In my April 17, 2017 article, “For People Around the World, This May Not Be So, So I Add the Following Notes,” I developed my criticism of Haruki Murakami as an explanation directed toward readers around the world.
Some Japanese people immediately understand what I am trying to say.
However, people around the world do not know how much support Japan has provided to China and South Korea after the war.
The financial assistance Japan provided to China after the war was among the largest forms of financial assistance to another country in human history.
It was not only money.
Under the slogan of “Japan-China friendship,” Japan also gave generous technological assistance.
Behind the China of today lies this support from Japan.
The same is true of South Korea.
At the time of the conclusion of the Japan-Korea Treaty, Japan provided financial assistance amounting to several times South Korea’s national budget at the time.
That support sustained the Miracle on the Han River and contributed greatly to the formation of today’s South Korea.
And yet, the governments of China and South Korea do not teach these facts to their people.
On the contrary, both countries have repeatedly carried out anti-Japanese propaganda in order to keep postwar Japan bound as a political prisoner.
One of the things they used for that purpose was the speech by German President Weizsäcker.
While saying “learn from Germany,” they continued to demand eternal apologies from Japan.
I criticized this manner of conduct as “bottomless evil” and “plausible lies.”
In this context, Haruki Murakami’s statements are extremely serious.
He made a statement to the effect that Japan must continue apologizing forever to China and the Korean Peninsula.
Moreover, in his new work, he presented a description that even connects to the theory of 400,000 victims in the Nanjing Massacre.
This cannot be dismissed as merely the personal opinion of a writer.
When a person treated as a world-famous writer, without understanding the facts of Japan’s postwar support, the meaning of peace treaties and basic treaties, and the structure of anti-Japanese propaganda by China and South Korea, takes the side that demands eternal apologies from Japan, he gravely damages Japan’s honor and historical awareness.
In April 2017, I was trying to annotate that danger for people around the world.
2011
I criticized the lack of intellect surrounding the evaluation of Haruki Murakami.
2014
I criticized the “cheap liquor” statement and Asahi Shimbun-like hypocrisy.
January 2016
I criticized Kenzaburo Oe, Haruki Murakami, Tatsuya Uchida, and others as pseudo-moralists of postwar Japan.
November 2016
I criticized the Nanjing issue, UNESCO, the United Nations, the Asahi Shimbun, Kenzaburo Oe, and Haruki Murakami as a structure of anti-Japanese propaganda and pseudo-moralism.
March 2017
I criticized the description of the Nanjing Incident in Killing Commendatore.
April 4, 2017
Based on Nobuyuki Kaji’s theory of peace treaties, I confirmed the principle that a state must not apologize after treaties have been concluded.
April 17, 2017
I annotated, for readers around the world, the facts of Japan’s support for China and South Korea, the use of Germany as an argument, and the falsehood of the theory of eternal apology.