Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):
"Those who do not understand the true intentions
of the Japanese ought to go to Hell"
- - Tokyo Radio, February 1, 1942.
Japan's Destiny - Yet To Be Fulfilled!
Japan has yet to fulfill its destiny. Most do not realize that Japan had its own version of Mein Kampf -- a blueprint for world conquest during World War II. It is called the Tanaka Memorial. While its origin has been dismissed by the Japanese as a Chinese forgery, one should wonder why the measures the Japanese took seem to tally closely with the themes of the Memorial! But what was the primary motive, and who provided the inspiration for this blueprint for massive territorial expansion? |
by Joseph Huang
In the late 13th century, the Mongol Dynasty of China, after defeating Korea, attempted twice to repeat this victorious feat in Japan -- but Kublai Khan's armada failed. Twice Japan was saved by storms that overwhelmingly struck the invaders. The Japanese had come to call the storm, kamikaze or divine wind. Some 300 years later, Hideyoshi, one of the three men who succeeded in unifying Japan, invaded Korea with a view to attacking China, but the attempt failed. The Portuguese arrived in the middle of the 16th century, and were later followed by the Dutch. But after some 80 years of limited contact with Europeans, the Japanese isolation was finally broken by an American, Commodore Perry, in 1853, thereby ushering in the Meiji Restoration.
During these threescore and ten years, the proverbial span of human life, Japan had succeeded in adding to her material wealth -- and to her economic and political powers -- more than any other older Imperial Power. This was not only in percentage increases, but also in absolute quantities. 1874 marked the year that witnessed the march of Nipponism (or Japanese imperialism), wearing her seven-league boots, in an expedition to Formosa. Aggression was to lead Japan into the Sino-Japanese war of 1894-5, the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5, the annexation of Korea in 1909, the twenty-one demands on China in 1915, the Manchurian "incident" of 1931, and the beginning of war with China in 1937. During these seventy years, the Japanese Empire was expanded to include Korea, Manchuria, China, and finally, after the attack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, to include South-east Asia and threaten India and Australia.
In July 1941, the Japanese Premier, Konoye, in a statement made after an Imperial Conference, stated, "Whatever could not be procured within Japan must be obtained in East Asia; this is a matter of absolute necessity for the country's existence." This ushered in four years of catastrophe in East Asia -- involving not only the Asian countries but also Great Britain, the United States, Australia and other European nations.
The Tanaka Memorial
The facts came first, theory was formulated later. And the facts showed that raw materials were an "absolute necessity" for Japan's survival. Plans of action were therefore methodically studied, after taking into consideration Japan's level of technical progress, superiority and weaknesses. These were framed by the leadership into a national strategy of actions which is popularly known as the Tanaka Memorial.
This document is the blueprint of Nipponism or Japanese expansion, and contains, besides the general aims, an elaborate study of the various stages of the struggle that Japan would have to go through before it consummates in the domination of the entire world. This document was prepared by a group of Japanese Imperialists led by General Baron Tanaka and later formally presented to the new Emperor Hirohito on July 25, 1927 "in absolute secrecy" when Tanaka was the Prime Minister of the Government. This is an authentic historical document but, of course, the Japanese have been denying its existence officially.
General Tanaka was once the War Minister in the Seiyukai Government that sanctioned the Siberian Expedition, and he later became the Prime Minister from April 1927 to July 1929. The story continues in Japan's Kampf; written by Jaya Deva during the height of Japanese power in 1942,
"A conference held among these men, and presided over by the figurehead, Emperor Taisho (died in 1926), sent Tanaka on an exploratory visit to the Western capitals. On his return from this sentimental journey, Tanaka and his group re-edited the provisional memorandum, which, after various alterations, was formally presented to the present Emperor (still in his teens) in 1927" (Japan's Mein Kamp, 1942, p. 146).
Conquest Started with China
The Tanaka Memorial studied into Japan's status, its needs, strengths and weaknesses. It then devised a step-by-step tactic for foreign conquest. It was logical enough that the quest for foreign nations had to start with neighboring China, who had a weak imperial government and presented itself as an easy target who was unable to withstand the various onslaughts of foreign European armies. Japanese war propaganda would deem it as an attempt to liberate the countries of colonial exploitation. The Memorial states,
"...in order to conquer the world we [Japan] must first conquer China. But in order to conquer China we must first conquer Manchuria and Mongolia. If' we succeed in conquering China, the rest of the Asiatic countries and the South Sea countries will fear us and surrender to us. Then the world will realize that Eastern Asia is ours and will not dare to violate our rights. This is the plan left to us by Emperor Meiji, the success of which is essential to our national existence" (Tanaka Giichi And Japan's China Policy, by William Fitch Morton, 1980, p. 205).
