Justice under the rug

Unsurprisingly disappointed by politicians of both sides who decided to sweep justice under the rug: the Democratic Party by failing to deliver LEE Jae-myung to justice, YOON Suk-yeol by chosing closer ties with Tokyo over justice for the victims of Imperial Japan's forced labor.

At least, a higher proportion of Korea's Democratic lawmakers chose the high road than their American Republican counterparts: whereas the GOP overwhelmingly supported Trump when he faced a well deserved impeachment. only a tiny majority helped the Korean Trump preserve his immunity. Across the country, a vast majority was in favor of LEE's arrest, but the party made the wrong decision, and had the gall to pretend that democracy was under attack because for the first time, an opposition leader was investigated and issued an arrest warrant, whilst LEE precisely seeked party leadership for the sole purpose of eluding justice one more time! LEE even selfishly stole the safest seat of an incumbent in Incheon to guarantee his personal survival, letting the rest of the ship sink during the elections... 

As we've already seen, this is clearly not the party of KIM Dae-jung and ROH Moo-hyun anymore, but a group controlled by a clique that betrayed their ideals of justice and democracy, and only care about their own interests. I wish the party had seized the opportunity to cleanse their ranks from these thugs. Now lets hope the truly progressive side, that proved it still existed during this vote, will gain enough momentum to reform the party, restore decency, and build a more sustainable, inclusive platform.

Of course, Korea's right remains another kind of mess, but internal debates are a bit more public, even if YOON Suk-yeol managed to get his guy on top for next year's election (not sure KIM Gi-hyeon is a future-proof leader, but the selection of THAE Yong-ho in the Supreme Council sends an interesting message to Pyongyang elites: you can make it in the South if you reject the North Korean regime). If YOON decided to make the most of his lameduckhood to push for reforms that are not necessarily popular, he just played a very risky and unpopular card on the forced labor issue: the victims will receive a financial compensation, but paid by Korean companies that benefited from the controversial 1965 treaty, and without any apology from Japan.

From the start, YOON's eagerness to appease Tokyo seemed heading in this kind of direction. I'm all for diplomacy and warming ties with our neighbors, but I'm not okay with eluding key issues. Again, the victims of Imperial Japan's institutional Forced labor and sexual slavery never received any official apologies from any Japanese government (non binding declarations by individuals? yes, but that's not the same, and I'm not even talking about Shinzo Abe's anti-apologies - see "Decoding the Abe Statement: "why apologize for crimes Japan never committed?"). 

 YOON Suk-yeol was not elected for his obsolete Miltonfriedmanian program but to restore some sense of justice, particularly following the PARK Geun-hye scandals and the MOON Jae-in betrayals. Eluding resolution can't be the solution.

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Two Murders and a Funeral - The Abe Legacy

Today, private funerals will be held for Shinzo Abe, whose assassination shocked Japan and the whole world. 

In Zojo-ji.

So the man who so heavily promoted the restoration of State Shinto will be honored in a Buddhist temple. The man who campaigned so hard for the return of Imperial Japan's militarism was murdered by a former member of the navy. And the man whom Korea loved to hate for his negation of war crimes died because that madman believed the former PM's family supported Reverend Moon's cult.

Ultimate paradox? This tragedy may help Abe fulfill his lifelong dream of destroying Japan's peaceful postwar constitution: his LDP won in the landslide he always needed but never quite achieved. 

Now the murder of peaceful, postwar Japan shall be quietly performed by lawmakers following his brainchild Nippon Kaigi. Let's see if Fumio Kishida will forever taint his name by pulling the trigger.

20220708 thread @theSeoulVillage:

"1) Fmr Japan PM in cardiac arrest, suspect arrested. Shinzo Abe was shot during speech (Reuters). Lunatic? Political? His Yakuza pals? As much as I hate his Nippon Kaigi AbeIGNomics, I wish him well.
2) Shinzo Abe died. Killer a former member of the SDF.
3) This is clearly a tragedy, but Shinzo Abe was neither a Muhammad Anwar el Sadat nor a Yitzhak Rabin. #AbeIGNomics"

=> My 2019 fake interview of Abe Shinzo: "Make Imperial Japan Great Again - an exclusive (fake) tell-all interview with Shinzo ABE"

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Ramseyer vs Japan

J. Mark Ramseyer probably thought he'd get more praise from his sponsors after publishing yet another revisionist piece. All he managed to do is to bring all spotlight precisely where Japanese extreme-right and Nippon Kaigi don't want them: on their own lies and imposture. 

