Let's strive for global peace as we move toward 100th anniv. of WWII's end in Japan
Humanity went through two worldwide wars in the 20th century. Out of regret over the catastrophic sacrifices paid, the United Nations was established. Conflicts were meant to be resolved through dialogue.
Eighty years on, what is unfolding before our eyes today is the resurgence of "rule by force" and the nightmarish sight of the United States breaking rules when it was the guardian of post-World War II order. Insanity has shown no signs of abating, with the United Nations not even on the fringes of their mind.
Japan also once experienced an era ruled by the madness of war.
On the outskirts of the city of Nagano, central Japan, lies an underground bunker known as "Matsushiro Imperial Headquarters," built by drilling bedrock in a checkerboard pattern. It extends a total of more than 10 kilometers long. There was even a makeshift "Imperial Palace."
The construction of the bunker commenced in the fall of 1944, and it was almost 80% complete before Japan was defeated in the war. The regime of the time was eyeing a "decisive battle on mainland Japan." The bunker was to serve as the nerve center of the government to give commands safely while avoiding aerial bombings.
The "absolute national defense sphere" -- set during the war as essential regions for Japan to continue the war -- had already collapsed. As the country inclined toward spiritualism, calls for "suicide attacks by 100 million people" were made. The nation turned its back on truly necessary decisions, resulting in victims piling up through air raids, the Battle of Okinawa and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
What Japan clung to was "preserving the national polity" centering around the emperor. It took no account of the lives of the people. The humongous bunker in the Shinshu region tells us that, after all these years that have passed, these were the very realities of the war.
So how far has Japan managed to break with insanity?
Certainly, Japan has never once exchanged fire since the end of World War II. The question is the "shadow of the United States" being cast over the country.
The emperor at the time of the conflict was not prosecuted for war crimes at the discretion of the Allied occupation authorities, allowing Japan to return to the international community with its war responsibility being left ambiguous. The country initially pushed ahead with complete demilitarization. The tide changed with the Korean War, when Japan was considered a frontline base against communism and the wheels of rearmament began to turn.
Japan's postwar diplomacy was based on the Yoshida Doctrine, named after then Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida. If Japan was to achieve economic growth while leaving its security to the U.S., it could help show off the superiority of the Western allies. This also fitted Washington's international strategy.
After the end of the Cold War, regional conflicts have erupted. The U.S. stepped up its pressure on Japan to contribute internationally. The answer Japan came up with was security legislation that paved the way for the country's limited exercise of the right to collective self-defense. The integration of Japan and the U.S. has accelerated.
Yet concerns linger over Japan's endurance against insanity if the country remains passive. It is even more so amid the circumstances where the U.S. is backing away from its role of maintaining international order.
The rise of populism is making it difficult to confront insanity. Globalization has generated winners and losers, and the middle class that has supported democracy is shrinking. Entwined with anxiety about the future among youth and xenophobic sentiment, populism turns into a typhoon while teaming up with social media.
The storm has also hit Japan. Politics vies for immediate "achievements," raising instability. Threats are being fueled. Some of the candidates who referred to Japan going nuclear in their campaigning for the House of Councillors election got elected.
The late novelist and historian Ryotaro Shiba rated Japan around the early Showa era (1926-1989), when it was overshadowed by the war, as "itai" -- literally a child who doesn't feel like one's own. Even if the period was a mutant, it was part of Japan's history that is connected to modern society. Japanese society in the current Reiwa era (2019-) is urged to be one that will check where it stands and speak out if it finds something is amiss, so it will never again tumble down the hill toward destruction.
We will continue our reporting with the lessons from having fueled parochial nationalism etched in our hearts.
Let us not make the present day an interwar period, but carry on with the "postwar" era. For that to happen, we would first like to see global peace as we move toward the 100th anniversary of the war's end.
(Japanese original by Hirotomo Maeda, Executive Editor)
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