In late November 1941, the United States was negotiating with the Empire of Japan in a final attempt to avoid war. The U.S. representative, Secretary of State Cordell Hull, proposed what would have been a favorable solution to Japan: The U.S. would lift its oil embargo in exchange for Japan withdrawing troops from southern China. It would still have recognized Japanese control over Manchuria. 

Even that proposal was rejected by Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo. A week and a half later, after Japanese warplanes and ships bombarded Pearl Harbor and killed over 2,300 American soldiers and 68 civilians, Tojo went onto Japanese radio to announce the commencement of war against the U.S.

As prime minister, Tojo undermined all attempts to avoid a war that would kill 80 million people. In his military and political career, he would preside over the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Rape of Nanjing, the Bataan Death March, the torture of POWs, including human experimentation conducted by Unit 731, and the creation of an international network of brothels in which women were repeatedly raped day after day for 13 years. At the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, he was found guilty of multiple war crimes of the most serious order and sentenced to death.

Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sent an offering to the Yasukuni Shrine, where Tojo is enshrined, and Kishida's economic minister Sanae Takaichi, along with 79 Japanese legislators, visited the shrine to personally mourn. The offerings were criticized by leaders of some of the countries that had been victimized by Japan, including South Korea and China. South Korea's foreign ministry expressed "deep disappointment and regret." China urged Japan "to completely draw a clear line with militarism."

This is the second year in a row that Kishida has sent offerings to the shrine. He has not visited in person. No Japanese prime minister has visited since Shinzo Abe did in 2013, but each year Diet members, who compose Japan's national legislature, and cabinet members visit. 

Hideki Tojo is just one of 14 Class A war criminals who are enshrined at Yasukuni. These are the people who were directly involved in planning the illegal war of aggression, including Kenji Doihara, who masterminded the Mukden Incident, the false flag bombing of Manchurian railroad tracks that were used as a pretext to invade Manchuria, and Iwane Matsui, the general who led the invasion of Nanjing. 

The Yasukuni Shrine is supposed to honor those who died in service to their country throughout Japanese history. There are over 2.4 million soldiers buried there who served from 1869 on. In addition to the Class A war criminals, there are also over 1,000 soldiers who were convicted of Class B and C war crimes – those crimes that did not involve high-level planning. 

The Class A war criminals did not die in battle, and many of them did not even die while serving the government. Three of them died in prison while serving life sentences. Former Prime Minister Hiranuma Kiichirō died at his home at age 84 after having been pardoned. They were only enshrined in secret many years later.

It's likely that any country that has engaged in imperialistic wars in its past is going to harbor war criminals – whether they were convicted or not – in their military cemeteries. U.S. soldiers committed war crimes in Vietnam and other countries, although they were rarely held accountable. But in some extreme cases, like that of Japan and Germany, war crimes occurred on such a vast scale and in such a context as to lead to international trials. The world is not demanding Japanese stop honoring the vast majority of the soldiers enshrined there. The lower-level war criminals rarely come up in condemnations and news articles. 

The continuing visits and offerings made by right-wing Japanese politicians reflect the very real problem of the Japanese government's denial of history. Earlier this year, Japan's education ministry approved a textbook that denied that Japanese companies employed forced labor during the occupation of South Korea. In 2021, Sanae Takaichi, who has visited Yasukuni multiple times as an LDP party leader, submitted a response stating the government's position in denial of the fact that comfort women were "forcefully taken away."

This kind of historical revisionism could have negative consequences for Japan's foreign policy. Since 2015, Japan had cold relations with South Korea due to multiple historical disputes, but this March, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol excused Japan from having to pay a court settlement to victims of forced labor. Yoon's proposal was already unpopular before the Yasukuni visits. This latest development will certainly not help relations.

Mitchell Blatt is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/MitchellBlatt.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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