The imperial Japanese army and its horrrendous crimes

War crime cover up in Modern day in Japan 

•In Germany, Nazism is frowned upon. People look upon it with disdain and contempt- no one is proud of it, it is dishonorable: in a sheer juxtaposition to Japan world war two was seen as an honorable part of Japanese societal normality.

•In schools World War two is taught about, however they brush over what they did or label it as necessary.

•The Japanese Government refuses to issue an official apology and has taken down statues to honor the people whom they oppressed against to cover up their brutal history.

The rape of Nanjing 

Another prime example of Japan ignoring morality for the sake of national pride is the way the nation continues to deny the war crimes that took place in China and Korea in the lead up to WWII.

In 1937, after the battle of Nanjing between the nationalist Republic of China and the Imperial Japanese army, the invading Japanese forces took control of Shanghai and encircled the then capital of China (Nanjing). In doing so, the Japanese military massacred between 40,000 and 300,000 and it is estimated that rape cases were as high as 80,000. 

This piece of history has become comparable to the holocaust in terms of the way it is denied by Japanese nationalists who still live today. According to the University of Washington, “In 1990, Japanese government officials formally denied the Nanking Massacre by stating that it was a lie.” The effect of this has been really terrible relations politically and economically between Japan and most of its Asian neighbours. Importantly, in Japan awareness about the war crimes that the country itself has committed is extremely low, meaning its citizens often believe that Japan’s participation in WWII was an honorable feat. 

Why else does Japan not want to admit it was at fault?

Another key reason that Japan does not want to acknowledge their past crimes is due to the fact that if they do, they would be liable to pay compensations to the victims they made suffer. For example, in 2005, Lee Chun Sik, a Korean man in his nineties who was conscripted into dangerous forced labour for a Japanese steel company before WWII tried to sue but was unsuccessful in Japanese courts. However, he was later successful in a Korean court in 2018. This example again suggests that Japan is not willing to admit its fault in the atrocities of war time crimes, even when other countries are willing to take the blame. 

•But what does this mean, exactly? Nationalism is an extreme pride in one’s nationality and ethnicity to the point that the person holds a nation’s political interests and national pride over the rights of individuals or specific groups. For example, Japan forced the Filipino government to remove a statue in Manilla which commemorated WWII Comfort Women (women who were concubines for Japanese soldiers and officers). This is an example of far-right nationalism because Japan was afraid of its national pride being hurt without considering the moral implications.