Preface
I was born in spring of 1945 and World War 2 ended in August 15 of the year.
Our childhood was under miserable poverty. Even five cents were big money
for us.
When I was fifteen years old, for the first time I did know why both my family
and neighbors had been so poor.
My country had fought WW2 with the USA and many other countries with the result
that it had been completely defeated and all of people had lost most of assets.
Then we students were taught at our senior high school that our country had
chosen such a fatal road because the Cabinet of the day in Tokyo couldn’t have
prevented Japanese young soldiers stationing in the Northeastern part of China
from promoting the war by force between China and Japan. Moreover, Japan had
rushed into the most disastrous war with the USA in order to secure resources
in the Southern Asia to continue the war with China.
For people who were born after WW2 the thorough research of the true and most
significant reason why Japan had to wage such tragic wars has been the biggest
problem necessarily to have to be resolved in my life.
I’m afraid that if we can’t find such a fatal reason, we wouldn’t prevent a
tragic war from happening again in the future. The finding, however, is indeed
very hard for me because not only the task of the research should take much time
and energy but also I won’t be able to certify or have an absolute confidence
in the rationality of the result.
Therefore, it must be better that we keep pacifism in principle rather than we
endeavor to try to resolve such an esoteric puzzle.
Luckily, the current Prime Minister, Mr. Koizumi, and the ruling party have the
intention that our country shouldn’t establish an aggressive military power
except self-defense forces like they have been so far even after revising the
present Constitution.
I’d like to support such a good movement and sincerely pray for our nation’s
prosperity.
November 3, 2005
Kanzaburo Okamura
I was born in spring of 1945 and World War 2 ended in August 15 of the year.
Our childhood was under miserable poverty. Even five cents were big money
for us.
When I was fifteen years old, for the first time I did know why both my family
and neighbors had been so poor.
My country had fought WW2 with the USA and many other countries with the result
that it had been completely defeated and all of people had lost most of assets.
Then we students were taught at our senior high school that our country had
chosen such a fatal road because the Cabinet of the day in Tokyo couldn’t have
prevented Japanese young soldiers stationing in the Northeastern part of China
from promoting the war by force between China and Japan. Moreover, Japan had
rushed into the most disastrous war with the USA in order to secure resources
in the Southern Asia to continue the war with China.
For people who were born after WW2 the thorough research of the true and most
significant reason why Japan had to wage such tragic wars has been the biggest
problem necessarily to have to be resolved in my life.
I’m afraid that if we can’t find such a fatal reason, we wouldn’t prevent a
tragic war from happening again in the future. The finding, however, is indeed
very hard for me because not only the task of the research should take much time
and energy but also I won’t be able to certify or have an absolute confidence
in the rationality of the result.
Therefore, it must be better that we keep pacifism in principle rather than we
endeavor to try to resolve such an esoteric puzzle.
Luckily, the current Prime Minister, Mr. Koizumi, and the ruling party have the
intention that our country shouldn’t establish an aggressive military power
except self-defense forces like they have been so far even after revising the
present Constitution.
I’d like to support such a good movement and sincerely pray for our nation’s
prosperity.
November 3, 2005
Kanzaburo Okamura
