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Abe's revisionism and Japan's divided war memories
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2015/08/22/commentary/abes-revisionism-japans-divided-war-memories/
Abe’s revisionism and Japan’s divided war memories
by Jeff Kingston
Special To The Japan Times
Aug 22, 2015
The Abe statement, approved by the Cabinet on Aug. 14, has elevated a myopic and exonerating revisionist narrative of history to Japan’s official policy.
The vague and ambiguous references to past misdeeds, the inadequate recognition of Japanese aggression and the horrors inflicted, the minimalist nods toward contrition and putting an end to apology are now state policy. This is a major watershed in Japan’s postwar history that digs a deep diplomatic hole and tarnishes the nation’s significant and praiseworthy achievements of the past seven decades. Ironically, given Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s intention of making a statement focused on the future, his slippery circumlocutions about history have only heightened scrutiny of Japan’s wartime past and current perpetrator’s fatigue.
There was a very interesting contrast in the 70th anniversary commemoration statements by Abe and Emperor Akihito that highlights the ongoing political divide between the revisionists and the understanding of most Japanese about how the nation got to where it is today. Citing the deaths of more than 3 million Japanese during World War II, and the deprivation that prevailed, Abe asserted: “The peace we enjoy today exists only upon such precious sacrifices. And therein lies the origin of postwar Japan.”
This is the revisionist conceit: that all that carnage in what Abe’s advisory panel termed a “reckless” war was worthwhile because it is the basis for the peace and prosperity now enjoyed by contemporary Japanese. This panel was established in February and delivered its final report to the prime minister on Aug. 6 as a reference for his statement, which came a week later. It was striking that this report was presented on the day that Japan commemorates the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and contemplates the folly of war. The panel called this war “reckless” and also noted that Japan wreaked havoc in Asia, presided over a cruel colonial system that stifled self-determination and brought devastation on Japan. As a result, it says “the responsibilities of the Japanese government and military leaders from the 1930s and beyond are very serious indeed.”
<snip>
This underhanded justification of war is not necessary to honor the war dead. They died because Japan’s leaders at the time, including Abe’s grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, launched Japan into this avoidable tragedy. Those leaders held Japanese lives cheap, and they were sacrificed and subjected to awful horrors for an ignominious cause. Dressing this sanguinary rampage up as the bedrock of contemporary Japan is a deplorable deceit. Their deaths were in vain because Japan’s regional rampage that claimed perhaps as many as 20 million Asian lives, and trampled on the dignity and welfare of countless more, was not in service of a noble mission.
<snip>
... now that revisionism has been consecrated as Japan’s official position, the context has become decidedly less favorable.
Jeff Kingston is the director of Asian Studies, Temple University Japan.
Abe’s revisionism and Japan’s divided war memories
by Jeff Kingston
Special To The Japan Times
Aug 22, 2015
The Abe statement, approved by the Cabinet on Aug. 14, has elevated a myopic and exonerating revisionist narrative of history to Japan’s official policy.
The vague and ambiguous references to past misdeeds, the inadequate recognition of Japanese aggression and the horrors inflicted, the minimalist nods toward contrition and putting an end to apology are now state policy. This is a major watershed in Japan’s postwar history that digs a deep diplomatic hole and tarnishes the nation’s significant and praiseworthy achievements of the past seven decades. Ironically, given Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s intention of making a statement focused on the future, his slippery circumlocutions about history have only heightened scrutiny of Japan’s wartime past and current perpetrator’s fatigue.
There was a very interesting contrast in the 70th anniversary commemoration statements by Abe and Emperor Akihito that highlights the ongoing political divide between the revisionists and the understanding of most Japanese about how the nation got to where it is today. Citing the deaths of more than 3 million Japanese during World War II, and the deprivation that prevailed, Abe asserted: “The peace we enjoy today exists only upon such precious sacrifices. And therein lies the origin of postwar Japan.”
This is the revisionist conceit: that all that carnage in what Abe’s advisory panel termed a “reckless” war was worthwhile because it is the basis for the peace and prosperity now enjoyed by contemporary Japanese. This panel was established in February and delivered its final report to the prime minister on Aug. 6 as a reference for his statement, which came a week later. It was striking that this report was presented on the day that Japan commemorates the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and contemplates the folly of war. The panel called this war “reckless” and also noted that Japan wreaked havoc in Asia, presided over a cruel colonial system that stifled self-determination and brought devastation on Japan. As a result, it says “the responsibilities of the Japanese government and military leaders from the 1930s and beyond are very serious indeed.”
<snip>
This underhanded justification of war is not necessary to honor the war dead. They died because Japan’s leaders at the time, including Abe’s grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, launched Japan into this avoidable tragedy. Those leaders held Japanese lives cheap, and they were sacrificed and subjected to awful horrors for an ignominious cause. Dressing this sanguinary rampage up as the bedrock of contemporary Japan is a deplorable deceit. Their deaths were in vain because Japan’s regional rampage that claimed perhaps as many as 20 million Asian lives, and trampled on the dignity and welfare of countless more, was not in service of a noble mission.
<snip>
... now that revisionism has been consecrated as Japan’s official position, the context has become decidedly less favorable.
Jeff Kingston is the director of Asian Studies, Temple University Japan.
