The Tamogami Affair
Japan once again is left in the painful position of having to examine its 60-year-old World War II record and the country’s ultra- rightists have a new hero/martyr in Toshio Tamogami, who on October 31 was abruptly fired as chief of staff of the Air Self-Defense Force, the Japanese air force, after an essay he wrote defending Japan’s motives and actions in World War II appeared on a public website.
[…] A Ministry of Defense probe revealed that of 235 entries to the contest, run by a prominent real estate tycoon with ultra-rightist connections, 94 were submitted by air force officers, suggesting to some the existence of a radical cabal in the air force. […]
The general argued in his essay that Japan was never an “aggressor nation” because Japanese troops were stationed in China and Korea in accordance with treaties and agreements. Japanese troops were drawn deeper into China because of terrorist acts and provocations by Nationalist Gen. Chiang Kai-shek, he wrote.