Enemies of Japan Oppose Religious Freedom

Recently the President of the Republic of Korea and the communist bandit government of the People's Republic of China issued protests against Japanese people, including a few politicians, praying at the Yasukuni Shrine to mark the end of World War II and remember those who lost their lives in the conflict. Yes, again. The President of South Korea called on Japan (again) to "face up" to history. Again, I would ask, how is Japan expected to demonstrate this? I would really like to know. Japan has already apologized numerous times to Korea and China, Japan has already paid billions in reparations to these countries. Treaties and agreements have been signed and none of it seems to have worked. So, what exactly is that these countries want Japan to do? Apologize? Again? That hasn't worked. Pay more money? Why? That hasn't worked. These governments get upset every time anyone visits Yasukuni Shrine so the only thing that I can think of that must be the answer is that they expect the Japanese government to just shut down Yasukuni Shrine altogether or forbid any Japanese people from going there. In other words, what the Red Chinese and Korean republican governments really have a problem with is freedom of religion.

Communist China, we know, does not believe in religious freedom and never has but I am sure the South Korean government at least would dispute that. However, what else is left? I ask the question again; what is that they want Japan to do in order for them to finally put the past behind them and move forward? It seems that nothing will satisfy them except the total surrender of all independence and sovereignty on the part of Japan. Think I am being extreme? Well, what else is left? What do these governments always complain about these days? They complain about territorial disputes, the Yasukuni Shrine and Japanese textbooks. So, in effect, what they are saying is that these foreign governments want to be able to dictate to Japan on what territory is Japanese and what is not, where Japanese people can worship and where they cannot and what Japanese can teach their children and what they cannot. How is that anything less than a complete dissolution of Japanese sovereignty and independence? How does that not reduce Japan to not being a free country at all? It is time for Japan to say that enough is enough. Even from the highest level, His Majesty the Emperor himself, has said that he would apologize to South Korea if that would make them happy and restore friendly relations. Seoul said nothing in response because they know it will not. Apologies have gotten Japan nowhere, paying and paying and paying have gotten Japan nowhere. All that is left is the total sell-out of independence and Japan has to draw a line and stand firm.

In Honorable Memory

On this day in 1945 the representatives of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan signed the official surrender to the representatives of the Allied nations, officially ending World War II. As such, it is an appropriate time to remember and honor all of those who gave their lives in honorable service to the Emperor, showing great valor and self-sacrifice under the most difficult circumstances. May they never be forgotten.

HM the Showa Emperor visiting Yasukuni Shrine

HM the Emperor of Manchukuo visiting Yasukuni Shrine

General Yamashita Tomoyuki 山下 奉文

When one thinks of the great military figures of World War II, the names most likely to come to mind are, naturally, those from the winning side; names like General Eisenhower, General Patton, General MacArthur or Field Marshal Montgomery. Some, even at the time, did also point out the military talent employed by the Axis forces and names like Manstein, Model and Rommel are remembered as well. Not as often remembered is the name of General Yamashita of the Japanese Imperial Army. Yet it was General Yamashita, nicknamed the “Tiger of Malaya” who inflicted the most stunning defeat ever suffered by the forces of the British Empire. One would think the man who accomplished what so many at the time considered absolutely impossible, the capture of the British fortress-city of Singapore, would be better known. It was possibly the most astounding single victory of the entire war and yet, while the fall of Singapore has certainly not been forgotten, little is ever said about the man who carried it out. There are presumably a number of reasons for this, but it may also be possible that part of the reason is that the fate of General Yamashita after the war must stand as one of the great injustices of the period which the presiding Allied powers would prefer to be forgotten.

Yamashita Tomoyuki was born on November 8, 1885 in Osugi village (today Otoyo village) in Kochi prefecture on Shikoku. His father was the town doctor but Yamashita was trained for a military career from early in life, his family sacrificing to send him to military school and finally to the Imperial Japanese Army Academy from which he graduated, a respectable eighteenth place in 1905. Promoted in the following years, Yamashita saw his first combat as a junior officer in World War I in the capture of the German colony in Shantung, China in 1914. Promoted to captain, he graduated from the Army War College, sixth in his class, in 1916. That same year he married the daughter of a veteran, retired general. From World War I and into the following years Yamashita became known as an expert on Germany. He was posted to Switzerland and Germany in those years before returning to Japan in 1922, was promoted to major and served at the Staff College and the Imperial high command. He earned further promotion but his career suffered due to the political intrigues within the Imperial Japanese Army.

