Guest Commentary By Hideaki Kase Japanese Author, Historian
April 2, 2007 issue - History is a hot topic in Japan these days, with the country's wartime behavior returning to haunt its citizens. Many Japanese are dismayed by the possibility that the U.S. House of Representatives will soon demand a formal apology from Tokyo for the imperial military's alleged use of "comfort women," or sex slaves, during World War II. This talk has taken the Japanese government by surprise, especially given its unprecedented support for Washington in Iraq and the war on terrorism.
The world can't comprehend why Japan is reluctant to say sorry once more. But most Japanese can't understand why issues like the comfort women or the Nanking Massacre have resurfaced at all. Since World War II, the country has abided by the pacifism forced on it by the U.S. occupation. To promote such peacefulness, the Japanese media and intellectuals created an image of Japan as a warlike place that had to be prevented from rearming at all costs. To heighten the danger, the media also exaggerated or even invented wretched acts supposedly committed by Japan's imperial forces.
In the first years after the nation's surrender in 1945, many of its citizens found this imposed meekness hard to take. In 1952, for example, the Diet unanimously called for the men convicted by the Allied war-criminal trials to be treated the same as those honorably killed or injured on the battlefield. Half of Japan's then population signed petitions calling for the immediate release of incarcerated war criminals, and the major political parties of the day refused to accept any war guilt.
By the 1970s, however, this resistance began to diminish as memories of the war faded and the economy began to boom. Intoxicated by its unprecedented affluence, Japan was willing to ask forgiveness of its neighbors if this proved good for business. In 1993, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono apologized for Japan's having coerced women into prostitution during the war. Three years later, on the 50th anniversary of Japan's surrender, the Socialist Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama acknowledged that Japanese aggression during the war had caused "tremendous damage and suffering" to many Asian countries.
In recent years, however, long-dormant nationalism has begun to rise again due to several factors. First, during the economic slump that extended into the early part of this decade, the benefits of apologizing became less clear. Second, the conservative prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is 53, and the bulk of his cabinet and aides are in their 40s and 50s. Most don't understand why they should do penance for events that occurred before they were born.
Japanese nationalism has also been revived by China's alarming military buildup and North Korea's nascent nuclear threat. And it has spiked in response to the way Japan's neighbors seem to be exploiting bad history for present gain. Seoul did not even raise the comfort-women issue, for example, when it normalized relations with Tokyo in 1965; it was Japanese leftists who finally broached the topic in the 1980s.
The fact is that the brothels were commercial establishments. U.S. Army records explicitly declare that the comfort women were prostitutes, and found no instances of "kidnapping" by the Japanese authorities. It's also worth noting that some 40 percent of these women were of Japanese origin.
Many Japanese politicians have also come to believe that the Nanking Massacre was a fabrication of the Chinese, who are using it to pressure Japan into granting concessions in other areas. More than 60 Diet members conducted several study sessions in February and March. Much evidence disproving the massacre was presented; for example, although the Chinese Nationalist Ministry of Information conducted more than 300 press conferences over 11 months after the fall of Nanking, it never breathed a word about any massacre. Nor did Chiang Kai-shek or Mao Zedong refer to it in statements on the first anniversary of the war.
Diet members are now forming a new caucus to study the facts. Whatever they find, further apologies are unlikely. The country's attitude has changed dramatically since the 1970s. In recent decades, for example, many Japanese history textbooks blamed Japanese forces for massacring 200,000 to 300,000 Chinese civilians in Nanking. Only one textbook mentions such events today. Saluting the rising-sun flag and singing the national anthem (the title of which translates as "Your Noble Reign") have become mandatory in public schools. These are small but telling signs of how Japan's sentiments have changed. The country is eager to resume its place in the world as a normal nation, with a normal defense and foreign policy. The harder its neighbors or the United States push it for apologies, the harder Japan may start pushing back.
Kase is a historian and author who served as an adviser to Prime Ministers Takeo Fukuda and Yasuhiro Nakasone.
三、
南京安全区に集中した南京市民の面倒を見た国際委員会の活動記録が「Documents of the Nanking SafetyZone」として、国民政府国際問題研究所の監修により、1939年に上海の出版社から刊行されています。それによりますと、南京の人口は日本軍占領直前20万人、その後ずっと20万人、占領1ヵ月後の1月には25万人と記録されています。この記録からすると30万虐殺など、ありえないと思いますが、閣下はいかがお考えでしょうか?
