Japan started the Pacific War, and everyone knows it. Japan came into colonial possession of Korea and it did wrong to invade China from there. Then it did more wrong when it invaded Indochina, and again later when it attacked America at Pearl Harbor. It was not a grab for land, but a grab for oil and markets -- a sophisticated mesh of causes.
Then Japan proceeded to do more wrong by ignoring opportunities to negotiate an end to the war and continuing to prosecute it beyond all reason, sanity and morality after it became evident that it could not win.
I understand that conservatives profess that each of these "incidents" was a defensive response to foreign provocation and that Japan was a long-suffering innocent throughout an ordeal orchestrated by the West, but that is a weak and unconvincing argument. The fact that it is also a wrong argument might be beside the point that it is unconvincing.
So I was angry to read reports Nov. 2 of ASDF chief Tamogami's remarks -- in his contribution to the Apa Group's essay contest -- that denied Japanese aggression in the Pacific War. Then on Nov. 4 we read that the now-sacked general laments his persecution for exercising his free speech.
Instead of more anger, I am inclined to have pity for him. Tamogami just doesn't get it: He is not being persecuted for his views or for his exercise of free speech, but for his stupidity. His opinions are not just false, but dumb, and folly like his is unbecoming to his high office in the SDF of this great nation.
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