The Tanaka Memorial surveys painstakingly Japan's present status, potentialities and handicaps, her geographical position and over-population, her natural resources and vulnerability regarding raw materials and needs. It then surveys its neighboring countries and establishes a plan of action. In fact, the aim and scheme in the Memorial is explicit and very detailed -- as expressed in Japan's Kampf:
"It also makes a careful note of the minerals and raw materials in the neighbouring regions like Tibet, Sinkiang, Mongolia, Manchuria and China. Then it suggests a plan of action. Manchuria and Mongolia are not China's territories; Japan must get them. She must open negotiations with the Princes ruling Tibet, Sinkiang, Mongolia and Manchuria, who have 'sovereign powers.' There should be secret funds of the Army Department's budget, to be used in sending retired officers as teachers, etc. Capitalism is the weapon to beat China, so also banking and gold notes against China's silver notes" (ibid., p. 146).
World Conquest in View
The blueprint in the Tanaka Memorial is not limited to China and East Asia. Its gigantic ambition is not restricted to East Asia, but to include India, South-east Asia and Central Asia -- even far-distant Europe is not excluded from its plot. It says,
"Having all China's resources at our disposition, we will proceed to conquer India, the Archipelago, the Islands of the South Seas, Asia Minor, Central Asia and even Europe itself" (Japan's Kampf, p. 148).
The Tanaka Memorial recognizes that to venture further, Japan will inevitably clash with the paramount power, the United States.
"But in carrying out this policy we have to face the U.S., which has been turned against us by China's policy of fighting poison with poison. In the future, if we want to control China, we must first crush the U.S., just as in the past we had to fight in the Russo-Japanese War" (ibid.).
The unabridged copy of the Tanaka Memorial has never been found, and therefore the full extent of their aim and strategies remain hidden. A search among Japanese archives at the end of the Pacific War by Japanese and Americans also failed to turn up evidence of the document. It was reported that all "sensitive" palace papers, government files and other documents had either been burnt during the war or were destroyed by Japanese authorities between the surrender and the arrival of the Occupation Forces. When the time came for prosecutors of Japanese war criminals to give evidence, they found almost no document to work on.
The global conquest would inevitably include Australia, lying as an extension of South-east Asia. In a book written by Henry P. Frei, he demonstrates that the Japanese Navy was in favor of an invasion of Australia while the Army hesitated immediately after the fall of South-east Asian countries:
"Whether or not to capture Australia became a serious topic for discussion whenever its main proponent, the [Japanese] Navy General Staff convened with Combined Fleet and the Army to decide the options of war aims for the next stage in 1942" (Japan's Southward Advance and Australia, 1991, p. 161).
It was understandable that the Japanese Navy's main worry was Australia. They did not want it to become a crucial gateway for the United States and its allies to position their planes, ships, and soldiers for a retaliation. The Navy Captain Miwa Yoshitake wrote on January 6, 1942, "We must think quickly about invading Australia...the United States is now in the middle of reinforcing Australia, Fiji, and Samoa" (ibid., p.162). The Japanese recognized that Australia had to be separated from the United States, a troublesome source of military reserves --
"The chief of the Navy General Staffs Planning Section and chief champion of the Australia invasion idea, Captain Tomioka Sadatoshi, deeply feared such a disadvantageous development. He fervently believed that Australia must not become a strategic springboard for United States planes, ships, and soldiers gathering for a counter-offensive...The war had perfectly shown how little air power meant without the development of air bases. If, however, the United States built up air power on the Australian continent, while at the same time applying pressure from the north, Japan could not possibly win. Australia, therefore, had either to be knocked out quickly, or cut off from America" (ibid.).
While the Navy was pressing for expansion, the Army hesitated. Major-General Tanaka Shin'ichi warned, "Naval plans to invade Australia do not quickly end the Pacific War, but make it the center of the next stage and overextend the limits of our offensive power in the Pacific" ( ibid., p. 163). They finally agreed that Australia should be isolated rather than invaded. It was the limitations of the army that saved Australia. Despite that, Port Darwin experienced a surprise attack and was destroyed on February 19, 1942.
