In the decades since the end of World War II, the memory of World War II in Japanese society has undergone a series of reshaping and changes. At first, most of the Japanese acknowledged Japan's aggression against Asian countries and expressed their apologies and remorse. However, with the passage of time, some extreme "nationalist" currents began to spread among the Japanese people, regarding Japan's actions in World War II as legitimate "acts of self-defense", and even glorifying the "Greater East Asia War" as a "war to liberate Asia." How did this strange historical perception come about? What are the ideological roots behind it? Let's find out.
I. Post-war Japan's reshaping of the memory of World War II
After the end of World War II, Japan began a difficult process of national reconstruction. At the same time, the memory of World War II is gradually being reshaped. Initially, reflection on World War II in Japanese society focused on "memories of the Suffering", such as the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the devastating losses caused by the bombing of Tokyo.
As a defeated country, Japan inevitably assumed some responsibility for the war. Even "hawkish" Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, who personally visited the Yasukuni Shrine, made it clear in 1994 that "the war against China is an act of aggression." This statement sparked a huge controversy in Japan, reflecting the differences in Japanese society at that time on the perception of war responsibility.
However, with the change of generations after the war, there has been a new change in the reshaping of the memory of World War II in Japanese society. In the late 90s of the 20th century, the controversy over "historical issues" gradually became prominent among the Japanese people. Some people regard all foreign wars waged by Japan in modern times as "acts of self-defense," and even compare the "Greater East Asia War" to a "war to liberate Asia." Although this view is very extreme, it also reflects the rebellious mentality of some Japanese people about the responsibility of the war.
It is worth noting that Prime Minister Hosokawa Gohei, who came to power shortly after coming to power in 1993, acknowledged Japan's "colonial aggression" against Asian countries at the World War II commemoration and expressed "deep remorse and sincere apologies." This statement has sparked strong repercussions in Japan, with both voices for and against. Opponents pointed out that public opinion should not only scold Japan, but should treat the actions of Britain and the United States and other countries in colonial expansion on an equal footing. This "historical view of the United States and Britain," which compares Japan's behavior with that of the Western powers, began to quietly circulate among the Japanese people.
Officially, the Japanese government has not completely denied its responsibility for the war, but it has been vague and evasive on specific issues. To this day, the Japanese government has not made an official apology or compensation for some major historical events during World War II, such as the Nanjing Massacre and the forced conscription of "comfort women". To sum up, it can be seen that the reshaping of the memory of World War II in Japanese society has gone through a process from "initial recognition" to "partial rebellion", and this twists and turns reflect some deep-seated contradictions and differences in post-war Japanese social values and historical cognition.
The rise of extreme "nationalism" in the nineties
In the second half of the 90s of the 20th century, as the new generation after the war gradually became the mainstream force in Japanese society, an extreme "nationalist" trend of thought, which completely justified Japan's behavior in World War II, began to breed and spread among the people.
The most striking thing is the theory of "the historical view of the same crime between the United States and the United Kingdom" put forward by Professor Kanji Nishio in 1995 in his book "The Theory of the Same Crime in Britain and the United States". The theory points out that during World War II, the United States implemented a policy of "economic blackmail" against Japan, and Britain also adopted "narrow self-interest" toward Japan, thus blaming Britain and the United States for the "same crime" of Britain and the United States for the war, and trying to exonerate Japan's aggression in Asia. Although this theory has been widely questioned in academic circles, it has been hailed by some Japanese nationalists as a "thorough revelation of historical truth."
At the same time, an extremist scholar named Tashi Haneda, while calling himself an "ultimate revisionist," denied the existence of crimes such as the Nanjing Massacre and the forced conscription of "comfort women," and vigorously promoted the "historical view of the war of self-defense." He claimed that all the actions carried out by Japan during World War II were aimed at "liberating Asia and countering the anti-Asianism of the West" and were a "legitimate war of self-defense." This erroneous viewpoint of distorting history and beautifying aggression has actually found a certain resonance among some Japanese people.
