By Meng Yueming
The second season of the Japanese spy thriller series Vivant, recently popular in Japan, maliciously attributes acts of torture committed by Imperial Japanese Army during their invasion of China to contemporary Chinese people. This deliberate distortion of history and smear campaign against China not only creates antagonism and incites hostility, but also amounts to "cognitive poisoning" of its audience, both in Japan and beyond.
Japanese right wing promotes "generational isolation" rhetoric
More than 80 years have passed since the end of World War II. As those who experienced the war firsthand pass away year by year, the historical memory of the Japanese society has been reshaping along with the shift of generations. Against this backdrop, Japanese right-wing forces have long promoted a highly deceptive misleading narrative: even if there was culpability for the war, it belongs to previous generations; present-day Japanese citizens did not participate in the aggression and therefore bear no moral responsibility for that history. This rhetoric of generational isolation blurs the fundamental distinction between individual criminal liability and a nation's historical responsibility, providing a central excuse for Japanese society to evade, downplay, and distort its history of aggression.
In fact, the absence of individual culpability does not mean the absence of national responsibility. The war was a systematic act of aggression driven by the will of the modern Japanese state and a historical wrong committed at the national level. The devastation and trauma it caused, and its historical impact, transcend generations and national borders; they do not simply disappear with the passage of time or generational change. Later generations need not bear personal guilt for the crimes of their predecessors, but it does not mean they should be isolated from the historical truth. Instead, they need to acknowledge their country's history honestly and treat it with due respect. This is a basic prerequisite for a sovereign state to stand in the international community and build normal relations with other countries.
True memories of the war are fading across generations
Even more concerning is Japan's distorted public discourse and political climate. Voices that confront history and reflect rationally on responsibility for the war often struggle to find space in public debate. Whenever figures in political, academic or media circles dare to face the historical facts of aggression, advocate an accurate understanding of history, and call for sincere dialogue with China, right-wing forces immediately stigmatize them as "pro-China," accuse them of "flattering foreign countries," or label their views "masochistic." They are then subjected to public attacks, political suppression, and social isolation. Such crude tactics of dividing people into camps, labeling them and stirring up confrontation are closing off avenues for rational discussion and self-correction in Japanese society. Historical issues have been reduced to tools in domestic political struggles, making normal discussion of history impossible.
Turning questions of historical fact into questions of political allegiance, and equating historical reflection with "compromise with foreign countries," reflects an extremely narrow populist mindset and political shortsightedness. Over time, this self-imposed seal has eroded Japanese society's capacity for historical reflection. Younger generations are growing up with one-sided, distorted, and sanitized narratives of history, while the transmission of a complete and truthful memory of the war is gradually breaking down. The result is a widespread distortion of historical understanding in Japanese society.
History does not fade away with generation shifts
Amid Japan's political shift to the right and the rise of populism in public discourse, rational, objective and reflective voices continue to weaken, while ultraconservative forces are gaining control over the historical narrative. By tampering with textbooks, visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, reshaping public discourse, and suppressing dissent through political labeling, right-wing forces are entrenching a distorted view of Japan as innocent, free of responsibility and a victim. In doing so, they are making the shifting of responsibility onto past generations a prevailing excuse for Japanese society to evade history.
However, history will not simply be put behind us as generations change, nor will culpability naturally disappear when no one remains who experienced the war firsthand. The so-called "respectability" gained through evasive rhetoric, suppression of public debate, and distortion of historical understanding is merely a fleeting, self-deceptive illusion. A country that persistently refuses to face history, engages in self-reflection, or allows rational discussion can never run away from the shadow of its past.
If Japan truly seeks long-term progress in its diplomacy, it must break its constraints on public debate, abandon the opportunistic practice of shifting responsibility onto past generations, allow rational discussion of history, respect historical facts, and sincerely reflect on its responsibility for the war. Only by setting aside prejudice and intolerance, facing history honestly, and cherishing peace with humility can Japan fully lay down its historical burden, restore its image as a normal country, and achieve reconciliation, peaceful coexistence, and mutually beneficial cooperation with its neighbors.
(The author is director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences and chief expert of the Research Center for Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia Regional and Country Studies.)