It’s been seven years since my last visit to Japan but, being welcomed by an animated blue-haired schoolgirl upon arrival, I was pleased to see that this weird and wonderful country hasn’t changed a bit.
My first day was a whistle-stop tour of the city’s key sights. Fuelled by a breakfast of 7-Eleven sushi and copious amounts of green tea, it was also a whistle-stop tour of Tokyo’s preponderant public toilets, all of which being Japan were impeccable.
My first stop was the Yasukuni Shrine. Established in the second year of the Meiji era (1869), it commemorates the nearly 2.5 million servicemen who have perished in Japan’s manifold wars since 1853. Controversially, this includes over 1,000 convicted war criminals, but more about that later.
I embraced the jet lag and went first thing in the morning, which I’d highly recommend to truly experience the place’s solemnity. Characteristically understated, the grounds were beautiful and dignified. It was wonderful to watch people visit on their morning commute, whether to pay their respects to deceased loved ones, or enjoy a few blissful minutes in this tranquil oasis nestled in a city of some fourteen million people.
The site is something of a lightning rod, owing to the decision to honour individuals who were found responsible for crimes against humanity. Critics have invoked Yasukuni as emblematic of the nationalist and unapologetic approach Japan has taken towards its conduct during the Second World War. Visits to the shrine by Japanese officials have been heavily politicised, particularly by the international press. Indeed, no Japanese emperor has visited since 1975.
I think this is largely unwarranted. Unlike other sites of national mourning I’ve visited, there is no hint of grandiosity or triumphalism here. It seems a legitimate attempt by a nation to process what was, irrespective of how deserved, a profound national tragedy that touched the lives of all Japanese. Too great a sacrifice was made to simply castigate an entire generation, yet to brazenly glorify their conduct would surely be beyond the pale, given the terrible suffering Japan wrought upon its neighbours.
Far more problematic, then, is the Yushukan Museum next door, which provides a totally revisionist account of Japan’s empire and complicity in the various wars under whose banner they were fought. The museum parrots the victimhood narrative that contemporaries trotted out, in which imperial conquests were deemed an essential bulwark against encroaching colonialists. There is undoubtedly a grain of truth to these assertions. However, recent historiography has convincingly shown that the expediency of Japan’s empire was limited at best. Far from obviating calamity, Japan’s expansionist quest for autarky instead incurred international opprobrium and served to embolden militarists that put it on an inexorable path to conflict with the Western powers.
Next stop was the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery for the unidentified war dead of the Second World War. Among them are the approximately 55,000 Japanese, including many civilians, who died whilst forcibly detained in Soviet gulags following the war’s conclusion. This oft-forgotten part of post-war history is a stark reminder that the Axis vs. Allies paradigm was not a neat struggle between good and evil, to say nothing of the Soviet proxies that would bedevil Asia in the coming decades.
As a random aside, I came across the stunning Holy Resurrection Cathedral, the main cathedral of the Japanese Orthodox Church. Such endeavours would be far more constructive for the Russians than their current attempt at nation-building.
I finished up at the Imperial Palace. Unfortunately, tickets were sold out a month in advance, so I was unable to reach the inner sanctum. However, I had a lovely saunter through the (relatively) shaded grounds, which were still delightful. Altogether, a great first day.
Postscript: I’m not accustomed to having an audience, but these two in Harmonica Alley couldn’t get enough of me and my date. After awkwardly gawking and giggling, they eventually came over to inform us that we were very attractive, looked like a nice pair, and that they would enjoy it very much if we kissed. I replied that the feeling was mutual, and might they like to do the same? The picture speaks for itself: suffice to say one was a little more alacritous than the other, but they duly obliged and were rewarded in kind. Never change Japan.
