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2016 October 26 - November 1 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Ponder the meaning of the words “what is truth? left by Prince Mikasa

Akahata ‘current’ column

A scholar of ancient Oriental history who loved peace and freedom died on October 27. His name is Prince Mikasanomiya Takahito, a younger brother of the late Emperor Hirohito. His common touch shines through in the books he wrote during his life.

In 1939, before the Pacific War (December 1941- September 1945), he enrolled in the Army War College as male members of the imperial family had to join in military service. In one of his books, he recalled, “What I still feel a pang of remorse about is that I was not fully aware of the sin of war.” In 1943, he was assigned to Nanjing in China as an Army staff officer. It was there that he became aware that the Japanese Army was committing cruel atrocities.

Looting, assaults, arsons, and rapes, “after all these years, it may be needless to enumerate the string of hideous atrocities the Army committed against innocent Chinese civilians,” he wrote. Surprisingly, he as a staff officer questioned the Sino-Japanese War (July 1937 - September 1945) and urged military leaders to engage in “self-reflection” and “self-restraint” in 1944.

There exist writings compiling several talks titled, “Self-reflection of the China Incident as a Japanese person”. The author is “staff officer Wakasugi”, Prince Mikasa’s pseudonym. At the very beginning of this compilation, he said that he would substitute for general staff to speak up as these people are not supposed to make bold remarks under extreme suppression of their free speech. Touching upon the Japanese military’s use of toxic gases, he wrote, in a time when a war was billed as a “holy battle” for “justice”, he felt that the truth was rather the opposite.

After the war, he actively supported the “war-renouncing” principle of the new Constitution. In the late 1950’s, he as a historian confronted the move to seek the revival of “Empire Day”. He wrote, “I have experienced the world where a man who makes false statements is praised as a patriot and a man who tells the truth is berated as a traitor,” and he continued, “Yet I cannot feel at ease just because that was in the past.”

His motto was, “What is truth?”