May 17, 2018

  • The Stories We Tell

    I visited the Yasukuni Shrine today - 靖國神社, and then the museum that basically records much of Japanese military history starting with the Meiji Restoration. I wasn't sure what feelings seeing everything would evoke, but it was a far deeper experience than I'd anticipated. I've read a lot about history - from medieval European, the Great War, World War 2, wars in Africa. And although I've read a fair amount of Chinese history, I haven't really read history from the Japanese perspective.

    This was something different, because it put the narrative of colonization in East Asia and the South Pacific in a very different narrative than I'm used to. And perspective in life, is everything.

    As the old adage goes, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. The irony is that neither is fully true, nor fully false. I've always been fascinated by Rashamon, which is the first writing that I'm aware of that depicts the same event from different views. That is the art and subtlety of history. You cannot read history without reading many sides of an event.

    What does it mean, really? Walking amidst the artillery, munitions, bombs, manned torpedoes, fighters, models of warships... seeing blades from 600 AD (some really amazing weapons from that era...) as well as the discussions of how WW II is seen by the historians who wrote the passages describing events, from the beginning of Perry's shelling of Japanese ports, to the Cassus Belli that "led" (I use this to emphasize perspective) Japan to modernize, industrialize, militarize and then invade/free the surrounding lands.

    The Greater East Asia War is portrayed as Japan pushing to free East and Southeast Asia from Western Colonial influence. The final words in the museum regarding WWII basically suggests that this war for independence from Europe eventually inspired revolutions and revolts in the former colonies and led to independence in E and SE Asia as well as in Africa and the Middle East. The way I remember these events from a Eurocentric read of history sees it differently - but realistically, from the perspective of East Asia, it's not completely a baffling one.

    The world, as Japan saw it, was one where the military and industrial technology of Europe had led to global domination. Playing on this stage required a seismic shift of how Japan was run - leading to the dismantling of the Shogunate, and the restoration of Imperial rule. I won't get in to my feelings on governmental systems, suffice it to say that there are many threads of thought here that I can see in Chinese perceptions on military.

    It seems that both have realized that military prostration is a non-starter.

    War is reality. We can pretend that armed conflict is a thing of the past... but human history is filled with conflict. It is what happens when resources are perceived to be limited. If the story boards are to be believed in the museum, the essential reason why Japan attacked the US was the embargoes on Oil and industrial tools that fed Japanese industry. They claimed 70-80% of the industrial needs were imported... and securing mineral and oil was what led to "expeditions" throughout SE asia and the continent.

    It makes me reflect on my feelings when last in Berlin and thinking about the Weimar Republic. Reading about Chiang Kai-Shek from a Japanese perspective was also startling... essentially no mention of Mao was in the museum. These stories we tell - how did Japan see Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma... Manchuria (Or ManchuKuo)? How did they see their own role in the conflict? How did they see Nanjing?

    I can see more why Yasukuni incenses many leaders in E Asia.

    But I think there are also sentiments here that are sincere. That's the crazy thing about history. A participant in history can be both victor and villain at the same time. Victim and oppressor as well.

    There are so many sad stories - stories of sacrifice in that museum. Sacrifice for the ideal of Japan - and they are sincere... They may be stories that disturb other sensibilities, but that doesn't make them incomprehensible.

    As any of you that read my writing know, I am quite fond of Japan and Japanese culture. The time here made me realize that as an outside observer, as much as I love Japan, this story is not mine. I'm not in it, and I can't be in it. There is a sense of being swept up in the tide of world events - of being carried along by the sweep of history.

    It's powerful stuff.

    I'm glad I went.

    War isn't gone, and understanding what drives people to war is vital.

    I fear we've forgotten all those lessons already...