Excellency,
Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Generations of Japanese are misled regarding their recent history, particularly on the Pacific War. Under the false banner “Asia for the Asians” Japan started a colonial war to drive out the Europeans! The Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, was one of the objectives under the pretext that the Dutch refused to supply Japan with commodities. In fact it was to support Japan’s vastly expanding offensive war machine. The Japanese military and their agents occupied Dutch East Indies and singled the Dutch out for ultimate destruction. It is as sinister as that. That is the recent history of Japan. It ruined Japan financially as military nationalism reigned. Japan earned a reputation of tyranny, cruelty and disrespect for mankind. The global opinion regarding Japan is one of fear, as Japan still refuses to accept the consequences of the war crimes by its military during the Pacific War.
Excellency,
The Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts notes your election victory and your appointment as Japan’s Prime Minister for the second time. In October 2006 our petition 143 welcomed you as Prime Minister of Japan the first time and congratulated you with the position. You announced then in your inaugural speech your intentions to change the constitution, to strengthen ties with China and South Korea and modernize Japan’s educational system. We suggested that was an opportune moment to learn from the past and reconsider the damage done by previous Japanese governments to Japan’s war victims both at home as well as in the previously occupied territories. (meer…)
Excellency,
Recently an interesting discovery was made in Denver, the United States. According to the Japan Times: “letters arriving from Japanese-Americans internment camps during World War Two were discovered during renovations.” Internees sent letters and postcards to a Denver pharmacy owned by Japanese-Americans requesting them to send bath powder, cold creams or cough drops. About 110,000 Japanese-Americans were interned during the war. The camps were overcrowded and provided poor living conditions. However the internees were able to correspond with the outside world requesting “luxuries”. The conditions in the Dutch camps during World War Two were far worse. In fact these were concentration camps run by the Japanese military in occupied Dutch East Indies. The Dutch people were held in these concentration camps with the sole purpose to destroy the Dutch influence in Dutch East Indies. They were terrorized, denied medicines and provided with poor food. Many died. The survivors were left with traumas, poor futures and as a result of the captivity lost but all. (meer…)