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Interview: Japanese society shall stay alert against Abe administration: Japanese WWII veteran

Xinhua, July 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

"The Japanese people shall stay alert against the Abe administration as it might take Japan into a dangerous place," said former Imperial Japanese Army soldier Goro Nakajima in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"With Japan's pacifist Constitution at stake and right-wing forces growing under the Abe administration, Japan is in danger of returning to the situation before the World War II," he said.

91-year-old Nakajima was dispatched to east China's Shandong Province in March 1945 as a soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army. His unit, like other Japanese army divisions in China, conducted many atrocities there.

Japan surrendered in August 1945, but Nakajima's unit refused to be disarmed. Nakajima was injured in a fight with Chinese soldiers in December 1945 and was sent to a hospital of the Chinese Eighth Route Army. He returned to Japan in 1946.

"It is an indisputable fact that the Japanese army invaded China and committed many atrocities there. I'm one of the witnesses," said Nakajima, reflecting on his past experiences as a former soldier of the Japanese invasive army.

"But there has long been a tendency in the Japanese society to deny the aggressive war, and the situation is becoming more serious in recent years with the right-wing forces growing and the Abe administration refusing to acknowledge the true history and fully reflect upon the war," pointed out the WWII veteran.

"In Abe's speech last year marking the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII, he was evasive about Japan's responsibility in WWII and claimed that Japanese people need not to apologize any more in the future, which was outrageous," he said.

"Abe has inherited some ideals from his grandfather Nobusuke Kishi who was a member of the militarist government of Hideki Tojo during WWII, which is very dangerous," he said.

In the upcoming July 10 Upper House election, if the pro-constitutional amendment camp grabs enough seats to achieve two-thirds majority, the postwar pacifist Constitution of Japan would be revised.

"Japan stayed in peace in the past 70 years thanks to the pacifist Constitution. Now the pacifist Constitution is at stake. If the situation goes on, Japan would return to what it was like before WWII," said Nakajima.

Concerned about the situation, Nakajima is trying to tell his war experiences to more Japanese people. He gave some 10 speeches about his war experiences across Japan last year.

"I will continue to do that and help more people know about the true history of Japan's part in WWII. The Japanese people shall be wary against the dangerous Abe administration," he said. Endit