As part of the “Imperial Way Faction”, Colonel Yamashita was part of the group that wanted to return to ancient Japanese values, eradicate all western influences, socialism, capitalism, bureaucrats and political parties. They imagined having a “Showa Restoration” that would restore the Emperor to total, direct power over the government and then wage a climactic fight to the death against the emerging power of the Soviet Union. However, opposing them was the “Control Faction” led by General Hideki Tojo, composed of more mainstream conservatives who favored a more cautious and defensive approach to national expansion. They also tended to favor more industrialization and technological developments in weaponry over spiritual purity and the samurai warrior code (and the big business capitalists would be key to funding that) while keeping politics centralized and apart from the person of the Emperor. When General Tojo and the “Control Faction” gained ascendancy Colonel Yamashita and his compatriots were moved out of the way and he was transferred to Austria in 1928, though still promoted to full colonel the next year.

Fortunately for Yamashita, his talent continually allowed him to escape from difficult situations brought on by his nationalist political beliefs. In 1930 he was given the very prestigious command of the third infantry regiment of the Imperial Guard. By the summer of 1934 he had achieved the rank of major general. However, on February 26, 1936 a group of young army officers attempted a coup. Part of the plan included the assassination of the prime minister and taking control of the Imperial Palace. They were unsuccessful and Yamashita had no part in it, however, he asked for leniency toward the perpetrators and because of that earned the disapproval of the Emperor who was appalled by such a breakdown of discipline. In the aftermath of this incident, Yamashita changed his politics somewhat and became increasingly alarmed by the belligerency of many of those in power. He opposed expanding the war with China, in fact he favored ending it completely as Yamashita viewed it as a drain on the Japanese army with little to gain from it. He also opposed those in power who advocated a war against the United States and Great Britain. This was not a total break from the past, however, as the Imperial Army in general and the faction Yamashita had been associated with in particular had always focused on the Soviets as the real threat Japan faced while the Imperial Navy tended to favor a focus on southeast Asia which would have meant war with Britain and America.

After good service fighting insurgents in northern China as commander of the Fourth Division, General Yamashita was given command of the 25th Army in November of 1941, part of the Southern Expeditionary Army Group in what was then French Indochina (Vietnam). After the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of war between Japan, the United States and Great Britain, General Yamashita launched the invasion of British-held Malaya on December 8, 1941. This would prove to be the high point of his military career and he performed his assigned duties brilliantly, defying the odds and astonishing military experts around the world. Thanks to careful study beforehand and the assistance of Malaysians opposed to British colonial rule, General Yamashita had far more information on his enemy than they had on his forces. Undermanned to begin with, the British forces suffered a setback at the start when Japanese air forces (operating out of French bases in Saigon) managed to destroy most British warplanes on the ground, giving them almost uncontested control of the skies over the battlefield. With initial attacks coming overland from Thailand and from amphibious landings by the sea, the British were pressed on multiple fronts and had to fall back. However, most expected that the rough terrain and dense jungles of the Malaysian peninsula would force the Japanese advance to be painfully slow and that the British would have plenty of time to counter them.

However, General Yamashita surprised everyone with the speed of his advance, making use of light tanks (British forces in the region had none) and most famously bicycles which allowed his men to move quickly through narrow jungle paths. When necessary the Japanese could also be picked up on the coast and moved by sea around impenetrable areas of the jungle. Troops brought in from India were soon defeated by the more experienced Japanese and as the British retreated, moving European residents to safety, many Malaysians felt themselves abandoned and began to turn against the British. On January 11, 1942 the Imperial Japanese Army marched unopposed into the capitol of Kuala Lumpur. This was blitzkrieg Asian style and observers were astonished by the speed and strength of General Yamashita’s advance. The 11th Indian Division offered stout resistance at Kampar, holding up the Japanese advance for a few days, but with control of the coastal seas, General Yamashita was able to outflank them with an amphibious landing and resume his advance southward. British imperial forces (mostly Indian troops) fell back to the Slim River where General Yamashita launched a daring nighttime attack that utterly devastated two Indian brigades and which prompted the top British commander, General Arthur Percival to replace the Indian Division with Australian troops.

At Johor, the British forces made their ‘last stand’ as it were on the Malaysian peninsula and the defending Australian troops made a ferocious and determined defense which held up the Japanese advance and inflicted heavy casualties. Again, General Yamashita moved to outflank the strong point and, unfortunately for the British, the west coast was defended by an Indian brigade that was inexperienced and poorly trained. The Japanese forces easily defeated them and the supporting Australian units also suffered heavy casualties before being cut off and forced to withdraw. However, their determination had bought time for the bulk of the British colonial forces to retreat. However, there was no real safe place for them to retreat to as General Percival had not allowed the construction of any defensive fortifications on the grounds that these would be bad for morale! Such an attitude, not uncommon amongst American forces at the beginning of the war either, can only be attributed to a (probably racist) over-confidence and underestimation of the military prowess of the Japanese. By January 31, 1942 the last of the British forces had left the Malaysian peninsula and blown up the causeway connecting Johor and Singapore. General Yamashita had conquered Malaysia and done it with greater speed and ease than anyone had thought possible.

