Introduction
The Japanese suffered just as badly during the Second World War, yet the fact was ignored by most people because they were guilty of starting the war. Being the aggressor did not make the Japanese’s life a bed of roses. Although they escaped the torture and imprisonment, they suffered the same mental and physical fatigue resulted from the war (or any war!). As asserted by John W. Dower, “for most Japanese themselves, the period from 1931 to 1945 was indeed dark and tragic.”
Political
Although the Japanese had every to be proud of their military conquests in World War II, it was unfortunate that they failed to build a lasting hold on these territories. Indeed, their territories extended to an admirably large area, from China’s coast to Korea to SEA. However, the executions and tortures imposed by the militants made it impossible for the Japanese to amass support, thus resulting in the failure to consolidate their position in the conquered lands. Apparently, it was tragic that all the sufferings and lost during the war years were wasted, and the hard-fought battles were equivalent to nought as the Japanese Empire disintegrated after Japanese surrender.
The Japanese surrender also marked a damage to the Japanese prestige. The war had totally shattered Japanese pride upon the defeat in 1945. Before that, the Japanese were proud Asians who assumed superiority. Their military history had proven so: they had (1) overthrown the myth of Western superiority in the Russo-Japanese War 1904; (2) devastated the largest Asia country in the Sino-Japanese War 1937; (3) challenged a strong Western country (USA) by sabotaging the fleets at Pearl Harbour in 8 December 1941; and (4) demonstrated their military supremacy (in terms of strength and strategies) in the speedy advance in Southeast Asia 1941-42. However, the Allied occupation was a overwhelming blow to the Japanese for the Great Japan Empire was, for the first time, occupied by a foreign power. It saddened the Japanese a lot when they were forced to disarm and demobilize their highly-valued and profoundly-respected military forces after war, plus the loss of all their hard-earned achievements. Seen in this light, the eventual defeat of the Japanese in World War II was a trauma and ignominy to Japanese pride and the Imperial Army.
Not only that, the reputation of the Japanese being the Asian supremacy was completely smashed. Some Asians were envious and impressed by the success of the Japanese modernization programmes. In fact, Japan was looked up by some Asians as role models because of her strength and awe, especially in dealing with the Westerners. The Asian adoration and envy towards Japan transformed into antipathy and hatred as a result of the brutality of the Japanese soldiers in the conquered countries. Truly, the war guilt that the Japanese shouldered was passed on to future generations, and the Asians, especially the Chinese, treated Japanese youth with disdain. They were carrying this crime they had never done. Such an adverse impact on the Japanese soldiers as well as the new generation was a tragedy for Japan.
Economic
The conquests, so bravely achieved, were futile. As mentioned earlier, the hard-earned territories were lost altogether in 1945. But even before that, the colonies were of limited use to the Japanese. The lack of trained manpower, especially technicians, proved to be a major obstacle to restoring the trade and industry of SEA (above all, oil production) to their former efficiency. Inadequate communications, made worse by enemy action (bombing of the states before the retreat and constant air raids during Japanese occupation), preventing the extracted raw materials from reaching Japan. Japan found herself almost completely cut off from her more distant territories. Allied destruction of Japanese merchant marine, navy, and naval air power isolated Japan from the empire. Consequently, three quarter of Japan’s merchant marine lost by summer of 1945 in an attempt to keep the sea lanes open. Indeed, the conquest of SEA not only did little to relieve Japan of her economic handicap (Japan suffered from the lack of raw materials), but also added to her administrative cost. The imperialists’ dream of acquiring raw materials from SEA to support Japanese war efforts was blown and they were frustrated.
Moreover, towards the end of the war, industrial production at home suffered. This was due to the Allied firebomb raids of Japan’s industrial facilities and civilian housing. 10 March 1945 marked the beginning of Allied air raids when 130 B-29 (planes) dropped bombs onto Japan, wiping out 668000 civilians and 2.3 million homes. During the last days of war, railroads were breaking down, coal production was falling, oil was almost gone, aircraft production was dropping, nonmilitary industrial was nil, and an average civilian was consuming less than 1500 calories per day. No doubt, the Allied war efforts bought homelessness and destitute to the Japanese society. Their economy suffered from depression and the standard of living dropped drastically. By the end of the war, nearly 3 million Japanese civilians and military men were killed and a quarter of the national wealth. Considering that Japan was a small country, these losses caused a heavy concussion to her economy.
