Remembering Those Who Have Been Forgotten
The Marianas is a purgatory full of the essence of the soul's of imperial Japanese soldiers who were sent to fight and die in the Emperor's name, now lie either in limbo somewhere or stuck between hope and damnation, and whose bodies have yet to be exhumed and returned to the land they defended so fervently. Less than 40% of the total number of soldiers who fought to defend Japan still have not been reclaimed. Who knows what lurks in the shadows across the southern seas of echoes of empty corpses that lie in unmarked graves all across the islets and enclaves on distant archipelagos. Some in places that will never be known, not even by shadows.
While writing this, I was listening to "I Bought That" by Yung Ralph
Once my souls is called to account for this essay I too will be faced with that big question... Why? I love the old Japan. I love the old way. There is no new way, and there never will be! There can never be a new Japan. It may take you awhile to understand this but believe me, it's true. There is only the old way! The old way is Japan regardless of what a young Japanese may say or think. You'll see...!
What are Japanese thinking on August 15th...? Again, these fallen soldiers whose soul's were either left in limbo or strewn about somewhere half past forever lay trapped and unclaimed in eternity....somewhere bordering between the heavens of the Buddha and that of Shinto, or even in limbo. It is commonly believed that souls remain on this plane and walk around unbounded. it is also said that upon death souls are required to make their way across that body of water that divides us from the world of the living.
Those who have been reclaimed and who are enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine are considered to be honorable soldiers who fought for the country. It is said that the hallowed grounds of Yasukuni is the final resting place for over a million fallen souls who have been deified and elevated to god status, but how could that be so if even the emperor of Japan doesn't even visit the alters of this place, once a god himself....?
" Don't question me. Don't ask why I write this. Just read."
Emperor Showa Tenno has a book with the names of all the Souls he sent to die in his name, but he too has already crossed over. I wonder if he's in the company of his own subjects, the ones he sent to die in his name? I wonder if he speaks through séances to his people in this realm and to the current reigning emperor his son Heisei Tenno? What would he whisper? Was it enough to snap a photo standing shoulder to shoulder with , MacArthur, at the end of the war when no Japanese has ever even met the son of heavens gaze, yet this tall lanky foreigner hovering over the emperor stood tall and victorious over him did, and for what....? To spare the Japanese race further humiliation; only served to create more humiliation.
Tomita Tomohika, former grand steward of the Japanese imperial household recorded in his diary that the emperor ceased visiting the shrine because of the enshrinement of class A,B,&C war criminals. But again, standing shoulder to shoulder with a foreign victor and then refusing to honor these so-called convicted war criminals, who were convicted by criminal foreign courts, which he sent to die fighting in his name adds more insult to injury to the Japanese psyche then anything. Please try to see the correlation here my readers. Why would the emperor feel shame for the actions of his own people, yet not feel any hatred nor anger towards the Americans? Standing next to a foreigner who dropped the atomic bomb on his own people...Nagasaki...? What happened here?
" I didn't mention Hiroshima. But Nagasaki!"
"I have heard that when the American soldier who either died a Christian or a Catholic is laid to rest its soul is hoisted out of this realm by great angels through Christ but when the Buddhist dies its soul is left to fend for itself, to navigate its way to the other side. The world of the dead is horrific beyond imagination so one must be prepared. Naked souls freshly removed from its warm flesh...watch it quiver."
There's a major flashpoint of contention regarding the enshrinement of soldiers at Yasukuni Shrine. Many of the fallen who were either Buddhist or Shinto are interred together there against the wishes of many of the bereaved. Some of the bereaved have demanded the removal of their family members , which has more to do with religious reasons than anything else. The State didn't allow this nor consent to having them there in the first place. The bereaved just want to reclaim their loved ones and place them in their own family plots.
According to the State back then, all imperial soldiers who fought in campaigns since Meiji will be interred at this shrine, even alongside wartime prime minister Tojo and the other 14 who were tried for war crimes.
Now I’ve been to both Yasukuni Shrine and Arlington Cemetery. If you haven’t been to Arlington then I recommend visiting there at least once in your life time, especially if you are an American. If you are a Japanese then it's only common sense for you to visit Yasukuni Shrine first before paying homage at Arlington, for whatever reason you can think of.... It's dishonorable to the bereaved at Arlington for a Japanese to visit their memorial if their only aim is to snap photos up to show to their friends back in Japan - smiling with horrible teeth. Nearly half of the dead at Arlington were places there by the Japanese Army. Have some dignity, and stop wearing U.S. military hats too! You should honor your own first and wear Japanese military regalia with pride and dignity to commemorate your own fallen not the ones who killed off your own people. Not everybody's on the "forgive & forget" boat. Many bereaved will never forgive the Japanese.
