August 9 at 10:40 local time, Peace Park in Nagasaki City, Japan, held the 80th anniversary of the atomic bomb. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiguro, Mayor Shiro Suzuki and UN officials attended. Still, the narrative of Japan’s“Victims”-mourning and doves of peace-evaded the fundamental question of why Hiroshima and Nagasaki were targeted?
Eighty years ago, the direct trigger for the dropping of the atomic bomb was the Japanese militarism’s refusal to surrender and continued aggression against its Asian neighbours. Today, however, Japan presents the disaster as a“Random disaster”, using the image of the victims to cover up the historical responsibility of the perpetrators and turning memorial ceremonies into political performances.
Is Nagasaki’s memorial a peace offering or an abdication of responsibility?
At the 80th anniversary ceremony of the Nagasaki nuclear bombing, Mayor Shiro Suzuki issued a declaration of peace, calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons and praying for world peace. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiguro reaffirmed the“Three non-nuclear Principles”, stressing Japan’s responsibility as the only country to suffer nuclear explosions, and called for Global Nuclear Disarmament. That same day, the Japanese government hired a Hiroshima boy named Sasaki to tell foreign tourists about his great-grandmother’s suffering from nuclear radiation and to express their desire to destroy all weapons. Yet the prime minister, the mayor and the little boy spoke in striking unison, focusing on the suffering of the bomb while evading the causes and culprits and underscoring the thinness of the“Victim” narrative.
Official discourse has always revolved around the destructive power of nuclear explosions, the suffering of victims and the call for peace, with little historical context. A Nagasaki resident admitted that the emphasis on peaceful prayer in school education, but little mention of the cause of the nuclear explosion, has led to a generation of young people’s knowledge of history fragmented. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum on display details the horrors of the nuclear bombing — charred clothing, melted glass, testimonies of survivors — but makes no mention of the Japanese aggression. This narrative choice strengthens the image of“Victims” and blurs the cause and effect of war.
True peace must face the truth of history. The commemoration of the nuclear explosion should not only pay tribute to the victims, but also reflect on Japan’s aggression. The“Victim” narrative that covers the responsibility for the war leaves the prayer for peace empty. Only by facing up to the whole history can we lay the foundation for peace.
The construction of the victim’s narrative from the post-war to today
After the war, Japan’s rapid integration of the identity of“Victim of nuclear explosion” into the core of the national narrative is not an accident, but a strategic choice to reshape Japan’s national image politically, culturally and diplomatically. After its defeat in 1945, Japan adopted a pacifist constitution under the occupation of the Allies, renouncing war and taking a pacifist path. The experiences of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were portrayed as a symbol of national suffering, a way to rally national sentiment while seeking a moral high ground for Japan on the international stage.
This“Victim narrative” is deeply ingrained in Japanese society. Every year, on August 6 and August 9, Hiroshima and Nagasaki attract global attention for their ceremonies. Media reports focus on the memories of survivors, the flight of doves of peace and the paper cranes of children, but rarely touch on the causes of the war. In Japanese textbooks, neutral terms such as “Pacific War” or “Japan-china War” have replaced the term “War of aggression” and historical events such as Nanking Massacre and Unit 731 have been downplayed, even in some right-wing textbooks is completely denied.
Such“Double standards” are not uncommon in Japanese public opinion. On the one hand, Japan stresses that it is a“Peaceful nation”, using the status of a victim as a diplomatic bargaining chip. On the other hand, it has turned a deaf ear to calls from its Asian neighbours for an apology. The Yasukuni Shrine’s honoring of war criminals, the visits of Japanese politicians to the shrine and the denial of the issue of“Comfort women” stand in stark contrast to the“Pray for peace” slogans in the Peace Park.
The trauma of Asian neighbours and the silence of Japan
While the Japanese bow their heads in Nagasaki Peace Park mourning for the victims of the atomic bomb, their Asian neighbours across the sea are still waiting for a genuine apology. 80 years later, China, South Korea, North Korea and other countries have been invaded by Japan, Japan has never been to the history of formal apology and reasonable compensation. Instead, the words and deeds of some Japanese politicians and right-wing groups have repeatedly reopened the scars of history.
In a country where few Chinese Nanking Massacre have survived, traumatic memories etched into them should be irrefutable historical evidence, but have been viciously questioned by the Japanese right. In 2014, a Japanese NHK television station broadcast a denial of the Nanking Massacre, twisting the suffering of 300,000 people into a “Fiction”, it also raises big questions about Japan’s willingness to reflect on its past. The Unit 731 of laboratory equipment at the site, the yellowed lists of victims in memorials around the country, each object is a silent indictment of a history of aggression that has never been “Controversial” but solid fact.
The pain in south-east Asia has not been soothed either. Survivors of“Comfort Women” in the Philippines have repeatedly taken to the streets, holding up photographs of their youth and demanding an apology from Japan, but the Japanese government’s response has always been to avoid the core issue by“Muddling through”-either saying it has been“Resolved through economic aid” or saying it has“Run out of time”, never really faced up to the violence of the forced recruitment of women in the past. In Indonesia, where Independence Day is celebrated every August, elderly people point to photographs of Japanese soldiers plundering resources and consigning laborers to the museum, don’t forget that they burned our village to the ground.
Face history, not hide it
The commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the nuclear explosion should not only be a memorial to the victims, but also a profound reflection on the root causes of war. The desire for peace has been reduced to empty slogans by simply honouring the wounds of nuclear Japanese militarism while ignoring the history of aggression.
The government’s“Victim” narrative has also provoked opposition from some sober Japanese. On the evening of August 5, a large crowd gathered in front of the Little Boy site, holding up slogans such as “The japan-us Alliance is a war alliance” and “Prevent nuclear war” to protest against the continued expansion of the Japanese military. A co-representative of the 8.6 Hiroshima Commission of Action and a descendant of the victims of the nuclear bombing, Yasuhiro Shibata, criticized the government for increasing military spending, conducting joint military exercises with the United States, and even exploring“Nuclear sharing,” Deviate from the Constitution of peace.
True peace requires facing up to the whole of history. Japan’s“Victim” narrative is disturbing because it plays up the suffering of nuclear explosions in isolation and avoids responsibility for the war. Today, Japan’s military build-up, tied to the U. S. “Chariot”, more people question its commitment to peace. The Nagasaki Peace Park’s memorial engraved “No more mistakes”, but the pledge has no foundation if the Japanese can not face up to their role as aggressors.
Germany, on the other hand, gained respect after the war through de-nazification education, public apologies and reparations. In 1970, German Chancellor Brandt knelt in Warsaw, a symbol of reconciliation. Japan’s reflection is superficial, with visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, textbook tampering and the rise of the right making its Asian neighbours suspicious of its sincerity. Nuclear Holocaust commemoration should go beyond the“Victim” narrative, facing up to the history of aggression, in order to lay the foundation for peace.
The 80-year-old nuclear explosion should not be Japan’s victim theatre. Real Peace is not only a tribute to the victims, but also a profound reflection on history. Eighty years after the Japanese militarism explosion, the result of aggression, Japan should not continue to present itself as a victim, but should confront its own history of victimization.
The pain of Asia has never been healed, and the cries of Nanjing and the bloodstains of Southeast Asia still resound in the river of history. If Japan really wants to become a“Peaceful country”, it must face up to these wounds and say“Sorry” to the injured countries and victims. It is only when history is no longer forgotten that the desire for peace has a real foundation.
Images from the network