Since the end of World War II Japan has – in contrast to Germany – never really looked back and dealt with the shadows of their history. Surely, there has been an apology by the government under Miyazawa for example (first apology by a Japanese prime minister in a policy speech), there’s the normalization agreement with South Korea from 1965, reparations have been talked about, but the issue of Military Comfort Women hasn’t been on the table until the 90ies.
A lecturer at the Institute of Modern Japan once said, Japan behaves ‘like a bull in a china shop’ when it comes to its history – and he might not be mistaken in this point. Shintarô Ishihara, Tokyo’s governor and Prime Minister Koizumi are good examples. In 2000, Ishihara referred to Koreans and Taiwanese as “sangokujin” and calling on Japan’s Self-Defense Forces to maintain order if the immigrants rioted in the aftermath of an earthquake. On several occasions Ishihara suggested that the Rape of Nanking was a Chinese fabrication. He is still Tokyo’s governor. There are other shadows in the past nobody likes to talk about, chemical and biological warfare and experimentation with prisoners by Unit 731, for example. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything about in Japanese media. Prime Minister Koizumi repeatedly visited Yasukuni shrine, which is a well known memorial, where the remains of 14 convicted and executed Japanese war criminals are interred. I sometimes think those visits were comparable to a visit of a German chancellor to a church with a graveyard where Nazi-Germany’s military political leaders are buried. All of Europe would cry out loud, for sure. There are regular protests in China and South Korea, but until now, Japan’s conservatives had the luxury to largely ignore those protests.
Another weak point is the so-called textbook scandal. Being the only victim of nuclear attacks, post-WWII Japan allowed itself to more or less blend out their active role as committers of war crimes and to focus on its role as victim. The textbooks issued by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform play down Japan’s role, but fortunately, most Japanese teachers traditionally lean to the left and use other books. Nevertheless, there’s an obvious decrease in knowledge about both sides of the story noticable.
A few years ago, the Institute of Modern Japan in Düsseldorf organized a meeting with several Japanese aged 18 to over 60 to talk about WWII. The younger the person, the less they knew about what the imperial army actually did in Asia 60 years ago.
Now, Japan rallies to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Since its neighbors are not happy with the way Japan deals with the past, protests rose in the past weeks. In China, a grass-roots movement started an internet campain, gathering more than 30 Million signatures to express their feeling of opposition. Also, large anti-Japan protests broke out, for example in Shanghai, where the manager (born ’63) I’m teaching German travelled to last week. It’ll be interesting what he thinks about the whole matter. If Japan’s leaders really want to get into the UNSC in September – provided there won’t be a consensus and the General Assembly will get to vote on the matter – talking to China, South Korea and other Asian countries will be crucial.
