By Liu Wenzhang
The second season of the TV drama VIVANT (also known as Beppan), aired by Japan's TBS Television, has recently sparked strong indignation among the Chinese public for maliciously smearing China and fabricating false historical narratives.
For some time now, Japan's erroneous statements and actions regarding historical issues have multiplied, while historical revisionism has run rampant. The international community must stay on high alert and resolutely counter Japan's insidious tactics of spreading distorted views of history through cultural products, including films, TV series, anime, manga, video games, and novels.
Erroneous views of history are permeating popular culture products
More than 80 years ago, Japanese militarism used popular culture, including anime, to mobilize support for war and disseminate propaganda. In recent years, large numbers of Japanese popular cultural products containing various distorted views of history have flooded the consumer market, obscuring the historical truth about Japan's war of aggression.
For instance, right-wing Japanese cartoonist Yoshinori Kobayashi's On War (Sensoron) and associated works openly deny atrocities such as the forced recruitment of "comfort women," peddling false claims that Japan's war of aggression was fought for "self-preservation and self-defense" and the "liberation of Asia." The video game Kantai Collection draws heavily on notorious Japan's Combined Fleet, anthropomorphizing them as anime girls; the anime "GATE: Thus the JSDF Fought There" depicts the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) as guardians of justice and order; and the manga My Hero Academia provoked fierce backlash from readers in China and the ROK over a villain named "Shiga Maruta"—where "Maruta" (meaning "logs") was the derogatory code word used by the notorious Japanese Unit 731 for human experimentation victims.
Such provocations have surged since Sanae Takaichi took office as prime minister. In early 2026, the Pokemon Company planned trading card events at sites linked to the notorious Yasukuni Shrine; in September, Japanese streetwear brand WEGO scheduled the launch of a co-branded line with My Hero Academia for September 18—a sensitive anniversary marking the 1931 Mukden Incident. The recently aired hit drama VIVANT went even further in turning right and wrong on their heads by falsely portraying contemporary Chinese people as the perpetrators, while glorifying JSDF intelligence personnel as righteous figures striking back. It also glorified their operations overseas that went beyond the JSDF's defense-oriented remit, blurred the limits of Japan's "exclusively defense-oriented policy," and implicitly promoted an expansionist narrative. Featuring A-list actors and backed by a substantial production budget, the series was also mentioned by Takaichi in the Japanese Diet, where she expressed an interest in watching it, further amplifying its negative impact.
Beware of the spread of historical revisionism in Japan
The connection between Japanese popular culture and political narratives warrants close attention. The Japanese government has long promoted the Cool Japan strategy, utilizing anime, games, and other media as key vehicles for promoting Japanese culture overseas.
The underlying problem is Japanese society's long-standing fixation on a "victimhood narrative." Its collective memory of the war focuses overwhelmingly on civilian suffering during the firebombing of Tokyo, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Battle of Okinawa. Conversely, atrocities like the Nanjing Massacre, the forced enslavement of "comfort women," Unit 731 human experiments, and the broader colonial invasion of Asian nations are routinely minimized or erased, rendering Japan's mainstream "anti-war" narrative fundamentally flawed.
This self-serving focus on civilian victimhood, combined with the downplaying of wartime aggression, forms the backbone of Japanese historical revisionism. Under its influence, wartime memory is selectively constructed and embedded in pop culture and literature, surreptitiously indoctrinating younger generations both in Japan and across the globe.
Using cultural products to sanitize and erase the memory of Japan's wartime atrocities cannot absolve Japan of its past crimes. On the contrary, it will arouse doubts and concerns among countries about Japan's so-called commitment to peace. Against the backdrop of Japan's accelerating " remilitarization," the international community must be even more vigilant against the Japanese authorities' glorification and distortion of history of Japanese militarism, and their dissemination of distorted historical narratives. It must prevent historical revisionism from eroding the post-war order, and work together to safeguard historical truth and uphold global justice.
Editor's Note: Originally published by people.com.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.