Make no mistake about what this is all about: 

• an insult to the victims of Imperial Japan's sexual slavery system (a.k.a. 'Comfort Women').
  
• an insult to academic standards, and a disgrace for a Harvard Law School professor
  
• a threat for Japan democracy, helping revisionism permeate society

THE IRLE - RAMSEYER SCANDAL TIMELINE

In case you missed the latest Ramseyer controversies:

• Dec. 1, 2020: International Review of Law and Economics (in IRLE Volume 65) publishes online 'Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War', a controversial paper where J. Mark Ramseyer claims that there was no case of sexual slavery for the Imperial military, only consensual, contractual prostitution.
  NB: a Mitsubishi Professor of Japanese Legal Studies at Harvard Law School, Ramseyer is listed under the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, but mercifully doesn't appear in RIJS' Constitutional Revision Research Project (he probably would neither pass the academic cut, nor last a minute in front of Alexis Dudden, an advisor to the project).
  
  
• Jan. 12, 2021: "Recovering the Truth about the Comfort Women", a Ramseyer op-ed rolling out the same fallacies, is published by Japan Forward, a English arm of the ultraconservative Sankei Shimbun and a mouthpiece for ultranationalist and revisionist propaganda*.
  
  
• International outrage ensues, particularly from actual scholars and experts. Among others:
• "An article containing this level of academic misconduct should not have passed peer review, or have been published in an academic journal" ("Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War”: The Case for Retraction on Grounds of Academic Misconduct" - Amy Stanley, Hannah Shepherd, Sayaka Chatani, David Ambaras and Chelsea Szendi Schieder in The Asia Pacific Journal, 20210218). 
• "For those who read Professor Ramseyer’s article at face value, unseen are assertions that advocate a current Japanese political ideology. This worldview is racially essentialist, revanchist, and history-denying. (...) One of the primary reasons for studying any state-sponsored atrocity in the past is to learn how it happened in order to try to prevent ongoing occurrences of similar violence and not to abuse history by weaponizing it for present purposes. Academic freedom is a core tenet of constitutional democracies, yet academic lies are not." ("The Abuse of History: A Brief Response to J. Mark Ramseyer’s 'Contracting for Sex'" - Alexis Dudden in The Asia Pacific Journal 202102)
• "Any scholar who understands the falsity of its claims would condemn the article and call for its retraction" ("Letter by Concerned Economists Regarding “Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War” in the International Review of Law and Economics")
  
• "I don’t have any Korean contracts" (a candid confession by Ramseyer himself, who built his case on them, to Jeannie Suk Gersen, who saves Harvard's honor in this excellent and damning piece: "Seeking the True Story of the Comfort Women" - The New Yorker 20210226) 
• 
  
• see also 4 letters on APJIF: apjjf.org/2021/5/ToC2.html **
  
• see also Michael Chwe's list of resources on the Ramseyer IRLE controversy: chwe.net/irle/   
• sign the "Letter by Concerned Economists Regarding “Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War” in the International Review of Law and Economics" : chwe.net/irle/letter/
  
  
• Jan. 14, 2021: IRLE postpones the publication of the printed version of its Volume 65 (March issue), but still plans to include Ramseyer's piece, along with comments and replies ("Journal Delays Print Publication of Harvard Law Professor’s Controversial ‘Comfort Women’ Article Amid Outcry" - The Harvard Crimson 20210214)
  
  
• Jan. 20, 2021: Alon Harel, co-editor, confirmed that Ramseyer will 'revise significantly' another controversial paper ("Privatizing Police: Japanese Police, The Korean Massacre, And Private Security Firms" - The Cambridge Handbook of Privatization, June 2019) in which, 'citing rumors, (Ramseyer) depicted Koreans at the time of the post-earthquake chaos around Tokyo in 1923 as "gangs" that "torched buildings, planted bombs, poisoned water supplies" and murdered and raped people' ("Harvard professor Ramseyer to revise paper on 1923 massacre of Koreans in Japan: Cambridge handbook editor" - YNA 20210220) 
  

 

EXPOSING REVISIONISTS TO HELP THE VICTIMS OF IMPERIAL JAPAN, BUT ALSO TO SAVE  JAPAN'S POSTWAR DEMOCRACY
 

Exposing Ramseyer's lies helped the powerful voice of our dear LEE Yong-soo Halmoni resonate even more powerfully. Let's hope that next time the World hears her voice, will be when she represents the victims of Imperial Japan's sex slavery system at the ICJ (sad to see her make the headlines only when thugs attack the victims - see "Eternal Shame").

