In late August, several historians and others from South Korea, China and Japan
announced the joint publication of an East Asian history book next year. The
authors include prominent experts from Yonsei University, Waseda University and
the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The authors made it quite clear that
they were not in complete agreement about all the issues the book would
address. [1]
At the recent annual ceremonies in Japan marking the dropping of atomic bombs
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as the solemn annual ceremonies in memory of
the end of World War II that took place in Tokyo's Chiyoda district at Nippon
Budokan Hall, Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery and Yasukuni Shrine, many
speeches were made. Prime Minister Naoto Kan's speech, for
example, at Nippon Budokan Hall was no doubt sincere, and yet it probably did
not please many Chinese. Certainly, many Koreans were not completely satisfied
by his remarks.
"During the war, our nation inflicted great damage and suffering to people of
many countries, especially to those of Asian nations," said Kan. "I express my
feelings of profound remorse to all the victims and their families." [2]
All of Asia welcomed Kan's decision not to visit Yasukuni Shrine nor to allow
any members of his cabinet to visit the shrine this year. Visits to the shrine
by Japanese government officials have infuriated many Asians in the past
because of the Japanese war criminals who are commemorated there. Thus, when
certain prominent Japanese politicians from political parties other than Kan's
appeared there this year, Asian eyebrows were raised.
Still, although 65 years have passed since the end of World War II, the rest of
Asia and China in particular are not completely ready to forgive Japan for
waging war. Kan's words and actions appear to be steps in the right direction
as Japan's quest for normal relations with its neighbors continues.
Regardless of what the new history book addresses, Japan could consider
erecting a shrine to all the non-Japanese victims of World War II on Okunoshima
Island. At the same time, this tiny island, which lies a short distance
offshore in eastern Hiroshima prefecture, could be designated as a United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World
Heritage Site.
For one thing, Japanese ceremonies do not address what happened on Okunoshima
Island - how will the history book present it? And the fate of those best
described as the other victims of Hiroshima. It is quite possible that the
chemical weapons, including mustard gas produced there by Japan, killed as many
if not more Chinese in the 1930s and 1940s than all the Japanese killed by the
atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
Everything written about Okunoshima Island, which served as Japan's primary
poison gas production center starting in the late 1920s, is essentially about
China, too, because China was the intended destination for almost all the
poison gas in question.
In 1996, UNESCO designated Hiroshima's Genbaku Dome as a World Heritage Site.
Remarkably, this structure survived the A-bomb, and now marks the exact spot
where the world's first atomic bomb was dropped. The dome joined a list of
several other Japanese sites on the UNESCO roster. [3]
Important buildings also survive from the World War II era on Okunoshima
Island. The island might qualify as a heritage site because it is perhaps one
of very few sites - if not the only site - in Japan where buildings and other
facilities constructed for the purpose of creating weapons of mass destruction
are still intact.
Okunoshima Island's proximity to the city of Hiroshima is important for one
reason. Whereas in Hiroshima the focus each August is on commemorating the
Japanese victims of World War II, the proposed shrine at Okunoshima Island
would serve to permanently honor the millions who died at the hands of Japanese
troops - whose chain of command extended all the way to the Imperial Palace -
in a way that could not be overlooked or somehow dismissed.
China could inform Japan that it views the creation of this shrine and the
UNESCO application in a favorable light. Among other things, Japan is aware
that as Japan seeks to gain a permanent seat on the UN Security Council -
something that Tokyo has been seeking for years - Japan needs the endorsement
and support of each one of its Asian neighbors.
In other words, in Japan's ongoing attempt to come to terms with its past, a
truly historic sea-change must occur, and there is no better place than
Hiroshima prefecture for this to take place.
It is estimated that more than 6 million tons of poison gas were produced on
Okunoshima Island by the time operations ceased in 1945. The gas was loaded
into thousands of artillery shells. Chinese victims died by the thousands and
these deaths continue today in China, although deaths and injuries due to
accidents stemming from the sudden unearthing and mishandling of Japanese
chemical weapons appear to have declined sharply in recent years.
As recently as May, however, Japan's Supreme Court rejected the appeals filed
by Chinese plaintiffs who were seeking damages in two separate lawsuits from
the Japanese government after Japanese chemical bombs exploded in China years
after World War II ended. Thousands of additional Japanese chemical bombs
buried across China's countryside are yet to be discovered.
Estimates of the total Chinese death toll stemming from Japanese chemical
weapons are broad and varied. The recent joint effort undertaken by Japan and
China to explore historical issues, including certain painful events that took
place during the 1930s and 1940s - such as the Nanjing Massacre, has not
adequately resolved this situation. [4]
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