How Japan started the war with the US

This article is based on Kazutoshi Hanto's "Showashi (The History of Showa) " for organizing a part of Japanese history with a certain viewpoint. I don't think that this is the one and only truth.

1928

Kwantung army (Japanese troops in northeast China) assasinated Zhang Zuolin, the warlord of Manchuria.（Japan had supported him, however he began to get out of Japan's control, therefore the Kwantung army murdered him secretly without permission. After that, many people were suspicous about the Kwantung army imvolvement.）



The Zhang Zuolin assasinated place (All pictures in this article are public domain from Wikipedia Commons, unless otherwise described)

1929

(1) The emperor ordered the prime minister Tanaka to survey the Zhang Zuolin incident. However, Tanaka couldn't complete his mission because of the army's interruption against Tanaka's survey, therefore the emperor reprimanded him. After that, Tanaka resigned as prime minister and died three months later. (At that time, Japanese people were taught that the emperor was God. Tanaka was heavily shocked from emperor's reprimand.)

PM Tanaka

(2) The emperor blamed himself for Tanaka's death and he made up his mind to accept the cabinet's consensus on proposals or reports if he was against them.　→ The emperor became "speechless"

Emperor Hirohito（1932）（Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-12923 / CC BY-SA 3.0 DE）

1930

(1) The delegation for the London Disarmament Conference got the agreement which Japan would be able to construct 69.75% of the support vessels compaerd to the US numbers, for the original target of 70%. Therefore they sent telegraph instructions for the navy's directions for the acceptance.

(2) At first, the Navy agreed with the delegation's instructions.

(3) The emperor approoved the delegation's instructions.

(4) After the Emperor's approoval, the Navy went against the instructions.

(5) The emperor was surprised at the Navy's change.

(6) For the London Disarmament Conference, the nongovernmental parties declared the theory "Never interrupting the Emperor's right to control the armies" → the parliament accepted the rule "Even though the PM never be against the army about war affairs"

(7) The government ratified the treaty of disarmament.

(8) Their opinion was normal as mass media: "The nongovernmental parties theory was merely a campaign to topple the government."

(9) The navy were separated to supporters and opponents of the Disarmament Conferece result. The supporters left the Navy and the opponents joined of key posts of the Navy.

1931 to 1932

(1) Yosuke Matsuoka (The vice president of Manchuria Railways) declared "Manchuria and Mongolia are the lifeline of Japan." → this was spread among the masses.

Mastuoka（1932）

(2) The tone of mass media was "the problem about Manchuria and Mongolia shouldn't be solved by the military power."

(3) The emperor ordered the minister of the Army, "The military discipline looks loose, therefore you should dicipline the Army to observe the military discipline."

(4) The Plannning Director of the Army Takekawa, who was ordered by the Minister of the Army to dicipline the Kwantung army, went to the office of the Kwantung army by train, not by airplane, because he was worried about persuading the Kwantung army.
The Kwauntung army got him drunk and he didn't persuade the army. After that, the Kwantung Army broke up the invasion to Manchuria (The Ryujoko Incident)

The Ryujoko Incident place

Tatekawa

(5) Suddenly the newspapers began to support the Kwantung army. Asahi and Mainichi (Japanese big quality papers) released many ads of them with a large budget and increased their number of sales.

(6) Prime Minister Wakatsuki said, "Did the Kwantung Army enter Manchuria? So we can't stop it anymore." (The approval of the Ryujoko Incident)

PM Wakatsuki

And the emperor ordered Prime Minister Wakatsuki, "As for the problem about Manchuria and Mongolia, you should maintain the strengthening of Japan-China relations."

(7) The US noted that Japan's invasion of China is a violation of the non-belligerence pact. (Before that, it was relatively conciliatory to Japan.)

(8) The emperor declared "The Kwauntung army did a good job" * *The author of this book said, "This is the biggest mistake of the Emperor.

(9) Manchuria (virtually Japan's puppet state) was established.