Faced with these economic hardships, Japan must, in addition, cope with the typical post war problems. There was a shortage of food and necessities, and poor agricultural production conditions in Japan worsen food problem, resulting in starvation. Besides, since the Japanese were forced to retreat from her former colonies, there was a loss of foreign market and a massive influx of Japanese settlers. Therefore, economic problems such as black market, inflation and bankruptcy surfaced. Natural disasters (such as earthquakes, typhoons etc.) joined in the sadistic game of crippling Japan. Thus, 1945 saw Japan struggling miserably for her economy.
Social
The Japanese underwent detrimental torture from the defeat in 1945. Due to the inculcation of Japanese samurai spirit, the soldiers were taught to fight dauntlessly – to surrender is a disgrace and a defeat is an insult. They would rather choose death rather than surrender. One example of the samurai practice was the Seppuku suicide method, which was to stab the belly, cut across, sword from left to right. When defeat was somewhat certain in 1945, the Japanese (especially the top administrators) could not accept it. On hearing that surrender was going to be announced on 15 August, mutiny and disorder spread through Japan. Officers of the War Ministry & General Staff broke into the emperor’s palace in hope to steal in recording of his speech on 14 August night. Meanwhile, some set fire to homes of the Prime Minister and President of Privy Council. Many officers, including War Minister Anami Korechika, committed suicide as they could not face the fact that Japan had lost, and worse, it was going to be announced publicly. Other Japanese officers in foreign land shot themselves, or armed themselves with hand grenades for mass suicides, rather than face surrender. These suicides showed the devastation the surrender had brought to Japan. More significantly, the reluctance of the Japanese to surrender because of this samurai spirit, and the unwillingness to accept defeat placed civilians in danger as the Allied consistently attacked Japan with B29 planes and later, the Atomic Bombs.
Not only did the civilians suffered, the soldiers were also very badly-treated. As Storry had put it, “officers usually treated their men with a severity that would have been thought barbaric......” – Storry.... this was the samurai spirit. The Japanese soldiers were instilled with the samurai spirit of self-sacrificing. Soldiers generally believed that if they sacrificed in war for the Great Japan Empire, their souls would be holy and eventually go to Yasukuni Shrine (a sacred shrine specially for soldiers). Hence, while soldiers of other nations would surrender when they ran out of ammunition or when they knew they were losing, the Japanese persisted on to perform suicide assaults. The Special Attack Squads would attack their enemies using suicide planes – Kamikaze (the Divine Wind), while individuals at the frontline would use Cherry Blossom human bombs, flesh attacks or Kirikomi attacks (i.e. tie bomb to themselves to perish together with their enemies or charge enemies with bayonets and swords if they ran out of ammunitions). The sad thing was that such sinister military strategy was considered very honourable to the Japanese. In fact, because of this samurai tradition, many Japanese soldiers had lost their valuable lives unnecessarily. The death toll of the soldiers was, hence, shockingly high.
As such, the Second World War actually led to the loss of abled young men in Japan. There was death on the battlefields, suicides, and not forgetting some 10000 of them who died on the Death Railway. Women and children were left fending for themselves at home, without fathers, brothers and husbands. The mental torment was a catastrophe for the Japanese. Moreover, the conscription had resulted in the loss of Japanese young men, causing a gap of generation lost, and a lack of labour and capable leadership after the war, thus hindering the post war recovery in Japan.
Moreover, the Japanese populace could not have shouldered the war-guilt. Most Japanese soldiers participated in the war actually acted under commands of their leader, and the mastermind were General Tojo Hideki (who was promoted from War Minister to Prime Minister) and his military commanders. The soldiers were but pawns influenced by the Japanese educational system which forced them into committing brutality. Tominaga Shozo (a Japanese soldier) admitted that, “Everyone becomes blood-thirsty on the battlefield...(after receiving) their baptism of blood....They were victimized...Human beings turned into murdering demons” and “Most of us thought then that murdering, raping, and setting fire to villages were unavoidable acts in war, nothing particularly wrong.” Men in Japan were expected to be soldiers, or they would be considered useless (some actually committed suicide when they fail to qualify as soldiers because it was such a disgrace). They were forced to perform brutality by their superiors who made them bayonet and behead the POWs. The sense of brutality was also instilled as the soldiers themselves were treated with brutality by their superiors. For example, they were taught to steal, and were beaten and slapped by superiors without reasons. Another example was the training of swimmers. The superiors would tie the soldiers to a boat situated in the midst of the sea, and then push them into the waters. The soldiers would to left to struggle. If they were apparently drowned, the superiors would fish them up to pump water out of them. Should they regain consciousness, the superiors would throw them back into the sea. Such was the savagery experienced by the Japanese soldiers, thus, it was no surprise that they should treat their enemies with brutality. Similarly, doctors were also forced to perform vivisection on the prisoners. Some doctors themselves were very traumatized by the operations, some were infected by the epidemic diseases, while some lived in guilt for the rest of their lives. In fact, most Japanese were actually ignorant of their tasks before they performed them. They did not know that brutality is expected and enemies will be ill-treated or vivisection would be done, yet they were blamed for these sins because their leaders committed suicide. This was the price they had to pay for loyalty (or rather, jingoism) to their Great Japan Empire. In my opinion, they were too victims. Their psychological shock and physical exhaustion were no less than the Chinese’s, they had to combat and die in a foreign land after years of fighting since the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Pacific War and eventually the POW status (compared to the Chinese who died in their homeland), and worse, they did not gain sympathy because they were the aggressor. The pushing of total blame on them was, to some extent, unfair. The worse thing was that the future generation of Japanese were, at times, discriminated and misjudged by the Chinese who claimed to have suffered so much from the Japanese occupation. They did no wrong, and yet, were blamed for their ancestors’ crimes.