四、
さらに「Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone」には、日本軍の非行として訴えられたものが詳細に列記されておりますが、殺人はあわせて26件、しかも目撃されたものは1件のみです。その1件は合法殺害と注記されています。こういう記録と30万虐殺という貴国の主張しているところとは、到底両
立し得ないと考えますが、閣下はいかが思われますか?
(以下は英文)
Open Questions to His Excellency Prime Minister Wen Jiabao
of the People’s Republic of China
As we wish China and Japan the best of friendship and amity, we extend our
heartfelt welcome to Your Excellency’s visit to Japan.
We have been conducting research on the Nanking incident, which is said to
have occurred during the war between Japan and China in Nanking in December
1937.
Results of our research have caused us to have serious doubts regarding
views of this incident commonly held in your country. Thus, in this
matter,
we would appreciate receiving your response to the questions posited below.
1. The late-leader Mao Zedong never mentioned the “Nanking massacre
”.
His only reference to the Nanking occupation was a personal observation he
made when he stated, “the Japanese forces had many surrounded, but not
many
were killed,” in his book titled, On Protracted War, a summation of his
lectures given at Yanan, China six months after the battle occurred in
December. If the incident, with claims of 300,000 citizens massacred, did
take place, it must have been like last century’s holocaust. Is it not
unnatural and strange that Mao Zedong did not say a word about the
incident?
How do you account for this fact?
2. In November 1937, just before the siege of Nanking, the Nationalist
Party, organized by the nationalists and communist organizations, created
an
international propaganda department within its Central Propaganda Office.
According to a confidential report titled, "Outline of Operations: the
International Propaganda Department, the Central Propaganda Office",
between
December 1, 1937 and October 24, 1938 the International Propaganda
Department held 300 press conferences in Hankou. According to records kept
at the time, an average of 35 people attended these press briefings
comprised mainly of journalists and officials of foreign embassies. And,
in
the 300 briefings, no mention was ever made of “citizens being massacred
in
Nanking,” or “hostages being murdered unlawfully”. What do you think of
this fact? If massacres were committed, is it not a mystery as to why they
were not mentioned?
3. The activities of an international committee which cared for the
Nanking citizens who congregated in the Nanking Safety Zone were recorded.
Under the auspices of the Council of International Affairs of the
nationalist government, the record was published in book form titled
Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone by a publisher in Shanghai in 1939.
According to the book, the population of Nanking stood at 200,000 prior to
the Japanese occupation. This population level remained unchanged during
December. Records show the population to be 250,000 one month after the
Japanese occupation of the city began. Then, based on these records, it
would have been impossible for 300,000 people to be massacred. Could you
give us your thoughts about this?
4. In the book Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone, mentioned above,
there is a list of detailed complaints against the Japanese army’s
criminal
activities. The list includes a total of 26 murder incidents, of which
only
one case was witnessed but it was judged to be a lawful killing and thus
noted in the book. These records and your country’s claim of 300,000
people massacred are at extreme odds with one another. What do you think
about this?
5. Numerous photographs said to be proof of the Nanking massacre are
being displayed in books and at many exhibitions including the Massacre
Memorial Museum in Nanking. However, it was revealed by scientific studies
that there is not a single authentic photograph offering proof the
massacre
actually happened. If your country has photographs which can provide
proof,
please allow us to see them. We would like to examine them.
6. Given the above, it appears to us that the Nanking massacre could
not have happened. But if you suspect that it occurred, we would like to
ask that you conduct a verification examination in an objective manner with
consideration of materials we will submit to you. In reality though, your
country has built the memorial museum in Nanking, which is promoting the
massacre of 300,000 people extensively. This act is unfair as it
undermines
history. Also, it amounts to a contradiction, since your country’s
official position is promotion of a policy aimed at establishing friendly
relations with Japan Furthermore, as this year marks the 70th anniversary
of the Nanking incident, various organizations inside your country are said
to have planned movie productions about the Nanking massacre with many now
under way. We perceive these acts as an unbearable humiliation to us who
really hope to be friendly with your country. Could you give us your
thoughts about this?
We would like to receive Your Excellency’s replies to the above points.
As
this is a concern to many Chinese and Japanese alike, we are submitting the
questions in an open forum. As we wish to maintain a strong friendship
between China and Japan for future generations, we sincerely hope to hear
from you.
April 10, 2007
Committee for the Examination of the Facts about Nanking