Andy Young who runs Siberian Light - The Russian Blog, writes in to point us to his post about a long forgotten battle fought between Japan and the Soviet Union in the opening days of World War II. Forgotten, but so significant that it literall altered the course of history.

In August 1939, just weeks before Hitler invaded Poland, the Soviet Union and Japan fought a massive tank battle on the Mongolian border - the largest the world had ever seen.

Under the then unknown Georgy Zhukov, the Soviets won a crushing victory at the batte of Khalkhin-Gol (known in Japan as the Nomonhan Incident). Defeat persuaded the Japanese to expand into the Pacific, where they saw the United States as a weaker opponent than the Soviet Union. If the Japanese had not lost at Khalkhin Gol, they may never have attacked Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese decision to expand southwards also meant that the Soviet Eastern flank was secured for the duration of the war. Instead of having to fight on two fronts, the Soviets could mass their troops - under the newly promoted General Zhukov - against the threat of Nazi Germany in the West.

In terms of its strategic impact, the battle of Khalkhin Gol was one of the most decisive battles of the Second World War, but no-one has ever heard of it. Why?

Read the rest of the post here.

Have you ever noticed that when two groups occupy a similar space, rivalries emerge? Whether you’re talking about Mac vs PC, Coke vs Pepsi, or the national rugby teams of Australia and New Zealand, each party will try as hard as they can to win against their hated rivals.

The top two private universities in Japan are Waseda and Keio, and like Harvard and Yale, the schools have a rivalry that goes back to their founding a century ago.

Keio University was founded in 1858 by Yukichi Fukuzawa, a visionary who travelled to the U.S. to study education at Brown University; he also promoted public education of all children and launched an influential early newspaper.

Waseda was launched in 1882 by a former samurai named Shigenobu Okuma who had been taught English by a missionary in Nagasaki using the Bible and the Declaration of Independence as his study guides.

Today the rivalry between the two schools is fierce, with Keio students mocking the name of Waseda for containing the characters for “rice field” and laughing at the many used book stores that can be found around the campus, implying that the students are too poor to buy new books, while Waseda-ites dislike the snobbery of Keio’s wealthier students. Everything comes to a head twice a year with the So-Kei (Waseda and Keio) baseball match, which is watched by so many students that classes at both schools have to be cancelled.

The rivalry between Waseda and Keio extends far beyond the current generation of students, since many members of the government are alums of the two schools.

When Japan moved to update the faces appearing on its currency a few years ago, Prime Minister Koizumi (a Keio alum) made darn sure that no one removed Mr. Fukuzawa from the 10,000 note, which was the only bill that didn’t get refreshed.

Love and Honor (2006) is a great movie that should remind you of Twilight Samurai  – not too much “action” in it — but how it really was. I should say that this is not as good as Twilight Samurai but still pretty good and well worth your 1.5 hours of time.

But, what else is there apart from love and honor? At least not in in jidea geki times… Today it is probably more like “my job and my french fries” or something like that, but in those days was a whole different ball game — especially for the samurai. According to a long-winded but detailed summary in IMDB:

Shinnojo, a low level samurai, lives with his pretty, dutiful and loyal wife Kayo. He has come to find his position in a castle as a food-taster for a feudal lord to be boring and pointless, and talks about opening a kendo school open to boys of all castes where he can teach the use of the sword. Before he can act on his dream he becomes ill with a fever after tasting some sashimi made from shell fish, but an investigation reveals that the poisoning was not due to a human conspiracy, but a poor choice of food out of season. After three days he awakes but finds that the toxin from the food has blinded him. Kayo is summoned by Shinnojo’s family to explain how the couple will survive. His uncle laments that he no longer knows anybody with influence in the castle, and asks Kayo if she knows of anybody. She relates how Toya Shimada, the chief duty officer in the castle and a samurai of high rank, offered to help and they tell her to act upon his offer of assistance. A message from the castle brings the good news that Shinnojo’s stipend of rice will remain the same, and for life but his aunt tells him that Kayo was seen with another man. He has Tohuhei, his faithful servant, follow her. Kayo notices that she is being followed, and although Tokuhei offers to cover for her, she reveals to Shinnojo that Shimada offered to help but with a price, shown when he forced himself upon her. He then solicited two additional trysts by threatening to tell Shinnojo about the first. An enraged Shinnojo divorces her and orders her out of his house. When it is revealed to him that Shimada had nothing to do with maintaining his stipend, but that it came out of gratitude from the lord of the clan himself, Shinnojo seeks to renew his skill with the sword as a blind man to avenge the dishonor of Kayo. Through Tokuhei he sends a message to Shimada to set up a duel, with the additional message to not underestimate him. The two samurai meet at the stables near the river to decide their destinies.

