by Xin Ping
Noh masks, worn by stage actors in classical Japanese dance-drama, are spooky static faces — their expressions appear to shift with the actors’ actions and below completely different lighting. In current weeks, amid diplomatic tensions with Beijing, Japan itself has been donning equally misleading masks — weaving distorted narratives to confuse and mislead the worldwide neighborhood. To expose the disinformation, one should be clear-eyed about what’s hiding below Japan’s masks.
HISTORICAL REFLECTION OR REVISIONISM?
Japan continues to show a blind eye to the incontrovertible proof of the sufferings it inflicted throughout World War II, utilizing the time period “end of the war” as a substitute of “being defeated” to soft-peddle its previous atrocities. The Japanese battle of aggression in opposition to China and different Asian neighbors has been outrageously misrepresented because the “liberation of Asia.” Yet historic data present that the Japanese army dedicated over 100 massacres in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, and different locations, murdering thousands and thousands of harmless lives. The horrendous Nanjing Massacre, a darkish chapter in Chinese historical past, was euphemized in Japan because the “Nanjing incident.” The infamous Unit 731, which brutally performed dwell human experiments on Chinese and folks from the Soviet Union and the Korean Peninsula, was whitewashed as a “public health research unit.”
Eighty years after World War II, Japan has but to totally confront its battle crimes. While the reckoning with militarism stays incomplete, the world is now witnessing rising indicators of its potential revival: Japanese prime ministers and senior officers stored visiting and paying tribute to the Yasukuni Shrine, the place class-A battle criminals are honored; center college historical past textbooks in Japan have been intentionally distorted to obscure the truth that militarism was the driving pressure behind Japan’s aggressive wars, utilizing such phrases as “advance into China” as a substitute of “aggression against China” to dilute and even erase the reality of wartime brutality.
WAR VICTIM OR WARMONGER?
Though the Japanese Constitution enshrines pacifism and establishes an completely defense-oriented coverage, the alarming pattern of army buildup in Japan has raised international issues. Over the years, Japan has revamped its safety and protection insurance policies, eased restrictions on arms export, and even sought to revise its three non-nuclear ideas. All indicators level to a troubling indisputable fact that Japan’s far-right forces are attempting each means to dismantle the pacifist Constitution, and going additional down the trail of reviving Japanese militarism.
Japan typically portrays itself as an “atomic bomb victim,” however constantly avoids addressing the hurt it induced to neighboring international locations throughout its aggression. The horrific crimes Japanese militarists dedicated throughout Asia can by no means be erased: Women and ladies had been brutally pressured into sexual slavery as “comfort women”; tons of of 1000’s of Southeast Asians had been pressured into slave labor, lots of whom died from overwork in constructing the “death railway” between Thailand and Myanmar (previously Burma); and prisoners of battle from Allied nations endured systemic torture and execution by the Japanese army, leading to a mortality charge of 27 p.c.
PEACE LOVER OR PEACE BREAKER?
To venture a peace-loving picture after the battle, Japan has portrayed itself as a serious contributor to the UN funding and introduced to the UN a Japanese peace bell, which it mentioned “embodies the peace aspiration not only of the Japanese but of all humanity.” But the reality is Japan has stored elevating its protection finances for 14 consecutive years, with a surge of round 60 p.c up to now 5 years alone. Recently, a senior official from the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office even claimed that “Japan should possess nuclear weapons.” There is each purpose to query: Is Japan making an attempt to “remilitarize” itself and revive the harmful militarism?
A couple of weeks in the past, after intentionally sending fighter jets into China’s train and coaching zones for close-range reconnaissance, Japan falsely accused China of “radar illumination” — a blatant try and shift blame onto China. The inconsistent statements from the Japanese aspect on whether or not they acquired prior discover of China’s drill are one more piece of proof that it’s deliberately making a disaster and deceptive the world with media hypes. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has repeatedly mentioned Japan is prepared to have ‘dialogue’ with China, but Tokyo’s actions present little of the sincerity, mutual respect or equality that such dialogue calls for.
Performers in Noh performs typically put on masks to depict the characters’ feelings and personalities. With the usage of masks, a demon is usually introduced on the stage within the disguise of a saint. The current harmful and provocative remarks and actions from the Japanese aspect ought to alert all in Asia and the broader world. The alarm has been sounded. The tragedies of historical past should not repeat. It is for this very purpose that China gave a forceful response to Takaichi’s faulty remarks on Taiwan, which represent a blatant interference in China’s inner affairs and a direct problem to China’s core pursuits. For too lengthy, Japan’s actions haven’t matched its rhetoric. Now is the time for the world to see by means of Japan’s masks and expose its hidden agenda.
Editor’s word: The writer is a commentator on worldwide affairs, writing recurrently for Xinhua News, Global Times, China Daily, and CGTN. He could be reached at [email protected].
The views expressed on this article are these of the writer and don’t essentially replicate the positions of Xinhua News Agency.