Needless to say, IRLE should withdraw the paper, and Harvard Law School demand a retraction and official apologies from Ramseyer.

Now internationally disgraced as a liar and a mouthpiece for debunked, extremist theories, Ramseyer poses as the victim of a 'witch hunt'. Sounds familiar? If the international community reacted so quickly and unanimously, that's also because the World is witnessing revisionism at work on a much more recent event: the US insurrection and the Capital Riot that happened just days before Ramseyer published his op-ed in Japan Forward. 

Because Ramseyer's papers fit and feed perfectly the Nippon Kaigi propaganda and agenda, they contribute to undermine the postwar democracy that lobby has officially pledged to destroy. 

Again, this is not about Japan vs Korea, but about Imperial Japan vs Justice (and justice for Comfort Women), and about Imperial Japan vs postwar, democratic Japan. 

Of course, the weaponization of history mentioned by Dudden didn't start in 2021, and Japan is certainly not the only perpetrator in the region, but there cannot be reconciliation without truth, and democracies can't survive if they let these attacks go unpunished.

Because there should be zero tolerance against revisionism, the academic community is on the front line. And I was truly moved to see it react so quickly and accurately against Ramseyer's piece, with precisely a focus on truth and reconciliation, denying any opportunity for nationalists and hatemongers to exploit or to play ping pong with their counterparts.

Nippon Kaigi and Japanese revisionists are an easy target because they are brazenly stupid. They don't have to be smart because they're not facing any resistance at home, where they control the government and the media; most Japanese never heard of the lobby or their program. The most efficient way to deal with them is to simply expose them and their agenda (which they're stupid enough to proudly disclose) as they are.

The war on revisionism is tougher with more subtle perpetrators, and this episode reminded me of the academic struggle against the Discovery Institute and its Intelligent Design imposture in the US. There as well, far-right fundamentalists with a political agenda promoted falsehoods through propaganda campaigns that mimicked science but totally negated it. The aim was also to undermine democracy and its constitutional fundamentals, to pervert education, and to rewrite text books, but I.D. was more subtle in its approach. Their leaked, internal 'Wedge Document' explained how the public was to be fooled by a confusing blend of a caricature of science and a caricature of faith. To help spread the movement in Europe, mediocre or failed scholars were sponsored to publish pseudo-academic papers that fed the confusion. 

I'm not saying that Japanese extremists pay Ramseyer to publish his debunked junk, but I'm not sure that otherwise this excuse for a scholar could have gotten prestigious sponsors, let alone been awarded the Order of the... Rising Sun.

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* including this one, from the tinfoil hat category: "Some Uncomfortable Truths About Comfort Women for the International Mob" (Archie Miyamoto 20210222)

 

"After #JMarkRamseyer, #JapanForward added yet another abject revisionist piece to its collection, this time from a #ArchieMiyamoto (https://japan-forward.com/some-uncomfortable-truths-about-comfort-women-for-the-international-mob/). Using the fact that #ImperialJapan crushed #Korea #resistance as a proof of the non existence of #sexslavery?! Really?!" (@theseoulvillage - 20210226)

** Including this brilliant toolkit to help you make up your own mind: "The ‘Comfort Women’ Issue, Freedom of Speech, and Academic Integrity: A Study Aid" (Tessa Morris-Suzuki - The Asia Pacific Journal 202102)

'Jeronimo' and beyond

Frankly, 'Jeronimo' should be screened in every Korean high school. I'm not saying that because the director, Joseph JUHN, happens to be a friend - his documentary deservedly received awards and critical acclaim, and even praise from the President in Cheong Wa Dae. 'Jeronimo' has a rare power to move and to change people, starting with Joseph himself, as he kept discovering new layers of a very rich character, and of the wonderful Korean diaspora in Cuba.



You may not have watched the documentary yet, or even heard of Jeronimo Lim, so I won't give any spoilers. Know that there's everything; between History (slavery, independence, revolution etc), his story, their love story, and so much more.

I saw how 'Jeronimo' moved and impacted diverse audiences in different contexts, not just here, and not just Koreans - be they from this or that side of the DMZ, of multicultural background, or from different parts of the Korean diaspora. Because this is not just about the Korean identity (koreanity? koreanness? koreanhood?), and certainly not about nationalism, to the contrary! Beyond this touching community, beyond the longing and belonging, this is about humanity, inclusive, universal kinship.