What will happen! This YouTube trailer doesn’t appear to be EXACTLY accurate and involves puppets, but is not a bad summary anyways. You can view the whole thing (including the thrilling conclusion and whether or not Kayo ever comes back again — I’m hoping she will…) on Crunchyroll:

A new movie out of Japan named The Truth About Nanjing attempts to claim that the Nanjing Massacre never happened.

According to Satoru Mizushima, the film’s director, “There is one indisputable fact: there was no massacre at Nanjing. We don’t want our children to grow up thinking Japan is a barbarian country.”

A preview of the highlights of the film, which is backed by ultra-conservatives including Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, included newsreel footage of Japanese Imperial army officers entering Nanjing on horseback while soldiers stand to attention.

“The entry of the Japanese military brought peace and order to the people of the city,” read the subtitles.
Japanese veterans who served in the area at the time were shown denying any large-scale violence against civilians.

The film is based on the writings of Shudo Higashinakano, who asserts that the Nanking Massacre story as invented by Americans and Europeans who were living in Nanjing at the time.

Director Mizushima is also on record claiming that Japanese war criminals martyrs sacrificed to atone for the sins of Japan, making them similar to Jesus Christ.

They resemble Jesus Christ who was nailed to the cross in order to bear the sins of the world. They died bearing all of old Japan’s good and bad parts and headed for the gallows.

Are the Japanese actually one of  the long Lost Tribes of Israel? Seems unlikely, but according to an interesting post in Oniazuma, the idea is not new, has plausible evidence behind it, and may well be accurate. There are a lot of mysterious connections that seem hard to explain otherwise.

A very interesting and contested theory is that the Japanese are actually a part of the Lost Tribes of Israel. During the constant warfare and strife that engulfed Israel, 10 of the 12 Tribes of Israel dispersed into Asia and have since disappeared. Israeli officials publicly acknowledge the mysterious similarities between Judaism and Japan. Recently, in March of 2007, Rabbi Avichail of the Israeli Investigative Body Amishav, which searches for descendants of the Lost Tribes, arrived in Japan. Although they only stayed for a short amount of time, the investigative body concluded that “There is no doubt that there is some kind of strong connection between Judaism and Japan. More research is needed to determine the details.”

Oniazuma presents the following NHK video. Many strange similiarities  are outlined, for example: “The word Essa, which is a carrying chant chanted by the holders of the Omikoshi, or portable shrine, is a word which really has no meaning in Japanese but means “Carry” in Hebrew. One of Japan’s largest festivals, the Gion Festival, is believed by many, including the Gion Festival officials, to be the same as Ancient Israel’s Zion Festival.”

The similarity between hirigana/katakana and the Hebrew script seems particularly persuasive to me? That couldn’t possibly be a coincidence–or could it? Probably Japundit readers have an opinion on this–are you all skeptical cynics or gullible conspiracy theorists who probably talk to flying saucers and think Martians built Stonehedge?

A cottage getaway owned by former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone in a small town in western Tokyo has been converted to a memorial hall to commemorate the summit Nakasone held with U.S. President Ronald Reagan there in 1983.

The bonds forged between the two leaders in the mountains of Hinode led to their famous “Ron-and-Yasu” relationship.

“This was an important place for me to bolster my spirits by looking into the blue sky quietly and wandering through nearby lanes,” [Nakasone said at a ceremony to mark the opening of the hall].

The house will be open to the public every Sunday, and visitors can view the tearoom where Ron and Yasu held talks, and the living room where Nakasone performed tea ceremony for Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

It’s been revealed pressure from the United States got then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to relent on his contentious claim before a Diet committee in March that there was no proof Japan Imperial forces were directly involved in forcing women into sexual slavery during World War II.

After Abe’s remarks, U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer told a senior Japanese government official the U.S. would not be able to continue to support Japan over the North Korean abduction issue if Abe did not back down. After deliberations with other government officials, Abe altered his position and announced that he stands by Japan’s 1993 official statement of apology to the sex slaves, which were referred to as “comfort women” during the war.

The 1993 statement, issued by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono, acknowledges and apologizes for the Imperial forces’ involvement in forcing women and girls to work in frontline brothels in Japanese-occupied areas in the 1930s and 1940s.

MAKER Montanus
TITLE Iedo
PLACE ISSUED Amsterdam
FIRST EDITION 1671
AREA SHOWN Tokyo
TECHNIQUE Copper engraving

I came across this while browsing old maps for sale online. If anybody wants more info drop me a line.

