The title of my essay in last month’s issue was, “Verify the history behind the Huanggutun incident.” I spoke with author Dmitri Prokhorov, who asserts that the Huanggutun incident was committed by the Soviet secret service, in St. Petersburg, Russia on September 22, 2009. Our dialogue was published in the December 2009 issue of Apple Town. The Japanese media has barely paid attention to the fact that Japan was fully taken in by Comintern’s strategy, believing that this incident was the starting point of Japan’s invasion of China. That is why I once again published the first half of the statement in last month’s issue.
　Afterwards, I was at a party where I met the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) House of Representatives Land, Infrastructure and Transportation Committee. I sent him a copy of last month’s Apple Town, and in exchange he sent me Terrorism, Intrigue, and Showa History, which was published in April 2015. It is the fourth volume of Real Voices from the Pacific War, which was put together by Bungeishunju magazine on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. This series includes re-compilations of articles on particular themes that were previously published in Bungeishunju. The cover of this book, Real Voices from the Pacific War: Terrorism, Intrigue, and Showa History, seems to refer to terrorism and intrigue carried out by Japan. New facts have come to light since then, and articles – which are very likely incorrect – are being triumphantly published by Bungeishunju as if they were scoops by the magazine, without adding any commentary at all.
　There is an article entitled, “I am the one who killed Zhang Zuolin in a certain significant incident in Manchuria.” It is a note written by Colonel Daisaku Komoto, which was published in the December 1954 issue. The lead reads, “I killed Zhang Zuolin, leader of Manchuria and Hebei, taking advantage of the National Revolutionary Army’s Northern Expedition. There was no other way to resolve the Manchuria issue… A note by the high-ranking Kwantung Army staff officer that carried out this deliberate murder.” Before the 15-page note, there is a commentary by the Bungeishunju editorial department that is in line with Comintern’s scenario at that time. The proviso reads:

At that time, the Japanese Army leaders and diplomats stationed in the area had their eyes on bringing over to their side Zhang Zuolin, the Fengtian warlord and governor who became the leader of the three eastern provinces who advanced all the way to Peking and established a military regime. The Giichi Tanaka Cabinet, which was inaugurated in April 1927, created a puppet government led by Zhang in Manchuria and began maneuvering to achieve the separation of Manchuria and Mongolia.
Meanwhile, in China Chiang Kai-shek took over the Kuomintang after the death of Sun Yat-sen. He began moving north and resumed the Northern Expedition (suppression of the Northern warlords). It was clear that the Northern warlords, led by Zhang Zuolin (Fengtian warlord and governor), were at a disadvantage. Komoto, a high-ranking staff officer of the Kwantung Army, killed Zhang by taking advantage of this Northern Expedition. He planned to achieve union in Manchuria and Mongolia with a single swoop by, when the warlord troops waged a counterattack, dispatching the Kwantung Army and occupying all of Manchuria. After the Russo-Japanese War, Zhang became arrogant due to the backing of the Japanese Army. Immediately after obtaining real power in the three eastern provinces, he changed from a policy of reliance on Japan to one of autonomy and independence. To the Kwantung Army, this seemed like an anti-Japanese policy.

　Today, the most plausible theory states that the assassination of Zhang Zuolin (who supported the White Army) was motivated by his thorough antagonism with the Soviet Union over the Chinese Eastern Railroad. In September 1926, two years earlier, the Soviet Union planned to assassinate Zhang at his palace in Fengtian. This was discovered by the Chinese authorities and the attempt failed. Due to this plausible theory, so I don’t understand what Bungeishunju is thinking to re-run an article that makes people believe that Zhang Zuolin was killed by Komoto.

I have major doubts about publishing this note as-is today.
Wikipedia reads:
In his book The Rewriting of History has Begun!, Terumasa Nakanishi says that “I killed Zhang Zuolin” (the so-called confession by Komoto), which was printed in the December 1954 issue of Bungeishunju, was dictated to Reiji Hirano (an author who was Komoto’s younger brother-in-law). He points out that Hirano was arrested multiple times by the police before the war according to the Peace Preservation Act, and that the content about the incident was “mostly materials based on hearsay,” not a text brought to Bungeishunju by Hirano. An independent investigation carried out at that time by the British intelligence department also said the incident was committed by the Soviet Union. Based on this and other things, he claims that the Soviet Union was involved. In the June 2006 issue of Bungeishunju’s “Gentlemen!,” a round-table discussion entitled “Who was the instigator of that war!?” featured participants including Ichiro Takizawa (a former professor at the National Defense Academy of Japan). In the discussion on whether Soviet intelligence operatives killed Zhang Zuolin with a bomb, it was asserted that the testimony by Ryukichi Tanaka is particularly important among the Japanese historical records. At the Tokyo Trials, he gave testimony as a witness for the prosecution side, saying things such as that the incident was planned by Komoto. This was all based on hearsay, and there is particular need to further investigate the background of this person.
The numerous ‘Komoto affidavits’ that came after were also created by the Chinese Communist Party more than 20 years later, so they are not particularly credible. At the time of the incident, Nakanishi, the British Army Far East Intelligence Department conducted an investigation and reported to England that the incident had been perpetrated by the Soviet Union. Based on this report, the British government – knowing the Japanese government judged that the incident had been carried out by the Kwantung Army – performed a re-examination for caution’s sake. The blasting powder used had been manufactured by the Soviet Union, so it concluded that the plot was by the Soviet Union.

