At the 80th anniversary of the Japanese surf, the government excludes a new declaration of apologies on the crimes committed in the Second World War, the tradition of breakage began by predecessors. Speaking of 80 -year -old symbolic Ephemeris, the Japanese government will surrender on Friday (15/08) to issue an official declaration on the end of the Second World War in the Pacific, breaking a tradition that dates back to the 90s.
On August 15, 1945, then the Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender against the allies.
Now, eighty years later, the current Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba decided to keep silent. By ignoring the date, the Prime Minister interrupts a practice that began in 1995, which led to the publication of a declaration every tenth anniversary of the surrender.
In 1995, the then Prime Minister Tomiiichi Murayama became the first head of the Japanese government to “apologize with all his heart for dominion and colonial aggression” and expresses his “profound repentance” for the crimes committed by the Japanese empire during the Second World War. At the time, the Foreign Ministry of Japan also published the declaration in Chinese, Korean and English.
Removal of pacifism
Ishiba’s decision also surprises because Japan has recently redefined its security and defense policy. Analysts point out that the government could have used the 80th anniversary to explain this course change. In practice, the island nation has already greeted the pacifist foreign policy that was in force between the end of the end of the Second World War.
Japanese defense expenditure should reach 2% of GDP by 2027. Behind the United States, China and Germany, Japan is the fourth largest economy in the world.
Tokyo also loosened the ban on exporting weapons. At the beginning of August, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries had the first great defense contract from the war, overcoming Thyssenkrupp German marine systems. The company will build, for about 5.6 billion euros, 11 frigates for the Australian navy.
With his silence, the prime minister at 68 years of age also seems to take into account the weight of the conservative faction of the liberal liberal liberal party (PLD) and not to endanger his position as head of the government and the party after the defeat in the Senate elections in July. The conservatories of the PLD argue that, with the declaration of the then Shinzo Abe Premier in 2015, everything that was necessary to say about the end of the war has already been said.
On the 70th anniversary, Abe reiterated the excuses of his predecessors Tomiichi Murayama (1995) and Junichiro Koizumi (2005), but at the same time they stressed that the Japanese had already done enough. “We cannot afford our children, grandchildren and even future generations, who had nothing to do with this war, will have to continually apologize,” Abe said at that moment.
Crimes
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Japan Empire began to participate in an imperialist route in Asia. Since 1910, he began to colonize Korea, who suffered a racist assimilation policy. In 1931, the Japanese also set up a pantochhem state in part of China and in 1937 an open war against the Chinese began. In 1941, Japanese aggression expanded with attacks on US colonies or territories, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. At the time, the country was also an ally of Nazi Germany.
During this period, the Pacific was the scene of Japanese crimes such as “Nanjing rape” in China; use of sex slaves in Korea; Civil Chakin in the Philippines, Burma and Malaysia occupied; Experiments of biological weapons in China; Brutal care and executions of allied prisoners; and forced work involving millions of current Indonesia. Historians estimate that Japanese actions only caused death between six and eight million civilians caused death.
Japan surrendered to the allies in August 1945. The formal signature of the surrender took place on September 2 of the same year.
“Escape of responsibility”
For the German historian Torsten Weber of the German Institute of Japanese studies in Tokyo, the declaration revealed a “mentality of putting a final point”. “From the German point of view, it seems an escape from responsibility or even a denial of guilt, but in the context of Eastern Asia, this position is understandable,” Weber said to DW. Many Japanese are seen as victims of exaggerated criticisms of China and South Korea, claiming that these countries “exploit history in a nationalist and anti-Japanese way”.
And a continuous and deeper examination of the causes of conflict and war crimes in Japan could also lead to critical questions about the role of the imperial family during the conflict – something that, for the Japanese public, would be a taboo, says Weber.
Ideological dispute on school books
After Muayama’s apologies in 1995, nationalist groups such as Nippon Kaigi and Japan Society for History Textbook Reform began to defend that the Second World War was presented to young people in a revisionist way. As a result, the Ministry of Education in Tokyo approved more textbooks that induced Japan as a victim, who would have defended themselves against foreign aggression and minimize or omit the war crimes committed by the country.
These visions also reach elementary and high school children through the discipline of “moral education”, has raised the compulsory subject in 2018.
Two years ago, some editors have changed the content of their books on the battle of Okinawa. In April 1945, the US troops landed on the island, considered one of the latest defense lines of Japan. The books describe that Japanese civilians committed mass suicides because they were “trapped by US military attacks”, but they mention no more than Japanese forces forced civilians to suicide and used them as human shields. Despite these conservative influences, most of the textbooks actually used in Japanese schools still have the war in a relatively neutrally way.
Liberal Journal criticizes Ishiba
Initially, Prime Minister Ishiba deemed it necessary to remember the past of the Japan war. After entering office in 2024, he told the allies that the 80th anniversary would be “the last great goal while still lived people who went to war”. Now, in deciding to keep silent, it has become the target of criticisms. The liberal Asahi newspaper, for example, said that Ishiba decided to keep silent on the historical date for fear of retaliation of rival factions within the PLD.
“With Murayama [em 1995]Japan had a Primeira willing to risk its position to make such a statement, “the newspaper wrote”. Today, Japan has a prime minister who renounces a declaration not to be overturned by the office. “
Despite the intense press coverage of the final phase of the war – called in Japan “Journalism of August” – a survey revealed that more than a quarter of the Japanese does not know how to mention the date of the end of the war. “Given the influence of social networks on the consumption of news, this proportion is likely to continue to increase,” says the historian Weber.
Source: Terra
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