On the political front, pressure was applied on Australia to succumb or to be in line with the Japanese Imperialism --
"[Japan's] Prime Minister Tojo Hedeki continued to support pressuring Australia into submission by cutting her communication lines to the United States. In a Diet oration on 21 January he proclaimed decisive defeat for Australia if she continued to fly the flag of the enemy...And in a further appeal to the leaders of Australia at an extraordinary session of the Diet on 28 May, Tojo repeated his threatening lure that it was not too late to make the right decision and toe the line with the Japanese Empire" (ibid., p. 172).
The Japanese quest for global conquest is clear. The aim of the Imperial realm is to embrace the whole world under the universe. Japan believes the country and its people have a heaven-ordained and a sacred mission, and that sacred destiny has yet to be fulfilled.
Shinto
Nationalism in Japan has its root in Shinto or Shintoism. The word, Shinto, comes from two Chinese words, shen (god) and tao (way), i.e., the Way of the Gods. Every child in Japan is taught from infancy to glorify his national traditions in Shinto.
The source of Japanese Shinto mythology is from two sacred books of Japan -- the Kojiki, or Record of Ancient Matters, and the Nihongi (also known as Nihon Shoki), or Chronicles of Japan. These are the two sacred books of Japanese religion, patriotism, and imperialism. They provide a moral and ideological background for leaders as well as subjects to draw inspiration and vision to fulfill their destiny.
According to these books, "When Heaven and earth began", there arose several generations of gods born spontaneously. The last-born pair, Izanagi (the Male-Who-Invites) and Izanami (the Female-Who-invites) were born at the command of the gods. While standing on the Floating Bridge in Heaven, they created the Eight Islands of Japan by stirring the water with a jeweled spear. They also gave birth to many more deities. One of these deities, born of Izanagi's left eye, was Amaterasu-Omikami, (the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity), better known as the "Sun Goddess." Her parents were so pleased with her that she was bestowed with the rulership of the "plain of High Heavens." Her rulership was challenged by her violent brother, born from Izanagi's nose, Susa-no-Wo, (the Brave-Swift-impetuous-Male-Augustus), who was appointed to rule the "Sea Plain." But Susa-no-Wo did not like his domain, and like Satan, his parent expelled him with a divine expulsion from Heaven, to become the first ruler of Japan, and then the ruling deity of Hades.
The Sun Goddess later decided, in a conciliatory mood towards her brother, to produce offspring through him. Being more dominant, the Sun Goddess decided that the five male Deities were considered born from her and gave Susa-no-Wo the three female Deities that were considered born from him. In the myth, one son was to give birth to the Japanese dynasty, in whose veins flowed the blood of both the ruler of Heaven and the Prince of Darkness. However, this son, when he arrived to his new domain, did not like it, and abdicated in favor of his son, Niningi-no-Mikoto. So the Sun Goddess sent her grandson down to earth and bestowed upon him the three sacred treasures with which all Japanese Emperors were to be enthroned down to this day.
However, it was only by the grandson of Niningi-no-Mikoto that the deity became the first "human" Emperor, Jimmu, a "manifest god" himself. He rallied his forces and slowly fought his way, moving mostly by sea, to the great Yamato Plain in Southern Japan. The Nihongi fixes the exact date of Jimmu Tenno's enthronement as being on February 11, 660 B.C., and presumes to give the exact dates for the reigns of his descendants from then onwards in a "line of Emperors unbroken for ages eternal" in which Hirohito became the one hundred and twenty-fourth Emperor when much of East Asia was part of the Japanese Empire.
The Emperors of Japan
The Emperor Meiji died in 1912. His successor, Emperor Taisho, suffered from mental problems, and in 1921, the then Crown Prince Hirohito (1901-89) assumed the imperial function as regent. In December 1926, he succeeded his father on the latter's death with the new era name of Showa which, ironically, means "brilliant peace" -- an illusive goal for the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere," in which more than 20 million people lost their lives!
Either actively or passively, the national aggression policy, as stipulated in the Tanaka Memorial, received the blessing from Emperor Hirohito. Baron Tanaka testified,
"Evidently the divine Providence wishes me to assist Your Majesty in ushering in a new era in the Far East, and to develop a new Continental Empire" (Japan's Kampf; p. 146).
What role does the Emperor of Japan play, and what makes his subjects go all the way, to even committing a stylized, stomach splitting seppuku (better known in the West as hara-kiri) in honor of him and to fulfill their collective personal duty?
