Representatives of Reiyukai Buddhist movement from Japan visited L.A. National Cemetery on Veterans Day. We spoke with them about what their society teaches of the Empire of Japan's march to control Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Oceanians. We asked visiting Reiyukai leader, Ms. Yoko Takahashi, if they feel any blame for the deaths of the Americans buried here. We asked Toshiro Obama, VP of Reiyukai America, what they were taught about why Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
Late in the video you can see visiting Australian businessman, Heath Williamson, responding to whether Australia needed "liberating" by the Japanese.
Late in the video you can see visiting Australian businessman, Heath Williamson, responding to whether Australia needed "liberating" by the Japanese.Their thoughts on video are consistent with Karmago's expression on a Reddit thread on how Pearl Harbor is perceived Japanese society (2014):
I guess I'm one of the few Japanese on Reddit. I lived in Tokyo for almost 10 years and attended high school there. From what I remember, the subject of WWII was taught something along the lines of this:
External pressures placed upon Japan by the US such as the formation of the ABCD line (American, British, Chinese, Dutch) as well as the trade and resource embargoes that the US imposed on Japan were seen as acts of aggression. This led Japanese military leaders to believe that there was no other option but to launch a preemptive strike on the US. The details of the war itself is just briefly glossed over, but there is a significant amount of emphasis placed on the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and how nuclear weapons are horrible and should never be used again. The unit ended with the moral of the story being that the military leaders made a mistake and that their mistake cost the lives and suffering of millions of people, and that everyone should live peacefully and all that.
Outside of school, I've visited Japanese museums and having spoken with people from that generation, the general consensus about World War II seems to be that it was a war that was fought in order to protect Japan from the Western powers. Views on the military leaders are range from neutral to negative, but most views on Japanese soldiers are seen in a positive light, hailing them as heroes who fought and died protecting the Japanese people. Racial animosity appears to be an unspoken but a significant factor in fighting the war (Japan liberated Asia from the whites etc).
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