Sixty years after Japan's Constitution was promulgated, so many Japanese people, including the prime minister, seem to have no knowledge about how our compatriots felt when the war came to an end.
This is not surprising, because the prime minister himself was not yet born then and had no idea at all what role had been played by his grandfather in the War Cabinet. If Japan had beaten the United States in its own nuclear research in 1945, how would our leaders have acted? This simple question deserves some thought. In my opinion Japan would not have meekly welcomed the allied troops.
The Constitution was born of the blood and tears shed by Japanese who sacrificed their own lives and those of their loved ones. Gen. Douglas MacArthur may have had a significant role in "forcing" the new Constitution on us, but that was only a small part of the whole story. The keel of the new law was and remains the determination of the Japanese people never to be misled again by the leaders of the country.
Japan's leaders must realize and remember that millions of people sacrificed their lives in order to teach us the uselessness of resorting war. It is unfortunate that some leaders keep dreaming of "retrieving the normalcy" of this country, calling it "building a beautiful Japan." I wonder how many Japanese understand what this phrase means besides reflecting the fantasy of intoxicated leaders? Japan should demonstrate to the world that the spirit of its Constitution should be followed by all the nations of the world, large and small.