Yasukuni - here we go again (#200, Topic J)
Last Tuesday (8/15/06), the anniversary of Japan's surrender to the allies during WWII,, Japan's prime minister Junichiro Koizumi visited the Yasukuni shrine, where Japan's war dead, including 14 of its top war criminals, were enshrined (#59, 1/31/06). Said to fulfill his electioneering promise, to many, including me, these visits are a painful reminder of Japan's unrepentant militarism. In any case, he has succeeded in jolting my memory. It was in the 1970s. After I accepted an invitation to join as a partner in an international CPA firm headquartered in Manila, I was invited to visit its home office. I had never been to the Phillipines before, so I took advantage of this visit to do some sightseeing. With the taxi service not known for its reliability, the managing partner assigned a chauffeur-driven limousine at my disposal. The chauffeur suggested that I visit a cemetery where soldiers died while in military service were buried (much like the Arlington Cemetery in DC), so I did. After I was dropped at the curb, I had to walk perhaps 100 steps to the gated entrance. About half-way to the gate, I was stopped by one of the staff members, who asked: "Are you Japanese?" A negative response alone did not seem to be enough, who then asked me the purpose of my visit to the Phillipines in general and to the cemetery in particular. Satisfied with my response, I was allowed in. Afterward, I asked others about the reason of my being asked my ethnicity. I was told that the local residents had a painful recollection of Japanese military personnel's brutality and had a policy of not allowing anyone of Japanese ancestry to visit the cemetery -- many buried there were probably tortured to death by these militarists. I was very impressed by the response. Nineteen seventies were a good quarter of a century from the WWII years, but memory lingers. One may forgive, but one must never forget.
posted by David H. Li at 11:27 PM
1 Comments:
I was hoping that you would write in your blog about Prime Minister Koizumi's official visit to Yasukuni Shrine. There is still a shroud of mystery around this persistent action by the PM, and speculation is rife. Some think that he has made an irrevocable commitment to the Japanese ultra-rightists who assured him of his Premiership and remaining in power. And, as you know, he is one of Japan's longest-serving PMs. I visited the Yasukuni Shrine and its Memorial Museum next to it recently with a Japanese friend. I came out of it virtually shaking. It is an unnerving museum designed for Japanese visitors. There were hardly any signs or explanatory write-ups by the exhibits in English; most of it was in Japanese. I had studied Japanese so I could read it. And it was all about Motherland, Nationalism, and for the Love of the Country. It glorified all that Japan had done in warfare, starting from its first victory against non-Asians in the Russo-Japanese War. It glorified its soldiers' exploits in World War II. Every Kamikaze pilot who died in the sacrifice for the Emperor and the Rising Sun had his picture up on the walls. Next to cherry blossoms. And they were unending. And everything about the Museum made us feel like there is absolutely no sense of remorse for what had been done to the women, children, civilians of China, the Philippines, Burma, and all the nearby Asian countries. Not one exhibit mentioned the atrocities committed. When we walked out of the Shrine and Museum, we followed a neat but narrow stone-paved road surrounded by little kiosks with souvenirs and snacks. At one kiosk, there were about 5 - 6 young Japanese men and women singing the old Japanese war songs, accompanied by a loud, blaring tape player with strident, militant sounds. My friends and I rushed away, feeling unnerved and extremely uncomfortable. So, David, from the Japanese perspective: we might flip your ending phrase by quoting their thought, which is - "One must never forget, and one must never forgive....."
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