Ben Hills, the author of Princess Masako, Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne, a controversial biography of Crown Princess Masako that is scheduled for release in Japanese in September, has received death threats over the book. Publisher Daisan-Shokan also has been subjected to protests by right-wing nationalist groups.

Hills said he has received several email death threats, via his website, in the lead-up to the Japanese publication. “They were saying things like, ‘Die white pork!’ They were quite racist,” Hills said.
The emails were sent anonymously, Hills said, adding that the senders did not identify themselves as part of any organization.

Kodansha Ltd., which was originally set to publish the Japanese version, pulled out after the contents of the book were criticized by the Japanese Imperial Household Agency. Daisan-Shokan agreed to publish the Japanese version in the spirit of free speech.

In an email written to Hills, which Kyodo News has obtained, the publisher’s president, Akira Kitagawa, said a Japanese ultra-nationalist group visited company’s office on Aug 10 and demanded the publication be pulled.

“Just now, two black cars with ultra-nationalistic slogans on them are parking besides the building where my company address is. They are shouting hysterically, ‘Stop the publication of Princess Masako’ with huge loudspeakers,” the email said.

“Policemen are just watching them and let them do as much as they want to do. This is how your book is getting more and more popular in Japan before being published,” Kitagawa said.

Publication of the Japanese version is also being resisted by more respectable segments of the Establishment. Asahi Shimbun reportedly has refused to carry an advertisement for the book because it is disrespectful to the royal family.

Hills said he was deeply disturbed by the recent events.

“The Japanese establishment is just trying to censor my book and it really is quite outrageous. It’s censorship pure and simple,” he said.

As for how the book will be received in Japan once published, Hills said he hopes readers will make up their own minds.

“The Japanese will be able to read it and judge for themselves. To me, it’s really not important whether they like it or they don’t like it. They have got to read it and make their own minds up. It’s obviously going to be a controversial book. It criticizes some sacred cows,” he said.

Pink Tentacle had a lengthy post with many pictures and a video all about O-Nyudo. I assume this is something like O-Sensei with the “O?” Guess there’s no chance of becoming generally known as the legendary O-Nicholls?

Suppose O-rem or O-Uberthinker, O-Woo, or O-Mutsuki has more of a ring to it? O-JP probably won’t work because it looks like an initialism for a government department or a political party? “I see the OJP is out on it’s ear after the last election…?” Or maybe even a disease–”Oh! She has OJP? Did you go for tests yet?” Well, maybe none of us should be “O” just yet…

Anyway, the O-Nyudo occasion was an event that happens each August in the city of Yokkaichi in Mie prefecture:

A giant mechanical effigy of O-nyudo, a legendary Japanese monster, is paraded through the streets during the Grand Yokkaichi Festival. The mechanized puppet, said to be the largest karakuri ningyo in Japan, stands between 6.3 and 9 meters (20′ to 30′) tall depending on how far its neck is extended. The giant O-nyudo wows spectators by swinging its arms, bobbing its head around on its long neck, moving its eyes and mouth, and sticking out its tongue as it is wheeled through the streets to the accompaniment of taiko drums.

It sure is big, though. But the best part is the run-down on O-nyudo, and there is more on that in the Japanese-language Wikipedia.

O-nyudo whose name literally means “large monk,” appears in a number of folk tales across Japan. “While his physical appearance and characteristics vary from story to story, he is always large, ranging anywhere from 2 meters (6′ 6″) tall to as large as a mountain. O-nyudo usually appears as a giant person or an indistinct shadow, though he is known to have the ability to shape-shift.”

Good stuff and especially if you are interested in possibly mythical cryptozoological creatures. Personally, I am not so sure whether this is all fact or fiction… Look at Fan Death or kuchisake-onna for example–once thought to be mere urban legends they are now universally regarded as definite day-to-day threats?

Suffice to say: “Nobody knows what happened to the large mysterious man, but the town of Yokkaichi built the mechanical O-nyudo effigy to pay him their respects and wish for his safety.” Very wise–or maybe just hedging their bets…

BTW, I watched Onibaba tonight and do not advise anyone else to do so, unless you are in an undergraduate film course or wish to be really depressed. I shouldn’t even watch the rest but it’s already started–although I don’t think things are going to get any better somehow… But let me take that back in part–Graveyard of the Fireflies MAY have been somewhat even more depressing.

The above is a photo by Reuters showing a young boy at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine where people gathered to mark Wednesday’s 62nd anniversary of Japan’s surrender following World War II.

