As the saying “There are no righteous wars” suggests, international conflicts can rarely be reduced to one absolutely just side and one absolutely unjust side.
Drawing on an essay by Sukehiro Hirakawa, this article examines the Greater East Asia War as a form of “anti-imperialist imperialism,” the emotions of the Japanese people on December 8, 1941, the occupation authorities’ suppression of the term “Greater East Asia War,” and the retributive aspects of the trials of Generals Tomoyuki Yamashita and Masaharu Homma.
It calls for a reconsideration of the war and the Tokyo Trial from multiple historical perspectives.

June 22, 2020
“There are no righteous wars,” as the ancient saying goes, and in an international war it is almost inconceivable that one side should be absolutely just and the other absolutely unjust.
There were still many passages in this month’s issue of Seiron that I had not yet read.
This morning, while reading the lengthy installment of Sukehiro Hirakawa’s series, I came across a passage that made me think, “This is precisely what China is like today.”
Among the notes Hirakawa compiled and published at the end, there was a passage proving that my own view had struck the heart of the matter.
In this article, I will introduce excerpts from those passages, together with passages that every Japanese citizen should know.
Hirakawa’s essay is essential reading not only for the Japanese people, but for people throughout the world.
There Are No Righteous Wars
The preceding passage is omitted.
I consider the war Japan fought to have been a war of “anti-imperialist imperialism.”
From the perspective of world history, it may also be described as a challenge by a late-developing “have-not nation” against the advanced “have nations.”
It may also be understood as a challenge by Japan—a resource-poor empire of the yellow race that possessed colonies in Asia—against the established order of a wealthy alliance of great white empires that also possessed colonies in Asia.
And Japan was defeated.
“There are no righteous wars,” as the ancient saying goes, and in an international war it is almost inconceivable that one side should be absolutely just and the other absolutely unjust.
What, then, is the proper way to view such a “Greater East Asia” War and the Tokyo Trial?
I wish to discuss the war, and the Tokyo Trial that followed it as a war fought on another level, by citing materials that clarify its various aspects.
By appealing to both the reason and the sensibilities of readers, I hope that conclusions will naturally be drawn from the intrinsic value of those materials themselves.
Whether this will enable me to present a new historical perspective remains to be seen.
I also look forward to hearing how foreign readers will respond.
December 8
What was “that war,” Note 1, which began for Japan on December 8?
Was it the Pacific War?
Was it the Greater East Asia War?
Or is it wrong to reduce it exclusively to either one?
I wish to attempt a more balanced historical positioning of the past war, one that is centered neither upon the West nor upon Japan, by also incorporating perspectives from third countries such as India.
My approach is to look back upon the past with multiple sets of eyes.
It is, of course, no more than my own interpretation.
I shall also include some personal memories.
Born in July 1931, the sixth year of the Showa era, I was in the fourth grade of elementary school when December 8 arrived.
The sky over the imperial capital was clear on that Monday in December 1941, the sixteenth year of the Showa era.
From the seven o’clock morning news, I learned that Japan had entered a state of war with the United States and Britain in the western Pacific, and I set out for school.
On the train, the tense face of the Japanese passenger sitting opposite me appeared beautiful.
“Now the spirit of the divine fills our heavens and our seas.”
Even as a child, I could sense the atmosphere expressed in those words by the poet Kotaro Takamura.
Immediately afterward, the war came to be called the “Greater East Asia War.”
Japan’s prolonged war on the Chinese continent had aspects that lacked a just cause.
Many people had grown weary of the never-ending China Incident.
Because there were figures such as Wang Jingwei who sided with Japan, people believed that Chiang Kai-shek remained anti-Japanese because Britain and the United States stood behind him.
It was precisely because of this understanding that, although it was part of the same conflict, the war Japan fought after December 8 seemed different from the China Incident.
It was now a war against the true enemies, Britain and the United States, and therefore appeared capable of possessing a just cause as the Greater East Asia War for the liberation of Asia.
The feelings of the Japanese people at the time can also be perceived in the following poems:
I read the Imperial Rescript that dispersed the clouds
Which for five years had hung over our Japan.
The time has come for a new work of creation and consolidation,
Giving the peoples of color their rightful place.
Commander Rinosuke Ichimaru of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service expressed in verse the emotional sense of relief that came from fighting the white powers that ruled colonial empires.
Kotaro Takamura was exhilarated by Japan’s early victories:
At Hawaii, instantly annihilating a great fleet,
Off Malaya, sinking the mighty ships said to be unsinkable,
Subduing Hong Kong of rock and concrete and deeply laid designs,
Pacifying Manila and restoring Luzon to its ancient state, …
Crushing iron-fortified Singapore with a terrible grinding sound.
The Pacific War or the Greater East Asia War?
Japan’s overwhelming superiority, however, lasted only until then.
Defeat came in August 1945, the twentieth year of the Showa era.
It was followed by the American occupation of Japan.
Before long, the name “Greater East Asia War” disappeared and was replaced by “Pacific War.”
Even a second-year middle-school student could understand that the intentions of the occupation forces lay behind this change.
One reason for the name “Pacific War” was that the Americans called it “the Pacific War” or the “War in the Pacific.”
However, if the Japanese had been allowed to continue calling it the “Greater East Asia War,” the aspect of a righteous war fought by Japan for the liberation of Greater East Asia would have come to the surface.
That would have been inconvenient for the Allied powers, particularly for the countries that wished to maintain their prewar colonies.
For that reason, the use of the term “Greater East Asia War” was prohibited.
In the southern regions, the Japanese military had once defeated the white powers that were the colonial rulers.
In order to restore their damaged authority and to make examples of the local populations, the United States, Britain, France, and the Netherlands had to turn the soldiers and officers of the defeated Japanese military into war criminals.
General Tomoyuki Yamashita, who had captured Singapore, was sentenced to be hanged on December 7, the anniversary of the outbreak of the war.
General Masaharu Homma, who had captured Manila, was sentenced to death by firing squad.
Whatever the formal charges may have been, it may be said that the character of these proceedings as trials of revenge was openly revealed.
Even Dr. Reischauer and others acknowledged their injustice.
Note 2
Lawrence Taylor, A Trial of Generals: MacArthur’s Revenge, Rippu Shobo, 1982.
The original title was A Trial of Generals.
The following is an abridged version of Reischauer’s words printed on the back cover of the Japanese edition:
Alongside Yamashita and Homma, who were tried before military tribunals, General MacArthur is also placed on trial in this book.
The two Japanese generals are revealed to have been candid, honest, and even noble men.
As for MacArthur, the dark side of his divided personality is brought into relief, showing how narrow-minded, pompous, and consumed by vengeance he could be.
American justice—its system of trial—is also placed on trial in this book.
It demonstrates that, in the final analysis, it was American justice that was defeated.
While many Japanese were being executed throughout the southern regions, the war was still continuing even after August 15.
And in this postwar war, the heartless attitude of some Japanese people came to the surface.
Lieutenant General Homma’s daughter stood in the street seeking signatures for a campaign to save her father’s life.
A newspaper then published a letter criticizing the daughter for having engaged in such conduct.
To be continued.