Pre-amble
The following narrative is not to be taken as hatred or incitement against the people of Japan. Their deed is done albeit unrecognised by them. It is solely a comparison used to exemplify some inequities within our social mind.
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| Hinomaru (Rising Sun Flag) |
To the Japanese, the Hinomaru was the “Rising Sun flag that would light the darkness of the entire world.” To Westerners and the rest of Asia, it was one of the Japanese military's most powerful symbols.
Axis of Evil
Our society that abhors Nazis and dislikes the Southern Confederacy holds not the same standard for the images of the Japanese Rising Sun — the symbol of the Empire of Japan during late 19th and early 20th centuries and truly much more offensive than the Swastika or CSA Battle flag.
Everyone knows about Adolf Hitler and his organization having committed atrocities against humanity and the importance the affect was of the holocaust. But wait; maruta, the Rape of Nanking, the Palawan Massacre and many more brutal events are alien to our public schools history. Why?
The Empire of Japan operated with the similar ideologies that prompted the invasion of Poland and the Final Solution. There was the belief that the Japanese were racially superior to other Asian ethnic groups. They felt that since their society had industrialised so much faster than their agricultural counterparts in other parts of Asian they were the super race. Thus, the Japanese administration was not hesitant in treating people from other Asian countries, such as Korea, China, Indonesia and the Philippines, much as Nazi Germany treated the Jews — all backed with propaganda.
The Japanese colonial administration had something called Unit-731 (code-name: “Maruta”), which was based in China under the direct supervision of General Shirō Ishii chief medical officer. Equivalent to Josef Mengele's team, Unit-731 and its affiliated were involved in research, development and experimental deployment of epidemic-creating bio-warfare weapons for assaults against the Chinese populace (both civilian and military) throughout World War II.
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| Collage of Photos of Experiments |
These atrocities make one cringe.
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| The remains of Unit 731 Building |
The prisoners, included men, women, children and infants, were subjected to vivisection without anesthesia. Researchers performed invasive surgery on prisoners, removing organs to study the effects of disease on the human body. These were conducted while the patients were alive — it was feared that the decomposition process would affect the results. Prisoners had limbs amputated in order to study blood loss. Those limbs that were removed were sometimes re-attached to the opposite sides of the body while others were frozen then amputated. Prisoners had their stomachs surgically removed and the esophagus re-attached to the intestines. Parts of the brain, lungs, liver, etc. were removed from some prisoners.
Asked of a previous member of this group (now just a farmer), Why experiment on children?"Of course there were experiments on children. But probably their fathers were spies."
Plague-infested fleas, bred in the laboratories of Unit-731 were spread by low-flying airplanes upon Chinese coastal cities of Ningbo in 1940, and Chang de Hunan Province, in 1941 which resulted in cholera, anthrax, and plague estimated to have killed perhaps more than 400,000 Chinese civilians.
Other atrocities
The Rape of Nanking: as many as 200,000 defenceless civilians, many of whom were women and children, were systematically raped and massacred. Palawan Massacre: American POWs burned alive. Many more have been documented.
These atrocities —except in scale— and the Japanese attitude towards them crystallise that they were more than Axis Allies but were parallel to that for which Nazi Germany is denounced. However, the German government recognised their crimes and has been compensating to the victims of their ancestors. Every German child learns about the atrocities committed under the Nazi administration in school.
On the other side of the world however, the Japanese government refused to take responsibilities for their actions. Their ministry of education omits, if not distorts, the historical facts in nationally used textbooks. Each year, many high profile government officials, including the current Prime Minister visit the Yasukuni Shrine to pay respect to the architects of these atrocities. Complaints from its neighbouring Asian countries about the ceremonies have fallen on deaf ears.
In a world where these atrocities against humanity have not been admitted the use of an image such as the Red Sun Flag that symbolises the racist and imperialistic attitude is concerning and in itself inciteful.
It's easy to emphasise the heinous acts of Nazi Germany in our society since these recollections came to occupy an important place in the public's psyche. Even today, not many Canadian veterans talk about the Pacific Theatre of War during WW II because more Canadians were directly affected by Nazis, rather than the Japanese. But this is not so with the Americans for they remember Pearl Harbor only to forget to remember the atrocities that the Japanese committed during the War to countries not their own ancestry e.g. Jewish and for the sake of money and land.
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East also known as the Tokyo Trials was convened in April 1946 to examine judicially the leaders of the Empire of Japan for their war crimes. General Shirō Ishii received immunity in exchange for data gathered from his experiments on live prisoners.
The San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed in September 1951, marked the end of the US led Allied occupation and when it went into effect in April 1952, Japan again became an independent state and an ally of the United States.The Soviet Union objected in part to this treaty because China was not invited to participate despite being one of the main victims of the Japanese aggression and also several Japanese islands were ceded by the treaty to the United States despite the U.S. not having any legitimate claim to them.
Japan's relations with the United States was placed on an equal footing for the first time at the end of the occupation and the American rebuilding process and willingness to share technology with postwar Japan, enabled the countries' relationship to once again prosper.
I find it hard to imagine all the horrors performed by this nation and yet their flag is not chastised or brought attention to as a symbol of inhumanity. Based only on prewar populations, the Allies were 82:18 against the Axis powers and 82:8 against Japan but yet we let the issues drop. Today's Black American population which is only 13:87 can eliminate a flag that was not flown for more than 5 years and tries to legitimise their ancestors pain and suffering more than that inflicted by Japan.
Epilogue
One country cannot tell another country what Flag to rise, but surely a country can recognise a flag of evil, and not hoist it in their country or is the dollar worth more than human dignity.
I have seen the flag both in Canada and the USA, but my narrative tends to sway a bit towards the USA’s lack of leadership in this case mainly because of the turmoil they appear to have over one of their own (not the Republic) historical flags.
Remember, anyone can criticise anything, but do it with facts.