Inauguration Ceremony of Chief Executive of Manchukuo

(10) Commander Honjo and Staff Officer Ishihara, the main manipulators of the Ryujoko Incident, who should have gotten the death penalty according to the militaly rules, got a promotion instead. *The author of this book said, "This is the moment of the Showa era collapses."


Honjo (1933)

Staff Officer Ishihara (1934)

(11) China had difficulty confronting The Japanese Army because it was in the middle of the civil war (Chinese Nationalist Party vs Chinese Communist Party)

1932

Prime Minister Inukai was assasinated by young navy officers The Navy Genereral Saito became the PM (The end of party Government)

Osaka Asahi Shinbun

1933

(1) When the emperor heard the cabinet's plan to leave the League of Nations, he said "I think that Japan doesn't have to leave the LN and should stay in the LN."

(2) Japan left the League of Nations → It became difficult for Japan to get overseas information for proper political judgements.

Tokyo Asahi Shinbun on the following date of left the League of Nations

(3) "Go-Stop Incident" (The Osaka Police confronted the Army for their ignoring of red lights during their training then they were compromized.) (It was the last confrontation among the Army and civilians. After that, all the people in Japan never went against the Army)

1935

From 1910s to this year, the citizens, the government and emperor Hirohito supported the "emperor-organ" theory, which means that the owner of the sovereignty of Japan is the citizens, not the emperor, and the emperor is one of the organs of the nation.
That year, Prime Minister Okada declared that Japan is a nation whose ruler is the emperor. After that, the government began to strictly control theories which were against the declaration including the "emperor-organ" theory."


PM Okada（1936)

1936

(1) The February 26 Incident broke out. (The incident was the abortive coup d'etat by young officers of the Japanese Army. They thought that they killed the old ministers and the emperor ruled directly then that Japan's social problems such as political corruptions or poverty in rural area were solved. They killed some ministers and occupied some mass media buildings. After that, the emperor quickly commanded they eliminated. The leaders of the incident were then executed.)
After this incident, the army began to controled the government and took advantage of fear of terrorism like this incident.

Officers at the February 26 Incident

(2) From the beginning, he commanded the army and police to deal with the incident.

(3) The cabinet (PM Hirota) implemented a rule which let only an active service military officer be assigned to minister of the army or of the navy. This rule gave the army strong power to control the cabinet.

PM Hirota

1937

(1) The regimental commander of a area of China, Mutaaguchi, commanded his soldiers to resist The Chinese army, which fired two bullets at them during training at night. However, his boss, the brigade commander Kawabe, admitted it without speaking. Then, the second Sino-Japanese War began.


Mutaguchi

Chinese army against Japanese army

(2) The German Ambassador to China, Oskar Trautmann, attempted to make a peace between the Japanese Army and Chiang Kai-shek of the Chinese Kuomintang Government. (Trautmann Mediation) .

1938

The Japanese prime minister Konoe refused the Trautmann Mediation. He declared, "We have decided not to negotiate with the the Chinese Kuomintang government anymore."

PM Konoe

1939

(1) The National Spiritual Mobilization Law takes effect. (The government began to control its citizens' lives and thoughts to save resources and to use them for the military. They refrained from a luxury lifestyle. For example, perms for hair were prohibited. Propaganda phrases like: "Luxury is our Enemy" "We never want anything till we win [wars]" "Kill our selfish minds and let our nation prosper")

"Luxury is our Enemy!"

(2) German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact concluded.

(3) The General staff office of the Japanese army was shocked at German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact (They were lacking the ability to research and analyze the movement of world affairs.)

(4) The Emperor commanded the government to cooperate with the UK and the US.

(5) World War II broke out (Germany invaded Poland.) "

1940

(1) Representative Takao Saito criticised the Army that it didn't end the Japan-China war, and was expelled from the diet by the Army. (This was the last critical comment from the Diet to the army.)

Rep. Saito（1929)

(2) The US declared the abolition of the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and the USA and prohibited the export of steel from the US to Japan.

(3) The Japanese army entered the northern area of French Indochina (Vietnam)

1941

(1) Japan signed the Tripartite Pact between Japan, Germany and Italy.

