The most atrocious, despicable war came to an end finally on August 15 seventy-six years ago. The date August 15 is a day when we think over the world calmly in the singing sound of cicadas. The Olympic Games were held amid the explosive spread of the COVID-19, which is deplorable, but has given us a lesson. We have some time to reconsider the government’s power, its absurdity, in particular.
LET’S LEARN FROM HISTORY AMID FUSS OF THE OPLYMPICS
90 years from Manchuria Incident
Some Japanese people seem to have forgotten about the last war. But they do not. Unexpectedly, these people say ‘it is like the Pacific War’, referring to the Olympic Games being held with the government’s force. This year commemorates the 90th anniversary of the Manchuria Incident.
On September 18, 1931, following turmoil which took place at the Liutiao Lake in northern China, Japan began to invade into the Manchuria area. The two big political parties in Japan representing capitalists and land owners had been, initially, against the authoritarian attitudes of the Japanese Army.
In March 1932, when a puppet government was founded in Manchuria, Japan’s war status of aggression was secured in the region. The 5.15 Incident occurred in Tokyo, involving officers of the Navy and the rightist groups. Thus, the cautious stance kept inside the ruling elites was smashed. Party-led politics ended practically and the military gained far stronger power over the parliament.
Simultaneously the proletarian parties (constitutional, opposite parties today) had already changed their behaviors. The leftists’ groups kept ‘opposing to the imperialist war’, but rightists inside the parties openly advocated the government’s policy to ‘defend national interests in Manchuria and Mongolia’.
Rightists inside the military and of the proletarian parties shared the similar basis. Rural people were suffering due to the World Depression and its devastating impacts on agriculture. Labor conflicts continued, accompanying bloody cases. The Japanese society was overshadowed with fury against the rich and the government. Rage prevailed extensively among the lower-ranked soldiers, who were actually second or third sons of rural families.
Young military officers, bureaucrats and rightist citizens’ groups as well as part of proletarian political parties shared sympathy in common. Consequently, the rightist factions overrode the political parties representing the working population.
In January 1932, following the events in Shanghai, the 2.26 Incident happened in Tokyo, leading eventually to the Japan-China war. It was only five years of escalation, beginning from the turmoil in Manchuria and to going to the full-fledged war against China. Japan had built up its war-status in China rapidly. The capitalists-financiers and the political parties cooperated mutually to wage the war.
People learn from history
History does not repeat itself. History teaches people lessons to be wiser. Its legacy is the Constitution of Japan, of which Article Nine is alive, not destroyed, renouncing a war as a means to settle international conflicts. In the US people have removed the Trump administration for now. People in Europe empower themselves to counter the abusive states’ powers through general strikes.
On the other hand, however, some do not learn anything from the history.
Today they discuss loudly the Senkaku Islands and Taiwan issues, proclaiming to ‘enhance deterrence’; this group of people is provocative and dangerous.
People have learned that the military power cannot settle a conflict, as is seen not only in the Pacific War but also in the series of heinous wars after the War in Iraq.
Clinging to ‘deterrence’ means military rivalry. Today its domain is extending to the cyberspace and outer space. Competitions are staged that waste tax money. The date August 15 will come in the aftermath of the Olympics. We must be cleverer.
