Dear People of the World (formerly Dear Americans)

From last week until early in the next month would mark 5th anniversary of the major combat of the Iraq War.

There was a demonstration march to call for the U.S to end the war in Tokyo. The city also had a march to call for China to end the oppression against Tibet.

Japan's position is kind of complicated for the both issues. Japan helped your country with the war and occupation in Iraq sending troops there.

As for China,  we invaded China in the past and currently we have been having controvesy over historical issues with them, such as how to acknowledge Nanking Massacre, and PM's Yausukuni shirine visits. It is just like Germany's position in Palestinean issues with Israel. Well, Germans have made up their mind to admit their faults. But we haven't done it enough.

American politicians criticize China for oppressing Tibetan. But I want to say, what about the U.S. for what they have done to Iraqis!

Tens of thousands of civilians were killed. Proportion of one out of 6 Iraqi have become refugees. They live lives without clean water, electricity and safety. You might insist Iraqi were liberated from tyranny like Hussein. But after Hussein, what is left is anarchism, division of the nation, and worsening the security.

American army dumped depleted uranium weapons that are very hazardous to human bodies with high level of radioactive. Iraqi were worried whenver they give birth to a child as if they get a defective baby.   

Hussein was a monstrous dictator but he could at least maintain the minimum infrastructure for his people's lives. The U.S. never thought of what to do after Hussein regime was toppled. That is totally different from the U.S. occupation strategy of Japan and Germany. There was no strategy for Iraq.

Please think of your own problems before accusing others of human rights violation. Not only things related to Iraq, but also domestic ones such as health insurance, poverty and etc. Your government is not so different from Arabic dictators who use anti-Israel and anti-U.S. propaganda to distract attention from their own citizens who are frustrated with poverty and inequality of the society.

P.S. I am writing a novel on this blog that points out the above issues. If you read the story and learn the things you have to be aware of.   

I was very surprised to see an woman with red-painted hands approaching Secretary of State, Ms. Rice and screaming "War Criminal." The woman and her people in the congressional hearing last week belong to the peace group named "CODE PINK women for peace."

As soon as she did that, she and other members were kicked out from the room. But they were never put into the jail. They were criticized by White House. They keep doing what they think should do.

Since 911, I always thought America has become Nazis. But that was not true. America is still open-minded. They prove that. America is a country, where you can speak up whatever you want to say and take actions.

The group worried about the war with Iran. According to the poll, more than half of Americans say OK to fight with Iran.

But, please don't. This is going to make things worse. Just think of alternatives, why don't you listen to the people like "CODE PINK"?

The film was shot in late 1940's Japan which was occcupied by U.S. led allied forces.

Humphrey Bogart was starred in this film as Joe, who came back to Japan after the war. Before the war Joe managed a club in Ginza, which is Tokyo's most famous shopping and entertainment district like 5th Avenue in NY.

The story was like post-war version of "Casablanca." The plot is very similar. Joe re-encountered his past lover in Tokyo, but she was already married to another man. First he was jealous of her but later he tried to help her out.

I was really surprised. "Casablanca" was war propaganda movie against enemies like Germans. But this movie was kind of friendship movie with Japan which was also the enemy during the war. It seems to reflect post-war diplomatic policy of U.S.

The description of Japan was not very strange even though it was filmed in such old days. Very precise, in fact. The streets, black markets, airport. Japanese characters portrayed in the film were very real. The film producers showed respect to our people. Bogart spoke some Japanese, not good accents but very accurate words.

In the last part, Joe said to his Japanese friend, "We are not enemies any more. Now we're helping you to stand up against old system."

Yes, indeed, we became democratic nation with the help of the U.S. and two countries became greatest friends.

Bogart was a great prophet. Thank you, Americans.

