by Zhou Yaxin
Ninety-five years in the past, the Sept. 18th Incident shocked China and the world.
It marked the start of Japan’s long-premeditated aggression in opposition to China. The Chinese individuals rose up in resistance and fought an arduous War of Resistance till securing victory 14 years later, at a staggering price of 35 million army and civilian casualties.
While the historic wounds have but to heal, present-day issues are mounting by the day.
Ninety-five years on, the toxic legacy of militarism has but to be totally addressed. Japan’s right-wing forces are nonetheless going to nice lengths to downplay, if not glorify, the historical past of aggression.
August 15, the day of Japan’s unconditional give up, must be an event for it to deeply replicate and repent. This 12 months, nevertheless, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, in her capability as head of the Liberal Democratic Party, made a money providing to the infamous Yasukuni Shrine that honors 14 Class-A warfare criminals of World War II. According to Japanese media, she worshiped the shrine from afar, whereas a number of incumbent cupboard members and lawmakers visited the shrine in individual. At the National Memorial Ceremony for the War Dead, Takaichi made no point out of “reflection” or “lessons,” the customary language utilized by successive prime ministers, laying naked her cussed refusal to replicate on historical past.
After the tip of World War II, Japan by no means did any severe soul-searching about its warfare of aggression, nor did it totally purge the remnants of militarism. Many warfare criminals returned to politics and the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF). These right-wing figures, inheriting the militarist ideology, have tampered with textbooks and historic information and carried out PR and whitewashing campaigns in an try and downplay and glorify the historical past of aggression and colonialism, and indoctrinate Japan’s youthful technology with right-wing historic narratives. They categorical “regret over defeat” and painting Japan as a “victim” as a substitute of reflecting on and repenting for its warfare crimes. By doing so, they distort perceptions among the many Japanese individuals and the worldwide group, and search public help for the right-wing authorities’s re-militarization agenda.
The right-wing forces represented by Takaichi are additionally accelerating efforts to revise Japan’s three key safety paperwork and search constitutional revision to develop army capabilities. They have lifted the ban on exports of deadly weapons and signaled an intent to revise Japan’s Three Non-Nuclear Principles. They have deployed long-range missiles with “enemy base strike capabilities.” Japan’s protection price range has grown for 14 consecutive years, surging to over 9 trillion yen (about 57 billion U.S. {dollars}) in fiscal 2026, or 2 % of the nation’s GDP. Instead of adhering to its “exclusively defense-oriented” coverage, Japan has now ripped off the masks of a “peaceful” nation and is making an attempt to make itself a “war-capable” nation once more.
A comparability between Japan at the moment and Japan earlier than World War II reveals hanging similarities:
In 1882, Aritomo Yamagata coined the “line of advantage” principle, framing the Korean Peninsula and China as Japan’s “lifeline” and laying the ideological groundwork for Japan’s annexation of the Korean Peninsula and aggression in opposition to China. In November 2025, Takaichi related a so-called “Taiwan contingency” with a “survival-threatening situation,” thereby grossly interfering in China’s inner affairs and fabricating an excuse for meddling in Taiwan-related affairs.
Before World War II, Japan invaded Asian international locations and imposed colonial rule underneath the pretext of “Pan-Asianism” and “liberating Asia.” Today, Japan justifies its army buildup and growth within the title of pursuing “proactive pacifism” and upholding the “Indo-Pacific order.”
Before World War II, Japan inculcated unwavering loyalty to the Emperor amongst its individuals by the Imperial Rescript on Education. Today, the National Defense Academy of Japan retains the “tradition” of creating college students stroll dozens of kilometers in a single day to the Yasukuni shrine to worship the warfare criminals enshrined there. Under the toxic affect of militarism, a serving JSDF member went as far as to intrude into the Chinese Embassy in Japan with a knife.
Even extra dangerously, each time Japan’s financial system falls right into a hunch, it tends to pursue exterior growth to divert consideration. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan vigorously developed fashionable trade, however suffered from inadequate home capital, widespread bankruptcies amongst farmers, acute social tensions, extreme fiscal stress, and a slim home market. To safe abroad sources of uncooked supplies and markets for its items, Japan launched the First Sino-Japanese War, from which it obtained large reparations and entry to the Chinese market. The Showa Financial Crisis of 1927 and the Great Depression of 1929 brought about nervousness in Japan, finally resulting in the expansion of militarist forces and the launch of exterior aggression.
Today, the yen has hit a 40-year low, Japan’s nationwide debt has risen to over 200 % of its GDP, costs are hovering, and greater than 1,000 corporations are going bankrupt every month. The Takaichi authorities seeks to prop up Japan’s financial system by bolstering the protection trade and aggressively promoting arms overseas, on the threat of reopening Pandora’s field of militarism.
In disregard of the postwar worldwide order, Japan is attempting to interrupt free from the constraints of the postwar system. It is accelerating re-militarization and posing an actual menace to peace and stability within the Asia-Pacific.
History must not ever be forgotten. Otherwise, previous errors can be repeated. On the ninety fifth anniversary of the Sept. 18th Incident, we will always remember the struggling endured by the individuals of China and different Asian international locations that had been invaded, nor the atrocities dedicated by Japanese militarists. All peace-loving nations and peoples ought to stay vigilant in opposition to the resurgence of militarism in Japan and guard in opposition to makes an attempt by Japan’s right-wing forces to create a brand new Sept. 18th Incident.
Editor’s be aware: The writer is a global affairs observer.
The views expressed on this article are these of the writer and don’t essentially replicate the positions of Xinhua News Agency.