Singapore was the great British bastion of the region, known as the “Gibraltar of the Far East” it had long been deemed an impregnable fortress by military experts. Yet, the British had never expected an Asian power to attack from the mainland and the fortifications of Singapore were built to withstand an attack from the sea by rival colonial powers from Europe. Still, they were fighting a defensive battle from a fortified base against an enemy they had outnumbered to a considerable extent. Nonetheless, General Yamashita knew he had the momentum of his offensive behind him. Already he was being called the “Tiger of Malaya” for his rapid advance and he kept up the pressure, doing all in his power to give the British the impression of having an irrepressible force. To an extent, the battle came down to nerve and General Yamashita successfully gambled that the British were already beaten in their minds. When the British requested a truce to discuss terms, General Yamashita executed a perfect bluff, giving the impression that Singapore was already at his mercy and that the garrison could be crushed swiftly and easily. The ferocity of his repetitive attacks, combined with his confident attitude made it all work perfectly. General Arthur Percival believed he was totally outmatched and on  surrendered Singapore and his entire garrison to General Yamashita on February 15, 1942. The most formidable British military base in Asia had fallen to a Japanese force of only about 30,000 that, by that time, were practically out of ammunition. In the whole campaign over 100,000 British and Commonwealth troops had been captured and the fall of Singapore marked the largest mass surrender of British troops in history.

General Yamashita became an instant hero in Japan and British morale suffered with Prime Minister Churchill calling the loss of Singapore the worst disaster in British military history. However, Yamashita still had enemies in high places and his success worked against him. Not long after his greatest triumph, General Hideki Tojo had Yamashita reassigned to a relatively unimportant command in the Empire of Manchukuo. He did not return to front-line duty until 1944 when, after Tojo and his government had fallen due to the worsening war situation, he was assigned to the Japanese forces defending The Philippines. Unfortunately for the general, he had little time to organize things as American forces began landing only ten days after his arrival. The fighting was brutal and ugly but General Yamashita performed with his old brilliance. Against impossible odds he maintained a slow, fighting withdrawal that inflicted heavy losses on the Allies. He was still holding out, his army reduced to around 50,000 men, when the Emperor announced the unconditional surrender of Japan. Upon learning of this, General Yamashita surrendered his army to Allied forces led by U.S. General Wainwright and British General Percival, the same man who had surrendered Singapore to him.

What happened next was a disgraceful display of injustice by the victorious Allied nations. Rather than wait for a full, formal trial, General Yamashita was accused of war crimes and brought before an American military tribunal in Manila. A full re-telling of the complete travesty of justice that was the “trial” of General Yamashita would be extensive but, in brief, he was being held responsible for atrocities carried out without his orders and, indeed, without even his knowledge. Even a number of American personnel were outraged by the treatment of General Yamashita and warned their countrymen to consider the possibility that someday that same measure of justice might be employed against their own generals. Their championing of his case, though futile, was enough to impress General Yamashita who, despite having every justification for feeling nothing but hatred toward the United States, came away impressed with the integrity of those who defended him so vigorously even if unsuccessfully. As expected, he was swiftly condemned and ordered to face execution, yet even at the end, General Yamashita had nothing but kind words for the Americans who had argued his case saying, “I don’t blame my executioner. I’ll pray the gods bless them.”

Just to be clear, not only was General Yamashita not guilty of wrongdoing, he had displayed his honorable and upright attitude as a soldier on many occasions. For example, after the fall of Singapore, a small group of Japanese soldiers massacred most of the staff and patients at Alexandra Hospital. When he learned of this, General Yamashita had the officer in charge executed and he personally apologized to the survivors for what had happened. In the aftermath he had several Japanese soldiers executed for looting and unlawful killings. The larger atrocities for which he was blamed occurred in the Philippines but the truth is that Yamashita had not known of these events, he certainly had not ordered them and he was not even in a position to have stopped them had he known as he was not the senior officer present. It was Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi who had taken command and decided to make a fight in Manila, an operation General Yamashita had opposed as futile and wasteful. However, Admiral Iwabuchi was not available for punishment as he had killed himself with a hand grenade just before Manila fell to the American forces. General Yamashita was made to become a scapegoat and it also helped that he had been responsible for one of the worst defeats the Allies had suffered in World War II.

