Japanese Veteran's Confessions: Learning from History, Facing the Future

Author: [Japanese] Hoshu Teichō
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-08-01
Features: This book reveals the actions of Japanese soldiers during the war of aggression against China through testimonies from Japanese soldiers who participated in the war at that time. It helps people understand why so many young soldiers committed such heinous crimes and how they later sought profound repentance. The author does not focus on the thought process of Yantai Baofang's repentance for his sins, but vividly describes the outcome of his repentance. Since 1985, the protagonist has embarked on a path of apology to China. To date, he has come to China 18 times with a repentant heart. During his last visit to China last year, he was already an 82-year-old elder. Under his influence, Tokyo's Shibuya District and Tai'an, Shandong Province, have become sister cities, and a middle school in Tokyo has formed a sister school relationship with Tai'an Experimental School. He has also donated items to the Shandong education department on multiple occasions and made donations to China for flood relief. What spirit drives an 82-year-old man to do such things? He himself explained the reason. He said, "When I was young, I committed crimes against the Chinese. I was a person who harmed Chinese society, and everything I do now is to atone for my sins. I have no ambitions. Every time, I speak from personal experience, starting with small things, to educate those around me to stay away from war. If all the elderly in the world think and act like this, future generations will receive sound and healthy education, and the world will be peaceful." People's concerns have indeed been alleviated due to the actions of these "old devils." However, the author did not draw the answer people expected from this. "Will the devils come again?" It remains an unfinished topic. The book also devotes a large amount of space to describing another scene the author saw in Tokyo. This is the existence of "devils who do not apologize." The author has interviewed such devils, and the results are self-evident. The author compares these devils to Yantai and believes: "These unrepentant war veterans, compared to the old devil Yantai, appear to lack courage. At the very least, they dare not look into the eyes of their descendants and confess the crimes they committed. They are a group of people with little persuasiveness, but because of their evasive and secretive attitude toward history, they have created a generation gap in the understanding of the invasion history among post-war Japanese." As a result, the concerns that had already been has once again overshadowed the author's heart.