Tokyo Record, 1943

The author was a correspondent for the New York Times and the Times of London, and was sent to Tokyo by the papers.

The author talks about how people revere the Emperor, and how they bow towards the palace when they pass it, even on a bus. “There was obviously no compulsion about it; it was a spontaneous gesture of reverence comparable only with the sign of the cross devout Catholics make before the crucifix.”

Kiichiro Hiranuma, the Home Minister at the time, said the following:

”Japan's national polity is unique in the world. Heaven sent down Niningi-no-Mikoto [grandson of the Sun Goddess] to Kashihara in Yamato Province with a message that their posterity should reign over and govern Japan for ages eternal. It was on this happy day, 2,601 years ago, that our first Emperor, Jimmu, ascended the Throne. Dynasties in foreign countries were created by men. Foreign kings, emperors, and presidents are all created by men, but Japan has a Sacred Throne inherited from the Imperial Ancestors. Japanese Imperial Rule, therefore, is an extension of Heaven. Dynasties created by men may collapse, but the Heaven-created Throne is beyond men's power.”

There's also an interesting quote from Matsuoka, the Foreign Minister of the time:

”The Manchuria Incident and the China Affair are nothing but manifestations of Japan's attempt to forestall the destruction of civilization. The Manchuria Incident should be termed the start of construction, not destruction, of world peace. The Coprosperity Sphere in the Far East is based on the spirit of Hakko Ichiu, or the Eight Corners of the Universe under One Road. It is not that America's leaders don't understand this, but that they don't try to understand it.”

In other words, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria was an “incident,” the attack on China an “affair,” and it was Japan's duty to unite all nations of the world under one roof; theirs.

On February 21, 1941, Matsuoka spoke to the Diet, Japan's version of Congress, and said that the white man must return Oceania to the Asiatics, and the Japanese must be allowed to settle there. Oceania included the Pacific islands, Australia, Melanesia, new Guinea, the east Indies, the Philippines and even Hawaii.

Various sources talk about how, from the American viewpoint, the Pacific Theater was a racial war, but it's also evident that, from the Japanese viewpoint, the war also was, at least partially, a racial war.

The author talks about the California land laws and how that upset some Japanese, but points out that the Japanese had similar laws of their own.

Remember that I am only covering a very few highlights; the book is a big one and covers in great detail 1941 and a little more, looking at events in Japan itself.

The author notes that working hours had been changed from ten to twelve hours a day, six days a week.

The Education Ministry produced a book called The Way of Subjects which “contained all that the most rapid jingos had been saying, but it was much more elaborate, and systematized, and dogmatic, and authoritative, and fantastic.” It proclaimed “a war of extermination against 'European and American thought.'”

It said Japan had a holy mission to rescue East Asia from the evil influences of Europe and America. The author adds “...it surpassed even Hitler's Mein Kampf in its sweeping program of world conquest.”

The author talks about Japanese myths and how they relate to two separate prehistoric invasions of the Japanese islands, one by early Mongols and the other a Malayan-Indonesian invasion from the south.

The author talks about the anti-Jewish nature of some of the people, including an Anti-espionage League that held an anti-Jewish rally, claiming that the Jews intended to dominate the entire world.

In September of 1941 “All leading Japanese women's organizations with a membership of 15,00,000 consolidated today in the Great Japan Woman's Society, which is to urge Japanese women to return to the home and devote themselves to the proper upbringing of their children and the creation of a happy home life.”

In relation to atrocities:

”The rape of Nanking was repeated in the rape of Hong Kong. Catholic missionaries of the Maryknoll Resthouse near Fort stanley vouched for the bayoneting of British and Canadian wounded and captives, and they themselves escaped a like fate only by the surrender of the city. The chief physician of the field hospital was shot on sight and three British volunteer nurses ere raped, bayoneted, and burned. A British general told Southard he had seen numerous bodies of Canadian soldiers with their heads cut off. But it would have taken a thick Black Book to describe the atrocities in detail...”

There is also a bizarre section which examines some things that some Japanese believed about ancient Japan, including that it was part of the lost continent of Mu (in the Pacific); that it gave rise to the Sumerian civilization; and that the Great Pyramid in Egypt was built for worship of the Sun Goddess.

Chinese came to Japan to study and that's what gave rise to the Chinese civilization. In fact, all countries were united under Japan's leadership until catastrophic geological events caused a breakdown of this unity.



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