In line with this, on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, some Japanese politicians began to describe World War II as "a war to liberate Asia." In 1994, when then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama observed a moment of silence for the victims of World War II, he not only did not reflect on the act of aggression, but described World War II as a just act to "settle the war" and "liberate Asia." In the same year, Shintaro Ishihara, then governor of Tokyo, publicly praised the Japanese invasion of Asian countries in order to "sweep away the colonial rule of Western powers and liberate the Asian people."
These remarks are undoubtedly whitewashing Japan's colonial expansion and aggression, and what is reflected behind them is a deep-rooted ideology of great power chauvinism and imperialism. Under the influence of such a trend of thought, some Japanese people gradually forgot the crimes of World War II and even glorified the role of the aggressor as a "heroic liberator." It can be said that it is precisely this extreme "nationalist" ideology that has given birth to the strange perception that the "Greater East Asia War" is likened to the "War for the Liberation of Asia."
3. The true course of Japan's aggression against China
In order to comprehensively deconstruct the distortion and falsification of history by Japan's ultra-nationalist forces, it is necessary for us to review the real course of Japan's aggression against China in modern times.
This journey can be traced back to the Sino-Japanese War in 1894. In this war, Japan not only defeated the Qing government, but also seized the opportunity to seize Taiwan and the Penghu Islands from China. This was the beginning of Japan's expansion into China, and it also marked the further intensification of the competition between the Western powers to carve up China.
Having joined the ranks of the great powers, Japan soon turned the spearhead of its expansion to northeastern China. In 1904, the Russo-Japanese War broke out, in which Tsarist Russia was completely defeated. Under the Portsmouth Treaty, Russia was forced to relinquish all rights and interests in Northeast China, and Japan gained control of the Liaodong Peninsula, including the Lushun Lease.
In 1915, against the backdrop of the outbreak of World War I, Japan proposed the famous "Twenty-One Articles" treaty to the Beiyang government in an attempt to completely carve up China. Although this ambition was not fully realized in the end, Japan still received a considerable degree of privileges in places such as the Shandong Peninsula.
The real all-out aggression began with the "September 18 Incident" in 1931. After the incident, Japan installed a puppet regime "Manchukuo" in northeastern China. In 1937, the Lugou Bridge Incident completely detonated the all-out war between China and Japan. During the ensuing eight-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Japan carried out an extremely brutal "sweeping" policy against China, causing extremely heavy casualties and property losses.
The Nanjing Massacre is one of the evidence of the atrocities committed by the Japanese army. In December 1937, after the Japanese captured Nanjing, about 300,000 Chinese civilians and prisoners of war were killed and maimed in six weeks. At the same time, the Japanese garrison in China also extensively forcibly recruited "comfort women" to serve as military prostitutes. These crimes are not only serious violations of war humanitarian law, but also blasphemous and insulting to humanity.
The massacre of the Japanese army in Nanjing is not only preserved in historical records, but also provided strong evidence by contemporary archaeological discoveries. Between 2015 and 2016, archaeologists unearthed hundreds of human remains on an abandoned construction site in central Nanjing, most of which showed signs of violent death.
It can be said that in the face of a wealth of incriminating evidence, Japan's ultra-extreme "nationalist" forces have openly beautified the frenzied act of aggression in the "Greater East Asia War" as a "just war for the liberation of Asia." This is truly shocking. Any words and deeds that glorify the atrocities of war and slander the dignity of human nature will inevitably be spurned and condemned by history.
Japan's attempts to distort history have been exposed
As can be seen from the above, Japan's ultra-nationalist forces have done everything they can to distort and falsify historical facts in order to cover up their country's crimes in World War II. They not only shamelessly whitewashed Japan's colonial expansion and aggression, but also turned a blind eye to the profound disasters suffered by other countries and regions in Asia.
One of the main tricks of these people was to equate Japan's actions in the war with the colonial rule of the Western powers, and to try to target Britain and the United States and other countries in order to exonerate Japan. As a matter of fact, although the war of aggression launched by Japan and the colonial expansion of the Western powers both originated from the idea of great power, there are essential differences in the actual implementation process.