According to the latest edition of New Scientist magazine, the first inhabitants of North and South America may have been fishermen from Japan.

Jon Erlandson, an archeologist from the University of Oregon, believes the first people to arrive were probably fishermen who followed a near continuous belt of kelp forests in the coastal waters of the Pacific Rim, from Japan to Alaska and southern California.

His research, which will be published soon in another academic journal, is based on discoveries of ice-age sea voyages in Japan, a study of human DNA and investigations of prehistoric marine ecosystems.
“I think they were just moving along the coast and exploring. It was like a kelp highway,” Erlandson told the weekly science journal.

All I can say is that I hope this does not open North Americans up to demands for apologies and reparations for stealing the land that rightfully belongs to Japan. . .

The government of Korea is set to confiscate more than a million square meters of land that belong to Koreans that are accused of collaborating with the Japanese colonial government.

The Investigative Commission on Pro-Japanese Collaborators’ Property announced on Monday it will seize W25.7 billion (US$1=W929) worth of land from the descendants of 10 alleged collaborators who worked for Japan during its 35-year colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.

The people in question are said to have helped Japan colonize and rule the Korean peninsula in exchange for money or high-ranking positions.

The land seizure is being conducted under a special law enacted in 2005 that gives The Commission the power to seize the assets of colonial period collaborators.

Ancient temples in Japan are adopting space-age materials in their roofing tiles in order to cut maintenance costs. They are no replacing the traditional clay tiles of past with tiles made of titanium, whose strength and light weight also makes it the material of choice for aircraft and golf club heads.

One of the latest temples to switch is Sensoji in Tokyo, where temple spokesman Minoru Shimada says that titanium tiles are safer in addition to being more economical.

“Clay roof tiles are six times heavier than titanium, so in case of an earthquake, to prevent falling roof tiles hitting tourists, we decided to use titanium,” Shimada says.

But not everyone is happy about the new metal tiles. Government nannies over at Japan’s Cultural Affair Agency, which oversees cultural matters, claim a religious structure that has been certified a national treasure is obliged to maintain the historical integrity of their buildings or lose its government funding. They say, “Using new materials such as titanium lowers the value of cultural assets.”

Worshippers, however, seem unfazed by the switchover. According to a priest at one temple that sports a titanium roof:

We haven’t received complaints from worshippers. In fact, we’ve been getting inquiries from other temples.

Meanwhile, Sensoji (which is not certified as a national treasure) is studying the feasibility of replacing the oni gawara gargoyles the roofs of its structures with titanium versions.

Thanks to remora for the tip.

It looks like Ben Hills’ book on Princess Masako of Japan (Princess Masako - Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne) finally will see the light of day in Japanese with the announcement by Tokyo-based publisher Daisan-Shokan that they plan to go head with publication of a translation of the controversial book.

Long-time JAPUNDIT readers will remember that Kodansha originally had planned to publish the tome, but they had second thoughts when the Japanese government started raising questions about some of the information reported by Hills.

In February, publisher Kodansha scrapped plans for a Japanese edition of Princess Masako - Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne, prompting Australian author Ben Hills to complain that the Japanese government had censored his work.

The foreign ministry had sought an apology and “appropriate steps” from Hills, whose book it said contained many factual errors.

Apparently, the upcoming Japanese version will contain some corrections, but these mostly will be to correct certain “factual errors, such as dates.”

See past JAPUNDIT reports on this book and the ensuing brouhaha here, here, here, and here.

The U.S. House of Representative has passed its resolution demanding that Japan issue a formal apology for forcing women into service as comfort women during World War II.

Though largely symbolic, the nonbinding resolution has caused unease in Japan and added tension to an otherwise strong alliance. Officials in Tokyo say their country’s leaders, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, have apologized repeatedly for the Imperial Japanese Army’s forcing of women to work in military brothels in the 1930s and 1940s.

The resolution’s supporters, however, say Japan has never assumed responsibility fully for the treatment of the women.

Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., labeled as “nauseating” what he said were efforts by some in Japan “to distort and deny history and play a game of blame the victim.”

“Inhumane deeds should be fully acknowledged,” said Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “The world awaits a full reckoning of history from the Japanese government.”

The resolation demands that Japan “formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner.”

After decades of denial, the Japanese government acknowledged its role in wartime prostitution after a historian discovered documents showing government involvement. In 1993, the government issued a carefully worded official apology, but it was never approved by parliament. Japan has rejected most compensation claims, saying they were settled by postwar treaties.

Just as visionaries like Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Rush and George Washington are remembered for the role they played in early U.S. history, the men responsible for creating a modern Japan have a special place of honor in Japanese history books — and statues in parks.