The central difference between Yasukuni and Arlington is that the soldiers enshrined at Yasukuni fought wars of aggression and expansion, but did so in order to liberate Asia from Western economic influence and to slow the spread of Anglo Western domination in that part of the world whereas the Americans fought tyranny abroad in order to expand its own domination with a fully segregated Armed Services in order to liberate others nations and peoples from oppressive regimes that it too had back at home.
The freedoms that Americans like myself enjoy is partly due to the sacrifices American soldiers have made in the name of freedom. I was brainwashed into serving and I had also sworn to protect the United States against all enemies both foreign and domestic. I too have stood the watch while millions of Americans were fast asleep in their little comfortable beds at night. Even I can appreciate some of the sacrifices a few good men have made in America’s interest, so I am no stranger to the American Armed Services. However, this partial admiration of the uniformed services was not very kind to its own people during the great unpleasantness, namely during the early half the 20th century, so my admiration is mixed.
"When the German war machine was finally defeated the German P.O.W.s were given priority over the African American soldiers in chow lines and mess halls, and were even granted honorary white status, even as P.O.W's. Yet the African Americans who fought bravely to bring an end to Hitler's regime were treated worse than Hitler's hit men."
"After the war, Japanese who were eventually released from internment camps in America received financial restitution for their extremely mild treatment whereas the African American soldiers received only a pat on the back and a metal of valor for killing somebody else in their backyard and more racism at home. That's the reality."
We Americans honor our soldiers regardless of their transgressions, though. We don't draw lines in the sand and say this soldier is bad and this one is good. A soldier is a soldier, unlike in Japan where the average Japanese hangs his head in shame over anything remotely associated with the war. This shame has been enforced and reinforced not only by the former GHQ, but also by their own institutions.
"Most Japanese regard the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as merely incidences, and not crimes against humanity, their own governments have even gone as far as to deny some benefits to their own people who were affected by the fall-out. Most Japanese would rather forget the atomic bomb ever existed."
In America's case, I'm sure there's a nice plot at Arlington for the perpetrators of Abu-Ghraib and Guantanamo and for the National Guards men who shot and killed other Americans who were living in oppression under that racist regime back during Jim Crowe, or the hit squads that were sanctioned by the U.S. government under the directives of Negroponte who had torture chambers set up in Latin and South America to torture people and in renditions under Bush all over Europe. The soldiers and special agents used to carry out these operations will be honored at Arlington and rest peacefully. American's aren't necessarily hanging their heads in shame over this - some are, most aren't. It's because Americans cherish the idea of freedom and they recognize this over the politics, even if it's a lie..
The allied forces who followed orders during WW2 will rest peacefully at Arlington and at Cambridgeshire, they will be remembered and honored as men and women who fought to defend and protect America and England's interest at home and abroad, and all for mines and yours freedom???
Soldiers interred at Yasukuni are all soldiers, even Tojo. War criminals are not honored in Japan. Tojo is a judicial martyr along with the other 14. Problem is, is that most Japanese aren't aware of this uncomfortable truth regardless of how the media hypes up the "war criminals" label, and doing so to appeal to the left and to the West. We don't argue whether Tojo and the rest were merely instruments of the State back then, Western courts had assumed that Tojo had acted independently along with the other fourteen class A war criminals. Thankfully, here in Japan, these men are labeled as Judicial Martyrs rather than that ignorant label used previously and thankfully their bereaved can still receive pensions as a result of this correct labeling. Soldiers are soldiers.
Exploring myth and fantasy, and being caught away down there to interview some of the fallen a distant memory is invoked. General Honma and Tojo both Japanese men are dishonored today because near towards the end of their taut arm shimmering gold emblem emblazoned chrysanthemum engraved cuffs the look of horror gasping for air staring back in horror at them, through black fully dilated baby blues, are considered evil men, but the bloody horrors that took place all across Midway and Okinawa are merits because it was the Westerner doing the punishing is pure sickness. We know the man whose hands loosed the atomic bomb over the heads of a quarter million innocent ladies and babies, even these men are honored and given a military burials at Arlington, so how (un)Japanese it is for a Japanese to honor these men at Arlington without first honoring their own peoples first!
