It is called the sixty-eighth anniversary of the end of the
World War II in Japan, while the actual end was September 2nd, 1945, when imperial Japan signed a document of surrender to United Nations on board
of USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. August 15th was the day Emperor
Hirohito made a radio address of surrender about a week after atomic bombing on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For ordinary people in Japan, this was the day the
Emperor descended from as god to as a human being. For conservatives, however,
this is the day of infamy.
On the extremely hot day, the people of Japan listened to
the address, standing still and shedding tears under the blue sky, with cap on
their hand, and surrounded by concerted noise of cicadas. Some were very
disappointed with the defeat of the nation led by god, others were feeling
comfortable with all the battle ended up. In the history for ordinary Japanese,
this was the day of revolution, which drew a line between old monarchy and contemporary
democracy.
For political leaders, the end of the old regime meant the
end of their lives as leaders, which should not be accepted at all. Some might
be sentenced death penalty and others could be accused by ordinary people on
whom they posed irrational orders. For conservative leaders, the result of
Tokyo War Tribunal was anything but acceptable. A-class criminal of the war,
for them, was a unilateral branding done by United Nations to defeated leaders.
For the conservatives in Japan, these have been the years of
struggle for removing their dishonor. To reach the goal of their struggle, they
upheld reviewing post-war history through their own interpretation. Going to
Yasukuni Shrine is an act of refreshing their determination to resume history
of Japan as nation of god.
Although Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, is not originally a
revisionist conservative, he made himself defined as close to those
fundamentalists mainly for obtaining political power in his process to be the
top leader. It is close to the pattern of George W. Bush who pretended to be a
compassionate conservative with political requirement.
Considering negative impact on diplomacy with China and
Korea, Abe avoided to go to Yasukuni today, while he donated private money for
ritual as the President of Liberal Democratic Party and apologized his special
advisor in the party, Kouichi Ogiuda, about not going to the shrine. The
conservatives must be furious about Abe’s waning attitude. But, China and Korea
are furious about other ministers’ visit of shrine, even though Abe has not
done that. This is routine vicious circle after all.
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