Even after five screenings, I'm always moved. And now I almost see Jeronimo Lim, Cheon-taek, Patricia, Nelsonito, and all the others as family.

In Paris, after a screening on Joseph's European tour, in the new Centre Culturel Coreen, we could see people from very different nationalities in the audience feel a personal connection, an echo to their own families.

I believe this documentary should be screened in every Korean high school because it can change in a very positive manner the way Koreans consider not only their own diaspora, but the diasporas they don't even suspect exist in Korea**.

"#Jeronimo's international tour in #Paris - screening at the new #CentreCulturelCoreen. Always a pleasure,  #JosephJuhn!
#헤로니모" (20200220 - @theseoulvillage - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/1230333467809984514)

The other day in Insadong, at KOTE***, Joseph JUHN gave a talk about the Korean diasporas of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Diasporas that, in the States, are on the streets to support #BlackLivesMatter, 28 years after the L.A. riots. Doing the right thing 31 years after Spike Lee's movie. Diasporas ready to become agents of positive change, within their communities and beyond. 

So (re)watch 'Jeronimo' on YouTube (youtube.com/watch?v=-CU7q4v-PxA), on Vimeo, or on your PPV platform (and check the website: jeronimothemovie.com).

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** not to mention the diasporas some of them don't want to start existing - see the sad episode of the Yemeni refugees, when hundreds of thousands petitioned for their expulsion, but also when more than  a few demonstrated to defend their rights.

*** Note that the first 'KOTE Dialog' honored another gifted friend, documentary photographer Harry CHUN. Come to think of it, I first met Joseph and Harry the same year, in 2016. Joseph was about to return to Cuba for his documentary, and Harry was planning a different kind of emotional journey, embarking with refugees on their way to and across Europe. Harry exhibited some of his stunning works at Sejong Cultural Center a few weeks ago (for the World Refugee Day Photograph Exhibition with UNHCR and UPI). Here too, a powerful mirror for everyone because each one of us can become a refugee tomorrow, and a particularly needful one in a nation that doesn't welcome many refugees.

#HarryChun #vernissage @ #SejongCenter. #세계난민사진전 #난민 #refugees
#harrychungphotography'' (20200617 - instagram.com/p/CBhvEv3JLeW)

Make Imperial Japan Great Again - an exclusive (fake) tell-all interview with Shinzo ABE

(NB - this interview is part of our Agence Fausse Presse series which already featured, among other extremists, KIM Jong-un* and Donald Trump**)

Seoul Village - "Prime Minister ABE, thank you for accepting this interview. To start with, do you prefer Westerners to call you Shinzo ABE, or ABE Shinzo?"

Shinzo ABE: "I don't care, as long as you don't confuse me with Kan ABE: I'm so ashamed by my paternal grandfather, who ruined the reputation of my family. This man was a dangerous peacemonger who dared oppose Hideki TOJO and Imperial Japan militarism. All my life is about clearing my name, the reputation of that side of my family. When you think that his eldest son, my father, had to become a kamikaze to prove to everybody that he was on the (extreme) right side of Japan's history."

SV - 'Your maternal grandfather, on the other hand..."

SA - "Needless to say, Nobusuke KISHI was my hero: a genuine war criminal I could be proud of, and relate to. My visits to Yasukuni, or my congratulations to war criminal memorials pale in comparison to the headstone he dedicated to TOJO and the other fallen war criminals***... what an inspiration for us."

War criminal Kishi would be proud of his Rising GrandSon

SV - "By 'us', you mean Nippon Kaigi."

SA - "Of course. I'm very proud of my brainchild Nippon Kaigi. Nobody thought that a maze of exotic extremist groupuscules could be merged into Japan's dominant political lobby, reuniting hardcore neofascists with Shinto fundamentalists. But in order to achieve that incredible feat, I needed Korea's help."

SV - "Pardon me....?"

SA - "We love it when Korean nationalists hijack history issues. As fellow extremists, we need each other to play a naughty ping pong game and make moderates inaudible. And these guys are very successful at fueling anger from the Korean people, and not anger at us, but anger at Japan in general, which makes it easier for us to say 'look, these people are radicals, they can't see reason, we are the victims in this story. Korean nationalists helped us revive our ailing fascist movements, but at the beginning in 1992, we felt really scared: for the first time, Korean Comfort Women spoke up about what they came through under Imperial Japan rule, for the first time in decades, the less pretty side of our history was exposed to the Western world, and back then, nationalism was kept at bay in Korea so the victims could be heard without any distortion. We really feared that our grip on Japanese society could be loosened. We had to react in order to defend the memory of our beloved war criminals."

