Japan, Wake up from MacArthur’s Curse! (Preface 1)

Mr. Mera Koichi, a former professor at the University of Southern California and now the Director of the Study Group of Japan's Rebirth - Southern California, published the following book:

"マッカーサーの呪いから目覚めよ　日本人!"

 (Japan, wake up from MacArthur's Curse!)

The book is co-authored by Mr. Inoue Yasuo and Mr. Imamori Sadao, and was published in December 2012.

The book is introduced in Amazon as follows:

"Douglas MacArthur put a curse of brainwashing on Japan in order to make it “a country that will never be able to rise against the US”. Through NHK’s radio program “Truth Box”, the General Headquarters (GHQ) implanted a sense of guilt in Japanese, and even today, the leftist journalism presses forward the masochistic view of history. However, Japan was never a “nation of aggression”. The Greater East Asia War was a war for “self-existence and self-defense” guaranteed under the international law. Japanese, be proud of the historical significance of having stood up against the Western powers! The book gives numerous stunning truths about the history."

Since this book is quite significant in providing objective analysis on that part of the history based on the vast research of the first-degree historical documentation, I would like to translate and introduce parts of the book in this blog. (It will take some time since the book is about 300 pages, but I believe it's totally worth it. Please be patient!)

First of all, the Preface...  Japanese text follows.

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pp.12-13

Preface

While the United States of America is called the racial melting pot, Los Angeles, where we live, would be more appropriately called the mosaic society. In the north east of the city spreads the China town, and to the west from the city center spreads the Korea town. In the south east live many Latinos. At the foot of the northern hills extends the high-end residential area. Living in such an environment, we are always made conscious of international affairs.

However, according to the experience of the author who has taught at the business school at the University of Southern California which has an extremely high proportion of foreign students, the deciding factor for an issue has always been the content of debate, and not the nationality or race. A student gives an opinion on a particular issue. Another student gives a different view on the opinion. All the students give their views confidently. This is the normal process of a class. All the students, be it from India, China, Taiwan, Korea, or Peru, speak up boldly with confidence. What matters is the persuasiveness of an argument, and no matter who speaks, weak persuasion cannot convince people. This is the American society and American universities, and can even be considered the international standard.

However, if you look at the international relations of Japan, it is completely different. President Lee Myung-bak has a dialogue with President Obama on equal footing; he demands, he refuses. Yet, Japanese Prime Minister often ends talks without discussing what he wants. Later in the briefing by the government, it is explained that the main objective of the meeting was to build a relationship of trust, and thus no substantial discussion was held.

It is, however, not possible to build a relationship of trust without discussing matters in detail. Mutual trust is established through debating concrete matters, and not through mere greeting. In short, it is often the case that Japanese politicians act like a “borrowed cat” in the stage of international politics, and give great disappointment for those who expect them to behave like President Putin who acts confidently on a level with President Obama. Especially, many Japanese residents in the US and Japanese Americans feel even more angry, and get stressed without being able to vent the feeling anywhere. 

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