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Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Australia China India Indonesia Japan Malaysia Philippines Thailand Vietnam Search Search: Japanese reading of WWII history stirs debate By MARI YAMAGUCHI,Associated Press Writer AP - Monday, January 12 TOKYO - Toshio Tamogami draws a full pension, gives lectures, appears on TV talk shows and is treated with respect. Not bad for a general who two months ago was fired for writing an essay justifying Japan's entry into World War II. The case of the ousted air force chief reveals how the idea that Japan's war was justified still lives on in the minds of many Japanese, including powerful ones. When Japan went to war, the nation was told it was for self-defense, to free Asia from Western colonial powers, and to deter the United States from attacking Japan. Japan officially abandoned that view of history after its crushing defeat in 1945, but every so often a Japanese high-up would roil the waters by justifying Japanese conduct in the war and treatment of its neighbors. Not until 1995 did a Japanese prime minister acknowledge his country was an aggressor that had brought about great suffering in Asia. The air force chief's essay shows that Japan's argument with history isn't over. It was entered in a contest sponsored by a commercial company and conducted by Toshio Motoya, a right-leaning businessman. Motoya said 235 essays were submitted, one-third by air force officers, and most shared Tamogami's views. "We should review our perspective of history and become a truly independent nation, or our future is at risk," Motoya said. "I'm confident Mr. Tamogami will get credit some day for sacrificing his job by what he wrote." Tamogami called his essay "Was Japan an Aggressor Nation?" and wrote that Japan has been unjustly subjected to "the history of the victor." He also said his country deserves praise for building universities in Taiwan and Korea when they were Japanese colonies before the war. The affair made headlines and stirred debate in parliament. While Prime Minister Taro Aso has been circumspect, saying only that Tamogami's public expression of such views was out of step with government statements, former Trade Minister Takeo Hiranuma praised Tamogami for his frankness. "What Mr. Tamogami said was true," he said in a video message on his Web site. "We should take this opportunity to study harder so we can have correct views of Japan's history." But some 140 members of the History Educators Conference of Japan issued a protest. "There are many people, including political leaders, who support Tamogami's views," said historian Hisao Ishiyama. "It's not a problem of one fanatic military official." Tamogami's views are common among nationalists, including former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who, with a strong segment of the ruling party behind him, spearheaded a partially successful campaign over several years to remove mention of Japan's wartime atrocities from textbooks. Only in recent years, after lawsuits from victims, has Japan acknowledged many of its brutalities, including the use of poison gas in China and sex slaves recruited in countries under wartime occupation. Aso himself has had to admit to parliament for the first time that his family-run company used hundreds of Allied war prisoners at its mines in the final months of the war. He offered no apology. The government must make its views clear, or else the public might suspect Aso and other ministers agree with the general's views, Kaori Hayashi, a Tokyo University academic, wrote in The Asahi newspaper. Japan's ambivalence has diplomatic consequences. Its expressions of remorse are often undercut by statements such as one by a group of nationalist lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who claimed the death toll in the "Rape of Nanking" massacre, one of the worst incidents in Japan's invasion of China, was grossly inflated. Teikyo University professor Toshiyuki Shikata, a former army general, said Tamogami was probably motivated by a desire to instill national pride in the troops. Japan renounced its right to wage war in its 1947 U.S.-drafted constitution. Over the years, however, it has slowly expanded its military capability by passing special legislation and altering interpretations of the war-renouncing clause. Japan deployed about 600 army troops to southern Iraq in 2004-2006 on a humanitarian mission and provided airlifts in Iraq until last year. Aso's government is now considering sending warships to international anti-piracy patrols off Somalia. Email Story IM Story Printable View Blog This Recommend this article Average (0 votes) Sign in to recommend this article » Most Recommended Stories » Related Articles: Asia Pacific 6 troops, 40 militants killed in Pakistan attackAP - Monday, January 12 Japanese reading of WWII history stirs debateAP - Monday, January 12 China's future execs seek their inner chickenAP - Monday, January 12 Nurseries importing fewer plants but hope festive period will boost businessChannel NewsAsia - Monday, January 12 Thailand holds by-elections in key test for new PMAFP - Monday, January 12 Most Popular – Asia Pacific Viewed Britain's Prince Harry apologises for racist language Israeli troops push deeper into Gaza's main city Is Tintin gay? Cartoon birthday boy dogged by rumours Three down, one left for Mitsubishi in Dakar Putin says Europe gas crisis "worsening" View Complete List » Search: Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular

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