The following is from the article "Disappointment with the Postwar Democratic Generation," by Professor Emeritus Yasuhiro Hirakawa of the University of Tokyo, which was serialized in the March 1 issue of the monthly magazine "Seiron" under the title "The Showa War and the Tokyo Trials: A Comparative Historian Looks Back.
This article is a must-read not only for the Japanese people but also for people around the world.
It is a continuation of the previous chapter.
Who is the Bad Guy?
In 1983, director Masaki Kobayashi made a documentary film, "The Tokyo Trials.
Although he claimed to have collected all the actual films, the fact that there were scenes of the Nanking Massacre, or as the Chinese call it, the Great Slaughter of Nanking, without any photographs of the massacre, must have been because he felt that, since there was no doubt that Japan had committed atrocities on the Chinese front, he had to include some photographs, even if they were not the real thing, and even if they were for Chinese propaganda. It must be because the director thought so.
It was probably a result of the atmosphere.
In the immediate aftermath of the war, many Allied military trials found many people guilty of perjury.
Who is to blame? Or the person who perjured himself? Was it the person who perjured himself or the person who convicted based on his testimony?
However, thanks to Kobayashi's documentary film, as I mentioned earlier, defense attorney Blakney said, "If Admiral Kidd's death is guilty of murder in the attack on Pearl Harbor, then we can name the person who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. We know the name of the chief of staff who planned the bombing. We know the name of the chief of staff who planned the bombing, and we know the name of the head of state of that country," etc. These statements were widely known to the Japanese people.
However, once people become convinced of a certain author as a "reactionary," they will not pick up his books.
Similarly, once a person thinks of a politician as "bad," they will not change their opinion of that politician.
I felt this for myself because of the preconceptions I had about Toshiya Ito's "Pride: The Moment of Destiny," in which Masahiko Tsugawa played Hideki Tojo.
The Curse of Assumption
In May 1998, when Pride was released in Japan, I was teaching in Beijing and read an article in the People's Daily that said, "We will not allow the glorification of war criminals. This film is a product of the expansion of Japan's right-wing ideology." The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the film, saying, "We are shocked and outraged by the content of the praise of Tojo.
During my stay in Beijing, I wanted to get more reliable and objective information, so I also ordered the English edition of the American weekly magazine Time from abroad.
I found that the film in which Hideki Tojo appears was being fiercely criticized.
The tone of the criticism was so vehement that I vaguely thought at the time, "I wish they hadn't made that unnecessary film.
When I returned to Japan, no one around me had seen "Pride."
Some years later, I happened to see "Pride: The Moment of Destiny" on TV.
The cross-examination of Chief Prosecutor Keenan and the defendant Hideki Tojo's response to the cross-examination was vividly recreated.
I stared into the film.
Then I realized that the Time magazine article was just an allergic reaction of an American reporter who believed in the theory that Tojo was a bad guy.
I felt that if they had inserted a real film of the Keenan-Tojo confrontation, the Time reporter would not have been able to write such an arrogant condemnation.
In 1948, British Ambassador Gascoyne reported that MacArthur was also concerned that Tojo's defense might have "profound repercussions.
One day while in prison in Sugamo, nearing sentencing, Hideki Tojo reportedly said to his subordinate, Kenryo Sato, director of the Army War Office, a Class A war criminal.
I don't know what kind of sentence you will receive, but if you think the enemy will punish you, you may feel angry, but I hope you will accept the punishment from Our Majesty and the people.
When I think of the blows and sacrifices suffered by the nation and its people due to our defeat in the war, it would be a shame if I were to climb the gallows. Even if I am torn to pieces, it is still not enough. For I shall not only suffer the humiliation of being hanged, but I shall also receive the lash of the scourge of history forever. Note 2
I wondered how Masahiko Tsugawa could have taken on the role of someone who would have to suffer the lash forever.
But the film industry is not so shy about doing the right thing.
In 1999, the Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role was awarded to Tsugawa.
If it had told the Time reporter of the award, he would have been furious, and I felt a faint chuckle.
On the afternoon of November 12, 1948, Hiroshi Sugawara, representing Sadao Araki, was given a seat between the defendants and the presiding judge. Although he felt it was impolite, he turned his back to watch the defendants from a close distance to observe their final attitude.
Some of the defendants looked like students standing in front of the examiner.
However," says Sugawara in his book, "The True Nature of the Tokyo Trials" (Jiji Press, 1961), "this was not the case with Tojo. Tojo's face seemed to be both smiling and not smiling as if Tojo's examiner was listening to the answers of a student named Webb.
His face seemed to be smiling and not smiling. It often depicted this face in the Asahi Graph, and I was so enlightened when I saw Mr. Tojo's face at that time that I felt that he had done an excellent job of emancipation from worldly attachments.
After hearing Judge Webb's sentence of hanging, he nodded lightly twice and looked as if to say, "The death penalty, okay, okay, okay.
The author was relieved to see this divine moment in Tojo's life and know that the Tokyo Trials had come to an honorable end.
Tojo was unconcerned as he methodically stated his position in court.
A man who found meaning in his own death without causing trouble to His Majesty did not lose his dignity during his three years in prison.
Furthermore, Tojo carefully studied the issues while in prison, prepared his own answers to the questions and answers on how to explain them, and responded properly in the court.
Some of the defendants seemed to have become so accustomed to their position as defendants in the international tribunal that they had lost the spirit of the former ministers and generals who had taken pity on the illegality of the Allied tribunals.