The Atomic Bombs
If the Japanse were reprimanded for using biological warfare, the US was no better in covering up, and worse, innovating a new weapon – the Atomic Bomb. On 6 August 1945, the “Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima, generating strong winds within a radius of 1.5 miles, causing serious damage to the city and its people. Nagasaki was bombed on 9 August 1945, 11.02am by the “Fat Man”, and 70000 died. Many people died within the first few months, while many more died in subsequent years due to radiation exposure.
Genetic problems arose, resulting in malformed or deformed babies. The death toll was approximately 200000, inclusive of foreigners (Koreans) who worked in factories.
Hiroshima turned into a ghost town after the bomb. Houses within 3-4 km from the explosion was reduce to ruins, or even flattened to nothingness. The bomb also destroyed all levels of administration, transportation facilities (railroads, communication system, journalism, offices, factories etc.). In short, destruction done by the Atomic bombs was massive, and all these caused a state of lethargy as people had no factories or companies to employ them, not enough food to eat, there were A-bomb related diseases, black market. A typhoon hit Hiroshima on 17 September to worsen the plight of the Japanese. The cities simply plunged into a state of hopeless.
Apparently, the destruction brought about by the Atomic bomb was incalcuable. But it seemed to be a myth that A-bomb was dropped to save lives. It was argued that the dropping of A-bomb was unnecessary. The American govt’s Strategic Bombing Survey reported “prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated.” US intelligence knew top Japanese army officers were willing to surrender more than three months before the Little Boy was dropped. Dwight D. Eisenhower (the US President after war) admitted “the Japanese were ready to surrender and we didn’t have to hit them with that awful thing” – Newsweek, 11 November 1963. Unless the US was blind to their own reports, there was no reason why they should drop the destructive bomb! Despite that, they not only dropped an atomic bomb, they dropped TWO. It was a tragedy that the dropping of Atomic Bombs was a historically unprecedented devastation of human society stemmed from essentially experimental and political aims.
Why then did the US drop these bombs, despite having knowledge of Japanese surrender? (1) They were seeking revenge from Japan for crushing the white supremacy in the Pacific theatre. The defeat of Western powers and treating them like coolies (in th construction of the Death Railway) were utter disregard for the Westerners. Besides that, Japan stirred nationalistic feelings and stimulate anti-colonial feelings in the White’s colonies in SEA. (2) They wanted to demonstrate the US prowess to not only the Japan, but to the whole world - the Communist Soviet Union, other Allies, whole of Asia. This was to show off the US pride and prestige. (3)Having invested $2 billion in the Manhattan Project to develop the bomb, US sought to test it out. Japan had become an experimental ground. (4) It was a deliberate attempt to show Allied arms race against Japan. If the Atomic bomb was intented to be used on aggressive enemies, it could have been used to attack Hitler’s Germany. However, it was because Germany was but a fellow white power which the Allies had temporarily fallen out with whereas Japan was labelled as “beastly little monkeys”, “yellow dwarf slaves”, “mad dogs”, “racial menace”, “rats and vermins” and “subhuman species”. This was obviously the White Man’s Bomb which the West had used as a demonstration to re-establish the Western superiority. As such the reason of maintaining world peace using the A-bombs was but a blatant excuse, and Japan was unfortunate to have become the scapegoat.
Conclusion
Apart from the devastation caused by the Atomic bombs, the psychological blow to Japan was particularly hurting. The samurai spirit they had worshipped for hundreds of years had instilled pride in them, but it caused them tremendous disillusion and loss of faith by the end of 1945. The prestigious Imperial Army became a legend, as Japan was thoroughly demilitarized. The transformation of a military state to a civilian state caused the loss of warriors for Japan. This was a waste.
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