The digital version of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper ran an article entitled, “The United States Department of State criticizes Naoki Hyakuta’s remarks during a Tokyo gubernatorial campaign speech as ‘preposterous suggestions.’” It said:

In recent years it has become evident that Hyakuta spoke the truth about the Tokyo Trials.
   After Koizumi Junichiro stepped down, there was an era in which the prime minister changed once every year or so; the six people who served in this position were Shinzo Abe, Yasuo Fukuda, Taro Aso, Yukio Hatoyama, Naoto Kan, and Yoshihiko Noda. However, as soon as Abe became the prime minister for a second time, he caused stock prices to rise, paved the way to ridding Japan of the deflation that has continued for 20 years, successfully bid to hold the Olympic Games in Tokyo, and provided hope and energy to many people. In this way, he put an end to the system in which there was a different prime minister each year. Based on reflections of his first administration, Abe is implementing a detour strategy towards the U.S., stressing economic policy, and carrying out a policy of increasing conservatism starting from topics that have not been discussed much in the past. He has also worked to reliably strengthen U.S.-Japan cooperation, including the Japanese National Security Council (NSC), creating the Act on Protection of Specified Secrets (Special Secrecy Law), and approving Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima’s plan to reclaim land off the coast of Henoko. Abe has gained self confidence, which was shown by his bold statement at the Peace Memorial Ceremony in Hiroshima in front of the U.S. ambassador to Japan on August 6, 2013, when he described the dropping of the atomic bombs as an “inhumane act” – the first time a prime minister has used these words. Afterwards, on December 26 he fulfilled his long-held wish of visiting Yasukuni Shrine (Abe said not being able to do so during his first term was “extremely regretful”).
   In contrast, the Embassy of the U.S., Tokyo released a statement saying it was “disappointed” – which could be seen as revenge for Abe’s use of the word “inhumane.” The U.S. Department of State released a similar statement, and repeated this assertion at a press conference by the deputy spokesperson as well. It is fair to say that the U.S. has betrayed Japan on a grand scale over the past few years in consideration of China, which has gained a democratic government and built up power. According to one theory, when Republic President George W. Bush visited Japan under the Koizumi administration in 2002, Bush suggested visiting Yasukuni Shrine. However, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs resisted this due to unnecessary consideration for China and South Korea, as usual. In the end, no shrine visit took place. But if Bush had visited Yasukuni Shrine, I suspect the current circumstances in China and South Korea would not be taking place. Because they are backed by the U.S., China continues saying that 300,000 people were killed in the Nanking Massacre, and South Korea continues saying that 200,000 Korean comfort women were forcibly transported and made to become sexual slaves for the Japanese Army. Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel visited Chidorigafuchi, the cemetery for war victims, as a way of telling Abe not to go to Yasukuni. However, Abe paid his respects at the shrine anyway. That is why the U.S. has presumed to break its usual custom, and has released a comment saying it is “disappointed.”

   Hyakuta’s novel Eien no Zero is a best seller, with more than 4.5 million copies sold up until now. In this story, a young man and woman search for information about the life of Kyuzo Miyabe, their grandfather who died a glorious death as a kamikaze pilot just before the end of World War II. This novel is a way for young people to look back on Japan’s true history. Miyabe fought because he desired to protect Japan and the people he loved, and he volunteered to become part of the kamikaze unit in the end. The heroes like Miyabe believed that Japan would someday be resurrected, even if this battle was lost –they dedicated their lives to fight until the very end, even though they knew they would be defeated, so their children and grandchildren would not be treated as slaves. This novel touched the hearts of many people, which is likely why it has become so popular.
   Although many citizens are regaining a proper sense of things, at the same time Hyakuta was criticized for his speech in support of Tamogami. In this and other ways, a portion of the mass media remains the same as ever. Katsuto Momii, the new director-general of NHK, was asked a question about the comfort women at the press conference upon his assumption of office by a reporter. This question was totally unrelated to Momii’s new appointment, and he expressed his personal point of view, saying, “Putting aside my position as director-general…” Despite this, the anti-Japanese media criticized him, reporting that this member of the NHK Management Committee had revealed his despair. In response, Hyakuta immediately tweeted, “At the very least, I haven’t said anything. Who is despairing? Write their names down!”
   The Asahi Shimbun is the party that first made an issue out of the comfort women. There is no proof that 200,000 women were forcibly transported as South Korea insists. Ikuhiko Hata, a contemporary historian who is known for his books such as Comfort Women and Sex in War (Shincho Sensho), researched materials from the U.S. Department of the Army. As a result, he found that the total number of comfort women was just over 10,000; 40% were Japanese and only 20% were from the Korean Peninsula. Moreover, Henry Scott Stokes, the former Tokyo bureau chief for The New York Times, clearly revealed that the comfort women were not sex slaves in his book The False Historical View of the Allied Victory, as Seen by a British Reporter (Shodensha Shinsho).
   Tony Marano, an American who is known as “Texas Daddy,” also announced that he contacted the National Archives in Washington, DC and obtained the written evidence from interrogations of Korean comfort women, who were made prisoners of war by the U.S. Forces during World War II.
   This report begins with the phrase, “OFFICE OF WAR INFORMATION Psychological Warfare Team Attached to U.S. Army Forces India-Burma Theater APO 689.” It contains information from cross-examinations of 20 Korean comfort women conducted from August to September 1944 at Ledo Stockade. According to the testimony by these women, the comfort women received large sums of money, and went into town to buy cosmetics, clothing, and other articles. They also enjoyed sports, picnics, and parties with the soldiers. Furthermore, they could return to their countries once they paid off their debts, and some comfort women even married Japanese soldiers. Despite this, why does South Korea insist the comfort women were sex slaves?