(2) The US proposed an improvement plan for US-Japan relations from two Americans, Bishop Walsh and Father Drought, to a Japanese banker, Ikawa.

(3) Both the Cabinet and the Japanese Army accepted the improvement plan. However, Prime Minister Konoe decided to wait for the opinion of Matsuoka, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who had been abroad. After his arrival in Japan, he ended up refusing the plan.

(4) Hull, the Secretary of State told the US policies to Nomura, the ambassador to the US that Japan had to "withdraw from the Tripartite Pact, China and Northern area of French Indochina", and "give the US the opportunity for getting involved in Manchuria concessions."

(5) On the 2nd of July, the second supreme conference in the presence of the emperor decided the direction of "We won’t hesitate to enter into a war against the US"

(6) The Japanese army made an entered the southern area of French Indochina.

Japanese army in Saigon

(7) The US froze Japanese assets in the US and prohibited the export of oil to Japan.

(8) Seeing the agenda of the supreme conference in the presence of the emperor, the emperor asked Sugiyama, the Army Chief of Staff.
Emperor: You wrote "First: preparing for war. Second: diplomatic negotiation". Is it a reverse sequence, isn't it?
Chief: We (army) are able to solve the problem in Southeast Asia within three months after the beginning of war against the US.
Emperor: When the Japan-China incident (war) began, you said you would end the war in China within one month. However, now four years have passed, you didn’t end the war in China.
Chief: China is vast therefore the plan hasn’t progressed as planned.
Emperor: The pacific is larger than China, isn't it?
Chief couldn't reply to the emperor.

Sugiyama（1944)

(9) Prime Minister Konoe proposed a summit conference with President Roosevelt.

(10) President Roosevelt refused a summit with Japan.

(11) PM Konoe resigned as Prime Minister. Just two days after, Tojo (war plan supporter) constructed his cabinet.

PM Tojo

(12) Every newspaper supported the start of Tojo cabinet. For instance, Tokyo Nichinichi (daily) News wrote "The beginning of all one-hundred-million-Japanese people army progression"

(13) The Japanese government asked the US to "Export oil to Japan, in exchange for withdrawal from French Indochina"

(14) The US refused Japan's request and told them that "Japan must resume Asia as the condition in 1931"

Hull, Nomura and Kurusu on 7 December 1941

(15) On the 1st of December, Japan decided to declare war against the US at the fourth supreme conference in the presence of the emperor.

Franklin Roosevelt signing declaration of war against Japan

The chart of "How Japan started the war with the US"

"(1) " and (2) "… in the box mean the order of incidents in the same year. -Red ink means the reasons that began the war, green ink means the important incidents that changed Japanese society or conditions.

How common are job transfers away from their family in Japan?

It is not rare that Japanese businessmen (not including businesswomen) experience job transfers away from their family. They live alone away from their family for about three years in exchange for their new position in an office far from their home.

How common are such transfers in Japan?

A government survey said, "men who have a family but live alone and aren't divorced" in all Japanese family numbers is 2.5%*.

However, I disagree somewhat. As a big company (means it has many offices all over Japan) worker, my feeling is about 10 to 20% ("tanshin funin" (Japanese word for job transfer away from their family) of men among my all headquarters offices) or 5% (among my all regional offices). I have never met any businesswomen who have experienced tanshin-funin in my company except only one case.

Photo by Pawel Janiak on Unsplash

Why do Japanese big companies mandate such transfer of their workers?

Actually, companies never command their workers to live apart from their families for work. Companies prepare their new home and pay for the move. However, workers choose to live alone after discussing with their families. They value "not changing the children's school and friends" or "not changing the environment for raising kids. (frequently means their wife's mother living near their home) than "living family together" .

Anyway, such hard choices in families never appear if big companies never mandate such transfers. Why? Many companies including my company say the reason why is "the result of thinking what is the best position for workers to suit their abilities". I have never heard a clear reason from companies. In my opinion, a part of company's reason is true but the cost (workers' and their family members' quality of life getting worse) is so high, therefore the tanshin-funin system is very unreasonable.