According to the Nihongi, the foundation for the Imperial Throne and the Japanese race was cited to be around the year 660 B.C. Both were of comparatively recent historical origin, as compared to the historical records of its neighbor, China. Despite being of more recent origin, the Emperor of Japan exercises far more power and influence than his British counterpart, the Queen. He is seen as a ruler, a god and a high priest, and the nation's grand symbol of unity.
The Japanese regard the Emperor as the "god of Japan." To the Christians, the Jews and the Mohammedan, God is above and set himself apart from the world that he created. However to the Shintoist, godhood manifests itself in the world and is part of the world. As Hugh Byas writes,
"The Emperor is the god of Japan; he is part of Japan; his father was a god before him, and his son will be a god after him. One need not be a theologian to see that when a Japanese says the Emperor is god, he means something different from the Christians" (Government by Assassination, 1942, p. 310).
The Emperor, as chief of a contemporary state, is also the high priest in the Shinto religion. Shintoism is the native religion of Japan, primarily a system of nature and ancestor worship which is difficult to understand in our modern society of high technology and industrial efficiency. Yet, millions of Japanese continue to visit an estimated 80,000 Shinto shrines throughout Japan -- where they regularly perform rituals that date back to the dawn of civilized history. Thirteen times a year the Emperor of Japan officiates as high priest at major Shinto religious observances. A typical worship shows the Emperor advancing to the altar, where he offers the wine and the rice to the gods. Then he recites a prayer of thanksgiving.
Describing a Shinto prayer, Hugh Byas continues,
"No one understood a word of it; it had been composed perhaps a thousand years ago, perhaps more; the language was no longer intelligible; even the ideas could only have been understood by students of primitive beliefs" (ibid., p. 313).
Besides serving as Emperor, a god and a high priest, the Japanese believe that the role of the Emperor is as a representation of the whole human race -- not only the Japanese race. The Emperor rules
"...not by virtue of character or mentality but by natural inheritance. No ability of mind qualifies an emperor for the throne; the only qualification is that he is heir to the Imperial line. Therefore the Japanese Emperor is the personification of the whole race, not an individual...The Emperor holds the whole race together just as gravity holds us the earth" (ibid., p. 319).
The Emperor is claimed to have boundless power and this unlimited power is supposed to have been inherited from the Sun Goddess and his ancestors, to whom he is accountable. They perceive foreign monarchies as the creation of man, while Japan has a sacred throne, inherited from the Imperial ancestors and from the gods. Therefore Japanese Imperial rule and the heavenly-created throne are an extension of heaven, and beyond men's powers.
Referring to the Emperor, Otto D. Tolischus, a well-learned German journalist and traveler during World War II, writes,
"He is to the Japanese mind the Supreme Being in the Cosmos of Japan, as God is in the Universe to the pantheistic philosopher. From him everything emanates; in him everything subsists, there is nothing on the soil of Japan existent independent of him. He is the sole owner of the Empire, the author of law, justice, privilege, and honor, and the symbol of the unity of the Japanese nation. He has no pope or archbishop to crown him at his accession. He is supreme in all temporal affairs of State as well as in all spiritual matters; and he is the foundation of Japanese social and civic morality" (Through Japanese Eyes, 1945, p. 33-34).
Since the restoration of Emperor Meiji, every effort had been made to exalt the status of the Emperor. From 1890 onwards until 1945, every school child in Japan, for every school day of his life, dedicated himself to his Emperor. Much like the Muslims, who pray to Allah, facing Mecca; every morning, all Japanese pupils bowed in the direction of the Imperial Palace, repeated by heart the long Imperial Prescript on Education, then sang the national anthem, and waited breathlessly for the question, "What is your dearest ambition?" To which, in passionate unified response, the entire school replied, "To die for the Emperor!"
While the Chinese, greatly influenced by Confucian doctrines, regard their emperors as the representatives of Heaven, there is the stipulation that they might be deposed or overthrown if their conduct lacked virtue. The Emperor of Japan, on the other hand, always enjoy the virtues associated with inherited divinity, irrespective of any specific quality or conduct on his part. His sovereignty is assured because he is the direct descendant of the first "human" Emperor of Japan, Jimmu Tenno, the founder of the Imperial dynasty, the grandson of the Sun Goddess. Emperor Hirohito died on January 7, 1989 and this makes the present Emperor Akihito, the 125th on the lineage, incapable of being deposed. According to Hugh Cortazzi, Emperor Akihito received his early education from a Nazi sympathizer.
