Verteidigungsminister Koizumi steht unter Beschuss! Auf dem LDP-Kongress brachte er eine Reihe von Ausreden vor, weil das Personal der Selbstverteidigungskräfte die Nationalhymne gesungen hatte – und hatte sogar den Mut, die Schuld auf seine Untergebenen abzuwälzen.

It may appear to be a trivial matter but it has the potential to set a very important precedent.

When asked if the Jieitai member appearing in uniform at an LDP event (not a government event), and being introduced as a member of the Jieitiai, broke the rules against political activities by serving troops, Koizumi claimed it wasn’t an issue. As usual he deflected any responsibility, saying both Takaichi and the head of the GSDF had said it was okay.

It is actually a quite blatant contravention of the rule and if it got brushed over without any serious pushback, it would set the stage for future repetitions, e.g. senior Jieitai officers appearing a partisan political rallies, namely to show support for the LDP. Without that pushback its possible that any attempts at constitutional revision would edit those rules to let military/political cooperation become more blatant, which would not in any way be good for Japan’s political future.

Thankfully, they are getting challenged for it in pieces like this. Despite Koizumi being a lackwit, I think this was less an oversight and more people above him doing this to test the waters and see if they could get away with it.