The Emperor and the Empress was staring straight ahead,
saying nothing. That was the ceremony of the Sovereignty Restoration Day on
April 28th, the day San Francisco Treasty took effect and Japan
restored its independence from the occupation of the United Nations Forc in
1952. The ceremony was held in a room of the Parliamentary Museum with
attendance of the Ministers, lawmakers and local governors, without any
ordinary people on which sovereignty is constitutionally vested. At the end of
the event, attendees exclaimed “Emperor banzai” three times, which reminded of
pre-war fascist regime. If the seat of Emperor had been replaced by a flag of
Hakenkreuz, it must have been nothing but a secret meeting of Nazis.
The event was set by the right-wing Prime Minister, Shinzo
Abe. “This is the day we think about what our grandfathers and grandmothers
felt, when our sovereignty was restored,” told Abe in his speech at the
ceremony. He must be saying that his grandfather, a suspect of A-class war
criminal and former PM Nobusuke Kishi, had not been a bad guy. In short, Abe
invited the Emperor to the event for settling old scores with criticisms
against his grandfather. It is against the Constitution of Japan to use the
Emperor for a political purpose, Mr. Prime Minister.
Remember the pre-war days when the political leaders of
Japan decided to open the war against US and other nations under the name of
the Emperor. Although the Emperor Hirohito was very careful about their
assessment of situation and war strategy, leaders of military regime forced him
to agree with throwing Japan into an unwinnable war. “Banzai’ call for the
Emperor was a declaration that they captured him on their side. This was
figuratively the kidnapping of the Emperor, drawing him down from the status of
the symbol of the unity of the people, as written in the Constitution.
The people in Okinawa were furious against the event,
because the treaty, in its negative aspect, sealed Okinawa’s fate under the
administration of US Forces, in the deal with restoring Japan’s sovereignty.
People in Okinawa call it the Humiliation Day. After the day in 1952, Okinawa
became an outpost for US military strategy toward Asia-Pacific region, and
heavy burden of US Force bases remained after the islands were returned to
Japan early 1970s. The Governor of Okinawa rejected to join the ceremony. There
was a great rally in Okinawa at the same time of the ceremony, adopting a
resolution saying “the ceremony stomps the sentiment of people in Okinawa and
abandons Okinawa again.”
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