Description

This article is from the American misconceptions about Japan FAQ, by Tanaka Tomoyuki ez074520@dilbert.ucdavis.edu with numerous contributions by others.

MYTH: Japanese are sneaky and unfair as proved by the "sneak ... attack" on Pearl Harbor, and how they now "sweep history under the carpet"

This and the following entry (2.4) are among the pillars of the
100 years of American "yellow peril" journalism.

From [booklet, "Asian Pacific Americans" 1988] (see bibliography), yellow peril --- Used to describe Asian Pacific Americans as a great threat to Western Civilization. The term gained appeal in the 1880s, used by some newspapers and
politicians to whip up racism against Asian Pacific
immigrants, who were portrayed as taking jobs from whites
or were poised to invade the United States. [...]

MYTH: the Pearl Harbor attack was sneaky and unfair.

THE TRUTH:
in a forthcoming article (see (bibliography)) I will show the
fallacy of this propaganda and myth.

very briefly, the bases of my arguments are as follows:

[1] beginning a war with a surprise attack, without (or before)
a declaration is the way the USA and Japan have usually
fought wars. all surprise attacks are sneaky. the Pearl
Harbor attack was no more sneaky or unfair than the US
surprise attacks on Native Americans, Cuba (1961), and
Grenada (1983).

[2] the attack was not a surprise to the US politicians.

[3] it is false that the Pearl Harbor attack was successful
only because it was a surprise attack.
(many Americans believe that Japanese can outperform
Americans only by cheating.)

[4] some people seem to believe that the Pearl Harbor attack
was unusually savage or cruel. that is completely false.
the attack was a precise maneuver targeting only military
installations. of the approximately 2400 Americans killed
in the attack, 68 were civilians, almost all of whom were
employees of the military. later US bombings of Japanese
cities resulted in about 1 million deaths of Japanese
civilians.

it is completely understandable that such unfair propaganda
(promoting the idea of "evil, sneaky Japs" using the
example of the Pearl Harbor attack) was used during the war. it is NOT reasonable that this propaganda is still going on TODAY, decades after the war.

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MYTH: Japan sweeps history under the carpet.

in the recent years the propaganda of Japanese "sneak attack" on Pearl Harbor has often been coupled with another American
propaganda (see, for example, "Sweeping History Under the
Carpet", Newsweek, November 25, 1991).

US media is trying to spread these notions:
(i) the Japanese government is trying to distort its history
regarding its invasions in the WW2.
(ii) Japan is trying to make its young ignorant of its shameful
past or to impart to them a distorted version of history.

THE TRUTH:
in the forthcoming article I will show that this is a false
characterization.
(I am NOT saying that teaching of history (regarding
its own invasions and shameful past) in Japanese
schools is good. it is not. but it is better than
that in US schools.)

based on my experience of being a student in American schools (middle school, high school, graduate school) and Japanese schools (elementary school, middle school, university, graduate school), I will show that, in reality, Japan is doing a better job of educating its young about its shameful past than the USA is. this difference results in Japanese being more pacifist and Americans being more warlike.

here i'll give just one example showing that the American
notion of "Japan sweeping history under the carpet" is false.
in August 1995 Prime Minister Murayama issued the following
statement, which (after some initial opposition) was uniformly
accepted in Japan. He also made a similar statement in the
previous August.

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http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/aniv.html

Statement by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama on the
50th Anniversary of the End of the War, 15 August 1995

[...] During a certain period in the not too distant past,
Japan, following a mistaken national policy, advanced along the
road to war, only to ensnare the Japanese people in a fateful
crisis, and, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused
tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many
countries, particularly to those of Asian nations. In the hope
that no such mistake be made in the future, I regard, in a
spirit of humility, these irrefutable facts of history, and
express here once again my feelings of deep remorse and state
my heartfelt apology. Allow me also to express my feelings of
profound mourning for all victims, both at home and abroad, of
that history. [...]
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a US President has NEVER made a similar statement about the US invasions/genocides (in North America, Philippines, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, ...).

I (like most Japanese) know that the Japanese Imperial Army
did hideous things in China and the rest of Asia, so you don't
have to tell me. I've read books by HONDA Katuiti and others,
and I've also helped in the efforts to stop the Japanese
government's authorization (censorship) of history textbooks, a
movement led by IENAGA Saburou.
(in Japan there is government's authorization of
history textbooks similar to ones in the USA. see Joan
DelFattore "What Johnny shouldn't read: textbook
censorship in America", Yale Univ Press, 1992).