In order to preserve the sanctity of the law which applies to all human beings it has to apply to all citizens of the world irrespective of military power or skin color. War was/is not illegal. Death is the consequence of war and the soldiers at Arlington are a testament to this, even today by wars they have instigated against other nations, in the name of Our freedoms.
America learned nothing from the court proceedings that took place in Tokyo sixty years ago, absolutely nothing. They've continued to shape and reshape laws to suit their own agendas and interests and giving very little credence to the fundamental rule of law and how it applies to all citizens of the world. Here in Japan, generations of Japanese after McAuthor were force fed lies about how criminal their own people were , again even by their own institutions, and all for what? To debone and uproot all vestiges of nationalism...?
In the picture below this child may grow up to become a patriotic Japanese, one who understands who he is and where he came from. Not the weak apologetic, I don't know anything about my own history types who would rather bend over for the MAN than to stand tall and strong and proud. Or the ones who believe in " peace & love, and how all the peoples of the world are brothers and sisters." Or even better " we Japanese were farmers and we didn't know anything about war." This is a fallacy. Wars happen in order to preserve peace. It's been like that in every society that has achieved peace and prosperity. The gears of war will turn again someday...
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Around this time of year I like to explore these topics in detail by analyzing the present day condition of the Japanese psyche, hell and purgatory,damnation and hope. When it comes to matters of heaven Japan is that place , so I have a vested interest here. I like Japan the way it is and I hope it never changes.
Japan for me is a heaven, heavenly in the fact that it's uniquely Japan and that this was the primary reason for falling in love with the country - I abhor multi-culturalism. The notion of many cultures living together is false. People follow the dominate culture. Unique for me because of its largely mono-cultural and mono-linguistic and some of its non-Anglo Western influencing elements.
In order to be sensitive to their neighbors the Japanese disavow those who made the ultimate sacrifice, those who would disembowel themselves without hesitation, those who would accept death gladly over the shame of living with the defeat of their nation lie forgotten at the bottom of foreign seas and rotting in unmarked graves where weeds now grow, stinking. No tears shed over their headstones. No flowers lying across that tin can riddled with bullet holes for a name plate leading to the whereabouts of that Japanese soldier's remains. The dead cannot smell what sentient beings can smell. The dead can smell the tears of the bereaved, for them their tears smell like a bouquet of fresh roses. For them, they only get to hear how apologetic their living god is for their sacrifices! The sacrifices they made in his name have all gone in vain. Instead, Japanese will be crying over their favorite Korean idol or maybe even MJ. August 15th many Japanese will be heading off to foreign countries to relax and forget about their country. They'll by laying half naked on a beach somewhere in Saipan and having a great time, not once will they stop to remember the men who fought to defend the island or the remains that still remain there.
I can imagine some of them squinting up in pain from the ashes of that squalid black pit, lungs still full of sut, and hearing how pitiful their legacy was and at how ashamed their own people are of them today. They didn't have the opportunities this spoiled little present day generation has had since the war ended. What was their worth?
I met an idiot today at the coffee shop. He told me about a trip he had taken to Washington D.C., and about how beautiful Arlington Cemetery was to him. I questioned his logic. I had asked him why he hadn't visited Yasukuni Shrine? He said back, " I hate that place!" "But you love honoring the people who murdered your own people and those who had bombed and raped them by paying respects to their final resting place first, before your own country's memorial !?" I said back. He had no words to answer back. Nobody ever approached him like that. Leave it up to the silly foreigners to patronize the Japanese peoples ignorance. Yes. I am an offensive gaijin. I don't believe the bereaved at Arlington are happy when you snap photos of their loved ones headstones! Or wear American military hats and suits just to look cute.
All the while this is happening millions of foreigners are coming to Japan and opposing anything that even remotely resembles Japan's wartime past and even going as far as to criminalize the entire legacy of imperial Japan as the worst pre-war industrial nation that had ever existed in modern history. The ignorant youth, and the reticent elderly have no words to defend their own culture and history, especially against the onslaught of foreign condemnation, which is more out of ignorance of their own history and relative inability to articulate a defense of their nation.