　My dialogue with Nakanishi ran in the January 2010 issue of Apple Town. He clearly referred to a report by the British intelligence department (number W0106-5750) that remains in the National Archives in London. England did not make this information available to the public until the year 2007. If Bungeishunju is to once again publish this note – which it says was written by Komoto – for the first time in 61 years, it should have also included all sorts of information that has since been proven. This includes the possibility that the note was written by his younger brother-in-law Hirano, the theory that Zhang Zuolin was assassinated by the Soviet Secret service (researched by Nakanishi and Prokhorov), and the release of the new British historical materials that substantiate this in 2007. The intentions of the Bungeishunju editorial department are transparent; it is ignoring new facts that have been discovered because it doesn’t want to change the established theory that Komoto killed Zhang Zuolin.
　The Japanese media does not pay attention to new facts, especially regarding historical incidents in which Japan is at a disadvantage. Conversely, The Asahi Shimbun and other media outlets have criticized people who attempt to reconsider these new facts as “historical revisionists” together with China, South Korea, and the United States. Now that 70 years have passed since the end of World War II, we should create a historical verification committee to once again examine modern Japanese history – according to mistaken education with textbooks that contain falsehoods and the reports by the Japanese media – and clarify the truth. First, it should start with the assassination of Zhang Zuolin that is regarded as the origin of Japan’s invasion of the continent. Like Prokhorov said in our dialogue, it is possible that the Russian president’s depository of old documents contains unreleased materials on this incident. Furthermore, all historical textbooks – excluding those by the Japan Society for History Textbook Reform – still include information about the “Nanking Massacre” even though it has become evident that the Nanking Massacre, comfort women, and other stories are entirely untrue. We must verify all of these and then correct them.
　The Japanese media is still bound by the Press Code, which was created during the American occupation and contains 30 prohibitions. The Asahi Shimbun is the watchman of the Press Code and thoroughly censures other media outlets that do not comply. Last year there was a major uproar about The Asahi Shimbun’s misinformation on the comfort women issue, on which it printed false articles. The newspaper carried out a campaign about the comfort women over many long years, by which the falsehood that says 200,000 women were forcibly transported and subjected to sexual slavery has been accepted as truth all over the world. This has harmed Japan’s prestige to the degree that money cannot resolve. Yet The Asahi Shimbun is trying to deal with this incident merely by printing a corrected article and gives no signs of remorse. It has the responsibility to print articles and release them into the world to rid it of the contempt Japan has been subjected to.

　The underlying cause for World War II is that Japan made enemies of the Jewish people because of the media. Japan won a narrow victory in the Russo-Japanese War thanks to support from England according to the alliance between the two nations, as well as financial assistance from Jewish people in the U.S. and other countries. However, Japan did not receive sufficient reparations like it did after the First Sino-Japanese War, when it gained territories such as Taiwan. The media stirred up the people by criticizing this, which caused major riots including the Hibiya incendiary incident. Minister for Foreign Affairs Jutaro Komura attached great importance to this, so he was strongly opposed to the plan for jointly managing the South Manchuria Railway, which had been agreed to by Prime Minister Taro Katsura and E. H. Harriman, a Jewish railroad executive. This led to the complete revocation of the agreement. As a result, Japan incurred the displeasure of the Jews, which led to War Plan Orange, the American plan for a future battle with Japan.
　After losing their country, the Jews became a nomadic people that wandered the world for 2,000 years and suffered much hardship. During this time, they created a Jewish network and took control of the worldwide financial, media, and legal circles, by which they conducted information strategy warfare as a method of self-protection. Japan has contributed to the Jewish people in many ways. In 1938, 20,000 Jewish refugees who had escaped persecution by Adolf Hitler arrived in Manchuria. Kiichiro Higuchi, head of the Kwantung Army secret service, persuaded General Hideki Tojo, the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, to take in the refugees. The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested at that time, but Tojo handily defeated this by saying it was due to “concern for humanity.” In 1940, Chiune Sugihara, Japanese consular representative to Lithuania, is known for issuing visas to pass through Japan as a way to save Jewish refugees. However, these facts have been covered up after World War II.
　The Soviet Union became a military monster due to military assistance from the U.S. The U.S. used secret Congressional funds to develop the atomic bombs and drop them on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a way to restrain the Soviet Union, prevent a post-World War II battle over the communization of the world and turn it into a cold war, and to gain global hegemony in the postwar world. It brainwashed the Japanese people through the War Guilt Information Program because, to be continually seen as a good country, the U.S. had to portray Japan as a bad country. It censored the media and private correspondence, burned disadvantageous books, and banished 200,000 people from public offices. It then installed socialists and communists in these positions.
　From 1943 to 1980 the U.S. intercepted communications between Soviet spies in the Soviet Union and U.S. The Venona Files, which are records of these decrypted messages, were released in 1995. According to these files, there were 200 important Comintern personnel in the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. The most striking example was Harry Dexter White, who wrote the original draft of the Hull Note. At the time of the 1928 Huanggutun incident as well, it is very likely there were Comintern personnel in the Kwantung Army who made it look like Komoto was behind the incident. Afterwards, Zhang Xueliang (Zhang Zuolin’s son) was resentful of the Japanese Army that killed his father. In 1936 he colluded with the Chinese Communist Party to abduct Chiang Kai-shek (known as the “Xi’an Incident”). As Comintern anticipated, Chiang Kai-shek’s National Revolutionary Army and the Communist Party troops decided to fight against Japan together, which led to the Second United Front. In the later Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937, which is regarded as the impetus behind the Second Sino-Japanese War, Liu Shaoqi from the Chinese Communist Party (who afterwards became president of China) gave orders to shoot at both the Japanese Army, which was performing exercises, and the Chinese National Revolutionary Army, inspiring the two armies to fight. This was even written in a pamphlet given to Communist Party soldiers. History would have been different if it had been immediately evident that the assassination of Zhang Zuolin was committed by the Soviet Union secret service, and I suspect the Second Sino-Japanese War would not have begun in that way either.

