As this year marks the 80th anniversary of the Tokyo Trials, a Japanese professor is warning that right-wing forces are increasingly challenging the tribunal's verdicts and the post-World War II international order, fueling concerns about a resurgence of militarism in the country.
Atsushi Kouketsu, an honorary professor from Yamaguchi University expressed concern in a recent interview.
From May 3, 1946, to Nov. 12, 1948, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East was held in Tokyo by 11 countries, including the United States, China, the UK and the Soviet Union, to try Japan's Class-A war criminals after World War II.
The Tokyo Trials were an attempt to bring justice to the perpetrators of the atrocities and war crimes, but the outcomes were compromised.
Fourteen Class-A war criminals, convicted at the Tokyo Trials, were even enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine, a symbol of Japanese militarism and wartime aggression.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi recently sent offerings to the notorious shrine to which a cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers paid a visit.
"Japan's rightward drift is accelerating, and Japanese militarism is on the rise. Against this political backdrop, the view of denying the Tokyo Trials has been strengthened again. This is the current reality," said Kouketsu.
The Tokyo Trials also presented key evidence of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, in which approximately 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers were killed by Japanese imperial forces. Witness testimonies submitted during the trials documented the atrocities committed by Japanese invaders in Nanjing, then China's capital. Despite this, Kouketsu said, voices in Japanese society still deny or downplay these crimes.
Kouketsu said the moves to distort and even deny history is essentially an evasion of war responsibilities.
"The Nanjing Massacre should be clearly presented as an anti-war educational lesson. To distort, fabricate, or even deny history is a denial of war responsibilities. If many people in Japan still hold this view, it would be a serious mistake, an affront to history, and an extreme harm to the Chinese people. Therefore, the Nanjing Massacre should be a warning and a lesson, so that the Japanese people will no longer participate in wars and will no longer be aggressors. Moreover, making an apology to China is far from enough, because merely expressing 'regret' is in itself a huge problem," he said.
Kouketsu also said that the Tokyo Trials are a "timeless lesson," and some facts should not be forgotten; otherwise, the same mistakes will be repeated.
"The Tokyo Trials can also be understood as a 'timeless lesson'. That is to say, the Japanese people must continue to reflect on what the Tokyo Trials brought to justice. Without understanding this, the lessons of history would be 'forgotten' at some point. And this is one of the reasons causing the current state of Japanese society. We must learn from history thoroughly and foster a correct view of history," he said.
Japanese scholar warns against militarism resurgence as Tokyo Trials face renewed denial 80 years on