SV - "Well you still controlled the political system. The only embryos of apologies were issued by lame duck officials, in personal statements that were not really binding for the nation."

SA - "Yeah. We keep deleting records, and rewriting history in textbooks, but even with our propaganda machine and our control of the local media, it's hard to get rid of the 1993-1994 statements of Yohei Kono and Tomiichi Murayama. At least, we've successfully destroyed press freedom at home, and even made it almost impossible for foreign journalists to expose my ABEIGNomics, or even to mention Nippon Kaigi, but this takes a lot of time and money."

SV - "Money?"

SA - "Do you know how much money we spend every year in advertising and advertorials on CNN and Co? Almost as much as we invest in soft power in South East Asian countries. But these foreign media never cover stories about us, and these countries have yet to seek apologies or reparations for their Comfort Women."

SV - "Well Western audiences certainly know a lot more about judo and Japanese food than about your Moritomo Gakuen scandal, corruption around Tokyo 2020, or the role of yakuzas in the olympics and in the highly controversial Fukushima cleanup..."

SA - "... you can stop here: I get your point, and I don't want foreign or for that matter Japanese audiences to be enlightened about our ABEIGNomics."

SV - "You don't risk much. It's not like in Korea when everybody's on the street as soon as a new scandal pops up."

SA - "Of course, otherwise we would have been kicked out of power decades ago. We're very lucky that Japanese people are not interested in politics, in defending their democracy and their constitution. We're also very lucky that the US didn't purge our political dynasties at the end of WWII, because they needed people like my 'good' granddad Kishi to secure Japan's support during the Cold War."

SV - "Unlike Germany with Nazism, Japan has never been liberated from Imperial Japan".

SA - "Yes, and we want that situation to continue forever. As you well know, Nippon Kaigi's official goal is to restore Imperial Japan as a whole, including militarism and State Shinto, to repel peace treaties and human rights laws, to recenter education around nationalism, to deny war crimes and to reject postwar pacifism by changing the constitution. This can only happen if the Japanese people, who is overwhelmingly pacifist, is kept unaware of the past, and of our agenda for the future."

SV - "Undoing your democracy should be even easier with a man like Donald Trump in the White House."

SA - "Definitely, and not just because Putin is also very pleased if Japan joins his collection of failed democracies. The difference is that we don't need any meddling in our elections."

SV - "Still, Trump is much more powerful than you."

SA - "Don't misread my losing rounds of golf against Donald. If I spend 200% of my time with him flattering his ego, that's way cheaper than spending millions in foreign media. Plus I receive preferred treatments compared to other traditional US allies."


SV - "That's right. Trump asked you only 4 times more money to pay for the US military umbrella, compared to 5 for South Korea."

"#Trump asked #Japan to multiply by 4 its financial contribution to US defense. #ShinzoAbe's (losing) rounds of #golf with #POTUS paid off (#Korea was asked x 5)." (20191116 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/1195566482677059584)

SA - "Well Donald learned business from his mobster friends, so I expected this kind of racketing from him. Besides, MOON Jae-in is too weak. He's out of sync in the region because has nothing to do with strongmen like Vladimir, Narendra, Rodrigo, Jong-un, Jinping or me. Still, I see some hope: lately, MOON seems to have learned more than a few tricks from Donald, judging by the way he's handling justice****..."

SV - "Anyway, there is at least one strong Korean leader these days. Will you meet KIM Jong-un?"

SA - "Maybe. I really want to thank him, to tell him to keep up the good job, to keep shooting missiles over our heads. I badly need enemies at the gate, a boogeyman to justify our return to militarism and our destruction of Japan's postwar pacifism. To make fascism relevant in Japan, to Make Imperial Japan Great Again."


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* see "Exclusive interview with KIM Jong-un - Season III" (2018), "EXCLUSIVE-Second interview with KIM Jong-un" (2017), "Exclusive interview with KIM Jong-un" (2013)
** see "Trump: The Art of the Dealapidation (Exclusive Interview)" (2018)
*** see "The Elusive Independence Day - When will Japan officially proclaim its Independence from Imperial Japan?"
**** see "Moon Landing - The Cheong Wa Dae Curse"

"A shared responsibility to look directly in the eye of history", and a shared evasiveness

History will remember the first time a POTUS and a Japanese PM stood together in Hiroshima more than their empty words.

