I believe that there are still many such fanatical militarists in Japan, and the Japanese government still does not recognize the criminal history of the war of aggression against China.

Recently I saw an outrageous report. The 92-year-old Yuzaburo Hachio, a veteran of the Japanese invasion of China, told the media, "If Japan and China go to war, I will still pick up a gun and go to China!"

I I believe that there are still many such fanatical militarists in Japan, and the Japanese government still does not recognize the criminal history of the war of aggression against China.

Why does the Japanese militarism force still linger? Why do the Japanese not know their mistakes, confess their sins, or repent?

The arrogant veteran of the invasion of China

First, the small country’s small land has created the narrow-mindedness and narrow national character of the islanders of the small country.

Japan is a small country surrounded by sea. Counting large and small islands, Japan's land area is only 378,000 square kilometers.

Regarding Japan, Professor Wang Defeng of the Department of Philosophy of Fudan University once told such a joke:

"I have always had a question. Japanese people learn from Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism. , why can’t I learn the Chinese and Taoist ? "

" Once, I took a flight from Shanghai to Japan to give lectures. When I flew over Japan, I looked down at Japan through the porthole window, and the answer to the question I just had immediately came to me. ".

Professor Wang Defeng said humorously: "Looking from the air, Japan is like a worm lying on the sea. I know that this worm is also lying on the earthquake zone."

"It is such a harsh living environment that makes The Japanese cannot learn from China Taoist thought , why? Because Taoism advocates "taking a step back to open up the sky", how can Japan retreat? If Japan takes a step back, the Japanese will retreat into the sea. "

Professor Wang Defeng's words are humorous. There is a hint of ridicule in the words. However, Professor Wang Defeng made it clear that Japan has a small territory and many natural disasters, making it difficult for the Japanese to survive. Most Japanese people have a much stronger sense of survival crisis than the Chinese. Therefore, the common values ​​​​of the Japanese are based on the instinct of survival.

What is even more outrageous is that the Chinese generally sympathize with the weak, but the Japanese believe that "the weak are shameful", so it is natural for the strong to bully the weak.

It was precisely driven by this island nation mentality and national character that Japan took the war of aggression against China as a matter of course, and therefore did not know its mistakes, confessed its guilt, or wanted to repent.

Old photos of the Japanese invaders

Secondly, the Japanese government connives and indulges the right-wing forces, causing the lingering ghost of Japanese militarism.

In Japan, the "right wing" has always been a force that successive Japanese prime ministers dare not offend. This is because the "right wing" forces can influence Japan's foreign policy and even affect the political life of the Japanese prime minister.

Since the end of World War II , if the Japanese Prime Minister caters to the "right-wing" forces and adopts tough policies on historical and territorial issues, he will be able to secure the throne of Prime Minister. Otherwise, he can only be a "short-lived Prime Minister."

This is the real reason why the Japanese prime ministers refused to admit guilt and did not want to repent for the war of aggression against China. This also allowed the "right-wing" forces to have unlimited power in Japan.

The negative consequences of the Japanese government's pandering to "right-wing" forces and denial of its history of aggression are that Japan's "right-wing" forces have become increasingly arrogant and militarism has resurrected in Japan.

Among the people, the Japanese soldiers who participated in the war of aggression not only did not feel guilty, but instead had a supreme sense of honor. This is because the Japanese government not only gives them special honors, but also provides them with generous treatment and welfare policies.

It is understood that after the war, the Japanese government paid a large amount of condolence money to the families of every soldier who died in World War II. The Japanese government was even more generous to the veterans of World War II who were still alive.

Veterans of the invasion of China like Yuzaburo Yao can receive pension benefits equivalent to RMB 12,000 every month as long as they are alive.

allows an invader whose hands are stained with Chinese blood to enjoy hero-like treatment. This also reflects the Japanese government's attitude towards that war of aggression from one aspect.

Third, Japan has never admitted that it lost to China. It only admits that Japan was defeated by the United States.

As of this year, Japan has surrendered for 77 years, but have the Japanese admitted their defeat?

