NationStates Jolt Archive

Today is the 60th anniversary of VJ-Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_over_Japan_Day) (aka Shusen-kinenbi or literally "Memorial day for the end of the war") marking Emperor Hirohito's surrender.

This article (http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20050815p2a00m0na004000c.html) from a Japanese news organization has some interesting statistics from polls regarding modern Japan's views of it's involvement in WWII:
Japan's wars against the Allies and China in the middle of the 20th century were a mistake: 43%
Unable to provide an opinion on Japan's role in World War II: 26%
The war was unavoidable: 14%

Discussion of Japan's responsibility for wartime actions:
there has not been sufficient discussion: 75%
there has been sufficient discussion: 14%

Further statistics from the article are quite interesting... (see the article)

So, the floor is now open for discussion of modern Japan and the war.

(And just note for correctness: discussion of the issue of article 9 of the post-war Japanese constitution and the JSDF (military) that is related to the issue of the war sometimes brings some incorrect information. The SDF is of debatable leaglity due to the constitution. However, there is no treaty that limits the size of the Japanese SDF. I have seen this claimed time and again here, and just thgoughtr I'd head that bit of ignorance off at the pass.)

It seems as if the Japanese never want to be contraversial. They just sweep issues under the rug and try to forget about them. I guess it helps the Japanese to live in what really matters: the present. However, they are miissing an oppritunity to do some soul searching, and to ultimately say why they are proud, or not proud, to be Japanese.
That being said, I laud these numbers, which were impossible 60 years ago. In my mind, fascism is like rabies: while it rots a culture from the inside out, it seeks to bite other nations and enslave their peoples in order to survive. Yet nationallistc fervor is not curable by elimiinating the nation's military. One has to eliminate everything about the nation: the military, the land, the resources, the economy, important people, even the culture. In short, the best way to cure fascism is to destroy the individual spirit and soul, and to teach them how to rebuild them. WWII did a good job doing this for Japan, as well as Germany and Italy.

Given Japan, it's going to take a very long time before the country reaches an agreement on the war and what it means and has meant for Japan. It means that they will have to abandon the victim status that is somewhat prevalent and actually as a nation address some of the issues.

I know, from my own experiance, many Japanese do know what went on the in the war and have accepted it and moved on, but as a nation... I see a Japan that, as a nation, is quick to wrap itself as a victim due to the bombs (another topic, PLEASE don't start it... AGAIN!). This may or may not be a good thing, as it was a tramatic event, but it seems so close to also accepting the idea put forth by the right wingnuts and enshrined at Yasukuni Jinja that Japan was forced into the war, or outright tricked into it, not because Japan invaded China, but due to the Great Powers of the time wanting to destroy the Japanese people.

As to where Japan goes from here... I think that it may have to be that all those who remember the war will have to have died before Japan can really look at it and see it. I also think that the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party of Japan) needs to be reformed or outright removed as they encourage much of this, knowing full well where their power base is. And since they make sure a national conversation cannot start...

But, it is changing, and maybe for the better.

In any case, I think the BEST thing to note, and it gives me promise for the future of Japan, is that 60 years after the war, when the United States of America and the Empire of Japan were trying to destroy each other in one of the bloodest conflicts in history, that Japan and the US are friends and share a lot of culture. There is a lot of Japanese in America, and many Americans in Japan.

On a personal note, I also find it hopeful that I, as the grandson of a US Navy vet who saw the Battle of Okinawa first hand am engaged to a Japanese woman who's grandfather was at Hiroshima that terrible day, and both families are celebrating this union.

Here's to peace and to the quite of the Pacific.