War responsibility

[John Odom]

The Daily Yomiuri, an English language Japanese newspaper, has published a book, available on line at:

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/0007/

They also have a print version available by mail. It was first published in serialized form in the newspaper.

They call the Japanese portion of WWII and the Sino-Japanese war which precipitated it, the "Showa War."
Showa is the reign name of Emperor Hirohito.

This is a very good work, and has gotten the newspaper a lot of hate mail because there has been a real attempt to be neutral in preparing it.

Anyone interested in the war in the Pacific should read it. Since I don't know how long they will keep it up, I downloaded the whole thing for further study.

[Joseph]

Is there any chance of summarizing the book, it would be nice to see a neutral view from the Japanese side.

Have read some of the Articles they seem a little disjointed, or is it me!

Regards Charles

[John Odom]

I think the "disjointedness" comes from translation from Japanese to Japenglish!

They strongly place the responsibility on the militarists who took over the cabinet. They seem to absolve Hirohito himself.

The sections on the Admirals is particularly interesting.

[Joseph]

Cheers, I will read more in depth, did Hirohito really have anything Millitarily to do with?

Regards Charles

[John Odom]

I think he (Hirohito) had more responsibillity than either MacArthur, or the Yomiuri admits. His Brother was present in Nanjing in 1937, and witnessed the infamous
"beheading contest." This was reported in Tokyo newspapers of the time. All copies seemingly now lost.

[Togo]

This is my first post on this site.
Thank you for the "heads up".
Busy downloading also, a most informative article.

[herakles]

Thanks for this net link. It's most interesting.

This is such a complex issue. The matter of apportioning blame for a war is never black and white. It's the same throughout history. Can we apportion blame for Argincourt for instance? Should we even?

Those articles certainly are trying very hard to be realistic and fair. Which is unusual in this case where the common approach is to either ignore the issue or take sides and attempt to distort history.

The role of the Japanese Emperor is very hard for us to comprehend because of the unique position the man had (has?) in their society.

It's all too easy to blame the Hawks. Without the populace behind them, any actions they might take wouldn't work. It was the same in Germany in both World wars.

I am certain that the attitudes of the West denying Japan raw materials is a significant factor. This is however very much a chicken and egg argument. Did we adopt this stance because of their militancy or did we contribute to it?

And the seeds of Japan's involvement in WW2 were sown rather earlier just as Germany's was with WW2.

[John Odom]

Glad you found it useful. It is the best I have seen from the Japanese viewpoint. on a very complex issue. The Japanese civilians I have talked to, who were adults at that time, tell me they had no knowledge of what was really hapening, and based on the information (propaganda) they were supplied, would never have opposed the government in whatever the government said was necessary for the survinal of the nation. Most Japanese were totally unaware of the atrocities. As I said earlier, some heard of them from me, in 1996 for the first time. They believed that the stories they may have heard before were "Chinerse lies."

[herakles]

German civilians said the same thing - they had no idea of what was going on. My trouble John, is that I just don't believe any of them.

I accept that the Japanese were (still are?) a very obedient group of people who would never question things. The Germans were I think in a different boat. To make any sort of comment would bring fire down on their heads.

What really saddens me is the silence from those people who were the arbiters of the society's consciousness and morality - the religious leaders.

[ceylon220]

The people did`nt know what atrocities that were being dished out by their countrymen ---believe you me,they knew what was going on as the same as the German people who said that they had no idea about the camps in their area, the Japanese civilians murdered down airmen using pitch forks and axes,DOOLITTLES pilots that came in contact with civilians were tortured before being killed off and the Army was no better, there has been many stories about their brutality towards servicemen in WW2.

[herakles]

I accept that the many atrocities committed wouldn't have been known by the Japanese populace. Any more than atrocities committed by our troops were known at the time. I fear many of them don't know to this day.

In the same vein, none of our people knew of the German concentration camps (although the people running the war did) but I'm confident the German people knew of them.

