Japanese pacifism, imposed on Japan after World War II through a re-written constitution that forbids the establishment of a strong military, imbues most anime with anti-war messages. Protagonists such as Shiro in "Wings of Honneamise" and even Kenshin from "Rurouni Kenshin" embody pacifist sensibilities. Titles such as Pioneer's "Geo-Armor" and even the recent "Blood" from Production I.G speak to a post-modern audience raised in an environment in which another World War would end humankind. And even though anime depicts an inordinate amount of fighting, admonishing chords struck in a many of anime scripts intimate the futility of war and violence to resolve conflict.

The second scene in "Patlabor 2: The Movie" poses an analogy for weapons development asserting that man's technological evolution from the bike to the car parallels the advancements in Patlabors. However, the automobile has the capacity to amplify the extent of human contact, to expand an individual's horizons. The Tokyo police develop these Patlabors, whose intended uses never included weapons in the first place, for destructive purposes. In fact, the premise of the "Patlabor" franchise demands that each side of a conflict match the other in the development of increasingly destructive machines. Since the bad guys have it, the police must have it and vice-versa, a mode of thinking that plunged the world into a Cold War. "Patlabor 2's" reputation as a darker piece than the TV series and the first movie rests in director Mamoru Oshii's exposure of this reactionary escalation of defense strategy.

Director Takaaki Ishiyama's "Alien Defender Geo-Armor," adapted from Masaki Yamada's novel and released by Pioneer, provides a historical backdrop for a similar argument about the responsibility scientists must assume over the destructive properties of their own inventions. Set in an alternative 1940s, World War II pits the Axis and Allies against each other armed with giant mecha. The plot involves the acquisition of an alien technology capable of global annihilation. As the story unfolds, though, the victors triumph through truth of spirit rather than brutal force.

Sweeping into the White House on the heels of an administration that over its eight-year tenure opened up trade relations around the world, George W. Bush supports the traditional GOP position of "big military/strong military." This runs counter current to a rapidly changing trend in which the concept of military as a tool only for hostility fades on the public agenda. Wide-scale popular support for the advancement of nuclear disarmament programs test ban treaties, especially with the emergence of nuclear capabilities in India and Pakistan, clearly convey a global message of peace. The executive branch-to-be teems with Cold War veterans reared on the staunch militarism that fueled conflicts in Korea, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. So the question of where the coming administration plans to drop an increased military budget concerns not only defense contractors and military personnel, but also an increasingly enlightened international public.

Japan might very well be the leader in this international enlightenment, having spent over fifty years not engaged in a military conflict nor developing a militant patriotic agenda. The Japanese government assumed fiscal responsibility of American and other European military bases within its borders to defend against potential threats in eastern Asian and has taken a position of leadership in the United Nations. But Japan's attitude on the global stage has been one of observation and compassion (and funding). It is the second largest financial contributor to the United Nations and remains one of its most outspoken proponents of the use of military to alleviate abuses against humanity, a doctrine for the U.S. military established by Bill Clinton during his administration. Japan now stands at the threshold of a new millennium, its pacifism helping guide the course of a new world order.

"There is ... still much to be done by the United Nations in such areas as the prevention and resolution of conflicts and poverty alleviation. It is also important to have fresh viewpoints, including that of 'human security,' in addressing such new issues as those relating to globalization and global issues. These are the issues that we will be passing along to the twenty-first century," said Mr. Masahiko Koumura, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, at the Fifty-fourth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in Sept. 1999.

A vital part of embracing fresh viewpoints and marching progressively into the 21st century includes an international effort to dismantle the Military/Industrial Complex which has loomed over the world throughout the 20th century. Foremost on Bush's military agenda, however, a ballistic missile defense program garnering support from a gaggle of Washington heavies including the President-elect's nominee for Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.

Of course proponents recognize the conclusive failure of the current prototype for a missile defense system. In tests carried out from July through September of last year, the intercepting missiles failed to hit their targets two out of three times. These tests were even simplified to favor success. GOP leaders, though, point to these failures to justify a greater allotment of funds for more development. The new administration, therefore, paints a portrait of an America threatened solely by ballistic missiles, launched from another super power, raining down on major US urban centers, rebuffing criticism with antiquated rhetoric about a compromised national security.