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Whisper ![]() Senior Member ![]() Male Joined: 25 July 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 4752 |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posted: 31 July 2005 at 7:04am |
General's heir fights for his memory
The granddaughter of an infamous Japanese general, hanged at the end of the second world war, is calling for people to reassess their image of him.
Yuko Tojo, who works for a project recovering the remains of Japanese soldiers killed in action, recalls the general as a gentle man who stood up for
Her position comes amid increasing tensions between Although recollections of her grandfather may have faded in the 60 years since the end of the war, Tojo says he deserves to be remembered fondly and with respect. It is a view that is gathering support. Tojo says her grandfather, General Hideki Tojo, has become unfairly associated with war crimes trials that, she says, were simply victors' justice. She says he is vilified as the prime minister who authorised the attack on
Embargo "The tribunals after the war went against international law because it is clear that any independent country has the right to defend itself through military means," says Yuko Tojo, 66, who is married but retains the family name. "It was a war of self-defence," she says. " "The country felt threatened. General Douglas MacArthur admitted as much in May 1951, when he said "Now it is really only the Chinese who continue to bring up the war," she says. " "People are now watching Prime Minister Koizumi to see whether he will visit Yasukuni Shrine and I think it's time for me to speak up because I am a part of this."
Keep quiet Tojo is breaking a six-decade silence that General Tojo requested of his family shortly before he was executed in December 1948. He had been found guilty of war crimes - including waging wars of aggression and permitting inhumane treatment of prisoners of war - by the International Military Tribunal for the "My grandfather said the responsibility rested entirely with him," she said. "The devastation of the cities and the problems of the people were down to him, and the emperor bore no responsibility at all." And while she accepts that it was inevitable he would be sentenced to hang, as the leader of a defeated "He did the only thing that was possible in that situation; the war-time leaders did not want the emperor to be held accountable and were happy to sacrifice themselves to achieve that."
Repatriation Tojo has a portrait of her grandfather, in his military uniform, on the wall of The Environment Solution Institute, a non-profit organisation that recovers the remains of Japanese soldiers killed in battle. Volunteers from the organisation are planning to return to the Pacific "In the same way as the Americans are still searching for their casualties from the war, we feel we should do everything we can to return these men to Any bones that are discovered will be cremated and taken back to "You find bodies that are still wearing their helmets, their belts and glasses," she said. "They still have hand grenades attached to their belts, so we have to go with explosives experts to make sure that none of our own team are injured, and even though it can take a long time, it is important that we do this work. "This is really something that the government should be doing, but they haven't been to Peleliu for more than 15 years," she says. "These men are their responsibility, but they are lazy. "We give out development aid all over the world, but we won't take care of our own. It's a disgrace. They have no respect for any of the men who died for An estimated 7000 Japanese soldiers are still unaccounted for on the island, and Tojo believes it will take at least another five years to recover the majority, including sailors whose ships were sunk offshore. And when that task is completed, there are plenty of other islands across the Pacific where
Approval Her grandfather would have approved of her work, she believes. "He was an extremely gentle and caring man, especially when it came to people who had little or no power, like the maids and drivers that we had," she says. "He had a real empathy with them and always made sure they were included in our family photographs because he considered them part of the family. "I have very few memories of him during the war," says Tojo, who was born in 1939.
"Although I do remember trying to stay awake to see him one evening, and because I had ice cream, but after he was arrested I never saw him again." The only memorial to a man who resigned after the loss of Saipan in July 1944, but recommended in April the following year that Japan continue to fight to the end, is at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine. And the presence of General Tojo and 13 other Class-A war criminals among the 2.5 million war dead is what raises hackles in "I go to Yasukuni several times a year, not just to pray for the soul of my grandfather, but also for all the other people who died," says Tojo. "I pray for the children who were killed in the bombings, for the nurses and the civilians. I go to apologise to all the people who were victims and for the problems concerning the shrine that continue to flare up today. "There are a lot of misunderstandings about Yasukuni, but the issue is purely a domestic one and should not be turned into a matter involving other countries," she says, adding that Koizumi is duty-bound to visit the Shinto shrine, whatever "When Mr Koizumi became prime minister, he took a vow to pay his respects at Yasukuni," she says. "He must honour that vow, and I believe that he will. I think he will visit the shrine in either July or October, when it holds special ceremonies, and I actually think that he should go more than once this year because it is the anniversary of the end of the war." She is also dismissive of the objections such visits will inevitably attract. "It is just a very small portion of
Funding " "The Chinese government should tell the people the truth, but it won't because that's the kind of country it is; And while she fears there may be confrontations between the left and right around Yasukuni Shrine on 15 August, the day old soldiers and relatives of the dead gather to pay their respects, she remains determined to go. "Of course I will go, although I won't be able to announce who I am as I could become a target," she says. "I believe that if my grandfather could talk to me from the afterlife, he would say that his greatest grief is that his presence at Yasukuni is stopping the emperor from visiting the shrine. "He would feel sad that he is standing in the emperor's way." |
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