　During World War II, nations founded on the supremacy of white people – such as the U.S. and England – were prejudiced against people of color. The war with Germany was between white people and so the bare minimum of rules were followed in the fighting, but they did not see the Japanese people as humans.
　Charles Lindbergh, who is known for making the first nonstop Atlantic crossing, described the brutality in his writings about the war. He said that Japanese soldiers waving the white flag of surrender were killed with machine guns. They threw Japanese prisoners of war from airplanes, reported that Japanese did not want to become prisoners of war, boiled the heads of Japanese soldiers, and proudly sent skulls and paper-knives made from their bones to their sweethearts at home.
　Yuji Aida, who was taken as a prisoner of war by the British army, wrote in his masterpiece The Ahlone Concentration Camp as follows:
　One day, I was surprised when I came into a room to clean it. A British woman, totally nude, was standing in front of a mirror and combing her hair. She turned around when she heard the door. When she saw that I was a Japanese soldier, she returned to combing her hair as if nothing had happened.
The British seemed to view the Japanese as dogs or cats. Aida wrote, “If I had been a white man, I’m sure she would have covered her nakedness while shrieking.” When we look at history, we must also consider the way that Europeans and Americans thought at that time.
　All countries would lie and kill people for the sake of their national interests. It’s not good that Japanese people have the naïve way of thinking that says the truth will lead to understanding. Japan must also widely and proactively promote the truth to the world according to its national interests. That’s one reason Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s statement on the 70th anniversary of the end of the war was so wonderful. He covertly criticized the colonial rule by the major Western European powers and touched on how World War II was caused by economic pressure placed on Japan, including the ABCD encirclement via a bloc economy. He also declared, “We must not let our children, grandchildren, and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize.”
　As I have insisted in the past, I believe Japan should take this chance to create a “Ministry of Information” with 3,000 staff members and an annual budget of 300 billion yen. It should constantly watch the worldwide media and immediately refute any mistaken reports in the local language. But there would be few effects even if Japanese people protested these reports. To that end, one method would be utilizing the capabilities of American marketing companies funded by Jewish people.
　American marketing companies use enormous amounts of money to support presidential candidates and carry out effective negative campaigns by attacking candidates on the enemy side. Japan should use the Jewish information network to have corrections made to articles and news reports that are inconsistent with reality. They should be given specific missions and paid, according to results, with secret funds. I think it would be a good idea to solicit donations from private citizens for this budget. Considering how much money was raised when the government of Tokyo attempted to purchase the Senkaku Islands, I think we can expect a fair amount of donations will be made. Also, since that 10 billion yen per day – 3.6 trillion yen per year – is flowing to major oil companies since the nuclear power plants are shut down, these small expenses should be no problem. The issue about the new Olympic stadium, which will be totally redesigned because of the too-great expenses totaling 300 billion yen, was stirred up by the media. Two hundred or 300 billion yen isn’t expensive at all when one thinks about the economic effects of the Olympics. I think this is a textbook example of a big uproar being made over something small and the fundamental issue being ignored.
　We must use marketing companies to logically show the world that the Huanggutun incident was committed by the Soviet secret service, and that the Nanking Massacre and comfort women stories are total fabrications, without depending on TV media such as the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) or outlets like The Asahi Shimbun or Nikkei Shimbun newspapers. To that end as well, politicians must learn about true history from well-informed persons across the world – rather than media reports or the historical education they received in the past – and fully consider how to spend money to deal with these issues. It is not too late to revive Japan by regaining the Japanese wisdom spanning from the Meiji Restoration to the First Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars. It is certain that the Abe administration will last for three more years, and I hope that Abe will have another three years until the start of the Tokyo Olympic Games and help revive Japan as a fatherland we can be proud of. I intend to provide unsparing assistance as well.

September 24 (Thursday), 2015 12:00