How about me? In my company's custom (with no documented rules), if you become a manager, the first position will be far from your current area of residence. If you have family, you will experience tanshin-funin. Therefore I declined to receive the examination for a promotion.

One of some good results

This month (July of 2020), a famous Japanese confectionary maker has decided to abolish tanshin-funin because the telework environment has become popular. Fujitsu has also decided to switch from tanshin-funin to telework. The Coronavirus is causing huge problems all over the world but leaving some good results. Reduction of tanshin-funin must be one.



*The numbers of tanshin-funin(in Japanese)

World Coronavirus death rate per capita yields a discovery

In communicating with friends overseas, all of them talked about Coronavirus. In Japan, people also talk about the virus daily.

Therefore, when I compared the world’s Coronavirus death rates per capita, I found a correlation in the data. It is neither the race of citizens nor government action against the virus.

(All data and comments accurate as of the 9th of May, 2020)

Countries where friends of mine live

The Coronavirus death rate per 1 million capita on a country-by-country basis (Data and graphs generated by the website of Department of Medical Genome Sciences, Research Institute for Frontier Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine.)



You can see the tendency on the graph - "Europe and the US are high, Asia is low and Poland is in the middle."

Is this a result of government action? Italy, France and Spain are under strict lockdowns, Japan never entered into a lockdown because of not having the law to do so, however, the death rate in Italy, France and Spain is very high compared to Japan.

Why? Next, let’s examine the ten worst-hit countries.

The ten worst-hit countries

Western European countries and the US. That’s all.
The government action taken is very different. Sweden is famous for its lack of action in that the government never mandated a lockdown and still opened schools. Some other countries are under lockdowns. However, the death rates are similarly high.

Of course, I think that government action is effective and important. Germany isn’t among the worst 10 countries, and I suppose that it is a result of its government action.

However, the graph shows "the ten worst-hit countries are in western Europe and the US, including different actions against the virus."

If it is true, does the clear result depend on race or location?

Eastern European countries

(for comparison, Belgium continues to have the worst rate per capita)



Needless to say, Eastern and Western Europe are adjoining. Races and locations may be not quite different.

However, the death rates are different.

Why?

Eastern and Southeastern Asian Countries

Clearly a lower rate than European countries.

I think that the Japanese government’s actions against the virus are not enough. Some actions were appropriate (for example, checking the emerging virus clusters early on and treating people) but many other actions are not strict enough. No lockdown, late compensation for shops and restaurants (almost all shops and restaurants haven’t received compensation yet).

What is the reason for these differences? Race?

North America and Oceania

All the countries are ex-British colonies. (Now these countries have racially diverse populations)

However, the tendency is clear - "North America is high like western Europe, Oceania is low like Asia"

I can’t understand the reason.

South America

Africa

These two regions also have tendencies - "South America is in the middle like eastern Europe, Africa is low like Asia."

After comparing the rates of various regions

I found the tendencies among the death rate of Coronavirus victims of per capita as follows;
- Western Europe and North America are high
- Eastern Europe and South America are in the middle
- East and Southeast Asia, Oceania and Africa are low

The government action against the virus is effective, however, the difference of the death rate seems to depend on what region of the world the country is in.

Thus, not the race and government action, but the region has the most impact on the difference of the coronavirus death rates.

Anyway, I cannot understand the reason why region is so related to the coronavirus death rate.

I’m eagerly awaiting for the researchers to make it clear, sincerely hope the world can recover from this hard time.

Which was the best era in Japan? An interview with my grandparents who were born in the early 20th century

(Interviewing them and writing this article in May 2001, adding pictures in 2016)

Introduction

My grandparents on the day of their town's traditional festival

My grandparents will be 90 years old soon, three times my age. I wanted to know how the world they have seen has changed, so I interviewed them. (cooperating in creating questions by a friend of mine Mr.Kinami)

Profile of my grandparents

Grandfather

Born in 1911. He worked for Japanese National Railways, and was in charge of the planning office of the Osaka Administrative Bureau of Railways, etc.
He enjoys playing music. He plays the violin, trombone, and shamisen (Japanese guitar). He also likes collecting coins and stamps, and gardening. He is a heavy smoker, and a coffee-drinker. But amazingly, he is very healthy, he even smokes the strongest nicotine cigarettes.

