Interview: Hateful Nanjing series by Japan's press aimed at duping nation, glossing over history

Japanese dailies carrying stories that run contrary to proven and incontrovertible historical occurrences such as Nanjing Massacre committed by Japan's Imperial Army during World War II, have simply confirmed their role as ultra-conservative mouthpieces, experts believe.

The Sankei Shimbun, for example, has sought to whitewash Japan' s brutal colonial occupation and atrocities during the war at a time when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, himself a rightwing politician with a penchant for recasting Japan's history, is setting about preparing an official statement for the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The Sankei Shimbun had released a series of features recently revealing "testimony" from a former noncommissioned officer in the Japanese military who has claimed that while serving in Nanjing, China, in December 1937, he had witnessed no atrocities.

The series went on with other war veterans making claims along similar lines and, essentially, refuting evidence from the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal, as well as a plethora of proof from leading historians the world over.

Tomomi Yamaguchi, a U.S.-based associate professor at Montana State University's Department of Sociology and Anthropology, believes that the current government under Abe and certain media outlets, like the Sankei Shimbun, are very much in cahoots, and, as the government continues to take steps towards the right, so the media inextricably follows.

"The government is moving in an even more rightwing direction under Abe's administration and as Abe is becoming more renown for his extreme rightwing leanings I'm sure that the media coverage, or the media in general, are influenced by this," Yamaguchi told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview.

"The newspaper has a close connection to the government of Japan, and other rightwing activists who have a very close connection to the government are also connected to the Sankei Shimbun. Most of its coverage just sounds stupid or unbelievable, as it's so overtly rightwing, but we just can not ignore that, because the paper could have political power," Yamaguchi said.

Other experts on the matter have concurred and fear that while the members of the public who have an interest in their country's history can relatively easily find factual accounts of Japan's wartime actions, the tendency in society here is to ignore a past that has so tarnished Japan's history, or, put differently, choose to believe a rosier slant on historical savagery for the sake of overcoming guilt, shame and the need to feel remorse.

"We have to point the finger squarely at the Japanese government and draw a line between Abe's administration and the general public as it's wrong to say that his government reflects the feelings and opinions of this nation, as it simply does not," Dr. David McLellan, a professor emeritus of postgraduate Asian Studies in Tokyo, told Xinhua in separate interview.

"While in the West ignorance is never an acceptable excuse if objective sources of information are available and hence students at first are taught to be inquisitive, make independent inquiries, quiz their teachers and fact-check by themselves, in Japan the difficulty lies in the fact that some of the text books are warped and other historical references both in print and online, claiming to be objective and factual, have in fact been completely diluted and revised in Japan's favor," McLellan said.

"It would be wrong to say that students have blind faith in their teachers, but the inherent risk of a mass-misunderstanding of history continues with each generation and this needs to change. It's a similar issue with adults, but rather than teachers they have the media, and when the media is serving up the government's rightwing gibberish, it does little to elevate the nation to a new level of historical acceptance and true remorse, but, albeit in a vapid way, perpetuates an ignorant and potentially volatile status quo," said McLellan.

Both experts maintained that the current media debacle, current spats between Japan and its neighbors over issues of history and territory that have weighed heavily on diplomatic ties, and moves by Abe's cabinet to reinterpret the nation's pacifist constitution to boost the role of forces here at home and overseas, as well as a massive hike in military spending, had certainly caught the attention of the international community.

"My American colleagues, academics and also journalists, really oppose Japan's move toward historical revisionism and the United States will absolutely not accept a whitewashing of its war crimes, such as the Nanjing Massacre, or the comfort women issue. Such denials of history will really disgrace Japan in the eyes of the international community," Yamaguchi said

Her sentiments were echoed by McLellan who said that the future of Japan is always being written and rewritten with how it deals with its past.

"Firstly, as far as academics and political authorities from overseas are concerned, we'd like to see a Japan that reflects on its history candidly, honestly and with remorse. So for Abe, following previous administration's apologies in his upcoming statement on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II would be highly advisable. To not do so would single Japan out as something approaching a highly nationalist, roguish nation who doesn't adhere to global norms and values," McLellan said.

"Secondly, when it comes to revisionist-laden media, with the same ideology being used in schools, there's no eloquent way of putting it, it simply has to stop. The public must become more aware of what they're reading and ensure their children are not being misled in their schools. It's not too late for Japan to take a step back and rethink its future, but for this future to be the brightest one possible, these fundamental changes must happen," McLellan concluded. Endi