Asahi Shimbun: Japan's war was wrong

Editorial/ Lesson from the war
12/09/2005


Sixty-four years ago, Japan attacked the U.S. naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Most people tend to think that huge event sparked the Pacific War. But the war had actually begun about an hour before the surprise attack when Japanese forces landed on the British-occupied Malay Peninsula.

Japan, feeling the squeeze of U.S. oil embargoes, attempted to seize oil fields in Dutch-occupied Indonesia. The landing was part of a military operation aimed at securing oil. In terms of the number of troops involved, the Malayan operation was greater than the attack on Pearl Harbor.

War spread to the entire Pacific area and soon reached the Indian Ocean. Japan celebrated many early victories, but eventually, it followed a path to ruin.

After the opening of the Japan-China War in 1937, an estimated 3 million Japanese soldiers and civilians died. They included kamikaze pilots who crashed into enemy targets and people killed in ground battles on Okinawa and in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Of course, Japan was not the only country that suffered damage.

The war left deep scars throughout Asia. Japanese researchers estimate that China had more than 10 million war dead.

After Japanese forces seized the U.S.-controlled Philippines, U.S. forces counterattacked. The situation led to intense battles in which about 1 million Filipinos were killed.

Many people also died in the Korean Peninsula, Indonesia, Vietnam and other countries in the region. Countless families mourned over the deaths of their loved ones.

Some people still say the war liberated the people of Asia from colonial rule.

It is true that during the early stages of the war, some parts of the Philippines and Indonesia welcomed Japanese forces as "a liberation army." In some areas, the war expedited independence.

But even in Indonesia, which is considered pro-Japanese today, history textbooks for high school students state that Japan was the most brutal country that occupied Indonesia. Indeed, that was the situation during the war.

Speech and behavior that try to justify war by shedding light only on certain parts will do nothing but estrange the conscientious people of Asia.

Times have changed and now a move to create an East Asia community is emerging. All of the partners of the proposed community are Japanese neighbors who suffered the agony of the war.

At the time the war started, former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew was an 18-year-old university student. In his memoirs published by Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Lee states that although he underwent hardships during the Japanese occupation and knows the Japanese have a hidden cruel side, he still thinks they are admirable people.

He goes on to point out that the Japanese are well united in power and have good discipline, intelligence and diligence. He attributes Japan's strength to these qualities.

In order to respond to such thoughts, we must squarely look at history and frankly admit that what we did was wrong. Based on such standing, we should get together with our neighbors to build our future.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 8(IHT/Asahi: December 9,2005)