Hiroshima mon amour

As expected, Shinzo Abe delivered one of his trademark, crocodile-tearful, "History is harsh" speeches*, sparing us his usual fake excuses, because this time, he was not required to provide any. Today, Barack Obama chimed in by using similar smoke screens. And of course, without apologizing.

Yes, 'we have a shared responsibility to look directly in the eye of history', but don't count on us for saying that nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki was wrong, or that Imperial Japan committed war crimes that also need to be remembered.

The choice of a G7 host city is a fantastic opportunity to push a political agenda, and Hiroshima was a finalist for Shinzo Abe, who wants everybody to remember Japan as a pure victim, and to forget that it committed atrocities under the fascist regime he has, along with fellow members of Nippon Kaigi, pledged to restore**. Sorry, Mr Abe, but "No, you can't honor A-Bomb victims in Hiroshima AND War Criminals in Yasukuni".

In his wildest dreams, this incurable provocateur would have selected Yasukuni, but the international community would have condemned him vehemently. He settled for another controversial Shinto shrine he loves to visit as frequently as possible: Ise Grand Shrine doesn't honor war criminals, but it is also led by a eminent member of Nippon Kaigi. And a Japanese government is supposed to respect the separation of State and religion...

Don't forget that as far as extremist lobbies go, Abe follows Shinto Seiji Renmei as well as Nippon Kaigi, and that as a fundamentalist, he wants the restoration of State Shinto, and of the Emperor as the supreme religious and political leader. 

A few Japanese voices raised objections regarding the choice of Ise, but who's listening to the dwindling resistance of the local democracy?

• NB: initially published on blogules as "Cenotaphs, shrines, and an obituary of Japan democracy"

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* for last year's two masterpieces, see ""History is harsh" and other sick jokes" and "Decoding the Abe Statement: "why apologize for crimes Japan never committed?""
** see "Imperial Japan v. Japan" on blogules, or previous posts on Shinzo Abe, and most recently regarding the US-Japan conondrum: "Tokyo Trials on trial: after Japan, Abe forces the US to chose between Imperial Japan and postwar Japan"

Tokyo Trials on trial: after Japan, Abe forces the US to chose between Imperial Japan and postwar Japan

This morning, Shinzo Abe showed his smile on CNN International, at the end of an ad on Japan's positive contribution to the world (as it happens, revolutionary prostheses that help people walk again). His government usually airs such campaigns each time his image needs a boost overseas ahead of tricky moments - typically before Abe's speech to the US Congress, earlier this year*.

Maybe that was just about paving the way for the G20 and his upcoming visits to Turkey, the Philippines and Malaysia.

Maybe Abe is expecting some reactions to his latest controversial initiative: the revision of Tokyo war crimes verdicts and the Allied occupation of Japan.

Officially, this new panel reporting directly to the PM will simply study the issues, and unlike the one on 'collective self-defense', without drawing any conclusions**. But make no mistake, the aim of Abe's game remains the same: rewriting history, denying war crimes, and ultimately restoring Imperial Japan.

War criminal and former PM Hideki Tojo at the Tokyo trials

Rejecting the Tokyo Trials may sound outrageous, but as we've seen before, it's always been on Shinzo Abe and Nippon Kaigi's agenda, it's a logical step following their restoration of militarism, and both the US and Korea had it coming this year, the former for unconditionally supporting a morally hazardous character in his anti-constitutional crusade, the latter for failing to show the right example in the way of coping with its own history:

1) This is quintessential Shinzo Abe:

• Historical revisionism has been at the core of his whole career. The man has a personal stake in the redemption of war criminals that he and his friends not only consider as national heroes, but also worship as gods at Yasukuni.

• His grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, a Class-A war criminal who was spared trial because the US needed him, later dedicated, as Prime Minister, a headstone in Sangane cemetery to the 7 'unlucky' war criminals executed after the Tokyo trials (see "The Elusive Independence Day - When will Japan officially proclaim its Independence from Imperial Japan?").

