Ways of forgetting, Ways of Remembering: Japan in the Modern World by John Dower

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Chapter 2 sets out to demonstrate the implications of racial identity in the conflict between the US and Japan during the Second World War. This war was characterized by vicious animosity especially between Americans and Japanese. Dower argues that the hatred between the two led to the escalation of racial intolerance as each side sought to defeat the other.¹

He observes that while the war escalated the racial denigration of the Japanese people, it did not initiate them. These racist thoughts were a part of the European and American consciousness and the war simply brought them to the surface.

Dower begins by observing how flawed the present day American memory of the War is.² While Americans today view Nazi Germans as the most terrible participants in World War II, the truth is that Americans viewed the Japanese as the most atrocious enemy during the war. The Japanese were seen as evil and Western academics and journalists reinforced this perception through their works.

The hatred for the Japanese led to the arrest of Japanese Americans during the war. The Japanese were viewed differently from their wartime allies, the Germans, due to their race. Japanese aggression was seen as an attack on white supremacy and this led to the vicious reaction by the US. The popular press presented the entire nation as inherently evil and this fostered deep hatred for the Japanese.

The US engaged in efforts to dehumanize the Japanese as the war efforts continued. The Japanese were viewed as vermin to be exterminated, an attitude that led to both military and civilian Japanese facing attacks from the US. Dower notes that dehumanization during war leads to appalling consequences since when the enemy is viewed as vermin, there is no moral inhibition to exterminating him.³

Dehumanization served as stimulus for the US troops to annihilate the Japanese enemy. Popular press also represented the Japanese as apes and monkeys.

However, this demeaning racial stereotype by the west was not confined to the Japanese since the same image of the monkey had been used in reference to Negroes and various Central American peoples. Dower reveals that representing the Japanese as apes demonstrated the western mindset that the Oriental race represented a lower stage of evolution compared to the Caucasian.⁴

Racism was not only confined to the Western forces since it also shaped the Japanese perception of self and others. Japans ability to resist Western Colonialism in the 19th century made her regard herself as superior to the weaker nations that had fallen prey to the West.⁵ This arrogant and contemptuous attitude led to the expansionist trend against her Asian neighbors.

Dower reveals that racial revenge was the motivation behind many atrocities carried out against white people in Asia.⁶ The Japanese viewed all the other people as outsiders and this justified the brutal behavior they meted out to them.

Mythohistory, which depicted the divine descent of the Japanese people, was used to bolster the alleged superiority of the Japanese people. Such notions gave rise to the concept of blood nationalism that purity of the race. By proclaiming themselves as the pure race, the Japanese cast others as inferior.⁷ The Japanese also dehumanized the Americans by referring to them as the “Devilish Anglo-Americans”.

The Americans were represented as demons and the Japanese soldiers had a duty to vanquish these demons. The presence of an external enemy also served as a unifying factor for the previously divided Japan. Dower records that the various groups within Japan that harbored suspicions about each other were united in nationalistic and racist sentiments against the Westerners who posed a threat to the country.⁸

The end of the war was followed by the Allied Occupation of Japan. This occupation was dominated by the US, which was committed to demilitarizing and democratizing Japan. The cooperative atmosphere between the two wartime enemies greatly reduced the racist sentiments previously held.

An amicable postwar relationship followed with Japan establishing herself as an economic powerhouse. Dower notes that even with the cordial relationship, racial tensions remained albeit in minute quantities.

In chapter three, Dower attempts to show how the Japanese justified their war efforts and used propaganda to sustain their war efforts. He begins by documenting that while the war for most Americans began on December 7, 1941 following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the war started in 1931 from an Asian perspective.⁹

The year 1931 was marked by the Manchurian Incident that saw the Japanese army take over three provinces in north China. This aggression and expansionist trend by Japan was to continue until her defeat in 1945 following the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The greatest loses of life were suffered by China under the hands of the Japanese. The all-out war between Japan and China in 1937 led to numerous atrocities being carried out by the victorious Japanese who continued to occupy the Chinese seacoast until 1945. Dower notes that the Japanese were responsible for the death of 1.3 million Chinese soldiers and an overall death of 9 to 15 million civilians.¹⁰

In spite of this incontestably huge number of deaths because of Japanese aggression against China, Japan’s propaganda machine presented the war as a legitimate and necessary act of self-defense.¹¹ While the rest of the world viewed such a stance as false, the Japanese population believed it. Japan’s alleged “legitimate rights and interests” on the Asian continent were inspired by European imperialism, which Japan had begun emulating since the late 19th century. Dower reveals that Japan had made a number of unequal treaties with her neighbors so as to give herself access to the wealth and resources necessary for the establishment of military might.¹² This would guarantee Japan’s survival in the fiercely competitive world.

The propagandists in Japan therefore argued that Japan was justified in defending her colonial interests and the rights and interests established through treaty rights. The growth of nationalism in China and the rise of communism were also viewed as real threats to Japanese survival.

The propagandists made use of real threat but overplayed the impact that this would have on Japan in order to gain the support of the citizens for the country’s war efforts. White supremacism also helped fuel Japanese propaganda. Incidents such as the refusal of the League of Nations to adopt a racial equality clause in its founding principle served as proof that the Western nations regarded themselves as racially superior.

The Japanese therefore viewed theirs as a “holy war” which was waged for the survival of the nation.¹³ The actions of the Japanese military against their enemies were viewed as legitimate and necessary and fallen soldiers were mourned and praised.

Bibliography

Dower, John. Ways of forgetting, Ways of Remembering Japan in the modern world. NY: New Press, 2012.

Footnotes

¹ John Dower, Ways of forgetting, Ways of Remembering Japan in the modern world (NY: New Press, 2012), 31.

² Ibid., 29.

³ Ibid., 35.

⁴ Ibid., 37.

⁵ Ibid., 48.

⁶ Ibid., 28.

⁷ Ibid., 51.

⁸ Ibid., 53.

⁹ Ibid., 66.

¹⁰ Ibid., 68.

¹¹ Ibid., 69.

¹² Ibid., 69.

¹³ Ibid., 72.

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Ways of forgetting, Ways of Remembering: Japan in the Modern World by John Dower

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