September 5, 2020. This article presents an argument concerning the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, television reporting, public support for the Abe administration, the Tokyo Trial, the Murayama Statement, Toshio Tamogami’s dismissal, and the teaching of Japan’s modern history.

September 5, 2020
In connection with an article by Rui Abiru published on September 3, 2020, the author introduced an online essay written by a person born in 1945.
From the writer’s own standpoint, the essay raises questions about the political tendencies of the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, and television reporting; public support for the Abe administration; assessments of the Tokyo Trial; postwar reparations; the Murayama Statement; the dismissal of Air Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Toshio Tamogami; and the teaching of Japan’s modern and contemporary history.
The emphasis in the following text was added by Mikio Kisara.
The historical interpretations and assessments of individuals, political parties, and news organizations contained in the quoted passage represent the views of its original author.

Text

Regarding Mr. Rui Abiru’s article of September 3, I found a very good article online.
https://ameblo.jp/isukeya/entry-12622290262.html
Its author was born in 1945.
It is essential reading for people who subscribe to the Asahi Shimbun or the Mainichi Shimbun and watch only television news programs such as those broadcast by NHK.
The emphasis in the text is mine.
Whether it is the Asahi, the Mainichi, or television, most of the Japanese media are left-wing.
As a former leftist myself, I look at them and think, “Why do they keep doing such foolish things?” Their lack of study is painful to behold.
Prime Minister Abe remained in office for so long because that many members of the public supported him, while the readerships of the Asahi and the Mainichi Shimbun declined rapidly because they failed to win the public’s support.
Fortunately for the opposition parties, television stations are still behaving foolishly, so the number of foolish people who support the opposition has not diminished, allowing the opposition parties somehow to survive. But if the proportional-representation system were abolished, most opposition lawmakers would disappear.
Then wasteful proceedings in the Diet would also disappear, decisions would be made promptly, and politics and administration would be conducted efficiently.
The reason they remain foolish indefinitely is that they continue to believe in the “self-denigrating view of history” that became ingrained after the war.
A typical example is Mr. Ishiba’s statement that “the root of the problem is that Japan has not directly confronted its responsibility for the war since its defeat.”
At the Tokyo Trial, Japan certainly accepted its judgements.
Japan accepted the executions of seven people and all the other criminal charges, and the punishments were carried out.
However, the Tokyo Trial itself was an unjust trial whose judgements were handed down under ex post facto law.
Moreover, Japan has more than adequately fulfilled its responsibility for the war.
Mao Zedong of China told Japan that China did not require war reparations, moving Japanese politicians deeply.
Japanese politicians had already been indoctrinated with a self-denigrating view of history.
That was why they were moved.
The truth is that the Chinese Communist state came into existence thanks to the Japanese military….
The Japanese military’s advance into China originally resulted from requests for its deployment during China’s internal conflicts. China calls it an “invasion,” but in every instance the forces were dispatched pursuant to agreements between states.
However, the Japanese government’s self-denigrating view of history was especially severe during Prime Minister Murayama’s administration.
You are probably familiar with what later became known as the “apology resolution”—the “Murayama Statement.”
“…During a certain period in the not-too-distant past, Japan, following a mistaken national policy, advanced along the road to war, only to ensnare the Japanese people in a fateful crisis, and, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly those of Asian nations. In the hope that no such mistake will be made in the future, I regard, in a spirit of humility, these irrefutable facts of history, and express here once again my feelings of profound remorse and state my heartfelt apology. Allow me also to express my feelings of deep mourning for all victims, both at home and abroad, of that history.”…
Many people were probably moved by this.
Because they were ignorant.
And merely for writing in an essay sponsored by APA Hotel that “Japan is a good country” and “Japan was not an aggressor nation,” Toshio Tamogami, then Chief of Staff of the Air Self-Defense Force, was dismissed.
The Minister of Defense at that time was Shigeru Ishiba.
The self-denigrating view of history had become deeply ingrained in him.
This may be described as a difference in learning, but once the facts are known, it becomes clear that successive Japanese governments had been foolish.
The opposition parties had also been foolish.
Given this environment, perhaps the foolishness of the television stations was unavoidable….
In any event, unless we begin by teaching modern and contemporary history correctly, Japan will become like South Korea.
That is what worries me most.
We must teach the facts without holding back out of deference to the United States.