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Re-Writing Japanese History

DW Staff (ah)December 25, 2007

It seems that Nazi Germany’s erstwhile ally, Japan, is finding it hard to come to terms with its past. In recent years, the country has been repeatedly criticised its commemoration of "heroes" and war crimes. Pressure on Japanese soldiers to commit suicide when the war was nearing its end has triggered a recent debate.

https://p.dw.com/p/LsNX
The Japanese army ordered civilians to kill themselves on Okinawa to avoid American wrath
The Japanese army ordered civilians to kill themselves on Okinawa to avoid American wrathImage: AP

In 1945, 16-year-old Shigeaki Kinjo and his brother followed an order, which every former Japanese soldier knows -- "Long live the emperor!".

"It is either shouted when the battle has been won, or soldiers are sent into battle or when you're about to kill yourself," Shigeaki Kinjo explained.

The order was issued by the Japanese army on Okinawa -- Japan's most southern island group. Shigeaki and his brother killed their own mother and two younger siblings. Japanese officers had warned the population about the abuse they would suffer at the hands of the American army. They presented suicide as the only alternative.

This was in Tokashiki, where 329 civilians killed themselves. Shigeaki was planning to fight against the Americans till his death. But then he met up with some fleeing Japanese soldiers, who had no intention of committing suicide.

Taking responsibility

There has long been a debate in Japan about how these mass suicides should be portrayed in the history books. Satoshi Uesugi, the general secretary of the Centre for Research and Documentation on Japan’s War Responsibility, explained that nobody wants to deny their existence but there is a problem about how to portray responsibility.

Before, he said, "the politicians wanted to cover up the cause and effect. It was not supposed to be revealed that the mass killings had been ordered or enforced by the Japanese army."

Uesugi has been looking into Japan's war crimes for decades. He has especially contributed to the debate regarding "comfort women" -- women forced into prostitution by the Japanese army.

Re-writing history

He was very concerned when ex-prime minister Shinzo Abe's government wanted to erase the mass suicides and the army's responsibility for them from the history books.

The former government presented this request to the schoolbook's commission in December 2006. The new versions were introduced in September this year and caused outrage -- particularly on Okinawa.

Over 100,000 people protested, demanding that the old history textbooks be re-introduced to Japanese senior schools.

At a recent lecture in Tokyo, Shigeaki Kinjo said the army was responsible: "The mass suicides happened only on the islands where the Japanese army was stationed. You don’t need better proof of the involvement, orders and pressure of the Japanese army."

Changing the curriculum

The lecture was organised by various groups which campaign for the remembrance of Okinawa's civilian victims as well as by several educational publishers.

Six publishing houses, which publish history books for senior schools, have now submitted a petition to the schoolbooks committee and to the new government for the old textbooks to be brought back onto the curriculum.

The lecture in Tokyo triggered great interest. The schoolbooks committee’s decision on the textbooks is expected to come at the beginning of the next year. Neither the government nor the committee members has commented on the matter.