Objectively speaking, Japan did not fully admit its defeat, or at most it only admitted half of it, that is, Japan lost to the United States.

It can be seen from the " Final War Edict" of the Japanese Emperor that the war of aggression against China launched by Japan was forced to stop. Please note that it was "the end of the war", not "surrender".

Old photos Japan’s surrender signing ceremony

The Japanese do not admit that they were defeated by China. To this day, a large number of Japanese still think so: Japan is fully capable of occupying China, and Japan cannot be defeated by China.

They attribute the main reason for the "end of the war" to the United States' participation in the war. They believe that if it were not for the two atomic bombs, Japan would not have chosen the "end of the war", let alone stop the war of aggression against China.

In addition to the United States, the Japanese have also mentioned the Soviet Union on many occasions. To be honest, the Japanese have never taken the Soviet Union seriously. There are only two reasons why the Japanese "value" the Soviet Union:

One of them , the Japanese are deeply impressed by the Soviet Union's "Steel Torrent";

Secondly, Siberia is still a nightmare for many Japanese...

Therefore, the Japanese remember the "atomic bomb" of the United States and also remember it The Soviet Union had "Siberia", so it was submissive and subservient to the United States, and respectful and fearful of the Soviet Union.

In contrast, China does not seem to have left too deep a mark on Japan. After Japan surrendered, China neither sent troops to occupy Japan nor retaliated against Japanese prisoners of war. The vast majority of Japanese prisoners of war received humane care and mercy.

Some people say that the Japanese are ungrateful and repay kindness with hatred. Isn't this a "white-eyed wolf"?

What I want to say is that in the eyes of the Japanese, the self-righteous kindness of the Chinese is a sign of weakness, and the Chinese's "repaying evil with kindness" is destined to fail to awaken the long-lost conscience of the Japanese.

Fourth, as an aggressor, Japan not only failed to pay its due price, but actually gained a lot.

As the birthplace of fascism, Japan was severely attacked by the Allies in the late World War II and even suffered two atomic bombs from the United States.

However, for its own interests, the United States actually helped Japan escape punishment. At that time, the United States and Japan worked together and made a series of decisions that favored Japan and were extremely harmful.

First of all, the United States and Japan had private exchanges and helped Japan retain the "emperor system."

The retention of the "Emperor System" made the Japanese grateful for the "generosity" of the United States, and also made MacArthur the "Emperor" of the Japanese. Even those American soldiers enjoyed the treatment of "people are superior to others."

However, this move by the Americans has laid the foundation for the resurgence of militarism.

The U.S. Occupying Forces in the Gentle Countryside (1)

Secondly, some Japanese war criminals with heavy blood debts not only were not liquidated, but instead returned to politics. Shinzo Abe’s grandfather Nobusuke Kishi was one of them.

After Japan surrendered, Nobusuke Kishi was designated as a class-A war criminal and was imprisoned in Sugamo Prison in Tokyo.

However, under the protection of the Americans, Nobusuke Kishi was released the day after Hideki Tojo and seven other Class A war criminals were executed, and became the Prime Minister of Japan a few years later.

A Class-A war criminal actually became the Prime Minister of Japan. Can you still expect him to know his crime and plead guilty?

Third, When the Korean War broke out, Japan quickly made a comeback with the support of the United States, and surpassed the Federal Republic of Germany in 1968 to become the world's second largest economy.

Japan once again joined the ranks of developed countries. Under such circumstances, Japan's attitude towards the war became even more confident.

In addition, during the war of aggression against China, the Japanese plundered a large amount of resources and wealth from China. For an island country with scarce resources and the threat of volcanoes (tsunamis) at any time, these resources and wealth greatly promoted the rapid recovery of the Japanese economy. .

After talking about Japan’s “direct gains” in World War II, let’s talk about Japan’s “indirect gains”.

First of all, Japan's inherent territory has basically not been reduced, except that it had to return Taiwan and other robbed territories and the Southern Kuril Islands were controlled by Russia.

