This article is a record of an individual’s life and is not intended to criticize any specific individual or organization.
Personal History of Someone Whose Parents Were Also Born After the War
I am a man in my late 40s who spent my boyhood in the 1980s. I was born in Japan, live in Japan, and have Japanese citizenship. For various reasons, I live as a Protestant, having been baptized.
My paternal grandfather was drafted three times. In pre-1945 Japan under the old regime, he couldn’t refuse. My grandfather returned alive, but he was violent toward his family. Partly because of this, my father broke the cycle of abuse by becoming a researcher, but he died by suicide due to depression. My grandfather was shocked by the death of his son whom he was proud of. Those who inflict harm tend to forget.
My maternal grandfather studied agriculture and gained trust in Japan. He was introduced to a job and worked for the South Manchuria Railway Company. When Japan lost the war and he was detained for a year, his former subordinates looked after him and protected him. This was because he loved cooking, and before the defeat, he would treat those around him to home-cooked meals and in return was taught how to make dumplings when others treated him to meals. Also, during the Manchuria period, he noticed that local people couldn’t buy medicine, so he purchased medicine with his own money and provided it to them. My grandfather simply acted in a way he felt was natural as a human being, but because the local people remembered his actions, they protected him during his detention. This carries significant historical weight.
On the Sin of Leaving Unforgivable Crimes to Descendants
I am not a diplomat. Nor am I a politician. So I cannot represent Japan. This is a confession as an individual thinker outside the establishment.
I criticize the former Japanese army’s aggression and recognize it as an unforgivable issue for which I will continue to apologize as long as I live. Korea, North Korea, and China are our cultural roots, and in our Confucian cultural sphere, the invasion was disrespectful to our “fathers and brothers” and betrayed historical and cultural debts. I am so angry about this unacceptable act that I want to ask the former Japanese government, “Is it ethical to leave something that cannot be forgiven even by mistake to generations who weren’t even born yet?”
Also, Japan learned from the Netherlands during the Edo period, from Europe during modernization, and from the United States and Western countries after defeat in World War II. Therefore, as a member of developed nations who gained wealth through the Age of Exploration, slave trade, and destruction of colonial industries, and increased it through the Industrial Revolution and capitalism, I understand the suffering of people whose homelands were destroyed and exploited, suffering so severe that, like Malcolm X, they don’t even know their roots. Although Japan was isolated and did not participate, as long as we benefit from civilization, we inherit the negative legacy as well. Therefore, I understand that inequality is a problem.
The Reproduction of Violence Will Not End Unless We Stop It
My grandfather was changed by the war. He was a businessman who was good with his hands and loved nature, even creating his own Japanese garden. However, my father could not escape the trauma of domestic violence and could not be saved.
When people hurt people and violence reproduces violence, ignoring it means becoming complicit. This is because if the majority would stop it, violence couldn’t occur.
I think Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia have not continued the chain of violence.
The Palestinian people did not suddenly appear; they were originally living in the Middle East.
Persecution occurred in Europe, Eastern Europe, and Russia. And then the Balfour Declaration and the Holocaust.
Why is Israel so special? As a Protestant, I want to ask this out of respect for Judaism as the root of my faith.
How do people who wrestle with God’s messenger and are chosen by God relate to Judaism when they seem to ignore the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” clearly stated in Moses’ Ten Commandments, using violence and sustaining themselves through the arms industry?
We are forbidden to worship idols. People should follow God, not make God follow people. Aren’t you falling into idolatry by diminishing God by using Him arbitrarily?
It Is Adults Who Deprive Children of Education and Blue Skies
Any ideology or religion that points a gun at children and says “you should disappear” is definitely wrong in its thought process.
Developed countries are historically in the position of having taken from others. The Palestinian people continue to be deprived.
In Japan, we have a term called “blue sky classroom,” which refers to the history of holding classes in schoolyards after the war when school buildings were burned down. We were poor but had hope. Fascism ended, and democracy began. So adults focused on education.
We have Starlink, right?
Smartphones can be bought for $300.
ChatGPT Pro costs $200 per month.
With just one smartphone, using the voice dialogue mode of the app, you can teach six people.
Even if there’s a shortage of human teachers, AI can be an assistant.
For Palestinian youth to educate children, having such things as Starlink and high-performance AI (not for luxury, but to reduce the possibility of hurting children through malfunctions) and several smartphones would enable “blue sky classrooms.”
If we break the cycle for 30 years, these children will be around 35 to 45 years old. They will be able to negotiate at a diplomatic level in English. Terrorists don’t exist from the beginning; they are born because they are made desperate and unable to choose their means. The concept of extended suicide is the basis for this. Therefore, continuing violence creates terrorists, even from a psychiatric perspective.
I really cannot understand why we don’t stop fighting and provide democratic education to children, and I want to apologize to the world for my powerlessness.
Thank you for reading.