The slogan “Learn from Germany” functioned as a political device to keep Japan labeled a perpetual offender.
This essay exposes how Japanese media and intellectual figures echoed narratives aligned with foreign state interests, undermining Japan’s sovereignty and national strength.

May 10, 2016

The first time I heard the absurd phrase “Learn from Germany” was quite some time ago.
It was when Kang Sang-jung appeared on TV Asahi’s Asa Made Nama TV, which I happened to be watching.
That was also the first time I became aware of this man.
Anyone watching that program with a sound mind must have wondered what on earth he was talking about, or what ulterior motives lay behind such foolish statements.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that all those who, with him as their representative, advocated the laughable notion of “learning from Germany” were individuals manipulated by, or speaking on behalf of, the governments or intelligence agencies of South Korea and China.
Their objective was to keep Japan in the position of a “political prisoner” within international society.
They sought to continuously diminish Japan’s national power and international credibility.
At every opportunity, they exploited the narrative—created by the United States to conceal its own original sins at the end of the war—that Japan was an evil nation and the Japanese were guilty.
The purpose was to extract enormous sums of money from Japan.
With the full cooperation of the Asahi Shimbun, South Korea and China succeeded in siphoning off what can only be described as the largest amount of aid in human history from Japan.
China, a one-party communist dictatorship, and South Korea, which for seventy years after the war has pursued anti-Japan education as a national policy based on the fabricated history of Syngman Rhee, have never informed their citizens that this massive Japanese aid contributed to their economic development.
On the contrary, they continue to fabricate Japan as a criminal state equivalent to Nazi Germany and persist in vicious slander throughout the world, especially centered on the United States.
I was the first to make known to the world just how malicious Kang Sang-jung, NHK, the Asahi Shimbun, and the so-called intellectuals who aligned with them truly were.
Regarding the idea of “learning from another country,” I must add another crucial point.
I was also the first to point out the strange fact that these people lacked the basic philosophy any ordinary business leader possesses—the desire to make their own country larger and stronger.
South Korea and China never wanted to acknowledge Japan as a great power, nor did they want Japan to become one.
Kang Sang-jung repeatedly made statements in line with their intentions, and the Asahi Shimbun continued to produce reporting identical in substance.
What they claimed and the truth are exact opposites.
Certainly, Japan has things to learn from the United Kingdom and Germany.
But that has nothing whatsoever to do with their absurd and malicious claim that Japan should “learn from Germany” by being fabricated as a criminal state equivalent to Nazi Germany.
What should be learned instead is this: even when facing the world’s largest human-rights-suppressing state and a nation that carries out mass destruction of free speech, they turn a blind eye because of its population of 1.3 billion, and, disregarding ethics entirely, pursue the maximization of national利益—strengthening the City, the United Kingdom, the automotive industry, and Germany itself—by any means necessary.
It is that unwavering determination to make one’s country larger and stronger that Japan should learn from.
Needless to say, there is absolutely no need to learn the vulgarity of ignoring every act of brutality committed by China purely for the sake of profit.
To be continued.