Boston: Demonstrators rally against Koizumi's visit to war shrine

Impression: The Marmot points approvingly to this reaction by the Flying Yangban who says, in part:

I can understand the feeling, yet I can't help but be left with an uncomfortable feeling about this visit.

oranckay in Yangban's comments:

Japan's pre-War record is bad...real bad. May I get away with that understatement? It was even Nazi-like (and I don't use the term lightly), with its feelings of racial superiority coupled with mass death - they even had their own Joseph Mengeles. There are some very good reasons why the rest of Asia is scared shitless (and a bit angry over the idea) of a military Japan re-ascendant.

Now, as The Marmot points out, lots of countries have skeletons in their closets, but what's a bit disturbing regarding the Japanese is, as a commenter mentions, the seeming lack of acceptance of any responsibility. Using a horrifically small sample as an example, that is, my wife (That's somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I'm quite confident that I'm on solid ground applying her as a specific example of a wider trend.), the Japanese are woefully uneducated on their WW2 history, particularly their own part in it. Watching NHK (Japanese PBS), which we get via satellite, the impression one gets of the Japanese viewpoint is one of Japan as victim. They may not have heard of the Rape of Nanking, but they know all about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the case of my wife, she might not know why Tojo was hung, but she can tell you stories of Japanese hung as war criminals for trying to save American prisoners by serving them root-soup (and being accused of attempted poisoning).

And that's a problem. Because Japan is no more a victim of WW2 than a man who sticks his finger in a light socket and finds himself electrocuted is a victim of electricity. Combine a victim's mentality with an ignorance of their own past and for their own culpability and you may find you have a bit of a frightening combination.

It would be a bit more comforting if Japan could come to terms with, or at least acknowledge its past. America has its My Lai, and acknowledging it helps ensure that we don't repeat it as the military and civilian leadership incorporates its lessons - as only one small example.

So watching Koizumi visit Yasukuni, and having the feeling that even the War Criminals buried there are viewed as victims, and that the voices in Japanese society who attempt to speak the truth on their country's past are muted (At best, and for those thinking, "Well, it must be just as bad for those in the US who try to shine a light on your dark moments..." I would posit to you that things must be far, far worse in Japanese society - see the concluding parts of Iris Chang's book for one view of this.), one can only have an uncomfortable feeling. Some of the men enshrined at Yasukuni were mass murderers who were not only responsible for thousands, perhaps millions of deaths outside Japan, they were also ready to fight to the last Japanese to sate their sense of honor. (See Richard B. Frank's, Downfall or The Pacific War Research Society's, The Day Man Lost, for the story of just how close they came to getting their wish.) It would be nice, including to people like me who would like to see Japan shouldering more of its own defense burden, if Japan were to show a bit higher level of self-awareness in these regards.

I don't expect young Japanese of today to spend their days in self-flagellation for the sins of the past. That's not healthy, either, but I guess what it comes down to is that you must find a way to acknowledge the past on your way to reconciling yourself to it.

Update: Speaking of issues of the past and national reconciliation: Schröder invited to D-Day ceremony. I have one question: Were Bush and Blair consulted?