General Tomoyuki Yamashita was hanged on February 23, 1946 at Laguna Prison Camp, 30 miles south of Manila. His lawyers appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court which upheld the decision (not surprisingly as few would even think of sparing so prominent a Japanese general in the aftermath of World War II) but the two justices who dissented from the decision, for the first time, spoke of international human rights and called the entire trial “a miscarriage of justice, an exercise in vengeance, and a denial of human rights”. Nonetheless, the precedent set by the trial of General Yamashita remains in effect to this day. It is only fortunate for the Allies, particularly the Americans, that they have never yet suffered a defeat which placed any of their commanders in the position of being held responsible for the crimes of others even if they had no knowledge of them whatsoever. What should be perfectly clear is that General Yamashita was not a war criminal. He was an honorable man, one of the most successful commanders the Imperial Japanese Army has ever had and a commander who won a campaign and a battle that must stand as one of the most astounding in military history.

皇太子ご夫妻が復興支援イベントで中高生ら激励（13/08/06）

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New Ship Launched

Today Japan launched a new vessel for the Maritime Self-Defense Force, the flat-topped destroyer / helicopter carrier "Izumo". This is the largest warship produced by Japan since the days of the old Imperial Japanese Navy. Of course, the communist bandit government in Peking has expressed "concern" about this ship and the possibility that it could be modified to be an actual aircraft carrier. Yes, Red China, which has a navy twice the size of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, which recently bought a rusty old carrier on the cheap from the Russians with plans going ahead to build one of their own, is alarmed by Japan launching this one ship. That should tell people a lot about how insecure the communist Chinese are about their naval forces. Let them. Let them be aware and not forget that Japanese naval forces have a history of winning victories over forces far larger than their own. Cheers to the new ship and God bless all those who sail in her.

Comments of Mr. Aso and Is Japan Really the Bad Guy?

Recently, Japanese Finance Minister Aso made some poorly chosen remarks about the need for constitutional reform and rearmament in Japan. There was really nothing at all wrong with what he said, but it was poorly chosen because he should have known that you cannot bring up the name of Adolf Hitler unless you are making a blatant, unequivocal condemnation or comparing a political opponent to the late dictator (I think that’s how it works, but it has to be a conservative). What Minister Aso was talking about was pointing to the example of what Hitler did in Germany in going about changing the constitution and rebuilding the German military. He should have known to stay away from such a comparison because it should be expected that people are going to freak out all over the world (especially in the west) anytime Hitler or the Nazis are mentioned. However, there really was nothing wrong with what he said. He was actually saying that Japan should learn from the example of Hitler about how NOT to change your constitution, but that they should do the opposite, being open and honest about the entire process. However, that fact, the entire point of what he was saying, has been completely ignored by the leftist media that not only goes hysterical anytime Hitler or the Nazis are mentioned by someone other than a communist but which also has a blatant prejudice against Japan and in particular those Japanese who want to strengthen their country and stand up to the aggression of their republican neighbors (mostly Red China and North Korea).

Mao -bloodiest dictator in history

Minister Aso has withdrawn his statement but he has refused to resign from office and the Abe government has said he will not be dismissed from his post. That is all well and good because the man said nothing outrageous at all, the only mistake was in not realizing what a tremendous double standard exists when it comes to Japan (the only remaining monarchy in northeast Asia by the way). As usual, much of the phony outrage over this statement has come from Communist China. You know, that country that still hero-worships Chairman Mao Zedong who actually killed way more people than Hitler and the Nazis did and gets really touchy anytime any foreign country criticizes them for how they do things in their country. The Chinese communists and their bandit government in Peking is, of course, not really upset at what the Japanese Finance Minister said, they could care less, but they are really upset about the idea of constitutional reform in Japan because the last thing they want is to see Japan strengthen itself. It is also convenient to make trouble with Japan anytime the communist dictator of China needs to provide a distraction to the Chinese peasants who occasionally become angry that their Maoist dictatorship has not provided the heaven-on-earth they were promised. Sure, the sons of the Communist Party bosses are all multi-millionaires now, but most Chinese are still as poor as they have ever been.