   After the comfort women statues, the U.S. Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill to write the names “Sea of Japan” and “East Sea” (as South Korea advocates) side by side. Mitsuhiko Fujii, who has attended the Shoheijuku school, is the chairman of the Rompa Project Executive Committee. He heard that South Korea was exhibiting 50 comics about comfort women – which are full of fabrications – to the Angoulême International Comics Festival in France. He thought this was unacceptable, so he arranged for 100 Japanese comics containing the truth about the comfort women to be submitted to the festival. However, the organizer said these were “political” and did not allow them to be exhibited. The false belief that comfort women were sex slaves is being promoted throughout the world by South Korea. The Japanese government should implement measures against this, such as sending copies of the aforementioned interrogation report to every embassy in Japan and ministry of foreign affairs across the world.
   Why are fabrications spread in this way? As Hyakuta pointed out, one cause is the Tokyo Trials, which were conducted in order to justify the firebombing of Tokyo and dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the last stage of World War II, the U.S. – which predicted it would have to fight against international communization after the end of the war – felt it was necessary to place checks on the Soviet Union to avoid the outbreak of World War III. The U.S. wanted to display its power at all costs during the war by dropping the atomic bombs (which were created via secret congressional funds) on Japan. To that end, even though the U.S. knew Japan was maneuvering to end the war, it made the continuation of the Emperor System ambiguous until the atomic bombs were completed. This allowed the U.S. to buy time and put off the cessation of hostilities. After the bombs were successfully tested, the U.S. immediately dropped them on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So the U.S. could continue to be a good country and justify this inhumane atrocity, it had to make Japan seem like an even worse country. That’s why it created the theory during the Tokyo Trials that 300,000 people were killed in the Nanking Massacre. Afterwards, the U.S. has not repudiated South Korea’s claims that 200,000 women were forcibly moved from the Korean Peninsula in order to go along with the story that Japan is a bad country.
   To plant the awareness among the Japanese people that Japan became a decent, democratic nation through the atomic bombings, according to this story, the U.S. Forces occupying Japan took part in large-scale restructuring. In order to eliminate the typically Japanese way of thinking of the past, it created the Japan Teachers’ Union and had textbooks written that were convenient for the U.S. It also burned massive amounts of inconvenient books.
   Afterwards, the GHQ evicted 200,000 Japanese people from important public offices, saying they were the ones who carried out the war. On September 18 (right after the occupation), the Asahi Shimbun published a statement by Ichiro Hatoyama, who stated the atomic bombs were war crimes that violated international law. For this reason, the newspaper was punished and publication was halted for two days. On September 19, a press code was officially announced, and the GHQ began suppressing speech in a way that was unprecedented in Japanese history. Here, I will list the things that were prohibited according to that press code.
1) Criticisms of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP) or GHQ
2) Criticisms of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East
3) Criticisms of the GHQ’s drafting of the Constitution of Japan
4) References to the censorship system
5) Criticisms of the U.S.
6) Criticisms of the Soviet Union
7) Criticisms of Great Britain
8) Criticisms of Korean people
9) Criticisms of China
10) Criticisms of other allied nations
11) Criticisms of allied nations in general (even with no specific country)
12) Criticisms of the treatment of Japanese people in Manchuria
13) Criticisms of pre-war political measures of allied nations
14) References to World War III
15) References to the Cold War
16) Propaganda advocating for war
17) Propaganda of Japan as the “land of the gods”
18) Militaristic propaganda
19) Nationalistic propaganda
20) Propaganda for the Greater East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere
21) Other propaganda
22) Justification of or advocacy for war criminals
23) Discussions of occupation soldiers and Japanese women
24) The black market
25) Criticisms of the occupying army
26) Exaggerated claims of starvation
27) Incitement of violence and improper actions
28) False reports
29) Improper references to the GHQ or regional military governments
30) Publication of unreleased information
   The first prohibition that draws the eye is 3) Criticisms of the GHQ’s drafting of the Constitution of Japan. This can be described as a confession that the GHQ drafted and imposed the Constitution of Japan before it was promulgated.
   8) Criticism of Korean people is connected to today’s stormy Japan-South Korea relationship. Namely, at that time Koreans and Japanese – who were citizens of the same Empire of Japan – were separated and ruled according to the American method of divide and conquer.
   9) Criticisms of China were to prevent objections regarding the fabricated Nanking Massacre.
   6) Criticisms of the Soviet Union and 12) Criticisms of the treatment of Japanese people in Manchuria made it impossible to criticize the Soviet Union’s unilateral violation of the Japanese–Soviet Non-aggression Pact right before the end of the war, using military force in Manchuria. After, when the Japanese Army was disarmed by the end of the war, the Soviet Union took 650,000 Japanese soldiers as prisoners of war. Two days after the acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration, the Soviet Union also battled to possess the Kurile Islands and invaded the Northern Territories afterwards. None of these incidents could be condemned.
   23) Discussions of occupation soldiers and Japanese women were also banned.
   When Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said Japan was the land of the gods, he was fiercely criticized and forced to step down from his post. At that time, many Japanese people did not know why he was being censured for this statement. The reason was 17) Propaganda of Japan as the “land of the gods.”
   In line with this press code, over 300 GHQ censorship staff members and from 5,000 to 6,000 Japanese censors (hired using Japanese taxes) censored all publications and broadcasts in advance, opened nine million private letters of influential people, and even engaged in acts such as wiretapping. In this way, the Japanese people’s way of thinking became rapidly biased. After the rule of the American occupation, the censors were moved into the bureaucracy, legal circles, and mass media. Their roles were taken over mainly by graduates of the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Law – the top elite figures in Japan according to education that stresses deviation values (rote memory). They were given benefits such as study abroad in the U.S., and cooperated harmoniously with the U.S. The Japanese ruling class (a “stealth complex”) reciprocally gave and received favorable treatment as they continued being in control. Even now, the regulation of freedom of speech imposed by the press code has been inherited in a continuous way in Japanese society.