Is Japan regressing to its pre-war condition? The past and present cause me very much to think so. Prime Minister Abe’s pronouncement that the “Imperial army’s comfort women were not coerced in the strict sense of the word” has shaken the American political world and media. Consequently, criticism of Japan has risen, and the American Congress has adopted a resolution demanding that Japan apologize to the WW II comfort women in Asia.

In some respects, this evokes close resemblance to past generation. Before the war was an era before Japan and America were in conflict. During this era, criticism of the Japanese invasion of China mounted, and the Rape of Nanking was widely reported, leading to boycotts of Japanese products, etc. Americans at the time empathized with the Chinese, who were suffering under the Japanese, and with public opinion as a causal factor, sanctions against Japan in the form of the ABCD encirclement were implemented. "A" is America, "B" means British, the “C” means China and "D" means Dutch . At the time, in Japan , there was a sense that the Japanese themselves were not at fault over the sanctions, and with their backs to the wall there would be no option but to retaliate. They merely excused their stance out of emotional theory, which led to the attack on Pearl Harbor .

 The same is happening now. Just as before, the conservative media and politicians claim that the Japanese government is not responsible for the comfort women problem, and maintain their position that the facts should be reexamined. This, despite the fact that an examination was completed 14 years ago, and the Secretary of the Cabinet at the time admitted in conversation direct army involvement. Just as in the prewar years, the judgment is extremely inward-looking and purely subjective. Further, there is no strategy behind the action. There is no sense that the resulting destination has been coolly considered. Indeed, it resembles Japan just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor .

Nevertheless, in one sense, I can hope that the current adoption will lead to a cooling off. This is because public opinion and politics in America, which is our greatest ally overseas, has started to become greatly involved in the problem of our war responsibility, which was hitherto thought to be merely a problem of the Right and Left. This is so-called “outside pressure”. This is not merely ideology, but clearly starting to develop into a question of national interest. The outside viewpoint becomes clear, forcing us to realize just how irrational our actions are. Relations with China and Korea have already chilled because of the ceremonial visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, and at this juncture, America can also now be added. This closely resembles the process that led to the formation of the ABCD encirclement previously. The adoption of this resolution may cause Japan to feel a sense of humiliation like having been scolded by a teacher. This should not lead, however, to citing “hara-kiri” as in the past, but should be linked primarily to coolly considering what is in the national interest. I want Japan to quit acting on emotion alone.

The first thing should be done is that Prime Minister Abe resign from his position. He made things worse.

I've heard from one Japanese student living in Shanghai that those who participated in the demonstration march were small portion of Chinese. China has a big population. Even 20,000 demonstrators is not big scale.

It is said Chinese government is using anti-Japan sentiment to distract people's attention from failures of the government's economic policy that created wider gap between the rich and the poor.

But yes there are problems on our side which provoked such riots.

One is Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine that enshrined A-class war criminals of WWII. A-class war criminals were political leaders of that time including PM Tojo who ordered to attack Pearl Harbor. They are the invaders for Chinese but heroes or victims for Japanese right wingers. Koizumi and ruling party is backed up by such right wingers. The right wingers claim Tokyo tribunal that convicted A-class war criminals was unfair because the judges there were all from victors' countries. Also they claim Japan's war in China and against US was just war.

The other reason is related to the right wingers' interpretation of the history between China and Japan. They believe Japan is always right. They believe we should deny any unfavourble facts in our history such as atrocities in Nanjing, 1937. They've been campaigning to delete such facts from textbooks with politicians.

As a result, this year's newly published textbooks reduced such facts telling from previous edition.

This is outrageous. The right wingers believe it is good for our country. No. They are wrong. They are just embrassing our country.

As for A-class war criminals, I agree with their claim of unfairness of the court at that time, but we have to be aware of their responsibilities of the wrong corrupt war.

The below picture is taken in Nanjing (Nanking) last September. I was at the grave of victims of Nanking Masscre. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people were brutally murdered by Japanese army.

I do not support the riots but I understand the anger of Chinese people.