Because of this, on every occasion like this, the Chinese communists can be counted on to bring up World War II. Part of this is because they are still bitter about the fact that their legitimate Emperor was restored to his ancestral throne for a while and because they were never able to defeat the Japanese on their own. However, it is also to provide a rallying point for their own people and to try to sway world opinion against Japan and in favor of mainland communist China. What is alarming is how successful they have been at this and how many useful idiots go along with the communist Chinese propaganda. They have actually managed to convince some people that modern Japan is a nation full of nationalist, right-wing fanatics who are always only one step away from conquering East Asia all over again. This would come as a surprise to anyone who knows anything at all about Japan, perhaps the only country in the world where something as basic as flying the national flag or playing the national anthem is considered controversial because it might upset the neighbors. Japan is an officially pacifist country, unlike communist China which was born out of a civil war and only exists because of military aggression. Odd that. Yet, I am amazed to see their propaganda continuously parroted by useful idiots in various parts of the world. It is time to cut through the nonsense and look at the facts.

Communist China likes to pretend that they are the perpetual victims and that Japan is always the villain of the story. That is partly why they love to keep bringing up World War II and, usually, grossly exaggerated Japanese misdeeds all those many years ago. However, people need to step back and just look at the basic facts of the situation. If you do, anyone with half a brain will be able to see just how absurd this propaganda line from the bandit government in Peking really is. First, we should look at the historical record to see which government, Japan or Red China, has been the most aggressive throughout history. Both countries as they are today have been around for about the same length of time, so this should be a fair comparison. The People’s Republic of China was proclaimed in 1949 and the current State of Japan came into being in 1947 with the adoption of the post-war constitution, replacing that of the former Empire of Japan. After all, it would not be fair to hold the bandit government in Peking responsible for everything done by the Republic of China and the Qing, Ming and all the previous dynasties of Imperial China just as it would be unfair to hold modern Japan responsible for everything done by the old Empire of Japan (even though many do) since in each case, the values and principles and policies of the countries changed dramatically from what they had been to what they are now.

So, since 1949 the Communist Chinese have invaded Tibet, South Korea, Burma, India, Sikkim (which is today part of India but at the time was still a protectorate of India), Bhutan (yes, even them in 1959), Soviet Russia and Vietnam. That seems a bit lengthy, though to be fair, they never succeeded at much other than when they were fighting populations of Buddhist pacifists. On the other hand, since 1947, Japan has invaded…no one! So, in the same period of time that China launched military attacks into Tibet, South Korea, Burma, India, Sikkim, Bhutan, Russia and Vietnam the Japanese have attacked no one. It seems lopsided doesn’t it? But, the Japanese did adopt a constitution that makes it illegal to use military force to settle disputes so perhaps that gave them an unfair advantage. Perhaps it also helps to make them an inviting target? After all, the Chinese communists have been known to attack people who do not believe in violence; just ask any of the survivors of the massacres in Tibet -if you can find them. Alright, so much for the historical argument; how about current military preparedness? Well, on the one hand you have Japan with a Self-Defense Force of less than 250,000 active duty personnel. On the other you have Communist China, home of the People’s Liberation Army which has a standing force of over 2,200,000 along with the largest air force in the world and an extensive nuclear arsenal. They also have a navy twice the size of the Maritime Self-Defense Force of Japan (though thankfully of a much lower quality).

That, by itself, should be enough to settle this in the minds of most people who actually have the ability to think. There is China, which has attacked numerous countries, has an arsenal of nuclear weapons, the largest air force in the world, a standing army of over 2 million led by a government which has butchered tens of millions of people which is claiming that the other country, Japan, which has attacked no one, has no nuclear weapons, a pacifist constitution and a Self-Defense Force of 250,000 -is the bully looking for trouble. How anyone, even the useful idiots who still think communism sounds “cool” can buy what the Chinese government is selling frankly astounds me. Most of the tensions today between Red China and Japan revolve around the disputed ownership of the Senkaku Islands, which China only suddenly claimed had “always” belonged to them after the U.S. occupation of Japan ended and after it began to seem that there might be oil and gas deposits in the surrounding waters. Isn’t that convenient? It is also worth noting that there is scarcely any neighbor of mainland China that the bandit government in Peking does NOT have a territorial dispute with. The communist Chinese have currently made claims on the territory of the Republic of China on Taiwan (of course), North Korea, South Korea, Tajikistan, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Japan, The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and even little Brunei. They can scream all they want about World War II, jump on a throw-away line that mentions Hitler (they don’t think freedom of speech should exist in Japan) and they can shriek every time someone visits the Yasukuni Shrine (they don’t think freedom of religion should be allowed in Japan either) but a simple look at the facts should be enough to prove to any intelligent person that it is Communist China that is being belligerent and looking for trouble, NOT the State of Japan.

That’s my two cents. I pray that one day the bandit government in Peking will be overthrown, that China will return to following the Heavenly commands and restore friendly, respectful relations with all their neighbors. Until that time, everyone else must stand strong. God bless the island nation of Japan and long live the Emperor.