Because General MacArthur’s testimony was never reported in Japan, the families of fallen soldiers remained trapped in the Tokyo Trial narrative.
This article reveals how the failure to convey historical truth deprived bereaved families of dignity, healing, and moral recognition for decades.

2017-06-19
The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
A shift toward the “Tojo–MacArthur historical perspective.”
Nevertheless, this statement by MacArthur was never reported by Japan’s major newspapers at the time, and even today I have never heard of it being reported by the mass media.
Japan at the time this statement was made was still under U.S. military occupation, so it may not have been possible to report it.
However, once independence was restored the following year, they could have rushed to publish it.
In 1951 or 1952, memories of the war were still vivid.
It was also a time when the occupation forces were having inconvenient portions of textbooks blacked out and were conducting massive propaganda portraying Japan as having been solely at fault.
The impact would have been enormous.
Even seventy years later, Japan might not still be bound by the Tokyo Trial historical view.
Those who were left without solace were the families of fallen soldiers.
Even now, I remember a waka poem written by a widow: “Having become such a wretched country, the one I offered is simply too precious to lose.”
She did not want to send her husband to war.
Yet she offered him for the sake of the nation.
After the war, however, he was spoken of as if he had died a pointless death.
She was consumed by grief, lamenting that it was “simply too painful a loss.”
There were parents who offered their sons.
There were many younger brothers and sisters who offered their elder brothers.
Had this MacArthur testimony been widely reported, how much comfort those families would have found.
This is a fact that every Japanese should know and that should be conveyed to people all over the world.
To be continued.