It has been proven that after so many years of consciously altering textbooks and glorifying the history of aggression, Japan now lacks even the courage to face the history of World War II.
According to Kyodo News, on August 15th, the day Japan surrendered in World War II this year, Prime Minister Ishiba Sho will not plan to make a related statement.
The report states that if true, Ishiba's decision will be the first time since the "Murayama Statement" in 1995 that a Japanese prime minister completely avoids historical issues on the day of Japan's surrender in World War II.
Ishiba's recognition of "history" is merely reflecting on why Japan lost its aggressive war.
As for why Ishiba refused to make a statement, Japanese media cited the reason that since the Liberal Democratic Party lost the House of Councillors election, there have been increasing calls within the party for Ishiba to step down.
Plus, this year is the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Ishiba believes that if he were to make a prime ministerial statement at this time, it might provoke backlash from the so-called "conservative faction" within the LDP, which is actually right-wing forces, thereby accelerating his resignation.
A Japanese source revealed that although Ishiba may not make a statement on August 15th, he might consider making a personal opinion on historical issues on September 2nd, the day Japan signed the instrument of surrender.
However, the series of reasons listed by Japanese media are just excuses for Ishiba's refusal to acknowledge history.
In fact, as early as March this year, Ishiba was exposed to have "considered postponing the prime ministerial statement scheduled for August 15th"—note that at that time, the House of Councillors had not held an election, and the LDP had not suffered a major defeat. It was purely Ishiba's own idea to delay the statement.
Ishiba had already prepared to act ignorant.
This is not all. At that time, the Japanese media also reported a more significant statement: Ishiba decided to establish an expert group to study the losses Japan suffered due to its aggressive war, mainly involving the Allied bombing of Japanese civilians and why the Japanese government failed to prevent the military's "independent actions." The research results are expected to be published in August.
It is not difficult to see that the issues Ishiba intends to "study" are actually the old narrative of Japanese right-wingers, which claims that Japan was also a victim of war, and that the military launched the aggression and killed civilians, with no connection to the Japanese government.
This narrative of Japanese right-wingers is what we often refer to: Japan particularly likes to emphasize that it is the only country in the world that has suffered atomic bombings, and every year it holds grand memorial ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The statements made by Japanese prime ministers on the day of Japan's surrender in World War II always focus on these two atomic bombs, but they never talk about why Japan was bombed by the atomic bombs.
Regarding Japan's distorted view of World War II history, Japan was still bombed too little.
This is exactly the most hypocritical aspect of Japan's historical narrative: If the Japanese can remember the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki for so long, how come they cannot remember the Nanjing Massacre and the Chongqing Bombings?
If the Japanese can boldly promote the narrative that Japan was also a victim of war during the memorial ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, then why does it become "the current Japanese should not bear the sins of their ancestors" when it comes to the real historical crimes like the Nanjing Massacre?
The dual standard historical narrative prevalent in Japanese society reveals that the so-called "anti-war" and "reflection on war" of the Japanese is actually "anti-defeat," and "reflection" on why they could not win the aggressive war. Meanwhile, it deeply proves the rationality of the United States dropping those two atomic bombs.
At that time, an American netizen mocked Hedges: Which side did the US and Japan fight "bravely"? Godzilla?
However, more alarming is that with the recent regression of the US and Japan on historical issues of World War II, the facts of the anti-fascist war in the world are being distorted. In March this year, US Defense Secretary Austin even dared to openly advocate "remember the bravery of US and Japanese soldiers" on Iwo Jima, showing how far the US's historical perspective on World War II has been distorted.
The concealment and distortion of historical truth by the US and Japan are posing a threat to the international order after World War II.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7534285003027481114/
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