"German and Nazi achievements were praised even by eminent men such as Professor Koizumi Shinzo, the president of Keio University, who was to play in the post-war as tutor to the present Emperor Akihito" (The Japanese Achievement, 1990, p. 238).
The Master Race
The Japanese master race theory has its roots from the indoctrination of the indigenous religion, Shinto, or "The Way of the Gods." According to Shinto, the Japanese "eight hundred myriad" gods, who are the highest beings in the cosmos, are conceived to be the ancestors of the Japanese race, which makes the Japanese themselves gods by descent, and their land "the land of the gods." Being direct descendants of the gods, this makes them the highest beings on earth - the master race is thus entrusted with the mandate to rule the inhabitants of the world who are not their equal.
To endow the Japanese people with a sense of self-confidence, and to confer sustenance to the master race theory, the Tokyo Anthropological Society in 1936 claimed,
"The Japanese people were created on the islands of Japan, and are a superior race supporting an unbroken dynasty for all ages, and having no racial origin outside of the Japanese islands" (Through Japanese Eyes, p.16).
Otto Tolischus explains further:
"In this divine hierarchy, the Japanese Emperor, as descendant of the Sun Goddess, the ruler of the Heavens, has been invested with the rule of the earth, and is the highest-ranking god on earth, to whom all men owe obedience. And the Japanese themselves, being descendants of other lesser gods who attended the Sun Goddess's grandson on his descent from Heaven, are also gods, and therefore superior to all men on earth, who at the most are descended from the 'Earthly Deities' against whom the Sun Goddess's descendants had to fight. And when the Japanese die, especially when they die in fulfilling the will of the gods, they are promoted to the rank of higher gods, or kami and become the patron gods of the Japanese race" (Tokyo Record, p. 148).
Japanese nationalist indoctrination and training begins early in the school system. Besides learning from text books, teachers are supplied with a manual prepared by the Department of Education, guiding them into strong nationalistic thinking. An example in the text would read,
"We people who are under such an august royal family are mostly the descendants of the Kami (gods) who have,..came down (into Japan) in the train of the Imperial Grandson, or we are the descendants of the successive generations of Emperors beginning with Emperor Jimmu...Thus the antiquity of the establishment of our state is already seen as superior to that of any other country...When we consider the history of all other lands, we find that in all foreign countries for the most part the people have prior existence and the rulers are subsequently elected. Thus revolutions are frequent and rulers are constantly being raised up and put down and practically none of these countries preserves its original national organization. When we make comparison with this we perceive the reason why our national organization is superlative among all the nations of the world" (National Faith of Japan, by D.C. Holtom, 1965, p. 131).
Atrocities Unlimited
Since the Japanese perceived themselves as the master race, as direct descendants of the gods, and the Emperor as the chief god of the earth, they, the Faithfuls, are by their very nature unable to do wrong. To achieve mastery, the Japanese have to continuously fight for world domination. Because they are fighting for a higher order, a sacred mission ordained by the gods, everything else is ancillary. With a given mandate to rule the universe, the most atrocious behavior, the most insidious act, could all be condoned. Obedience to the gods and the Emperor is pre-eminent. Japanese soldiers are trained and conditioned in their minds that pains and sufferings are immaterial for this struggle. This conflict therefore resulted in untold torment and affliction to those who obstruct its path. Otto Tolischus explains --
"...these standards, born of the naive naturalism and struggle for existence of a still savage age, but made valid for the twentieth century as a matter of state policy, were based on a foundation of cruelty, treachery, and obscenity, tempered only by obedience to the will of the gods. In time, with the identification of gods as ancestors, this obedience had become filial piety, and out of filial piety had grown the one ideal the Japanese developed -- personal loyalty, not to an abstract idea or ideal, but to a feudal overlord, and latterly to the Emperor" (Tokyo Record, p. 139).
Any obstacles are taught to be brutally oppressed, not only for its enemies but themselves as well. The indoctrination emphasis is on group loyalty and disregard of the individual, with a willingness to sacrifice their own lives for Japan and the Emperor. To be captured and become a prisoner of war is regarded as being shameful in the highest degree. The reward for such offense is great when he returns to his ancestors if he has exchanged his life for his mission. His inviolable mission is more important than his own life or his family.