Although the Meiji Restoration is framed as “returning” of power to the Emperor that had been usurped by the Tokugawa Shogun for the 250 years of the Edo Period, it was not so different from any civil war-type conflict, with revolutionaries from provinces of Satsuma, Tosa and Choshu (modern Kagoshima, Kochi and Yamaguchi Prefectures) working to topple the “old guard” in the Shogun’s government. Ironically, they were angry at the Shogun for signing treaties with America and Great Britain, and their rebel yell was sonno-joi, which meant “respect the Emperor and expel the foreign barbarians” Once they took control, of course, they realized they had to deal with foreign governments after all, and embarked on a program of modernization, taking the best ideas from the United States and the powers of Europe.

Some of the most famous names of this period include Hirobumi Ito, the main author of Japan’s first constitution and the country’s first Prime Minister; Munemitsu Mutsu, who helped establish diplomatic relations with the U.S.; and Shouin Yoshida, a child prodigy who was teaching university courses at the age of nine, and who is famous for sneaking aboard one of Admiral Perry’s “black ships” to try to get Perry to negotiate with the rebel provinces instead of the Shogun’s forces, but (some say) he spoke Dutch instead of English so no one understood him.

But the single most famous person in the struggle between Shogun and rebels would have to be Ryoma Sakamoto, the samurai who first adopted western-style boots instead of the waraji sandals worn by everyone else. He was fascinated with the West, and for some reason he thought the word “laundry” sounded really kakko ii (cool). Sadly, he was assassinated at a young age by an agent working for the Shogun.

Just as many of America’s Founding Fathers have reputations tarnished by their ownership of slaves, some of Japan’s early statesmen look much less noble due to the roles they played in the “colonization” of the Korean Peninsula.

The Daily Yomiuri ran an editorial Thursday morning stating that though outgoing Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma’s remarks about the U.S. atomic bombings of Japan at the end of WWII were ill-timed and inconsiderate, they are historically accurate.

[O]ne of the major factors in bringing the tragedy of the atomic bombings to Japan was the failure of Japanese political leaders’ diplomatic maneuvers to end the war. Taking the foolish measure of asking the Soviet Union, a potential enemy, to broker a peace deal, Japan wasted its time negotiating with the country, leading to the atomic bombings and the Soviet Union’s entry into the war.

One of the most frustrating aspects of living in Japan is being told constantly that just about any circumstance, no matter how illogical, unfair, or easily eliminated, “cannot be helped” (shikata-ga-nai or sho-ga-nai).

Now we get word that Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma has applied shikata-ga-nai logic to the end of World War II, saying that the atomic bombing of Japan by the United States during World War II was.

“I understand that the bombing ended the war, and I think that it couldn’t be helped,” Kyodo News agency quoted Kyuma as saying in a speech at a university in Chiba.

Though Kyuma comes from Nagasaki, he is able to find a silver lining the way the U.S. ended the war in that it prevented the Soviet Union from laying claim to a piece of Japan.

Kyuma’s remarks drew immediate criticism from Japanese atomic bomb victims.

“The U.S. justifies the bombings saying they saved many American lives,” said Nobuo Miyake, 78, director-general of a group of victims living in Tokyo. “It’s outrageous for a Japanese politician to voice such thinking. Japan is a victim.”

In America, the bombings are widely seen as a weapon of last resort against an enemy that was determined to fight to the death but instead surrendered unconditionally, six days after Nagasaki was attacked.

A Chinese woman has come forth with her story about how she was forced by the Japanese Imperial Army to serve as a comfort woman during World War II.

Zhou Fenying is a living witness to the dark history that still poisons China’s relations with Japan more than 60 years after World War Two.

When Zhou was 22, Japanese soldiers came to her village in eastern China, grabbed her and her sister-in-law and carted them off to a military brothel, she says.

Now 91, Zhou has broken decades of silence to speak of her traumatic experience as a “comfort woman” — the euphemism the invading Japanese used to describe women forced into sex slavery.

“I hid with my husband’s sister under a millstone. Later, the Japanese soldiers discovered us and pulled us out by our legs. They tied us both to their vehicle. Later they used more ropes to tie and secure us and drove us away,” she told Reuters in her home village in Jiangsu province.

“They then took us to the ‘comfort woman lodge’. There was nothing good there,” she said, speaking through a local government official who struggled to translate her thick dialect into Mandarin.

“For four to five hours a day, it was torture. They gave us food afterwards, but every day we cried and we just did not want to eat it,” Zhou added, sitting in her sparsely decorated home.

Read the rest here.