• Still have doubts about grandson Shinzo? Remember that last year, as Prime Minister, he sent his best wishes to a ceremony honoring war criminals (see "Japan PM Shinzo Abe marks war criminal ceremony" - BBC 20140827)... Anyway, he confirmed that meeting Korean and Chinese leaders didn't soften his revisionist agenda one bit (see "Korea-Japan: it ain't necessarily thaw")

2) This is quintessential Nippon Kaigi:

Japan's dominant revisionist lobby has always denounced the Tokyo Trials as a "victor's justice" to be undone as soon as possible on the way to the restoration of Imperial Japan. Tellingly, this panel:

• was heralded by a Nippon Kaigi supporter: Tomomi Inada, who said last June "the perception of history on which the rulings of the tribunal were based were way too poorly constructed - we are in need of an examination by the Japanese"** 

• is headed by a Nippon Kaigi supporter: Sadakazu Tanigaki, hereby officially enthroned as Abe's heir (but we already knew that when he refused to run against his LDP rival). NB: the very fact that this panel is being set up on this topic to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the party speaks volume about how revisionists set the agenda.

• was announced on November 12, exactly 67 years after Hideki Tojo and co were sentenced to death, and one day after Abe's preach to the choir at a Nippon Kaigi meeting

Shinzo Abe to Nippon Kaigi: "mission (almost) accomplished" (twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/664064214424662016)
Martin Fackler: "PM Abe tells 10,000-member Nihon Kaigi meeting "the bridge to Constitutional revision has been readied" (twitter.com/facklernyt/status/664055190371221505)

3) This is a natural step following Abe's restoration of militarism:

• Yearned for by Abe and Nippon Kaigi, the restoration of Imperial Japan starts with its empowerment and the destruction of all its criminal records. In 2015, Abe has already castrated the Article 9 of the Constitution, and nullified the already sybilline apologies issued by previous PMs (see "Decoding the Abe Statement: "why apologize for crimes Japan never committed?""). Why not push his luck and try scoring a hat trick? He must feel that nothing will stop him: so far, the US didn't object to anything, and the few who did at home were, like the constitution, treated as if they didn't exist. 

• The period studied by the panel is fundamental for people who consider that "the 67 years since the end of World War II have been a history of Japan's destruction" (Hakubun Shimomura - Abe's Ministry of Education and fellow Nippon Kaigi supporter). Somehow, Imperial Japan revivalists also want to declare their liberation from occupation forces and international scrutiny. 

• Further notable steps in their program include the revocation of all peace treaties, or the restoration of the Emperor as the supreme political and religious leader (that one is not likely to happen as long as Akihito lives... but don't worry, these revisionists still have lots of surprises in store for you!)

4) The US had it coming:

• From the beginning, even before the Tokyo trials started, the main criticism came from Allies, who said that the US were making a mistake by protecting such key figures as Hirohito or Shiro Ishii. I can understand the decision to maintain the imperial family, but then, MacArthur shouldn't have refused the Emperor's apologies, which would have silenced revisionists forever. Regarding Shiro Ishii and his abominable Unit 731, needless to remind you how they're an inspiration for Abe (see "Can't top that? Shinzo Abe posing as Shiro Ishii, the Josef Mengele of Imperial Japan")...

• Harry Truman did warn that the Japanese far right had to be absolutely prevented from returning to power, and the SCAP did make sure that their propaganda was silenced during the Allied occupation of Japan, but no sustainable safeguards were planned to truly secure the Japanese democracy, and the rise of Shinzo Abe and Nippon Kaigi illustrate perfectly the consequences in the long term. 

• Worse: misjudgements keep piling up. When Abe pushed for collective self-defense, I wrote that it was a historical opportunity to fix part of the damage, the moment to act as a true "pivot to Asia" by demanding a clear and unequivocal repudiation of Imperial Japan. Unfortunately, the US simply gave up and in, without even using the old he's-a-s.o.b.-but-he's-our-s.o.b. excuse. At times, they even seemed to be siding with the revisionist narrative (see "The USA And Shinzo Abe: From Ostrich Policy To Complicity?"). If the idea was to secure US bases and role in the region, time to change strategies. If you intended to strengthen China and hardliners across Asia, keep up the good job.

• The US not only decided to unplug their moral compass, they also forgot to add a "moral hazard" clause: they took the risk of supporting a notorious troublemaker without having him bear any burden. They've given the keys of the region to a bad cop, and they've showed him on many occasions that the good cop was either looking the other way, or on permanent leave. 

• So now, they shouldn't be surprised if he dares bite the hand that caressed him; if you expect a second trial of Hideki Tojo and co, get ready for the trial of Douglas MacArthur and co; if you expect mentions of atrocities perpetrated by Imperial Japan, get ready for more vibrant mentions of the victims of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Tokyo bombings...

