In my April 4, 2017 article, “After That, the State Must Not Apologize,” my criticism had moved on to the problem that postwar cultural figures such as Haruki Murakami and Tatsuya Uchida do not understand the basic rules between states.
I introduced an essay by Nobuyuki Kaji, professor emeritus at Osaka University and a specialist in the history of Chinese philosophy.
What Professor Kaji explained with great clarity was the meaning of a peace treaty in a modern state.
After a war has ended and a peace treaty has been concluded, the state must not officially express complaints, grievances, or demands for apology concerning wartime matters.
This is the wisdom that modern states have created in order to break the chain of hatred.
Japan concluded the San Francisco Peace Treaty, concluded a peace treaty with the Republic of China, concluded the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People’s Republic of China, and concluded the Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea.
In the Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea, it was confirmed that claims between the two countries and their nationals had been settled completely and finally.
Therefore, after that, the Japanese state must not apologize.
Unless one understands this basic point, one has no qualification to speak of internationalization.
Before the question of whether one can speak a foreign language, one must understand the meaning of law and treaties that govern relations between states.
When Haruki Murakami made a statement to the effect that Japanese people must apologize forever to the people of the Korean Peninsula, I strongly criticized its childishness.
It may have appeared to be a moral statement, but in reality it was an extremely immature statement that did not understand the rules between states.
The same applies to Tatsuya Uchida.
Cultural figures who stand on Asahi Shimbun-like pseudo-moralism mistake apology for virtue.
But between states, repeating apologies after peace treaties and basic treaties does not deepen peace.
Rather, it reproduces hatred and instability.
Here lies the decisive defect of postwar cultural figures such as Haruki Murakami and Tatsuya Uchida.
They do not know history.
They do not know treaties.
They do not know the state.
And yet, borrowing the name of morality, they try to judge Japan.
I had clearly criticized that point in April 2017, based on Professor Nobuyuki Kaji’s essay.