My grandfather practicing the violin in their junior high school days in the 1920s

Grandmother

Born in 1912. After graduating elementary school, she was put to work. After getting married, she brought up one girl and four boys. She likes reading novels and gardening.

Interview Part 1: About the public at large

Q: In your opinion, which was the best era in Japan? : Before the war*, soon after the war, "high growth of the Japanese economy" era**, "bubble" era***, and the present.

* World War II
** circa 1955-1970
*** circa 1986-1990. Boom economy made stocks and real estimates incredibly high. This unsubstantial prosperity left some huge problems in the Japanese economic market, afterwards.

A: (Grandfather) I like the present days because we have lived without restraint.
(Grandmother) I like the present days because we live in an affluent society.
And I also think "before the war" era was good. People didn’t covet material belongings.

Q: Do you feel that there has been a moral degeneration in Japanese society? They say there is a marked decline in public morality, On the other hand, some other people say that we have embraced the process of reducing discrimination, etc.

A:(Grandfather) I think it is getting better. I feel that we are in the process of reducing some discrimination.
(Grandmother) On a superficial level, I think the present society is the best. There are many problems in society, but I don’t think that juvenile delinquency has increase as they say on the news.

Q: What has changed the most in the world?

A:(Grandfather) Cars have changed the world very much. But I think that motorization is the subject of discussion. First, it isn't effective that people use a car when they don’t really need to. People don’t realize problems (traffic jam, traffic accident, etc.) of using car. People should use public transportation. Second, They have caused a lot of environmental pollution. At least, diesel cars must be banned.
(Grandmother) When water pipes were laid, I felt it was very convenient. And I will never forget the way I felt when we bought a TV set and a washing machine.

Interview Part 2: About the war and Hirohito, the emperor

Q: What did you think when the Pacific War started?

A: (Grandfather) I thought that it was a very serious thing, but I wasn’t surprised, because the Manchuria Incident, etc. had already broken out and had escalated into the Pacific War. Therefore I didn’t feel that the Pacific War broke out suddenly.

Q: How did you feel when the war was over?

A: (Grandfather) I only felt that I had escaped death.
(Grandmother) I gave a sigh of relief.

Q: In your opinion, did you think Japan could win the war?

A: (Grandfather) I thought Japan couldn’t win against the U.S. After many air raids, when I saw Kobe city from the second floor of a building in Osaka* I felt it was the end of the battle.
* It is 30km (20miles) from Osaka to Kobe. Osaka has many tall buildings, so normally you cannot see Kobe even from the tenth floor of a building.

Osaka station after the 1945 air raid (quote from Wikipedia Commons)

(Grandmother) I thought Japan couldn’t win, too. During the war, when I said to a neighbor “Can we trust news releases from the Imperial Headquarters*?" she reproved me for the carelessness in saying so because it was unsafe to criticize the Imperial Headquarters.

*The top of Japanese Army. It released untrue news of Japan’s victories in the war despite their continual defeats during the second half of the war. Even now, Japanese use the word “the Imperial Headquarters’ releases" when companies, or the government releases untrue public announcements.

Q: When people were called into the army, was it really an honor for them?

A: (Both of grandfather and grandmother) In our opinion, nobody was happy to be called up, instead this usually meant their call to death yet it was honorable. However, men who couldn’t pass the standard and were not called up because of their physique were ashamed.
*People in Japan had a wartime custom in which they celebrated the man who was called into the army.

Q: Why did people accept the U.S. Occupation Army without rebelling soon after the war, even though the Japanese government had said, “The U.S. and the U.K. are the evil ogre and the beast" during the war?

