The conduct of the San Francisco City Council and the descriptions in McGraw-Hill’s textbooks are

The conduct of the San Francisco City Council and the descriptions in McGraw-Hill’s textbooks are not matters that can be dismissed so lightly.
October 20, 2015
Americans, for better or worse, are often rough and imprecise.
This is similar to the Chinese, as once told to me by a person whose father was a famous university professor in China,
who graduated from Doshisha University in Japan and worked there.
However, the behavior of the San Francisco City Council and the descriptions in McGraw-Hill’s textbooks are not matters that can be dismissed so lightly.
What is being questioned here is the level of American intellect, American fairness, and, more fundamentally, the authenticity of American democracy.
Do the members of the San Francisco City Council lack even the common sense and imagination that any normal human being would possess?
The twentieth century was a century of war.
The United States was not pleased when Japan, as the first non-white nation, defeated Russia—a major world power—and joined the ranks of the great powers.
This was because America, arriving late among the colonial powers, sought to expand its interests in China,
whereas Japan aimed to liberate Asia from colonial rule,
leading inevitably to a clash.
It was the century of war driven by the age of oil.
Ultimately, Britain and the United States imposed an oil embargo on Japan,
effectively placing Japan under economic siege.
In response, the slogan "Demonize Britain and America! Strike immediately!" whipped up public opinion.
Even the most capable military leaders, who knew full well the folly of going to war against the wealthiest country in the world at the time—the United States—were driven into a situation where retreat was no longer possible.
It was the Asahi Shimbun that played a decisive role in this escalation—
the same newspaper you now mistakenly regard as Japan’s conscience,
but which has become nothing more than a gangster-like left-wing outlet.
Your minds, brainwashed by the GHQ, have been so thoroughly mixed with leftist ideology and pseudo-moralism,
that it would not be an exaggeration to say you are now intellectually below the level of kindergarteners.
The Asahi Shimbun, seeing a perfect opportunity to attack Japan and its government, jumped on the fabricated tales told by men seemingly born to lie,
creating the myth of the "comfort women."
They published it not once, but sixteen times—including several times as "major scoops"—and broadcast it to the world.
They have also fabricated countless other lies,
with the claim of "300,000 deaths in the Nanjing Massacre" at the forefront.
As a perfect result of the GHQ’s occupation policies,
various individuals claiming to be former soldiers began telling lies similar to those of Seiji Yoshida.
They knew the Asahi Shimbun would gleefully seize upon anything that could be used as ammunition to attack Japan and its government.
But do you lack even the knowledge or imagination to realize these things?
Are you unaware that during the very brief American occupation of Japan,
there was a staggering number of sexual crimes committed by U.S. forces?
It was only suppressed from public knowledge by General MacArthur,
who, though a "supreme commander," was also one of history’s most autocratic figures.
In a recent readers’ section, there was a review of a French scholar’s book pointing out that the Normandy landings were also accompanied by a history of U.S. soldiers raping French women.
Even setting all of that aside:
In the final stages of the war, when it was obvious to all that defeat was inevitable due to the complete breakdown of Japan’s supply chains—
O members of the San Francisco City Council:
Your country carried out indiscriminate bombings on 127 Japanese cities—
an attack so egregiously inhumane that it must be called a crime against humanity.
In a very short time, about three million people were killed.
The overwhelming majority were, needless to say, non-combatants—
women, children, and the elderly.
Not only that, but your country used incendiary bombs—
another inhumane weapon—
to turn 127 cities into smoldering ruins.
And still not satisfied,
your country dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
reducing those beautiful cities to hell in an instant.
Yet for seventy years since,
we have lived without raising a single complaint against you.
Indeed, it would not be an exaggeration to say that,
including myself,
Japan has been the country that has loved the United States the most.
Meanwhile, China and South Korea fabricate blatant lies or jump eagerly onto the Asahi Shimbun's falsehoods,
relentlessly slandering Japan across the world,
even going so far as to demand reparations.
If we Japanese had been like them,
what would have happened to your country?
Could it even have continued to exist?
Think carefully.
If your country continues to flaunt its ignorance and rudeness,
then we will have no choice but to convene a new Tokyo Trial for two major cases.
The consequences will not be settled for mere amounts like those you extorted from Toyota through baseless accusations.
Instead,
it would bring a reckoning for the greatest crimes against humanity in history—
an indictment and claims for damages so massive
that your country would be bankrupted and never rise again.
As for the profound difference between the Chinese and Japanese peoples, of which you are completely unaware:
In the next chapter,
I will introduce the magnificent argument by Sekihei—
a true Chinese elite who graduated from the philosophy department of Peking University,
studied at Kobe University in Japan,
and became a naturalized Japanese citizen 28 years ago—
from the final installment of his major essay series "Chinese Who Learned Modernity from Japan,"
published in the monthly magazine VOICE.