Reflecting August This Year, 2026

August is Japan’s hottest and most humid month. At the same time, it’s a month of reflection and looking back on history. Japan has a lot to overcome in the next ten years, but this year is one of the most defining years for Japan, in my opinion.

First of all, I don’t want to talk about victory or loss, but rather think of those who lost their lives in the war, regardless of nationality. The war left poignant memories in many people. My mother is the only child born in Japan. The other three siblings were all born in Manchuria, including one aunt who died at the age of three.

At the same time, I actually know of a person whose father committed suicide by harakiri for his deed when he was a Class B war criminal before the trial. It wasn’t just out of guilt toward the Japanese, but he felt guilty himself and committed suicide, leaving my acquaintance as a five-year-old child. Since then, he saved many lives as a brain surgeon and was known as the best in Japan, operating on many famous public figures.

Those who just say, “peace,” will never understand what the families of such people went through. I spoke with his son, who became a Harvard professor and NASA medical advisor before retiring and returning to Japan. Almost 60 years have passed. And, finally, he started to feel like using his family name.

Guilt is something that is the right expression. As a soverign state, Japan as an empire initiated Pearl Harbor. If you go to Arlington Cemetery, there are numbers and numbers of veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice for the country, the United States.

This March, NHK created a very misleading documentary about President Trump’s remark, “peace through strength.” And started to tell it as if the president coined the phrase, referring to General Curtis LeMay, who had initiated incendiary bombing, murdering more than 100,000 people in one night. I don’t know what was in his mind in his later life. However, he also needed to initiate a plan that would save the lives of American and Allied soldiers and end the war. As I wrote in a column, “Blame Who?” Cursing an individual with a cycle of hate doesn’t resolve the problem. We must look forward toward a better future for the world.

Yasukuni Shrine enshrines everyone, including Allied soldiers’ souls, inside the shrine, and they are all worshipped and treated with respect. After 81 years, why has Yasukuni Shrine become politicized? This wasn’t started by China or other nations, but by a Japanese journalist. The shrine enshrines the deceased Self-Defense Forces service members who died while on duty. It’s truly humiliating what some neighboring countries state about Yasukuni Shrine.

Personally, I don’t like to humiliate the deceased veterans, including General Curtis LeMay, but the cases of Japan will affect international law and order morally. However, I ask myself. Could I have made a better decision? I don’t think so. It is true that many people lost their lives and they suffered so much. At the same time, the survivors have very different opinions from what the media portrays. Especially those who have been invited to many foreign countries, including the United States.

Kyushu University, where I gained master’s degree was one of the Imperial Universities. We tend to focus on one issue. I saw some discussions, and I clearly have moral objections. At Kyushu University, under orders from the Japanese Army, live U.S. soldiers were “used” as samples for medical experiments, such as taking one lung and seeing if a person survives. Blaming others may be easy, but we also have moral questions within ourselves.

I always have a heavy heart in August, thinking of the 6th and 9th, when the atomic bombing was used against two Japanese cities, and also the end of the war with the statement by the Emperor directly. This article is a reflection of myself, and I also don’t want to humiliate the deceased, even though there will be historical and moral debate over how the war was conducted.

Now, there is a war in the Middle East. When it comes to who to blame, why is the Japanese media silent about the brutal murders of Iranian citizens by the current regime? Aren’t these crimes against humanity?

These are my thoughts during August, as it’s almost September, the coming of fall, which is one of my favorite seasons in Japan. I hope to meet Israeli friends this year, if our schedules align.

May all the souls who lost their lives rest in peace.