Reexamine History From the Perspective of Global Justice
"Some Views of Western Experts Who Thought Japan's War Was Justified" Part 13
“The Okawa Statement – My Proposal” (A Statement for Prime Minister Abe’s Reference)
August 15th, 2013
Our country once presented the Kono (1993) and Murayama (1995) Statements, proclamations from the Japanese government, but the official views provided in those statements were based on groundless rumors that have not been proven with any historical facts. As the result of those statements, the souls of about 3 million soldiers, who lost their lives in the Greater East Asia War, as well as their bereaved family members, have been inflicted with a deep sense of guilt. Our country and its people in the post war times have been saddled with a baseless, masochistic view of history, which has greatly misled the historical perception of our country. On behalf of the government, I would like to repent for it officially.
Japan fought in the Greater East Asia War in order to free the colonies in Asia from the great Western powers, to defeat the racist policies that came from white supremacy, and at the same time, as a just exercise of the country’s right to defend itself. Due to the insufficient power of the Japanese government, Japan lost its war with the United States after the U.S. dropped its Atomic bombs. Yet, I believe this was a holy war to emancipate its fellow Asian countries whereby a part of the fervent aspirations of the Japanese gods was manifested.
I vow here and now, from this point on Japan swears to be a guardian of peace and justice that will forbid any country from invading and colonizing any other country through unjust and aggressive policies. I hope the Japanese government will organize a national defense force that will not only serve for the peace of our own country but also contribute to the perpetual peace of the world. Furthermore, by this statement I declare the Kono and Murayama Statements retroactively invalid.
(Cut Down ‘Kono Discourse’ ‘Murayama Discourse’! Historical Perspective That Fell Japan” (by Ryuho Okawa. Happy Science Publication)
One of the main trends after the war was the abolition of racial discrimination and colonial liberation. Martin Luther King Jr’s civil rights movement in the United States, Nelson Mandela’s anti-apartheid crusade, and Mahatma Gandhi’s independence movement in India all took place during this time.
Independence movements arose in various African countries as well, and 1960 came to be called the “year of Africa”. Many countries gained independence from European colonial rule.
The other trend was the rise of communism and the democratic forces that opposed it. Communism showed its brutality by purging tens of millions of people in places like the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, and Cambodia. While communist nations were “nations without freedom” which suppressed such basic human rights as free speech, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union ended with a victorious West after 40 years of conflict. The post-war fight for racial equality and the advancement of freedom and democracy is a “realization of justice” according to God, gave truth to the notion of “humanity as a child of God”
Japan and America Could Share Their Values
While Japan may have lost the war, the ideal of “human equality and Asian independence” that it has sought after the Meiji Restoration was ahead of its time, and was a precursor to the post-war trends of history. That its actions brought an end to the history of colonialism was a contribution to the global justice that was envisioned by God.
While the United States dropped the atomic bombs on Japan and forced an unfair judgment at the Tokyo Trials, it is also true that they took on the ideals that Japan had advanced, and led the post-war world.
Furthermore, America had tried to stop the spread of communism during the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and in the Cold War. They continued to police the world under the belief that the advancement of freedom and democracy is “God’s justice”. That Japan and America could realize a friendly relationship as allies after the war is for no other reason than that they could share the same values.
Today, the surviving communist states, China and North Korea are threatening the peace in the Asian Pacific region, with severe human rights violations being carried out in both nations. Ultimately, it can be said that to liberate the people of China and North Korea is the current struggle to defend freedom.
Reexamining History Is the Key to Unlocking the Future
However, the United States today share the historical perspective of China and the Koreas that compares Japan to the Nazis. If the United States continues to cling to the historical view that “Japan was a criminal nation”, it will become difficult for the United States and Japan to coordinate in its common strategy against an increasingly aggressive China.
After the war, Japan renounced the right of belligerency and continues to being a state of having lost a part of its sovereignty. In order to regain its full sovereignty, its right to self-defense, and to carry out constitutional reforms, it is essential that Japan escape from its own masochistic view of history, and for the West to reexamine their historical narrative.
Underneath America’s penchant for sharing the “historical perspective” given by China and the Koreas, one can see its refusal to face up to the indiscriminate massacre of many Japanese, including civilians, during the war.
Now is the time for the West to recognize Japan, not as the “aggressor nation”, but as a “nation that fought for a great cause, pioneering the visions of human equality and colonial liberation.” Historical reexamination is what would make it possible for all free nations to work together towards world peace. The “Okawa Statement” (above) by Master Ryuho Okawa of Happy Science, which was released last summer, sets the direction for the world to correct its historical narrative, the return of sovereignty, and toward global peace.
From a larger perspective, Japan and America worked together to realize human equality, freedom and democracy. Today, as China tries to destroy more than a century’s progress, Japan and the United States must, together, fulfill their mission as the leaders of justice.