This August the 15th, Japan will reflect on the war and its aftermath. The nation will also reflect on its role in the modern world and its standings in the international community. It's bleak ladies and gentleman. Millions of Japanese will reflect on the country's defeat not the sacrifices made - most will reflect on nothing at all. This is the nation with the worst defeatist mentality in the world! This is not a Japanese mind, this is a poisoned mind that was instituted into their education by MacArthur and his thought police.
The original Japanese never knew nor understood what defeat was, 2000 years of history of never being defeated. Now defeat is a byword here. Defeat is a word that fits the Japanese psyche of today because they've grown comfortable with it. America won and we lost so lets kowtow, let's acquiesce to the West, let's not honor our war dead, let's pretend that ignorance is bliss, let's kiss America's ass, let's disregard the tenants of our ancestors; this way we can keep food on the table. There are only two minds in the world, the Western mind and the Japanese mind, this truth has been relegated to the dust bins of history, why? Because two minds cannot agree unconditionally.
"This wasn't the case for the German war machine. Even now, 2010, there're still thousands of bodies left unclaimed all over Europe of former soldiers who served under Hitler, even the soldiers who disagreed with him but who had to keep food on the table who would've otherwise starved if they hadn't joined the German Army. Even these men are regarded as the same criminal element that steam rolled over Europe still lie unclaimed alongside the Waffen, who by the way were bred killers. Contrasting these men with the imperial solders of Japan who were merely serving for the sake of the country and their god is a completely different soldier, yet foreign courts condemn them as pure killers and homicidal murderers who acted independently, nothing could be further from the truth."
Where these souls are nobody really knows. I'm not sure I even know, but they didn't choose their fate, fate chose them. That's like asking the African American why he served in all three major conflicts for America when the country he swore to protect and to serve had sanctioned by the supreme court the lynching of his own people as a means of punishment ? Or, like asking why a native American would throw on a G.I. Jane suit just to go and kill somebody else in another country when his own people were almost all wiped out in a genocidal murdering spree through the use of government sponsored terror and poison attacks. Why did some Japanese men volunteer to fight in the war? Many were drafted, yes. These men loved their country, not because they needed put and keep food on the table. They didn't do it because they had mouths to feed. They did it for the love of their country.
Both the Native American and the African American were were regarded as the lesser of all the other races in North America, and were treated as second class citizens in the country they were fighting and killing for. I guess it was to keep food on the table, too? Or love of country? Yet these two lesser soldiers are honored for their sacrifices and for being a part of that criminal element that dropped napalm and who raped ladies and babies all across Vietnam.
Custer and his men have received honors for their valor against the native Americans and for invading foreign land by employing some of the most heartless tactics in modern warfare. Again, the American honors Custer, no one will ever forget his name. History books are full of his name. The Japanese who fell receive nothing but shame for their love
At the end of it all Japan chose the way of prosperity, which gave this country a chance to become a world leader in trade and surplus and in technology, and most of all peace along with a war renouncing constitution, the first of its kind in the modern world. Sixty years of deconstructing the Japanese mind by removing all vestiges of nationalism and patriotism only to be replaced by a work machine brain with an artificially processed emotion chip for a heart. After the Occupational Authorities left Japan, the old bureaucracy had to weave this new mind into old values.
For a generation of prosperous Japanese this new mind worked, then backfired with the newer generation who were let down after the bubble economy collapsed. This newer generation became the lost generation. I wish to shine a light through the darkness. I wish to pierce the darkness and remove the vail.
August 15th, like the 4th of July is where these two countries explore and ask themselves these unpleasant truths. We just buried McNamara the man who orchestrated much of the horrors witness over the last quarter of a century is now buried with honors and with so much blood on his hands.
When will men who fought for the country they loved so much receive their honor here in Japan? When will they earn the respect and admiration from their own people and not so much of the shame? Even if they disagreed with the war, no Japanese should feel ashamed if its their own people being condemned by people next door who are unforgiving, and who only care about money. I want to see a proud generation of Japanese lead the country. Not, let's open the flood gates and let's all wear flower printed T-shirts and pink sunglasses. I long for the days when Obuchi was prime minister. This conservative angle he had embraced was very good and natural. This country needs leaders like him. Japan needs to return to the ' old school' mentality, for the sake of the country and for the greater good of its own people.
That's a wrap for my August the 15th post.
Suehiro of Fukushima
Originally uploaded by McAlpine Alexander 