Under the manipulation of the Americans, Japan stole the jurisdiction of the Ryukyu Islands .

In addition, when the Chinese government officially regained Taiwan in September 1945, Taiwan included the Diaoyu Islands and its affiliated islands.

However, in September 1951, the U.S. military included the Diaoyu Islands and its affiliated islands within the scope of the Ryukyu Islands without authorization. Under this premise, Japan forcibly declared that "Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islands belong to the Ryukyu Islands." The islands are considered territory under Japan's so-called "effective control".

What's more, the Japanese sent marine police and engineering teams to the Diaoyu Islands in May 1969. They set up cement pillar-type "national standards" on the Diaoyu Islands and began to remove the traces of the Chinese on the Diaoyu Islands.

On August 31, 1970, Japan adopted legislation to confirm the ownership of the Diaoyu Islands. They called the Diaoyu Islands the "Senkaku Islands" and unilaterally claimed that "the Senkaku Islands belong to Japanese territory."

The U.S. Occupying Forces in the Gentle Country (2)

The Americans adopted a tacit attitude towards Japan's blatant violation of the provisions of the "Bostan Proclamation". On June 17, 1971, the Americans even designated the Ryukyu Islands and Diaoyu Islands as " "Administrative power" was "returned" to Japan.

In short, as one of the culprits of World War II , Japan was punished too lightly and received too much "cheapness". And all of this "depends" on the protection and connivance of the United States.

Conclusion

On December 7, 1970, Federal German Chancellor Brandt visited Poland . In front of the Jewish Monument in Warsaw, Brandt suddenly knelt in front of the monument. This sudden move shocked many people at the scene.

Brandt once said in his memoirs, "The reason why I did this is because language has lost its expressive power."

Brandt's "stunning kneeling" immediately became the headline news of major media and quickly spread throughout the world. spread around the world, attracted the attention of the international community, and generated unprecedented repercussions.

Brandt's "Shocking Kneeling"

Kneel down to the victims and sincerely reflect on the guilt of the war. Brandt's actions fully reflect Germany's introspective attitude towards the war.

Therefore, the relations between Germany and European countries were quickly eased, and Germany put down its heavy historical baggage.

However, as the birthplace of World War II, Japan's attitude towards that war has always been ambiguous. To this day, the Japanese have not sincerely said "I'm sorry" to the victims of the war.

Even when China and Japan established diplomatic relations, when talking about Japan's war of aggression against China , the Japanese initially said lightly - "Japan caused trouble to China during the war."

The Japanese rhetoric immediately aroused strong disgust and indignation from the Chinese side. At China's strong request, Japan changed that sentence to "Japan feels deeply its responsibility for the great damage caused to the Chinese people due to war in the past, and expresses its deep remorse."

The Japanese truly understand their mistakes, admit their guilt, and Have you repented?

I think that although the Japanese have modified their rhetoric under pressure, they have not fundamentally abandoned their existing positions and views.

Not only that, for many years, rampant Japanese right-wingers have been blatantly tampering with history. For example, they deny the Nanjing Massacre, quibble and confuse right and wrong on issues such as "comfort women", and describe the war of aggression against China as " A quagmire war with unknown purpose.”

We have seen that Japanese dignitaries are still visiting the Yasukuni Shrine. Even though they are strongly condemned by China and other neighboring countries, those Japanese still go their own way and never change their ways.

According to reports, the arrogant Japanese veteran Hachio Yuzaburo is 92 years old this year. Even though he is faltering, this "old devil" still brings some young Japanese people to visit the Yasukuni Shrine every year.

Japanese right-wingers are showing off in the city

Do the Japanese know their guilt? Is it possible for Japanese people to realize their sins and repent?

I think that according to the consistent nature of the Japanese nation, it may be difficult for us to wait until the day when the Japanese repent.

However, "Good deeds will be rewarded with good deeds, and evil deeds will be rewarded with evil deeds. It's not that they are not repaid, but the time has not yet come." As our country becomes more and more powerful, one day, Japan will have to pay the due price for their actions.