   However, increasing numbers of people in Japan are being awoken to conservatism since Toshio Tamogami won the “True Interpretations of Modern History” essay contest sponsored by APA Group six years ago for his essay entitled, “Was Japan an Aggressor Nation?” Pro-American conservatism was the main trend until the end of the Cold War, and up until now Japanese politicians have been members of the pro-American or pro-Chinese factions. However, Tamogami embarked on his campaign to become governor of Tokyo by saying that he is “pro-Japan,” acting as the standard-bearer of genuine conservatism. At first he was regarded as a fringe candidate, and the media’s strategy was to disregard him. However, he received great support in the online public opinion polls, and his approval rating grew. Although he lost to Yoichi Masuzoe, Tamogami received more than 610,000 votes. His votes from people in their 20s in particular were nearly equal to those of Masuzoe, who was supported by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and New Komeito Party. As the online society grows more and more in the future, it seems possible that the spell of the GHQ will be broken, and that Tamogami may be victorious in the national election 2.5 years from now or the gubernatorial election four years in the future.
   In the past I expected great things of the Japan Restoration Party because it seemed to be ahead of the LDP. It had a high national approval rating in this realm as well. However, the U.S. and stealth complex were afraid that, if things continued as they were going, the LDP and Japan Restoration Party would obtain two thirds or more of the parliamentary seats in the double election, and that Japan would be made into a decent, independent nation via constitutional reform. To prevent this, they used the anti-Japanese media and the news agencies (which are controlled by Jewish people) to thoroughly censure the statement about the comfort women by Japan Restoration Party Co-representative Toru Hashimoto. In this way, they destroyed the Japan Restoration Party. Consequently, the double election could not be held, the Japan Restoration Party was stalled in the House of Councillors election, and constitutional reform was put off. Still, I think it’s safe to say that Tamogami’s great progress in the recent gubernatorial election has produced new hope.
   The curse of the press code that has lasted since the occupation is about to be broken. The U.S. is desperate to prevent this, which is why it said it was “disappointed.” Moreover, the anti-Japanese media – which benefited from Japan’s defeat during the postwar period – is earnestly fighting to protect its vested interests by condemning the rising conservative powers. However, this major trend cannot be changed. Based on these gubernatorial election results, in the future it will be possible to put Japan on the road to becoming a decent, independent nation if Tamogami can serve as a central figure for genuine conservatism, and help create a party that exceeds the LDP. I expect truly great things of Tamogami’s future activities, and I intend to provide extensive support to him.

12:00 a.m., February 26 (Wednesday)