" ...the Japanese soldier was taught during his first year of service that his mundane life was already forfeited to the Emperor; that to die for the Emperor was his greatest glory, to surrender his greatest disgrace. But during his second year, he was taught that merely to commit suicide and die before killing the enemy was also a disgrace; and that he should follow the Samurai code, which taught that even when the head had been chopped off, the head should still jump up and sink its teeth into the throat of the enemy. And this teaching, inculcated into an unreasoning mind accustomed to depend for guidance an authoritative precepts, were further drilled into him by a grueling training in peace-time and licensed savagery in war-time" (ibid., p. 156).
On this sadistic extermination of its enemies, not only is this vicious theory taught but is also demonstrated in human execution as confirmed by the following nauseating evidence --
"The Ear Mound at Kyoto, where the pickled ears and noses of more than 30,000 Koreans and Chinese lie buried as trophies of the Japanese invasion of Korea in the sixteenth century, is merely the precursor to the rape of Nanking...such butcheries were just the orgiastic outlet for the blood lust of the untamed savage" (ibid.).
Describing the Nanking atrocities, Hugh Cortazzi writes --
"According to estimates presented at the Tokyo War Crimes Trials after the war about 42,000 civilians, mostly women and children, as well as some 100,000 'prisoners of war', military and civilian, were killed by members of the Japanese forces in Nanking. There were also some 20,000 rapes in what were some of the most appalling atrocities committed in China by Japanese forces" (The Japanese Achievement, 1990, p. 232).
Describing the Burma incident, Hugh Cortazzi continues:
"In order to ensure their lines to Burma the Japanese decided in 1942 to build a railway from Siam. Work began on the railway in November 1942 and was completed on 17 October 1943. Allied prisoners of war and local forced labour, under the supervision of Japanese forces, were employed on this task in appalling conditions. Brutal treatment, disease and starvation led to the death of many thousands. One estimate puts the number of dead as 63,000 including 16,000 British and Australian prisoners of war" (ibid., p. 236).
The interrogators and prosecutors in the post-war crimes trials were astonished and mystified by the fact that the perpetrators of these atrocities were largely oblivious and insensible to the evil they had committed. Japanese leaders seem to have an almost infinite capacity for self-deception and inability to perceive reality. These attitudes were nourished by the sense of racial superiority which was engendered by the inculcation of the belief in the myths about Japan's divine origin and mission in the world.
The Japanese fighters were trained to be cruel and callous to foreign suffering, but uncomplaining about their own, and were subject to a state of insensibility to torment and pain. They are capable of ruthless bravery and unlimited self-sacrifice for the greater grand mission as their consecrated destiny. Serving the Emperor would take precedence over every other obligation in feudal Japan, and hundreds of thousands were prompted to join the Army, where it would be easy to persuade them that it was indeed their dearest wish to die for the Emperor, so that the spirit of those who died in battle would indeed fly to the Yasukuni shrine, there to share divinity with the Emperor himself.
Australian Russell Braddon, a prisoner of war survivor, has this account:
...at Rabaul, 100,000 Japanese had been abandoned by Tokyo to fight or starve to death. The few who were captured unconscious constantly attempted suicide, when they revived in an American or Australian hospital, by pulling out drips, tearing open newly stitched wounds and even (when their hands were tied) trying to bite off their tongues" (The Other Hundred Years War, 1983, p. 80).
As the years pass and war guilt continues to fade into the distant past, members of ultra-national and right-wing extremists of LDP have made public remarks with imperialist overtones and have attempted to exonerate Japanese behavior in China, Korea and other occupied territories during and before the last war. Some have also advocated official recognition of the Yasukuni shrine to the war dead in Tokyo despite the fact that the "souls" of convicted war criminals are enshrined there.
The Hakko Ichiu Destiny
According to the Way of the Gods, the Emperor is not to be worshipped exclusively by the Japanese alone, but is the Emperor of all the races of the earth. Japan is a divine land, and from here, the Emperor wishes to undertake his heavenly task of reconstructing one universal household embracing all mankind. Thus the slogan, Hakko Ichiu or "The Whole World Under One Roof" is used. This slogan is derived from the Nihongi, -- "the Capital may be extended so as to embrace all the six cardinal points and the eight cords may be covered so as to form a roof." The roof is the world and this is interpreted as the divine injunction to extend the Imperial Rule to the universe, to bring the whole humanity under one government -- under Japan!