[ceylon220]

There is a book(sorry but I can`t remember the title) about attrocities committed during the Korean conflict by the NK & Chinese troops, this act was similar to what the Japs did during WW2, tying prisoner sup and either shooting or beheading them after torture, many were found in caves in this manner and most were US troops,no quarter was given, these Koreans had good masters at this art of cruelty, most were part of the Japanese forces in WW2 and in that they were proved to be more sadistic than their masters
If I can remember the title of that book then I will post it at a later date, a right eye opener to what happened in Korea.

[herakles]

The atrocities committed in Korea are well documented.

I think these were, for the first time, of a "psychological" nature - as well as being physical.

[John Odom]

I think we can agree that war is horrible and it brings out both the best and worst in mankind.

[nigelweysom]

The Daily Yomiuri, an English language Japanese newspaper, has published a book, available on line at:

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/0007/

They also have a print version available by mail. It was first published in serialized form in the newspaper.

They call the Japanese portion of WWII and the Sino-Japanese war which precipitated it, the "Showa War."
Showa is the reign name of Emperor Hirohito.

This is a very good work, and has gotten the newspaper a lot of hate mail because there has been a real attempt to be neutral in preparing it.

Anyone interested in the war in the Pacific should read it. Since I don't know how long they will keep it up, I downloaded the whole thing for further study.

this link is still active
Nigel

[nigelweysom]

i have started reading these articles and have found them fascinating
Nigel

[Don Boyer]

I find myself in agreement with the majority of your conclusions here. It is hard to point fingers in more than one direction, as you get into "they were more to blame than we were" which is silly.

I do disagree with the statement re "hawks" having to have the populace behind them. When the hawks are assassinating those who disagree with them, it tends to unduly influence the population in their favor. The Imperial Army and it's civilian "nationalist philosophers" engaged in a deliberate program of intimidations and murders in order to gain control of the government. The Imperial Japanese Army (and to a much lesser degree, the Imperial Navy) had at it's core a particularly unsavoury group of people living behind the shield of rank and wielding power through influencing younger officers and private civilian "societies". While not fascist, there tactics were similar. Even Stalin would have been proud of them.


QUOTE=herakles;16517]Thanks for this net link. It's most interesting.

This is such a complex issue. The matter of apportioning blame for a war is never black and white. It's the same throughout history. Can we apportion blame for Argincourt for instance? Should we even?

Those articles certainly are trying very hard to be realistic and fair. Which is unusual in this case where the common approach is to either ignore the issue or take sides and attempt to distort history.

The role of the Japanese Emperor is very hard for us to comprehend because of the unique position the man had (has?) in their society.

It's all too easy to blame the Hawks. Without the populace behind them, any actions they might take wouldn't work. It was the same in Germany in both World wars.

I am certain that the attitudes of the West denying Japan raw materials is a significant factor. This is however very much a chicken and egg argument. Did we adopt this stance because of their militancy or did we contribute to it?

And the seeds of Japan's involvement in WW2 were sown rather earlier just as Germany's was with WW2.[/QUOTE]

[Don Boyer]

Don't forget that a great number of the Japanese prison camps were run by Koreans. Korea had been under the Japanese thumb for many years (1905 -1945) and since most Japanese Officers considered camp duty to be beneath the dignity of modern samurai, the jobs were given to the lowly Koreans. Many of WWII's "Japanese atrocities" were perpetrated by Koreans with the same moral standards.

The atrocities committed in Korea are well documented.

I think these were, for the first time, of a "psychological" nature - as well as being physical.

[Don Boyer]

"Showa" is also used to place the war in Japanese time, which runs from the first Emperor's ascension to power. While and Emperor is alive, he rules under his name....for example, Hirohito. After his death, the Emperor is referred to by his reign name which not only identifies the Emperor, but also the whole time in which he lived. "Showa" means "Enlightened Peace" if I remember correctly, certainly a mis-nomer during the war years. But the Emperor lived well beyond his war years into many years of peace, bringing along a wiser country by far. That tends shed a different light on things.

In many ways, Hirohito's reign reflected that of the last of the Tokugawa shoguns. Both escaped the wars that could have been far more catastrophic and both lived lives of general obscurity, yet were able to still influence, very subtly, the direction the nation took politically.