Japan's War: The Other Side of the Story is Waiting to Be Told

We offer our heartfelt prayers that the souls of all the war dead may rest in peace.

Today we mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the war. Japan lost 3.1 million compatriots in the Pacific War, which at the time was known as the "Greater East Asia War."

On land, sea, and air, Japanese soldiers and sailors fought hard to protect their ancestral homeland and their families. But in the end they met defeat. We want the story of this unprecedented major conflict to be passed on as we console and honor the war dead. That is our duty as descendants. Yet the attitude we adopt and content of the stories we pass on have become points of contention.

I feel like it would be unbearable to continue living. Please forgive me.

Even now, the noble figures of the young tokotai (kamikaze) pilots loom before my eyes through the tears. Your heroic faces, covered in blood, press forward. I can see the pitiful expressions of those who perished in the war floating there before me. The voiceless cries of voiceless people reach my ears. Painful images of our compatriot soldiers, separated from us on far-flung foreign shores, pierce my breast like a needle.

We will never defile your precious blood.

These are excerpts from an editorial published in The Sankei Shimbun two days after the end of the war. It was entitled "Apologies to the War Dead." The person who wrote that editorial was undoubtedly expressing pent-up feelings and addressing in writing "individual people" whose existence were very real to him.

*The Allied firebombing of Tokyo on the night of March 9-10, 1945, caused at least 100,000 mostly civilian deaths.*

Picking and Choosing What to Report

As the end of the war approached, reports on the war and editorials flooded the Japanese media. But there was an enormous difference in impact compared to those that appeared immediately after the war. Now that it has been eight decades since the end of the war, it will take considerable effort to pass on the story of how things really were.

Moreover, there are serious problems that need to be addressed.

Many reports condemn Japan's war as an act of aggression. They barely mention historical facts that could lead to a different perspective.

For example, the October 1943 mobilization of students is reported as a tragedy. However, postwar Japan turned a blind eye to the historical significance of the Greater East Asia Conference (Dai Toa Kaigi), the world's first summit of people of color held in Tokyo the following month. That meeting featured a call for racial equality.

The Greater East Asia Conference (1943) in front of the National Diet Building, Tokyo. The conference brought together the leading collaborators and Japanese administrators for their conquered territories. (public domain)

Committed to Racial Equality

Despite that Japan was on the brink of defeat, heads of state, prime ministers, and members of the royal families of seven Asian countries, including (as an observer) the head of state of the Provisional Government of Free India, gathered in Japan's capital. Anyone claiming that the participants were forced by Japan to attend does not comprehend the prevalent racism and resentment felt by Asian people at the time against Western colonial rule.

The Atlantic Charter signed two years earlier by the United States and Great Britain endorsed the right of people to choose their own desired form of government. But then-British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's position was that this right only applied to Europe and did not apply to European colonies in Asia and Africa.

The greatest influence that modern Japan has had on the world is found in its contribution to racial equality.

Japan's triumph in the Russo-Japanese War was the first instance in modern history in which a nation of non-Caucasians defeated a "White country." It gave encouragement to diverse peoples of color in Asia and Africa. And it stimulated the independence and modernization movements in their homelands.

At the Paris Peace Conference after World War I, during the drafting of the League of Nations Covenant, Japan proposed inclusion of a clause on the elimination of racial discrimination.

This world's first proposal for racial equality failed due to opposition from Western countries. But this protest by a non-Caucasian nation was still a major historical event.

That background explains why Japan went to war under a banner calling for Asian liberation and racial equality.

Recognizing Value in the Struggle

Here I would like to repeat a story I already wrote about three years ago in this news column.

In 1955, Japan was invited to the first Asian-African Conference (Bandung Conference) held in Indonesia. Japan's delegation was warmly welcomed by the delegations from other countries. The Japanese in attendance heard comments like the following: "It (our independence) is thanks to Japan." Others commented that, "Today's Asia exists because Japan made great sacrifices and fought bravely for the peoples of Asia."

This is according to the testimony of former United Nations Ambassador Toshikazu Kase. He served as Japan's acting representative at the conference.

It is significant that representatives from newly independent countries spoke about the war Japan had fought just 10 years before in the context of its contribution to their own independence.

However,, the story of Japan's struggle for racial equality has not been valued in postwar Japan. There have, however, been many reports of Japan's cruelty and recklessness.

The Limits of Postwar Pacifism

If we continue to view the war dead as only unfortunate victims or condemn them as invaders, our prayers will not reach their spirits.

There is no doubt that war by its very nature is a tragedy that produces many victims. Nevertheless, there are many different meanings to the path a country takes, including regarding war. We must break away from the one-sided condemnation of Japan that continues out of inertia. Instead, we must make a conscious effort to learn in a balanced fashion about the path our predecessors followed.

In 2025, we also mark the 130th anniversary of Japan's victory in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95. It is also the 120th anniversary of victory in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. We should carefully consider the significance of those conflicts in Japan's modern history.

*Chinese Coast Guard vessels marauding in waters near the Senkaku Islands, Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.*

A Harsh Security Situation

Japan today finds itself in a very harsh security environment. Strengthening defense capabilities alone is not enough to enhance deterrence and protect peace. It is also essential that the public and Self-Defense Force personnel learn about the efforts of their predecessors and develop the spirit to emulate them.

We are living in an age where peace cannot be maintained with the kind of "postwar pacifism" that rejects a willingness to fight even when fighting becomes necessary.

No sitting prime minister has visited Yasukuni Shrine since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did so in December 2013. The country needs to see Japan's Prime Minister and Cabinet members bow before the war dead.

They cannot allow themselves to be intimidated by interfering foreign nations or unfair accusations from leftist elements. After all, worship at Yasukuni represents fulfillment of a solemn pact made by the nation of Japan with the spirits of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of their country.

(Read the editorial in Japanese)

Author: Satoshi Sakakibara, Chief Editorial Writer, The Sankei Shimbun