A: (Grandfather) My co-workers and I discussed how Japanese National Railways welcomed the Occupation Army at a conference when they landed at the port of Wakayama (next to Southern Osaka). One of the reception members said, “I will attempt to wreck the train the Army members ride!" Of course his proposal was rejected, but he remained a member of the reception. Surprisingly, he later said, “The U.S. Army is great. They are gentlemen." when he was back from the reception.
I hadn’t heard what had happened in detail at the reception, but, in my opinion, the first members of the Occupation Army were picked based on their previous knowledge of Japanese people and culture. I didn’t hear any bad news about them during the occupation era. And I think that it was brilliant that the Army was very plentiful when the Japanese has no material things. It made it easy for the Japanese to open their hearts to the Army.
But, on the other hand, I think that the Japanese people surely feared the Army. When I went to a station to welcome the Army, there were no Japanese people near the station. Maybe they stayed in their homes all day long. However, three days after the arrival of the Army, I saw almost all the GIs accompanied by Japanese women in a train.
(Grandmother) They say, “When the Army comes, women never go out" very often.

Q: Did you think the Showa Emperor (Hirohito) was a God*?

A: (Grandfather and Grandmother) We didn’t think that the emperor was a transcendent human or the descendant of God. But we thought the Showa Emperor was an excellent man, so, we thought most Japanese people respected him at that time. Or else riot would break out.
*The Japanese government stated and educated pupils that the emperor was the descendant of God. But soon after the war (in 1946), the Emperor himself declared that he was a mere human.

Q: After the war, did you think that the Occupation Army would execute the Emperor?

A: (Grandfather and Grandmother) We didn’t think so. We thought the American Government didn’t tend to go to extremes, so they would not be so severe.

Q: Were you shocked by the picture of the small and neatly dressed Emperor posed next to the big and relaxed posture of General MacArthur?

MacArthur and Showa Emperor

A: (Grandfather) I felt that the emperor had no choice but to take the picture posed this way. And I found that the picture showed the Emperor’s determination to save Japan.

Interview Part 3: about life

Q: What is the most important aspect of life?

A: (Grandfather) First, it is health. Next, you must have a good partner. A woman is the power source of a man, I think. A man’s life is based on a woman. And it is key to be loved by people. Friends are very important.
Enjoy your life. I think it is meaningless if you don’t enjoy your own life.
(Grandmother) Health. I always take care of my husband’s health.

Q: What was the happiest event in your life?

A: (Grandfather) It was the time when I passed a promotion exam and became a proper government employee. And, it was when the war ended.
(Grandmother) It was the time when a spinning mill that I worked for gave me “allowance for filial piety" when I was a teenager.
My salary at the mill was one yen per day, so I earned 30yen per month. (I took only one day off per month) But I paid 18yen per month for medicine that my father needed.
One day, an employer called me suddenly and asked me how much I paid for my father’s illness. "I receive enough salary", I said, but he raised my pay to 50yen per month as "allowance for filial piety" starting the next month.

Q: What is the sad or sorry events of your life?

A: (Grandfather) When I was transferred to a rural station because of my boss felt me as insolent at my newcomer age.
(Grandmother) I cannot remember any sad events.

Q: What are events that you were surprised especially?

A: (Grandfather) I had no events that I can remember soon.
(Grandmother) I was anxious about my husband’s surgical operation (It succeeded)

Q: In your opinion, what is the key that you can maintain happy married life?

A: (Grandfather) I think it is love, even it is a conventional comments. I believe that a secret key is generally conventional.
(Grandmother) I think it is thankful mind. And, I thank that parents in law were very kind.

Q: What do you think you should have done?

A: (Grandfather) I am satisfied with my own life. Especially I feel lucky because I spend my business period that was substantial.
(Grandmother) I should have taken practice to write sentences formally.



My grandmother died in Dec 2003, my grandfather died in Dec 2011. Both of them passed away suddenly - without pain.



Osaka station in 2016

The Great Tokyo Air Raid - More Victims than the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb

The Great Tokyo Air Raid on March 10, 1945 from Wikipedia Commons public domains


On the day following my business trip to Tokyo, I visited The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage. I learned the following.

