Japan University of Economics Associate Professor Kuno Jun is a spirited conservative pundit known for his active fieldwork. He has spoken with over 400 people about their wartime experiences and conducted interviews at more than 300 Shinto shrines. His field of expertise is Japan’s political and foreign policy history, including anti-communism policy in the early Showa period. Motoya Toshio spoke with Kuno about the inspiration behind his research, the significance of his historical studies, his feelings about contemporary Japanese people, and other topics.

 

(M) Thank you for joining me on Big Talk today, and congratulations on becoming a Seiron (“Just Arguments”) columnist in The Sankei Shimbun this year.

(K) Thank you very much. I published my first Seiron article in the January 24 issue, “Honoring Deceased Soldiers and Imperial Male Succession.”

(M) You are a well-known historian. How did you get involved in this research?

(K) I didn’t have any particular connections – none of my parents or relatives were researchers – but my parents frequently took me to my grandparents’ house, where I heard a great deal about the time before World War II. That’s why I felt like something was very wrong in elementary school, when I was told in history class that Japan carried out a massacre in Nanjing and forcibly transported comfort women as part of its aggressive war. Of course, I wasn’t fully aware of this, but as I spent time with my grandparents, I couldn’t imagine that people of their generation were capable of such horrible atrocities. Prewar Japan was a great country, and I naturally came to doubt whether its exemplary citizens would act in such terrible ways. Propaganda was carried out as part of information and historical warfare, instilling the belief that Japanese people did awful things before and during the war, which destroyed trust in our predecessors. Later, I came to realize that many Japanese people are deceived by this propaganda.

(M) We have been told by the educational system and media that Japan was a bad country, and that it did extremely cruel things. I have continually provided opportunities for citizens to learn their true history, including Apple Town magazine, the “True Interpretations of Modern History” Essay Contest, APA Japan Restoration Grand Prize, and Shoheijuku academy.

(K) I’ve been involved with the Osaka Shoheijuku since it was opened, and I spoke at the Tokyo branch last month. I truly admire the way you share your views and beliefs.

(M) As you grew older, how were you involved in the historical field?

(K) While doing fully fledged historical research in university and graduate school, I gained confidence that I had been correct to question whether Japan was actually an evil aggressor nation. As a graduate student, I began studying the history of politics and foreign policy during the era of the Sino-Japanese Incident (Second Sino-Japanese War). I learned from Nakanishi Terumasa, although I wasn’t an official member of his seminar group. He suggested that I research the Showa Kenkyukai, which was the think-tank of Konoe Fumimaro. Nakanishi said that almost no research had been done on this organization, and proposed that I look into its beliefs and actions. I wrote my master’s thesis on the Showa Kenkyukai. It had a great deal of influence on Japan’s war policy, even though its members were only active during a short time in the Showa period before World War II. There was almost no prior research on this topic. Since then, my main research interest has been Japan’s anti-communism policy and its issues in the prewar period.

(M) I interviewed Nakanishi for Big Talk, when we discussed the truth of the Huanggutun Incident. We agree that the actual mastermind was the Soviet secret service, not Colonel Komoto Daisaku of the Kwantung Army, which is the commonly accepted view.

(K) Is that so? During my research, I learned that the Showa Kenkyukai altered Japan’s anti-communism policy by providing justification for pro-communism measures. Russia was destroyed from the inside out by the Russian Revolution that broke out in 1917. This country, which had not been able to defeat Napoleon, fell into ruin. Seeing this, some Japanese intellectuals idealized the idea of helping the poor and building an equal society. There was an intellectual trend of wanting to accomplish this through a revolution to topple the Imperial system, rather than a revolution within the parliamentary democracy. As more young people were won over to communism, the government worked to restore a sense of the Japanese spirit. For example, they used the Peace Preservation Law to control these people. After being imprisoned for several years according to this law, young communists did not try to achieve their ideals by openly espousing communism. Instead, they drew close to the government and secretly promoted communist policies. The 1937 Sino-Japanese Incident was an opportunity for communists who infiltrated the Konoe Cabinet by joining the Showa Kenkyukai. Saying that Japan needed to win this protracted war, they utilized the wartime regime to implement economic controls that would have been attacked as communist measures during normal times.