As for letting their real intentions be known to foreign powers, the Japanese long ago learned that the most effective propaganda is based on "truth," which is in accordance with the Tanaka Memorial, for nobody believes it except those attuned to it. Once the war started, they dropped even their official mask and blatantly proclaimed their true design for the world. During World War II, samples of radio broadcasts and writings from their leaders reminded their subjects of this higher destiny. Among others, it claims,
"From the standpoint of Hakko Ichiu, the Emperor of Japan is the Emperor not only of Japan but all the races of the world. Judging from the present condition of our Imperial Majesty, he is the Emperor of Japan alone at the present time, but his Majesty of Japan is the Emperor of the world, for the spirit of Hakko Ichiu has been the traditional principle of our nation. To have the Hakko liberated is the traditional desire of each Emperor of Japan" -- (Tadahiko Imaizumi over Tokyo Radio, October 12, 1942, Through Japanese Eyes, p. 44).
And two years later, Tadahiko Imaizumi made another similar statement --
"If the ways of the Emperor were understood fully by the people of the world there should be no objection in having our Emperor as the ruler of the world. Under the principle of Hakko Ichiu, our Emperors were authorized to extend the rule of peace and happiness to the entire world. The foundation of international peace must be based upon the Imperial House of Japan" (ibid.).
And getting into specifics, other statements were made:
"Spread the Imperial Way to all the world, to all humanity. Make the whole world as one, and...make a new national birth in the chaotic world of the minorities of Western Europe, and rule over it. The rule of China is merely the first step toward rule of the world by the Imperial Way" -- (The Japanese- English-Chinese War, by Shigeki Kondo, Tokyo, November, 1939, ibid., p. 47).
"The Philippines, Malaya, Hong Kong, and even America and Britain must be taught the philosophy of Hakko Ichiu -- that Japan is consistently striving toward becoming a pillar upholding the right countries of the universe. These countries must be taught to welcome our Emperor, His sincere heart must be shown to foreign countries. Japan's sacred mission to the world must be made clear..." -- (Talk over Tokyo Radio, by Tadasuke Imizumi, January 4, 1942, ibid.).
"Why shouldn't the Moslems swear allegiance to the Emperor? They have to realize that the constantly hoped-for concrete manifestation of the Koran is precisely the Imperial Way" -- (The Japanese-English-Chinese War, by Shigeki Kondo, Tokyo, November, 1939, ibid.).
The arrival of the atomic bombs brought an end to the war quickly. Japan came out of the war defeated, its Empire gone, its fighting force destroyed, its cities and manufacturing capacities annihilated. Japan's political and military leaders were being tried and humiliated by the International Military Tribunal but, ironically, among the subjugated, the Emperor alone remains, uninjured and perseveres without his influence tarnished.
In the exhilaration of victory, every Western journalist thought the Emperor's speech, on August 15, was Japan's surrender to the Allied Forces. Future historians may one day describe his speech as a carbon copy of the "Munich Agreement" which Hitler signed with Great Britain; and the British Prime Minister Chamberlain, in euphoric bliss proclaimed, "Peace in Our Time." Later, as more analysts began to examine the Emperor's speech, they found some mind-boggling discrepancies:
"To strive for the common prosperity and happiness of all nations, as well as the security and well being of Our subjects, is the solemn obligation which has been handed down by Our Imperial Ancestors and which we lay close to heart.
"...it being far from Our thought either to infringe upon the sovereignty of other nations or to embark upon territorial aggrandizement.
"We cannot but express the deepest sense of regret to Our Allied nations of East Asia, who have consistently cooperated with the Empire to secure the emancipation of East Asia.
"Let the entire nation continue as one family from generation to generation, ever firm in its faith of the imperishableness of its sacred land and mindful of its heavy burden of responsibilities, and the long road ahead.
"Unite your total strength to be devoted to the rebuilding for the future. Cultivate the ways of rectitude; foster nobility of spirit; and work with resolution, so that you may enhance the innate glory of the Imperial State and keep pace with the progress of the world."
The Emperor's speech pleased both camps -- to the world Japan had surrendered and that was sufficient without looking into the technical details of the speech. But, to the Japanese, the speech had given them new hope, a hope that they should be ever firm in the faith of their destiny, that they may ultimately enhance the Imperial system. Many Western writers had completely misread the Emperor's speech. Not once had the Emperor mentioned the word "surrender." In short, what he had laid down provided a guideline for their magnificent vision for the future - which, of course, still includes world conquest.