The scale of the Great Tokyo Air Raid

According to the contents of The Center, the US carried out its bombing raids on 120 of Japanese cities. The death tolls were 410,000 including atomic bombs / 200,000 excluding atomic bombs / 100,000 in one night of the Great Tokyo Air Raid, on March 10, 1945. That means the amount of the victims of the Great Tokyo Air Raid accounted for a half of all victims of normal bomb air raids in Japan.

cf. TIME - A Forgotten Horror: The Great Tokyo Air Raid

The contents of the Center

Many photos are displayed in the Center. The most shocking ones were as follows; (from Wikipedia Commons public domains)

-burned bodies
-burned bodies of a mother and her baby. Mother's back wasn't burned because of having carried her baby.


The Center has a good collection of data, chart and maps. I appreciate that the collection includes not only Tokyo but also ther places in Japan, as well as victims of non-Japanese.
- The records of air raids all over Japan
- The records of air raids in other countries, for instance, Dresden, Berlin, Hong Kong and Guernica.
- The records of air raids that Japan did (Chongqing, China)
- The records of Korean victims in Japan

Other Exhibits

- goods for air defence among regidents
- burned cap of a baby
- melted dishes sticking a roof tile
- a miniature of a room of standard home at that time
- leaflets of the US airborne propaganda (The Japanese government prohibited to pick such leaflets out, however, some of them remain. The contents of them were interesting. They were well-informed about Japan and Japanese history but too logical for Japanese people, I think. I think that Japanese people have tendencies to feel strongly logical explanations as offensive pursuits.) ( To be clear, personally I love logical explanations.)
- Things related children education, for example textbooks, magazines and posters. You can see a big change at the end of the war.
- many others

Curtis Emerson LeMay

At a small video booth, I watched the TV program about the Air Raids, which was broadcast by NHK (Japan's public station) in 1978/

The TV crew visited the mansion of Curtis Emerson LeMay, who was the planner and the commander of the Great Tokyo Air Raids. When I saw the scene, I remember the movie "13 days" describing the 1962 Cuban Crisis. In the movie, LeMay (of course an actor played as him) appeared as the top of the US Air Force. I presumed that one of the reasons why he got to the top was the success of the Tokyo Raids. (By the way, LeMay insisted on the air raids to Cuba at the Cuban Crisis. If President Kennedy accepted LeMay's argument, WWIII would have broke out, I think.)

LeMay said to TV crew of NHK, "I have nothing to say for Japanese reporters","No interviews" and "You may film my medals."A glass cabinet appeared. It is the showcase of his many medals. One of them is the one from the Japanese government in 1964. Why did the government give the medal to the man who commanded the massacre its citizens? The reason why was his cooperation to build Japan Air Self-Defense Force.

After watching the program, I checked this award out. When the government decided on the award, many diet members and citizens, including victims of the Air Raid, were against that. The Prime Minister Eisaku Sato (Liberal Democratic Party) gave an account to them, "Now, Japan has a friendly relationship with the US. If a US person earned an achievement, it is natural to reward for that, in spite of the past." I think that this incident is one of the symbols of the LDP's policy of "subservience to the US".

cf. Related Post; Why is the US military in Japan?

Meanwhile, the Showa Emperor didn't give the medal to LeMay directly, despite in the ordinary course of decoration events the Emperor gave medals directly to receivers.

The couse of the damage spreading

After learning above in the Center, I looked over the fire protection policy at the time of WWII as follows;

-In 1937, the Japanese government released the Guideline of Air Defense. It contained the principle "In the event of an air raid, never evacuate except for old people, children and sick people.
-In 1941, The Air Defense Law released, including "prohibit to evacuate" and "duty to fire extinguishing" This law was never changed till the end of the war.
-After the Great Tokyo Air Raid, newspapers said, "Never Run, Guard", "Protect Our Homeland"

Why did the government release such a policy? Was it better a policy of evacuation in order to keep soldier power and labor power than the "non-evacuation" policy? The committee of The Air Defense Law answered on Nov. 20, 1941, "The damage won't be massive. We have to be more afraid of confusion among citizen and corruption of people's will to accomplish the war than the real damage."