 

(M) The Japanese government had a powerfully anti-communist stance, but its policies were thrown into disarray by these unexpected actors.

(K) Yes, and you can see how this impacted its foreign policy. Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany in 1936, positioning the Soviet Union as a hypothetical enemy. Italy joined the agreement one year after, followed three years later by the 1940 Tripartite Pact between Japan, Germany, and Italy. Textbooks explain that the Anti-Comintern Pact was strengthened and made into a military alliance as the Tripartite Pact. This isn’t true, nor are the erroneous claims made by the people in the government and military who promoted the pact. The plan was for a four-party alliance between Japan, Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union, and those in favor included Minister for Foreign Affairs Matsuoka Yosuke. They weren’t trying to shore up defenses against communism – they were attempting to get the Soviet Union on board, too. In other words, the Tripartite Pact was not an anti-communism measure. It was aimed at breaking down the defenses against communism.

(M) Was this anti-communism focus a way to conceal their true objectives?

(K) I think that communist sympathizers were using Matsuoka. It was also a favorable opportunity for powers scheming to sow discord between the United States and Japan. The Soviet spy Richard Sorge kept a close eye on this trend. The most important item in Japan’s foreign policy should have been vigilance against the Soviet Union, but at some point things changed. The question is, who was behind this? Today, the field of Japanese political and foreign policy history gives little attention to this topic, which should provide an important lesson about how to deal with communist influences. That’s why I am bringing it up as much as possible in the scholarly world and the general public as well.

(M) I am sure it will remain an important research topic in the future.

(K) Secret communists infiltrated the government from around 1935, an era when Japanese people were working earnestly to restore their country. In my opinion, we should pay particular attention to the lavish events held in 1940 to commemorate the 2600th anniversary of the founding of the Japanese nation. The celebration went on despite the fact that manpower and resources were needed to fight the protracted war against China, which started in 1937. Textbooks simply mention that the celebration took place, but I believe it was a world-class series of exemplary events.

(M) It was definitely a great undertaking at that point in time.

(K) Some critics say it was a national policy that was an extension of efforts to modernize since the Meiji period. They claim that the events emphasized the Emperor’s predominance and Japan’s supremacy over other countries. For example, the 2,500th anniversary was in 1840, a century before that. Tokugawa Nariaki, lord of the Mito Domain, proposed that the Imperial Court and shogunate hold national anniversary events. They declined due to the chaotic circumstances in the closing days of the Edo period. However, even before that era there was a movement to commemorate Emperor Jimmu’s enthronement. One hundred years later in 1940, I think people felt excited and decided to celebrate Japan’s anniversary no matter what, because they remembered what happened during the Edo period.

(M) I’m not sure that was the only factor. Perhaps there were more powerful reasons for holding a celebration right in the middle of the Sino-Japanese War.

(K) Yes, I think it was galvanized by a strong wartime awareness that Japan was fighting to defend itself, and that Japan would cease to exist otherwise. This probably led people to remember and celebrate the starting point of our nation. It wasn’t a sudden undertaking, either, but was likely based on events commemorating the 1,200th anniversary of the Nihon Shoki (“Chronicles of Japan”), roughly two decades earlier from 1919 to 1920. There was a common historical perspective of the Nihon Shoki as an authentic historical document that describes the founding of the nation by Emperor Jimmu. That’s probably why they were able hold a national celebration during the war with China.

(M) I also think the government needed to create ideological unity. To achieve a sense of solidarity among the populace during that crisis, they wanted to emphasize the fact that our nation is worthy of pride and that it had lasted for 2,600 years. However, this might have led to the extreme militarism that followed.

