Monday, August 15, 2005

TERMINATION OF THE ASIA-PACIFIC WAR

▼ I was not personally involved with the day when Japan was defeated by the Allied Forces because I was born two years later, but August 15 in the 20th year of Showa (1945) seems to be lingering somewhere on my mind. Whenever I encounter something related to the end of the war or the days leading to the end of the war, I ponder over its significance.

▼ Many people wrote down their impressions of the day in their diaries. Each of them interests me, but on the occasion of “the 60th anniversary of the surrender,” I like to ruminate over a paragraph of the “Diary of the Defeated,” written by novelist Osanagi Jiro and published by Soshi-sha.

▼ “As they were instructed to concentrate themselves only on fulfilling their duties, …” It was a part of the diary, in which he wrote that he could not have a sound sleep worrying about soldiers who had to go through the disgrace of the surrender. But it was not merely the case with soldiers.

▼ In effect, “concentrating themselves wholeheartedly on the given jobs” was also applied to most of the Japanese. The war being declared, Japan had no other choice but to fight to the end. All the Japanese, soldiers, politicians, parents and children, entirely devoted themselves to accomplish what was expected to them. Most importantly, without knowing the destination of the country, they enclosed themselves in the limited world to which they were devoted.

▼ In a sense, I am immensely impressed with a straightforwardness of Japanese people, but an outburst of the stream with no barriers deprived of innumerable lives in neighboring countries as well as in Japan. As a journalist, I also condemn the media for being off the track.

▼ August 15 is not only the day to mourn for the dead but to reconsider whether we are engaged in given duties blindly or not. I wish the day would never come when this moment is called “prewar time.”