The Occupation Forces took the final view that the Emperor was only a figurehead during the war and the sovereign system should be retained for unity. In the hearts and minds of the vast overwhelming majority of the Japanese people, the result is even more self-evident, i.e. the Emperor is divine and is the god of Heaven. It is therefore easy to see that the Emperor's real political power and prestige is stronger today than before the Second world War.
The governments of Holland and Australia wanted the monarchy disposed and some even wanted Hirohito to be tried as a war criminal. Canberra cabled Washington in an attempt to sway President Truman's decision about the fate of Hirohito -- "The Emperor should have no immunity from responsibility for Japan's acts of aggression. The Japanese will remain unchanged, and a recrudescence of aggression in the Pacific will only be postponed to a later generation."
Russell Braddon continues,
"Truman left the decision to MacArthur. He and his Occupation Force were so obviously the winners that, to the mind of the occupied, they had to be right; the GIs wanted sex, so a recent munitions factory was transformed into a vast brothel in which 250 girls processed 15 GIs apiece a day" (The Other Hundred years War, p. 197).
These were the most cherished geishas, well-trained first to seduce a man's appetite and thereafter satisfy his most innate desires. It was not surprising that the Japanese came to call their new conqueror, MacArthur, the "Blue-eyed Shogun," described as one who "frequently displayed an understanding of his subjects that no foreign statesman has since matched."
The Hundred Years War
Many do not realize that, beginning with the conquest of China as a base, Japan has the mindset and determination to fight a hundred-year war to bring the whole world to its knees. Although it may be infuriating to some to believe in this conviction, it nevertheless was not only backed by Japan's militarists, but also her statesmen, intellectuals, and the whole society, who must all be willing to lay down their lives for this divine cause, regardless of the length of time for this struggle to prevail. Otto Tolischus writes --
"As for tipping off the outside world, the Japanese...dropped even their official mask and proclaimed their true aims unabashed.
"But these true aims thus revealed are even more sweeping, more deeply ingrained in the Japanese national character, and more fanatically pursued than those of the Nazis. They contemplate nothing less than a 'glorious Hundred-Year War' for the destruction of American and European civilization" (Through Japanese Eyes, p. 2-3).
Even at a victory celebration after the fall of Singapore in February, 14, 1942, the Japanese Colonel Hideo Ohira proclaimed, "Japan is firmly determined to fight, in close collaboration with Germany and Italy, even a Hundred-Year War to crush the United States and Great Britain" (ibid., p. 7). Its aim is to dictate "peace to the United States in the White House at Washington".
During the war, posters went up in every Japanese city proclaiming:
"A Hundred Year War Never has Great Nippon known defeat. Rally round the Imperial Throne and fight on, for this is a HUNDRED YEAR WAR" (The Other Hundred Years War, p. 90).
A few days after the message of the Emperor's broadcast began to sink into the minds of the Japanese army, Russell Braddon, one of the surviving Australian prisoners of war, had mixed feelings while waiting in Changi for an Allied ship to take him home. He relates this account,
"We waited for ships to come and take us home, serenely uninterested in the details of Japan's formal surrender to MacArthur on the decks of the Missouri in Tokyo Bay, and completely unenthused by the prospect of the promised War Trials. Not because we disapproved of them: simply because we had won the war and thought nothing Japanese any longer mattered.
"The day of departure -- and of partings -- came abruptly. As I walked toward the convoy of jeeps that would transport us to the docks, I passed one of the Imperial Japanese Army's few English-speaking officers who was being escorted into gaol. In a spirit half of elation and half of spite, I turned and shouted, 'This war last one hundred years?'
"'Ninety-six years to go,' he called back; and neither of us bothered to bow" (The Other Hundred Years War: Japan's Bid for Supremacy 1941-2041, p. 129).
Japan therefore has a long-term destiny and goal to force a peace treaty upon the United States -- this time they intend the peace agreement to be concluded at the White House after bringing the U.S. to her knees.
In a Japanese-controlled Batavia Radio broadcast in December 5, 1943, Japan uttered a similar thought-provoking warning, "If Japan's constructive war objective cannot be fulfilled in out time, it is to be carried forward to the next generation, and if still it is not yet done, it is to be sent over to the succeeding generations until final victory and peace is assured" (Through Japanese Eyes, p. 9).
"Those who do not understand the true intentions of the Japanese ought to go to Hell" -- Tokyo Radio, February 1, 1942 (ibid., p.47).
The war continues -- 28 more years to go?
Be sure to read our article, Is Japan Going Nuclear?
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