting itself but what you believe in when you fight.