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Freedom, Tolerance and Justice

Before this man stands the table where his country will formerly sign the articles of surrender. This act has never occurred in the history of his nation and was unthinkable just a few years before when the empire of Japan stretched from the border of Russia to Wake Island in the pacific.

Framed behind the surrender table is a US flag flown by Commodore Matthew C. Perry's flagship when she entered Tokyo Bay in 1853, which signaled the end of Japans self emposed attempt to maintain life as it was in feudal Japan. In the nearly hundred years since that time Japan had progressed from a feudal state to an industrial nation, only to be turned into a heap of rubble by the forces of the United States and the Allied nations.

This man is Toshikazu Kase and he represents the Japanese Foreign Ministry during the signing ceremony, but he also represents a person who witnessed history first hand from the most crucial 100 year period in his nations history. Kase was born in 1903, the year before the start of the Russo-Japanese war, which established Japan as a major military power, a war that the peace treaty was later negotiated by President Teddy Roosevelt; resulting in his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906. Roosevelt’s role in the treaty, while lauded by the European powers was seen as “interfering” by the Japanese.

His life spans the transformation of Japan from a feudal state to its imperial expansion its crushing defeat and the miracle of its recovery from the war into one of the largest economies in the world. Toshikazu Kase, later became Japan's first ambassador to the United Nations

What would it have been like to be this man at this point in history? Remember, this act, this simple act is something that was unimaginable to the Japanese people. Japan has suffered not just from military defeat after defeat from the Battle of Midway in 1942 to this point, but it has also suffered the first two atomic attacks in history, as well as nonstop 24-hour bombardment from General Curtis LeMays incendiary attacks. The incendiary attacks were so devastating that bombing had to be halted in July as the Air Force had simply run out targets of sufficient size to bomb. People use the euphemism about “bombing them into the stone age”, but Curtis LeMay actually did it.

As this ceremony gets underway, American troops have already began the their occupation of Japan, the first occupation of Japan by foreign invaders. American bombers, who only 60 days before were turning Japan into a wasteland, are now employed dropping food and supplies that are badly needed by the civilian populace.

Yet, with all that, the Japanese, even the men in the surrender ceremony believed that the Americans had it just as bad; that is until they stepped aboard the USS Missouri.

One Japanese observer was quoted as saying “ We did not realize how badly we had been beaten until we could smell the butter on their breath on the deck of the Missouri...”

Imagine what that must have been like. All that came before, all that happened, not knowing what’s about to happen. From the tip of Sakhalin to Okinawa, this mans country and his nation has been turned to rubble in four short years.

Yet,when Ambassador Kase was asked about his reaction he said, “Here is the victor announcing the verdict to prostrate the enemy. He can impose a humiliating penalty if he so desires. Yet he pleads only for freedom, tolerance and justice ... I was thrilled beyond words."

Freedom, Tolerance and Justice.

Find me another Armed force in the history of mankind who would say such a thing as a victor over the vanquished. When they ask you “what the hell are we fighting for?”; Ambassador Kase just gave you the answer.

Every time that I see this picture I am reminded of the look on the face of the man in the top hat and I wonder what his eyes must’ve seen that day. He stands there, looking at MacArthur, Wainright, Nimitz, Halsey, Commodore Perry’s flag, practically every serving flag officer in the US Navy and half a dozen lowly Missouri crewmembers hanging their feet over the edge of a turret and a set of papers that effectively turn his country over to the will and whim of the “foreign invaders”. He has no idea what the next 24 hours will bring much less the next 24 years. He leaves the deck of the Missouri to an uncertain future under the massive drone of 1,000 US military aircraft darkening the skies. Surrounding the USS Missouri in Tokyo bay are ships his nation sank in 1941, now refloated and refitted, serving in the honors of defeating the country that sent them to the bottom of Pearl Harbor. I just can’t imagine what that was like.

His life spanned the most interesting and tumultuous 100 years of the global human species. He lived to see one of the most destructive wars in human history, a war in which 52 million people would perish outright. He lived until last year, on May 21st 2004, at age 101 he died of a heart attack.

Ambassador Kase was a man and like all men, he had his faults. He was a bit too willing to excuse the actions of his nation during the war, at one time saying it had been worth it to blunt European interference into Asian affairs and refusing to apologize for Japanese atrocities during the war. However,he was also a stalwart supporter of America during the rest of his life as a direct result of his reaction to Macarthurs words that day on the deck of the Missouri.

There were those who felt strongly at the time that the Japanese should never again join the family of nations. There were those who believed the Japanese could never overcome their atrocities and actions during the war. However, 30 years later, Japan was an industrial power and had one of the highest standards of living in the world, and yet, it had no army.

Well, no army of its own anyway. It now had the protection of the United States of America and it simply didn’t need one of its own any longer. Japan proved for the first time that nations could enjoy the benefits of industrial power without the need for empire. Japan enjoyed the military protection of the United States, even while Japanese industries were displacing the economic power of the United States.

When Macarthur said those words to an audience that included Ambassador Kaze, he said them while General Wainwright, his successor in the Philippines stood directly behind him. Wainwright had surrendered to the Japanese and as a result his men had endured the Bataan Death March. They had been used as slave labor throughout the Japanese empire. General Wainwright was expedited from his prison camp in Manchuria to be a part of the surrender ceremony. During his time under captivity, he was tortured, staved and abused by his captors.

Yet, from this victor to the vanquished come the words “Freedom, Tolerance and Justice”.

It does make a difference on how things turn out. Just try to imagine if Japan had won. Toshikazu Kase did, and he was grateful it turned out the way it did.

Posted @ August 14, 2005 11:58 PM | Current Affairs

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