2020/6/20
There were many passages in this month's issue of the monthly magazine Seiryon that I left unread.
This morning, when I was reading Mr. Sukehiro Hirakawa's long series of articles, a passage struck me as very similar to what is happening in China today.
In the notes that Mr. Hirakawa included at the end of his article, a passage proved that I had hit the nail on the head.
In this paper, I would like to excerpt those passages and others that all Japanese citizens should know.
Mr. Hirakawa's paper is a must-read not only for the people of Japan but for people all over the world.
Pacific War or Greater East Asia War?
But Japan's overwhelming superiority lasted until then.
Japan lost the war in August 1945.
The American occupation of Japan followed this.
After a while, the name "Greater East Asia War" was erased, and the war became the "Pacific War."
Even the eighth graders understood that the occupying forces were behind the change.
The term "Pacific War" is used because the Americans called it the Pacific War or War in the Pacific, but if they were to allow the Japanese to call it the "Greater East Asia War," the image of Japan fighting a just war for the liberation of Greater East Asia would come to the fore.
It would be inconvenient for the Allied nations, especially those who wanted to maintain their colonies as they were before the war.
It is why the term "Greater East Asia War" was banned.
Japanese forces had once defeated the white colonial powers in the southern regions.
The U.S., Britain, France, and the Netherlands had to make war criminals out of defeated Japanese generals to restore their damaged authority and to make an example to the local people.
The decision to sentence General Tomoyuki Yamashita, who felled Singapore, to be hanged on December 7, the anniversary of the start of the war, and General Masaharu Honma, who felled Manila, to be shot, whatever the charge, was a clear manifestation of the aspect of a revenge trial.
Dr. Reischauer and others have also acknowledged this wrongdoing.
Note 2
Lawrence Taylor, "Shogun's Trial: MacArthur's Revenge," Tatekaze Shobo, 1982, titled initially A Trial of Generals.
The following is an extract from Reischauer's words on the back cover of the Japanese edition. ...... Along with Yamashita and Honma, who were tried by military tribunals, General MacArthur is also attempted in this book.
Both Japanese generals are shown to have been forthright, honest, and even noble.
MacArthur's dark side of his dual personality is revealed, showing how narrow-minded, pompous, and obsessed he was with parables.
In this book, American justice is also being judged.
And it proves that it was American justice that was ultimately defeated.
While many Japanese were executed throughout the South, the war was still going on after August 15.
-And in this postwar war, the heartless attitude of some Japanese came to the surface.
The daughter of Lieutenant General Honma took to the streets to ask for signatures in a campaign to save her life.
Then, a newspaper carried a letter condemning her for such behavior.
2023/6/10 in Osaka
