Yearender: Abe's revisionism summons old ghosts to haunt Japan's future

Mass protests across Japan showing the magnitude of public condemnation for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe forcing through parliament security bills that have reversed 70 years of pacifism have dominated press headlines here as the year draws to a close.

When Abe's singular goal of recasting the nation's military seems to have been achieved, the public remain dumbfounded and shellshocked at the alacrity at which it all happened.

But those in the know understand that the government's increasingly rightwing leanings since Abe retook office in 2012 and its maneuvers thereafter, including the hawkish leader's military drive, have been a carefully choreographed ideological masquerade resurrected from the past and implemented by a new resurgence of old-school revisionists.

EGO BOOST

This once-proud nation, thus, is in a state of limbo and the government is attempting to roll back the years and stoke the embers of nationalism in the hope that a collective ego boost will somehow miraculously lift Japan from its economic malaise and social doldrums.

Step one is to, while sending a clear message that Japan is once again a global military player backed by a soon-to-be better economy as "Abenomics 2.0" has propagandized despite round one flopping and ushering in a recession, erase past "misdemeanors" that Japan and its citizens still, rightfully, feel contrition for.

"It's somewhat ironic that what has been happening in the government is essentially an attempt to rewrite Japan's horrific past, in terms of its reign of terror in East Asia during WWII, or put differently try to 'wipe the slate clean,' while simultaneously gearing up again for overseas conflict," pacific affairs research analyst Laurent Sinclair said.

"In the very year that marked the seventieth anniversary of the end of WWII, Abe has reversed 70 years of constitutionally mandated pacifism by deriding the Supreme Law and the will of the public and along with his hand-picked cabinet pals forced a new style of old-militarism on a reluctant nation," he said.

Abe's war statement made a mockery of previous administration's apologies for Japan's wartime barbarism and overall oblique precept that the nation's decades-held pacifist ideology, far from being a virtue, is, in fact, a weakness, he added.

Sinclair said that Abe has and is deftly setting about attempting to reboot Japan's "own understanding" of its history, as well as the way the international community views Japan's past, through a series of subtle measures that rely heavily on semantics, phraseology and wording, as much as overt statements and policies.

"In doing so, through a serious of 'PR campaigns' Japanese people can feel better about themselves and in the brief time it takes for these nimble ego massages, the government moves ahead with its militaristic ambitions in a unilateral fashion, as the nation is too busy feeling 'slightly better about itself,'" he said.

FACTS ARE FACTS, IN FACT

In a highly-anticipated statement to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII, Abe opted to highlight pre-war events that led to Japan going down the "wrong path" of war and referencing "incidents" rather than outright aggression as occurring that were "regrettable" for Japan.

But he ultimately failed to deliver the resounding apology, in line with his predecessors, that the world was waiting for.

Before and after Abe's controversial war statement, the year has seen countless attempts by Abe and his sidekicks to sidestep, whitewash, deny and rewrite the factual events that were perpetrated by Japan during the war.

This has only succeeded in further driving a wedge between Japan and its neighbors on issues pertaining to history and territory, although diplomatic ties may have shown signs of embryonic progress of late.

"Abe's war statement was based on the consensus reached by his 'expert' panel of historians and scholars picked so that he could articulate how Japan wants to be viewed by the world in the future, based on its past," said political commentator and Shizuoka-based author Philip McNeil.

"This is the very essence of historical revisionism that makes Abe and his administration so dangerous and misguided," he said.

Abe's speech, McNeil said, concluded with his belief that it was "correct to revise history" to make sure "all the voices haven't been missed."

"But while debate and deliberation over certain historical matters are essential, particularly those that are not well documented or remain equivocal, in terms of Japan's aggressive actions during WWII, this is unnecessary, as the facts are objective and incontestable," he said.

The Japanese government's approval of new social studies textbooks for use in junior high schools containing hugely biased, if not erroneous geographical and historical content, was also a similar display of flagrant revisionism, targeting the "most susceptible minds" and attempting to shape the "future consciousness of a nation."

Along with the politicization of the books' content, the fact that some of the former content has been rewritten to perfectly reflect the Abe administration's revisionist ideology, by artfully lessening the severity of certain acts of atrocity through semantics and verbal camouflage, has not gone unnoticed.

It mirrors the way the Japanese government has been subtly dishing out its misinformation to the public in general, by assuaging Imperial Japan's culpability for the "comfort women" travesty, for example, by questioning lawful survivors' testimony, refuting the number of victims involved and, in some cases involving conservative politicians, suggesting the victims were complicit while others outright deny the savagery ever occurred.

The same could be said for other mass-acts of Japan's wartime barbarity.

Education experts like Hidenori Fujita largely concur that historical and geographical discourse and education here is rapidly going awry.

The Kyoei University professor said that the new text books lack balance and fail to represent the feelings of unjustness from countries like China and South Korea, and are lacking in detail about the specific claims from non-Japanese parties regarding issues of territory and history.

"We are half-satisfied. By mobilizing all means, we must strengthen Japan's information strategy so that in a real sense, we can have others 'properly' understand what is good about Japan," said Yoshiaki Harada, a lawmaker with Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, regarding the government's efforts to push their revised "honorable image" overseas.

Kan Kimura, an expert of Japan-South Korea relations at Kobe University, said that due to concern that Japan is conceding ground in an information war with some of its neighbors, it's attempting to catch up by spreading its version of history as fast and as far overseas as it can.

Kimura's notions have been backed by other experts on the matter.

BLURRED LINES

"What we're seeing here is a coordinated approach from multiple angles to revise history here, so as to grant Japan access to a global, militarized future without having to reflect, remember, recollect, recall or show remorse for any of its past wrongdoings," said political analyst Teruhisa Muramatsu.

He said this is the height of ultranationalism and perfectly in line with Abe's, his ministers' and numerous ruling party lawmakers' affiliation with the ultra-right Nippon Kaigi organization, which calls for Japan to fully return to its former imperialism.

Abe, at first, was subtle, then he hid in plain sight, now he's flaunting his revisionist, militaristic and imperialistic stance and in doing so mocking his detractors and the textbooks are all part of this, Muramatsu pointed out.

The Sept. 18 Incident of 1931 (also known as the Manchurian Incident in Japan), a staged event designed by Japanese troops as a pretext for Japan's large-scale invasion of northeast China, is barely mentioned on one page.

The entire events in 1937 that predicated Japan's full-scale invasion of China are covered in a single page, and, sadly, the Nanjing Massacre, comfort women issue and even the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are barely footnotes in these books.

Looking ahead, leading experts like Jeff Kingston, professor of Asian Studies at Temple University, believe that reconciliation with Japan's neighbors will continue to be a tricky task as long as Japan continues to prioritize a false sense of dignity based on soft-pedaling on history, over true empathy and remorse.

"Revisionists seek to restore the dignity of Japan by downplaying and denying past depredations that trample on the dignity and sensitivities of the two nations (China and South Korea) that suffered most from Japanese aggression and subjugation," Kingston said.

"This is counterproductive because it riles the neighbors and inflames the memory wars that sidetrack efforts to grapple with other pressing matters," he said.

Abe in his quest to fulfill his military-based legacy and that of his grandfather, a former prime minister and suspected war criminal, would do well to remember the words of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky and in doing so, may realize the burden of responsibility he bears for a nation still perplexed as to why its old military machine has been fired up, said Muramatsu.

"'The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others'," he concluded. Enditem