5) South Korea had it coming: I'm tired of repeating the same mantra about that other tragically wasted historical opportunity. If Park Geun-hye truly wants change from Japan, she knows what she has to do: to firmly stand not against Abe but for postwar Japan, to squarely face Korea's (and her own family's) history, to help both nations restoring their honor by showing the right example, and certainly not to do the very thing Abe is trying to do (see "Yet Another Textbook Textbook Controversy")... unless provoking new provocations was the actual aim of your game, in which case your imposture is worth their own.

I could add that Japan had it coming; after all, only the Japanese voters have the power to get rid of the worst enemies of their democracy (see "Saving Japan - Let's fall the Indecision Tree")... but only a minority of Japanese voters is aware of what's at stake, only a minority is aware of what happened in the past (or even what the Tokyo trials were about), and Shinzo Abe and his friends - including in the media and in the classrooms - are working hard to erase the truth from the collective memory.

Hopefully, the Japanese people have started to wake up, and more seem eager to defend democracy (see "Japan taking a stand against ABEIGNomics?"). Not to the point the ruling party can be defeated, but to the point the silent majority may start showing some unease with its corrupt political system. That's a very long path, and as we see with people like Sadakazu Tanigaki, change within the LDP wouldn't necessarily mean the end of the Nippon Kaigi domination.

So for a second, let's stop playing the game some impostors want us to play here and there:

- if you think this has nothing to do with you, don't complain if bad things tend to happen and if bad people tend to stick around

- if you're Korean, know that Abe and co want you to believe that this is all about Japan against Korea, when actually they're waging a war for Imperial Japan against postwar Japan, so try to see Japan as a democracy in danger, and to consider how Korea could help without fueling tensions, preferably by becoming a model in coping responsibly with its own troubled past

- if you're American, know that you can't dodge history issues anymore: Shinzo Abe has invited you to the party, and forced you to chose between Imperial Japan and postwar Japan. He may be pushing his luck, but at least he didn't forget to add a moral hazard clause: in the process, you may have to face your own past.

Seoul Village 2015
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* see ""History is harsh" and other sick jokes"
** see "LDP to set up panel to review Tokyo war crimes verdicts and GHQ policies" (Asahi Shimbun 20151112), twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/664789663652016129

Korea-Japan: it ain't necessarily thaw

As far as diplomacy goes, last Sunday's summit in Seoul between Korea, China, and Japan appears to be more about tactics and communication than about strategy and issues.

Yes, trilateral summits are back, and in a more formal manner than last year's distant encounter of the third kind between Barack Obama, Shinzo Abe, and Park Geun-hye in The Hague (see "The Tripartite Summitulacra"). But that 56-point joint declaration* is pointless.

And fundamentally, nothing changes. And body language keeps betraying clear rifts, like on this Yonhap picture where Shinzo Abe struggles to get the attention of a Park Geun-hye - Li Keqiang couple that makes good eye contact, but where Korea is eager for more affection from a China obviously calling the shots.

China's top man is not even on the picture, because this non-event is not at Xi Jinping's level, even if he does go well with Park, and even if he warmed up a bit with Abe recently. That last bit was actually one of the countless reasons why Park was forced to accept a summit with Abe. In order for her to save face, it had to happen in Seoul, and with the alibi of a trilateral moment, and with a promise that some progress would be made regarding the 'Comfort Women' issue. 

As if Park were the one who reconciled everybody! As if Abe intended to make any move in favor of the victims of Imperial Japan's sexual slavery system! As soon as he came back to Japan, the revisionist PM naturally confirmed that no agreement would happen during the proposed time frame**. Abe will play the next summit on his home turf, and will as usual, as we frogs say, "try to drown the fish".

No one is fooled: Shinzo Abe has claimed back his respectability, and effortlessly gained a lot of time, and Korea can only contemplate the time and opportunities wasted over the past months. When you think that Park's main concern, ahead of the summit, was to push if favor of an old Abe dream, state-issued history textbooks, instead of showing the example by leading a long overdue truth and reconciliation movement (see "Yet Another Textbook Textbook Controversy")...

Otherwise, The Middle Kingdom confirms its posture as the hyperpower guaranteeing peace and stability in the region. You can easily guess why the US didn't win the day...


Seoul Village 2015
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* see "Full text of joint declaration of trilateral summit" (Yonhap - 20151104)
** see "Comfort women agreement with South Korea not likely by year-end: Abe" (Japan Times - 20151102)