An Inoffensive Rearmament Read Free

had fought for America. If there were mistakes, they were sincere mistakes stemming from lack of understanding of Asian culture rather than from malice. Many Americans returned to the United States thoroughly Nipponized, singing the praises of the Japanese people. On their side, thousands of Japanese admiring power, especially foreign power, became astonishingly American, or so it seemed.
    In commenting on the historical significance of the occupation on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the Japanese surrender, General MacArthur said, “I dare say that no occupation in history has been subject to such an extraordinary divergence of opinion carried in the media of public expression than has the occupation of Japan. Some writers have been extravagant in their praise, others no less extravagant in their criticism. Simultaneous attacks have been leveled against occupation policy by the leftists as too revolutionary and by conservatives as too liberal. The truth, awaiting the judgement of history, will rest somewhere inbetween.” He concluded his statement with the words, “Of the Japanese people I can pay no higher tribute than to repeat that they have fully and faithfully fulfilled their surrender commitments and have earned the freedom and dignity and opportunity which alone can come with the restoration of a formal peace.”
    With the crisis breaking in Korea, the Japanese people were to demonstrate a deep appreciation for their conquerors. They could have turned against us, as so many conquered people have done in history, but instead they not only remained friends but actually became allies. Thousands of young Japanese volunteered to serve in American military forces to help us in Korea. And when American wounded returned to hospitals in Japan and blood for our troops was not available from the United States, thousands of Japanese men and women, the common people, gave their blood. We were all grateful for their cooperation and support. I regret to say, however, that too many Americans have failed to understand that the Japanese have their own vital interests as a nation that sometimes coincide with our own but on occasion diverge.
    A people’s traditions, hopes, and aspirations are deeply rooted in a nation. No adversity can block them out. Nor will they be forgotten or forsaken. And so the Japanese people will always remember that before their unconditional surrender their country was one of two major powers that had never lost a war; the other was America. Nor can we ever expect the Japanese people to accept for their country the role of a neutral Switzerland in Asia, as the victorious Allies had directed. The Korean War accordingly, by “the grace of heaven,” stirred anew a deep-seated yearning in the hearts of the Japanese. They saw America committed to a war on the Asian continent. They knew America would need Japan. Out of that need they hoped would come a new day: a treaty of peace, respectability, and national dignity. By the miracle of Korea, an emasculated Japan was about to regain its manhood. History since is replete with the marvelous achievements—political, economic, and social—of a revitalized democratic Japan.
    For myself, I have chosen to touch upon only a small segment of that illustrious history: the story of the rearmament of Japan, a story of covert, surreptitious, illegal rearmament, forced by the accident of war and fashioned by the expediencies of a deteriorating military situation in Korea. And so I return to that war.
    A short time after our radio carried the news of the Korean invasion, I met my old friend Bunzō Akama, governor of Ōsaka Prefecture, who was visiting Tōkyō. 2 Our conversation immediately turned to the war.
    â€œIt looks bad, Mr. Governor,” I said.
    â€œReally, Colonel?” answered the governor. “War is bad, but the Japanese are not too unhappy. America will need Japan and we will be your friend. The war will