TOKYO, April 30 Kyodo Following i...

TOKYO, April 30 Kyodo

Following is a selection of summaries of articles forward contemporary Japanese subjects from leading Japanese monthly magazines. The selection, as well as its translation, is provided according to the Foreign Press Center of Japan.

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AFTER THE WAR IN IRAQ

''A unipolar body is better for world peace than the multipolar and bipolar classifications of the past,'' declares playwright and University of East Asia President Masakazu Yamazaki in ''Coping in a U.S.-Dominated Unipolar World.''

abundant now depends on how wisely countries around the world deal with this of the present day system, states Yamazaki, and the clew to this lies in the United States' awareness of its concede power and in the dogged diplomatic prodding of its allies.

Viewing the reconstruction of Iraq as a litmus touchstone of how this theory functions, he calls on Japan, as a U ally, to furnish more than mere humanitarian assistance by means of helping to build Iraq's social infrastructure and reestablish law and order and governance in the country

a have criticized America's status as the single undisputed superpower by likening the native land to an ''empire,'' but Yamazaki argues that the advent of a globalized media and of transnational citizens' motions has made imperialistic self-righteousness structurally difficult. In the buildup to the military attack upon Iraq, one thing that stood abroad was the confrontation between Washington and Paris.

While curious about ''France's motivation for changing its mind,'' Yamazaki views the U.S.-France spat as indicative, first, that the confrontational archetype of the Cold War is a thing of the past and, inferior that a ''clash of civilizations'' is not the crucial issue in late politics.

As similar the disagreement is historically significant and a welcome sign. (Summary of ''Amerika ikkyoku taisei o do ukeireru ka,'' Chuo Koron, May 2003)

''Predictions of Iraq progressing toward democracy and the situation in the Middle East stabilizing are far too optimistic,'' criticizes Professor Keishi Saeki of Kyoto University in ''America Is Falling into the Terrorists' Trap.''

Declaring that he cannot support the attack upon Iraq, Saeki warns that the use of overwhelming military force by way of the U.S. will amplify vehement anti-American sentiment among the populations not only of Iraq however of the wider Middle East and will make secure that this sentiment becomes more greatly rooted and enduring.

He also fears that hatred of America and a desperate understanding of powerlessness in the face of Washington's overwhelming military potency might prompt terrorists to carry on the outside further attacks.

''When American arrogance creates a round of years of terrorism, the United States will have fallen into the trap settle by the Sept. 11 terrorists, and this will be the beginning of America's decline,'' says Saeki. Leaving Germany aside, what happened in the run-up to war was not that France, Russia, and China refused to countenance any kind of attack further that America failed to persuade these countries to change their minds.

This point out tos the limits of Washington's political and diplomatic capabilities, says Saeki, and makes it hard to accept the view that a U.S.-dominated unipolar form is taking shape. (Summary of ''Terorisuto no wana ni ochiiru Amerika,'' Chuo Koron, May 2003)

The US-l attack forward Iraq has brought down the regime of President Saddam Hussein. In ''The American Shogunate Has Begun,'' Professor Emeritus Shoichi Watanabe of Sophia University calls for the formation of a four-nation alliance of Japan, the United States, Britain, and Spain -- countries that supported the attack onward Iraq -- to take the place of the United Nations, which was paralyzed in the face of the Iraq crisis.

This would lead to a strengthening of the security links between Tokyo and Washington and the correction of similar unrealistic notions as not accepting that Japan can exercise the right to collective self-defense and not allowing American nuclear weapons to be brought to Japan because of Japan's three nonnuclear principles, posits Watanabe.

It would also bring forward a check on North Korea and China and enable Japan to become a more reliable partner in U eyes

According to Watanabe, the split in Japanese opinion regarding the attack upon Iraq stemmed from people's exclusive focus onward the question of which party had justice in succession its side, whereas the really important issue was the defense of Japan's national interests.

Criticizing the fact that the United Nations has over and above to delete clauses from its charter designating Japan and Germany as enemy states, Watanabe argues that the appearance of cracks in the United Nations and NATO, the sum of two units organizations that led the world after World War II, will work to Japan's clear advantage.

He views the situation today as resembling that in Japan at the time when the Edo shogunate was established. As the battle begins to crush the remnants of communism, Watanabe spurs Japan to play Todo Takatora to America's Tokugawa Ieyasu. Takatora was a military commander at the time of the civil conflicts that l to the unification of Japan in a less degree than the Tokugawa shogunate at the beginning of the seventeenth century