The colonial expansion of Britain and the United States has undoubtedly caused a certain degree of human casualties and cultural shock, but its fundamental purpose is to achieve economic plunder, not to deliberately exterminate other peoples. In contrast, the "mopping-up" policy carried out by the Japanese military in the occupied areas is a blatant act of "genocide" and embodies its unique crazy idea of the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere".
It can be said that at the level of "human nature", although the actions of Britain and the United States and other countries are unfair, they do not completely deviate from the principle of "humanity". Japan's actions, on the other hand, completely violate the bottom line of humanity and morality, and its crimes are no less than fascism. Therefore, to equate what the two sides have done is undoubtedly a serious distortion of the facts.
In addition, Japan's ultra-nationalist forces also claimed that all of Japan's actions during World War II were aimed at "liberating Asia and countering Western anti-Asianism" and that it was a legitimate "war of self-defense." However, the objective fact is that Japan invaded China, Korea, Southeast Asia, and other vast Asian regions, inflicting incomparably deep wounds on these countries and regions.
If what Japan is doing is really aimed at "liberating Asia," then its so-called means of "liberation" are too brutal and inhumane. Under the Japanese occupation, the people of Asia suffered more brutal and bloody persecution than the colonial rule, and many areas were completely ravaged and destroyed. To justify such acts with a "war of self-defense" is tantamount to blasphemy against international justice and human conscience.
It can be said that these words and deeds that distort historical facts have completely exposed the sinister intentions of Japan's ultra-nationalist forces to slander its allies and exonerate themselves from their own crimes. Ignoring the terrible costs of the war, they sought to confuse right and wrong in order to exonerate Japan's atrocities in Asia. Such an approach is undoubtedly a blaminal blasphemy and disregard for the sacrifices made by the peoples of Asia.
5. Rational Reflection on History Be vigilant against the spread of "nationalism."
Nearly 80 years after the end of World War II, there are still serious differences in the perception of this period of history in Japanese society. On the one hand, the Japanese government and the majority of the people basically realized the responsibility for the crimes of those years, and apologized and compensated for them many times. On the other hand, however, an extreme "nationalist" trend of thought that justifies Japan's aggression is also gradually rising among the people, and this trend of thought not only distorts the facts and confuses right and wrong, but also openly denies the atrocities and crimes committed by the Japanese army in the war of aggression against China.
The root cause of this misconception undoubtedly lies in the anomie of "nationalistic" education in post-war Japanese society. As a result of the strict policy of "demilitarism" in the early post-war period, Japan was once in a situation of completely repudiating its own cultural traditions. In this context, people have developed a kind of fear of the idea of "nationalism", which has largely hindered the cultivation of national self-esteem and correct historical identity.
In the late 20th century, with the rise of economic power and the improvement of international status, the national self-confidence of the Japanese people also increased. However, due to the lack of objective and rational guidance, some people soon went to the other extreme, began to turn a blind eye to the guilt of the country's history, and even developed a wrong tendency to openly deny it.
This distorted perception is undoubtedly wrong, and it not only ignores historical facts, but also insults the innocent victims of war. Japan's acts of aggression against Asian countries in modern times have constituted irrefutable and irrefutable facts, and any attempt to beautify or whitewash them is futile.
We must clearly understand that the root cause of militaristic expansion lies in a narrow and extreme "nationalist" ideology. This kind of thinking is obsessed with the theory of "mass race", vigorously advocates the "theory of racial superiority," and uses the "East Asian co-prosperity sphere" as a pretext for aggression. Under the guidance of such a concept, the Japanese army's ruthless massacre, forced labor and military prostitution in the occupied areas were even more atrocities that were outraged by all the people.
Therefore, it is wise to face up to and acknowledge history. On the other hand, those who are ultra-nationalist, whose words and deeds of ignoring the facts and confusing right and wrong are undoubtedly repeating the mistakes of the past and setting themselves on fire. The history of the World Anti-Fascist War has shown how great the harm that fanatical "nationalism" can cause, and we must not allow the tragedy of history to repeat itself.