(K) That may be true. There were also anti-American powers and forces who wanted to destroy our relationship with the U.S. They misused this concept of thinking about Japan’s identity and returning to its starting point, saying that a country worthy of pride should not yield to the U.S. I also think that secret communists plotted to create distance between Japan and America. They worked to spread their beliefs within the government and create an environment that went too far into believing that Japan is a great country and the U.S. is a detestable one.

(M) Unity is a powerful thing. Japan worked for internal solidarity by holding events to celebrate its 2,600th anniversary, while also banding together with other countries through the Tripartite Pact. I imagine that was a necessary policy back then.

(K) That is one view of what happened. I also think the secret communists wanted to estrange Japan from the U.S. by forming tripartite ties with Germany and Italy. We must learn from the fact that the government was unable to perceive what was happening.

(M) Yes, that makes sense.

(K) We need unity in Japan today. One method will be the 2,700th anniversary celebration coming up in 2040, just 15 years from now. Nothing was done in 2020 to mark the 1,300th anniversary of the Nihon Shoki, an important turning point in history that was the foundation for the 1940 anniversary celebrations. I’ve spoken with several ministry-level officials who said this anniversary was neglected because of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, which ended up being put off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Nihon Shoki describes how Japan coped with an epidemic around 2,000 years ago during the reign of Sujin, the tenth Emperor. More than ever, the pandemic should have led us to focus on the Nihon Shoki and take steps to commemorate its 2,700th anniversary. I wish I could have done more to help accomplish this.

(M) I hope for a renewed sense of national unity at the 2040 celebrations.

(K) Yes, I agree.

 

(M) As an island nation, Japan has maintained a suitable distance from the continent while taking in positive aspects and rejecting things that are not beneficial. I think this gives Japan a superior geopolitical position.

(K) Speaking of which, we tend to forget that Japan became a major naval power on par with the U.S. and United Kingdom. Japan focused efforts on developing naval power because it is an island nation. The origin of our navy is Emperor Jimmu’s Imperial ships sent on eastern voyages. People had a common sense of this history before World War II, but little importance is given today to these connections with the past. Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai should be a chance to connect with this history, and the national government should do all it can to make the event a success. However, there are always factions that come up with numerous reasons to obstruct World Expos. The same is true of the Olympics. Only 30 of the almost 200 countries across the globe have put on World Expos. Thinking back on the struggles of our ancestors, who developed and supported Japan to make it into a country that can host international expositions, I can’t believe what these factions are doing. Expo 2025 is the best opportunity for us to share the unique features of Japan and Osaka. The Kansai area has strong ties to Emperor Jimmu’s eastern expedition by which he established the nation, and is a perfect place to teach the world about Japan’s ancient history. I cannot comprehend why more people aren’t talking about this.

(M) I agree entirely. It seems like those who disagree with the Olympics and World Expos think it’s somehow “cool” to oppose the government. I think we are still seeing the anti-authority powers splitting into factions, which has continued since the movement opposing the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.

(K) I think that’s one reason for this division, but the biggest factor splitting Japan is probably the historical perspective stemming from the Tokyo Trials. The majority group holds this view, and is in conflict with the minority that has differing historical values. We have to convey the fact that this historical view is not a suitable one, and that it makes no sense to judge the Greater East Asia War according to the Tokyo Trials. Our predecessors helped Japan correctly overcome many national crises in the past. This involved more than just battling enemies – they overcome difficulties while working to restore Japan’s true identity during the Sengoku period and the latter days of the Edo period. One crisis was the prewar spread of communism in Showa Japan. Another was its defeat in the Greater East Asia War, caused by our loss in international information warfare. I believe historians should discern the true lessons we should learn from these crises and how they were overcome. We must also reflect critically on the past, like when Japan’s national policy was negatively affected by powers that wanted to distance it from the U.S. while pretending to care about its national identity. Based on this, we should celebrate the 2,700th anniversary of this nation that can draw together and withstand times of crisis. I want to reach out to different people and encourage this.