My opinion

The leader of the Great Tokyo Air Raid was the US Air Force. Therefore, the US Air Force at that time had direct responsibility for the Air Raid. However, the Japanese Government also had a big responsibility because of its decision to provoke war with the US and its policy not to protect its citizens' lives. I, as a Japanese citizen, must bear watching the current Japanese Government intending to do some of the same actions.

Related posts

-How do Japanese think about the Pacific War?
-How do Japanese think about the Pearl Harbor attack?
-Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor?
-What do Japanese people think of Korea and China? And unlike Korean and Chinese people, Taiwanese people tend to be fond of Japan,Why?
-Which was the best era in Japan? An interview with my grandparents who were born in the early 20th century

Visiting The Residence Restriction Area in Fukushima

"Road Restriction: Difficult-to-Return Zone"

The 2011 Tohoku earthquake had a death toll of 15,894, 2,561 missing and 6,152 injured (Natinal Police Agency (in Japanese) as of March 10, 2016). What's more, 171,000 evacuees from their devastated homeland as well as radiation from Fukushima nuclear power plant.（Reconstruction Agency (in Japanese) as of March 29, 2016)

Fukushima, located in northwest Japan, is far from my home in central Japan. Many people may think that Japan is small country, it is true, but it takes several hours to go from my home to Fukushima. Therefore many people in central Japan including me don't have chances to go there. So I didn't realize the reality of Fukushima. A friend of mine who lives in adjoining prefecture of Ibaraki invited me to go around "The Residence Restriction Area" in Fukushima. I accepted his invitation.

The Three kinds of Limited Area in Fukushima

Quote from Fukushima Revitalization Station (Fukushima Pref. Official)

In order of the amount of radiation;

-Difficult-to-Return Zone (pink); Off limits. The government made the barriers and the gates with help from the police. Residents cannot return their homes for the foreseeable future. Tokyo Electronic Power Company (TEPCO - the owner of Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant) compensated 14,500,000 yen (136,100 dollars or 119,700 Euro) for residents' suffering.

-Residence Restriction Area (yellow); The government permits residents to come to their homes (staying for the night is prohibited). TEPCO compensated 2,400,000 yen (22,500 dollars or 19,800 Euro) for the residents' suffering for two years.

-Zone in Preparation for the Lifting of the Evacuation Order (green); The government permits residents to come to their homes (staying for the night is prohibited) and operate their agricultural or forestry businesses. It proceeds with preference reconstruction and decontamination. TEPCO compensates 1,200,000 yen (11,250 dollars or 9,900 Euro) for the residents' suffering for one year.

No-Restriction (Normal) Area

Hisanohama area. Compared with my first photo (taken in 2011), all debris was demolished.

Zone in Preparation for the Lifting of the Evacuation Order

Tomioka Staion in 2008.

Tomioka Station in 2016.

Residence Restriction Area (Tomioka)

A Poster advertises The Cherry Blossom Festival of This Town in 2011, is still here in 2016

A crashed Police Car from when policemen guided people evacuees.



Driving in Residence Restriction Area

Cherry Blossom Road

This Signboard which says "Plesase view the cherry blossom from your car due to the high radiation levels in this area."

Beyond this point "Difficult-to-Return Zone"(Off-limit)

Return way

The Sign telling "No Bikes" in order to prevent direct contact from radiation.

Monitoring Posts. The Japanese Government tells to avoid to working outside if over 3.8 microSV/h

Changing my perception

Before visiting, my understanding about the area was merely limited to "map" and "data". However, driving throughout the area, I have physically realized the real size of the restriction area. Walking in the abandoned town, I imagined the ex-residents' whose everyday lives were destroyed. When I hear the news about people who evacuated from the area, I always recall scenes from this trip. Now I think that all the people who discuss the nuclear power plant issues, regardless whether pros or cons, have to visit the area.

Other Fukushima Towns outside Restriction Area

After visiting the restriction area, I took a trip to Aizu in Fukushima, which is over 120km from the area. Aizu and many other cities located in Fukushima but they still have normal everyday lives in these cities.

Related Posts

-A Day in Fukushima Nov 6, 2011, 8 months after the Big Earthquake
-My second trip to Fukushima June 02, 2013