August 18, 2016
Akahata on August 18 learned that the Director of Cabinet Intelligence, who had played a leading role in pushing for the enactment of the State Secrecy Act under the Abe government, praises Japan’s prewar and wartime suppression of civil liberties in his essay written for people in charge of police administration.
Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, former head of the National Police Agency Security Bureau, wrote the paper in question which is compiled in a 3-volume set of books published in March 2014.
The Empire of Japan, until the end of WWII, had the Foreign Affairs Police to spy on and control foreigners living in Japan to protect military secrecy. Wartime Japan also had the Special Higher Police whose duty was to crack down on the freedom of expression under the pretext of the maintenance of public order and national security.
The essay notes that the FA Police, after the 1917 Russian Revolution, began to focus on “surveillance of an influx of communist ideology and activism from overseas”.
Kitamura in the essay uses the Greater East Asia War for the Pacific War and praises the FA Police and the SH Police for orchestrating repression and successfully mobilizing the whole nation to support the war. In the essay, he shows his frustration with postwar Japan’s absence of counterintelligence activities and stresses the need to have a state secrecy act and security legislation taking on the past wartime style of maintaining public order and security.
Kitamura, dubbed the right-hand man to Prime Minister Abe, is a person who was indispensable in the forcible enactment of the State Secrecy Act. He now publicly states, “I intend to contribute to revising the Constitution during my tenure.”
Regarding Kitamura’s essay, Professor Emeritus of Yamaguchi University Koketsu Atsushi who specialized in Japanese political history told Akahata that he considers Kitamura to be a historical revisionist and Yasukuni adherent like PM Abe, glorifying Japan’s past war of aggression as a holy war.
Koketsu said, “We don’t find historical revisionists holding the reins of government and taking over key positions in Western countries. Japan is the only nation in the world in this respect.”
He added, “Kitamura in his paper gives a detailed description of Imperial Japan’s high-ranking officials and police bureaucrats who strongly resisted the Allied Nations’ order to dissolve the Home Ministry and the SH Police after the war. His strong call for a secrecy law is indeed his declaration that he is aspiring to return to the climate of prewar Japan.”
Past related articles:
> JCP Yamashita: Take JCP off list of subversive groups [March 23, 2016]
> Audit Board regarded secrecy law as constitutionally controversial [February 3, 2016]
Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, former head of the National Police Agency Security Bureau, wrote the paper in question which is compiled in a 3-volume set of books published in March 2014.
The Empire of Japan, until the end of WWII, had the Foreign Affairs Police to spy on and control foreigners living in Japan to protect military secrecy. Wartime Japan also had the Special Higher Police whose duty was to crack down on the freedom of expression under the pretext of the maintenance of public order and national security.
The essay notes that the FA Police, after the 1917 Russian Revolution, began to focus on “surveillance of an influx of communist ideology and activism from overseas”.
Kitamura in the essay uses the Greater East Asia War for the Pacific War and praises the FA Police and the SH Police for orchestrating repression and successfully mobilizing the whole nation to support the war. In the essay, he shows his frustration with postwar Japan’s absence of counterintelligence activities and stresses the need to have a state secrecy act and security legislation taking on the past wartime style of maintaining public order and security.
Kitamura, dubbed the right-hand man to Prime Minister Abe, is a person who was indispensable in the forcible enactment of the State Secrecy Act. He now publicly states, “I intend to contribute to revising the Constitution during my tenure.”
Regarding Kitamura’s essay, Professor Emeritus of Yamaguchi University Koketsu Atsushi who specialized in Japanese political history told Akahata that he considers Kitamura to be a historical revisionist and Yasukuni adherent like PM Abe, glorifying Japan’s past war of aggression as a holy war.
Koketsu said, “We don’t find historical revisionists holding the reins of government and taking over key positions in Western countries. Japan is the only nation in the world in this respect.”
He added, “Kitamura in his paper gives a detailed description of Imperial Japan’s high-ranking officials and police bureaucrats who strongly resisted the Allied Nations’ order to dissolve the Home Ministry and the SH Police after the war. His strong call for a secrecy law is indeed his declaration that he is aspiring to return to the climate of prewar Japan.”
Past related articles:
> JCP Yamashita: Take JCP off list of subversive groups [March 23, 2016]
> Audit Board regarded secrecy law as constitutionally controversial [February 3, 2016]