満州事変９０年
日本人は戦争のことは忘れたかと思ったら、そうでもなかった。思わぬ人が五輪強行を評して「太平洋戦争みたい」と口にする。折しも今年は満州事変９０年。
１９３１年９月１８日、柳条湖事件をきっかけに満州侵略が開始された。資本家や地主を代表する二大政党や財界は当初、陸軍の独断専行に批判的だった。
しかし、３２年３月に傀儡政権の満州国が建国され、侵略の既成事実化は一段と進んだ。海軍青年将校や右翼団体によるテロ「５ ・１５事件」は支配階級内部の慎重論を痛打した。政党政治は事実上終焉、議会への軍部の影響は格段に高まった。
更に無産政党（今でいう立憲野党）の変質が始まった。無産政党の左派はなお「帝国主義戦争反対」を訴えたが、右派は「満蒙権益の擁護」を公然と主張した。
軍部の右翼も無産政党の右派も基盤は重なる部分が多かった。大恐慌と続く農村恐慌で農村は塗炭の苦しみに覆われ、流血の労働争議が頻発、社会は財閥や政府への怨念に覆われていた。
農家の次男、三男の多かった下級兵士は特にそうだった青年将校と官僚、民間右翼、無産政党の一部は共鳴した。そして右派が無産政党を制圧していった。
３２年１月の上海事変を経て３６年の２ ・２６事件、そして目華事変へと、満州侵略を踏み台にした中国侵略までわずか５年余。「既成事実化」は一気呵成だった。財閥主流も既成政党もこぞって戦争に向けひた走った。
人は賢くなれる
歴史は同じことを繰返さない。歴史は人を程度の差はあれ賢くする。その象徴である日本国憲法９条はなお破砕されていない。米国民はトランプをひとまず排した。欧州の民衆は権力の横暴をゼネストで阻む力を高めている。だが、何も学ばない連中がいる。
始末に負えないのは、尖閣や台湾海峡を持ち出して「抑止力強化」を唱える輩だ。太平洋戦争の惨禍を想起するまでもなく、イラク戦争以降の憎しみの連鎖を見るだけで、武力では何も解決しないことを学んだはず。
「抑止力」は軍拡競争を伴い、それは今やサイバーから宇宙に至るまで膨大な税金の浪費競争になっている。五輪騒動の中で迎える「８・1５」。賢くなりたい。
英訳版↓
No. 1221 Seventy-six Years from August 1945
The most atrocious, despicable war came to an end finally on August 15 seventy-six years ago. The date August 15 is a day when we think over the world calmly in the singing sound of cicadas. The Olympic Games were held amid the explosive spread of the COVID-19, which is deplorable, but has given us a lesson. We have some time to reconsider the government’s power, its absurdity, in particular.
LET’S LEARN FROM HISTORY AMID FUSS OF THE OPLYMPICS
90 years from Manchuria Incident
Some Japanese people seem to have forgotten about the last war. But they do not. Unexpectedly, these people say ‘it is like the Pacific War’, referring to the Olympic Games being held with the government’s force. This year commemorates the 90th anniversary of the Manchuria Incident.
On September 18, 1931, following turmoil which took place at the Liutiao Lake in northern China, Japan began to invade into the Manchuria area. The two big political parties in Japan representing capitalists and land owners had been, initially, against the authoritarian attitudes of the Japanese Army.
In March 1932, when a puppet government was founded in Manchuria, Japan’s war status of aggression was secured in the region. The 5.15 Incident occurred in Tokyo, involving officers of the Navy and the rightist groups. Thus, the cautious stance kept inside the ruling elites was smashed. Party-led politics ended practically and the military gained far stronger power over the parliament.
Simultaneously the proletarian parties (constitutional, opposite parties today) had already changed their behaviors. The leftists’ groups kept ‘opposing to the imperialist war’, but rightists inside the parties openly advocated the government’s policy to ‘defend national interests in Manchuria and Mongolia’.
Rightists inside the military and of the proletarian parties shared the similar basis. Rural people were suffering due to the World Depression and its devastating impacts on agriculture. Labor conflicts continued, accompanying bloody cases. The Japanese society was overshadowed with fury against the rich and the government. Rage prevailed extensively among the lower-ranked soldiers, who were actually second or third sons of rural families.
Young military officers, bureaucrats and rightist citizens’ groups as well as part of proletarian political parties shared sympathy in common. Consequently, the rightist factions overrode the political parties representing the working population.
In January 1932, following the events in Shanghai, the 2.26 Incident happened in Tokyo, leading eventually to the Japan-China war. It was only five years of escalation, beginning from the turmoil in Manchuria and to going to the full-fledged war against China. Japan had built up its war-status in China rapidly. The capitalists-financiers and the political parties cooperated mutually to wage the war.
People learn from history
History does not repeat itself. History teaches people lessons to be wiser. Its legacy is the Constitution of Japan, of which Article Nine is alive, not destroyed, renouncing a war as a means to settle international conflicts. In the US people have removed the Trump administration for now. People in Europe empower themselves to counter the abusive states’ powers through general strikes.
On the other hand, however, some do not learn anything from the history.
Today they discuss loudly the Senkaku Islands and Taiwan issues, proclaiming to ‘enhance deterrence’; this group of people is provocative and dangerous.
People have learned that the military power cannot settle a conflict, as is seen not only in the Pacific War but also in the series of heinous wars after the War in Iraq.
Clinging to ‘deterrence’ means military rivalry. Today its domain is extending to the cyberspace and outer space. Competitions are staged that waste tax money. The date August 15 will come in the aftermath of the Olympics. We must be cleverer.
August 10, 2021