(M) Many Japanese people think that peace will naturally come if we wait for it silently. However, strong power is necessary to maintain peace. There are factions that want to weaken Japan, divide it up, and fracture its population, just like the conflict about the security treaty in the 1960s. We need policies that strengthen unity to prevent this. For example, it will be important to share Japan’s excellent qualities with the world at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai. We should also hold events like anniversary celebrations to remind citizens about the greatness of our nation and inspire solidarity.

 

(K) We mentioned the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. Although it’s naive to assume this treaty guarantees our safety, it’s not realistic to say that we can defend Japan by ourselves without it. We must strike a pragmatic balance while administering the nation. I believe the Imperial Family and Shinto religion provide a basis for this. Speaking simply on the question of succession, the male Imperial line should be protected. People in favor of overthrowing the Imperial system – as well as some self-described conservatives – claimed that we should allow a woman to become Emperor. This is a means of division, and is something that must be prevented regarding this most important issue concerning the Imperial Family. When the world was captivated by communism in the early 20th century, Sorge believed so strongly in this ideal that he set up an espionage network in Japan, a task for which he received no payment. He was put to death for spying for the Soviet Union. Communism can compel people to take action, but the Japanese Shinto faith is not daunted by communism at all. The Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (GHQ) was not able to completely divide Japan by dealing Shinto a crushing blow to weaken the nation, as hoped by communists concealed in the American government.

(M) That’s true. Shinto sensibilities are still present in our daily lives.

(K) Shinto is part of our DNA, as shown by the way we frequently wash our hands and how we always say “itadakimasu” to express gratitude before a meal. This focus on keeping our hands clean is based on the practice of washing them before visiting a shrine, which originates from the purification ceremony performed by the deity Izanagi-no-Mikoto in our mythology. I want Japanese people to trust in this Shinto spirit and avoid division while preparing for our 2,700th anniversary.

(M) There are shrines in every small town, and they serve important roles as places where people go to pray or celebrate the New Year. Shinto is more than a religious faith – it’s the foundation stone of our solidarity. Next year marks the 250th anniversary of America, a young country where there is a great deal of division between different powers. Japan has a long history and customs in which people are connected on a profound level.

(K) One thing that bothers me is the way we interpret the separation of church and state in Japan. I don’t intend to raise a fundamental objection to this as an official stance. However, there are many lawsuits in this field concerning Shinto shrines, while Christianity and Buddhism do not often end up in court according to Articles 29 and 89 of the constitution. Considering this, I can’t help but feel the regulations separating church and state are aimed at suppressing Shinto, which isn’t a religion according to the common definition. We must understand it as part of Japan’s national character, rather than as a religion.

(M) I agree entirely. Japan has maintained solidarity for so many years based on its Imperial Family and the Shinto faith. It even became one of the world’s major economic powers. All citizens must make efforts to maintain this unity, which is also needed for security.

(K) I know that APA Group is working hard on the front lines.

(M) Yes, and I will keep expressing my views going forward. At the end of the interview, I always ask for a “word for the youth.”

(K) I still feel young myself, but I do hope that younger people will learn more about our country. When you fall in love with someone, you want to know all about them. If you love and cherish Japan, you should work to learn about it and share what you’ve learned with other people. I hope they will help pass down our traditions to future generations, and I look forward to upholding our nation together with young people who have inherited this awareness from our ancestors.

(M) I think that’s wonderful. Thank you for joining me today.

(K) Thank you.

 

BIOGRAPHY
Kuno Jun

Born in 1980, Kuno’s field of expertise is the history of modern politics and foreign policy. Although he is not a Shinto specialist, this researcher regards Shinto as an important element of Japanese history. He lectures at the Japan University of Economics and Meijo University. His roles include director of the Japan Historical Research Society, executive secretary of the Historical Awareness Research Committee, and chairman of the Historical Research Society on Honoring Great Deeds. He conducts direct interviews across the country, including shrines and people who lived through the war, and puts on the Rekiben historical study meeting in various locations. His Kuno Jun Channel on YouTube is updated weekly.