実は、大東亜戦争開戦と終戦の両日は、聖母マリアを祝う宴日でもあります。開戦の十二月八日は、マリアの穢れ無き受胎( 無原罪の御宿り) の日 であり、終戦の八月十五日はマリアの昇天の日です。つまり、大東亜戦争は聖母マリアがこの地の世界に存在した期間とあたかも並行するかのように続きました。それは、単なる偶然なのでしょうか？それとも、何か深い意味が背後に潜んでいるのでしょうか？そうであれば、その意味はいったい何であり、どのようにして知ることができるのでしょうか？
一筋縄に議論することはできません。しかし、マリアの昇天の宴日の第一朗読にある黙示録をもとに、日本がアメリカとの戦争へと進んでいった歴史的背景を、幕末の黒舟来航以来の日米関係と東アジアの歴史的な流れを照らし合わせながら考えてみると、何かが見えてくるような気がします。
終戦記念日は平和の意義と重みを改めてかみ締め、心に刻みなおす日でもありますが、ただ単に過去の日本のあり方に自虐的で、“戦争はいけない”と当たり前のことを主張し続けても、平和維持における効果はあまりないと懸念します。それよりも、過去の日本のありかたを当時の国際情勢の流れというコンテクストで考えながら、どうして日本はあのような政策をとり、アメリカとの溝を深めていったのか、もし、似たような情勢が再び日本を取り巻くなら、こうした歴史的認識を教訓として、どのように日本という“船”を厳しい国際情勢の“荒波”の中を安全に航行させていくべきかを活発に議論し続けることのほうが平和維持にとって効果的であり、私たち日本人の先祖の英霊に応える上でも大切なことだと思います。
ここに、一日本人カトリック教徒として、私なりに、黙示録の聖書解釈と歴史的検証を弁証論的に書き連ねてみました。
私なりの分析では、日本という、国際的にもともとおとなしく、平和であったアジアの一国は、アメリカの覇権主義が芽生え、成長し始めて間もない頃の幕末に黒舟に脅され、屈辱的にアメリカの東洋征服の思惑に呑まれてしまったことに端を発するものが、日本にもアメリカや他の西洋列強と同じような悪魔の種を蒔かれ、種を蒔いたもう一つの悪魔に翻弄された国と真っ向から対決するようになったと捉えます。
ザビエルが日本に到来し、鹿児島に上陸して日も聖母マリアの昇天を祝う宴日でした。これを祝い、記念する為、ザビエルはこれから布教せんとする日本という国をマリアに捧げるとしました。一方、アメリカの守護聖人の一人がマリアであります。こうしたことから、私は、議論の便宜上、日本とアメリカを太平洋を挟む二つのマリアの国としました。そして、黙示録において、マリアの印象を持つ女性がドラゴンの姿をした悪魔から攻撃されるという話があります。悪魔（Satan）とは、語源学上、“引き裂く”という意味も含まれており、悪魔がこの二つのマリアの国、日本とアメリカ、を感染させると、なんと、この二つの国が戦争によって引き裂かれるという結果となります。それは、幕末からの日米史から、マリアの穢れ無き受胎の宴日におこった真珠湾攻撃による大東亜戦争の開戦からマリアの昇天の宴日に起こった昭和天皇の玉音放送による終戦を黙示録と照らし合わせても何か頷けるものがあるかと思います。
西洋の欺瞞に対する私の暗喩的な批判も汲み取れることかと思います。自虐的史観による日本人精神の汚染を洗浄する為にもこうした批判的な眼は不可欠だと思います。と言って、過去の日本の帝国主義を肯定すると早合点する方は皆様の中にはおられないと思いますが。。。
Mary’s Earthly Life
and the War of Two Marian Nations Across the Pacific: the United States and
Japan
August 15 is the solemn feast day of the Assumption of
Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. This is one of the Marian feasts. This feast marks the end of Mary’s sojourn on
earth, which began with the Immaculate Conception. The feast of the Immaculate Conception is
December 8, and the feast of the Assumption is August 15. In other words, the
feast to celebrate the conception of Mary is December 8, and the feast to
commemorate the last day of Mary on earth is August 15.
 |
| Palma il Vecchio - Assumption of Mary 1512-1514 |
I am not sure if this is a mere coincidence or something of
theological significance. But, December 8 (in the Japanese standard time), 1941
was the day the war between the United States and Japan started with Japan’s
attack on the Pearl Harbor US naval base, and August 15, 1945 was the day this
most exhaustive and destructive war in human history ended with Japan’s
surrender.
Mary is considered as a patron saint for the United States,
as well as the Americas. Interestingly,
Mary is also on the side of Japan, as St. Francis Xavier dedicated Japan for
Mary, on the day he set his foot on the land of Japan, August 15, 1549, through
the port of Kagoshima. Given there was
no such a nation called the United States then, a Marian connection was made to
Japan before it was made to the United States.
Unfortunately, these two Marian nations fought against each other,
starting on the feast of Mary’s conception, December 8, and ending on the last
day of Mary on earth, August 15. And, what put these two Marian nations, the
United States, for which Mary is a patron, and Japan, which is dedicated to
Mary by St. Francis Xavier, who brought Christianity to Japan, at war against
each other, was an evil spirit that plagued both of these nations. This is
quite an irony.
After the feast day of the Assumption of Mary, in 1945, the
relationship of these two Marian nations, the United States, and Japan, has
changed. The poison of mutual hatred has
been replaced by a new friendship to ensure no more bloodshed in the Asia-Pacific
region.
War against the Women
of Marian Impression in Revelation – War between the Two Marian Nations across
the Pacific in History
The first reading for this fest is taken from Revelation
11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10 ab. This reading describes that the advent of the new
Messianic era with the opening of the God’s Temple in heaven, corresponding the
opening of the womb and the birth canal of the woman clothed with the sun, with
the moon beneath hear feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars (Revelation
12:1-2).
This woman represents
people of faith collectively. Namely, she can symbolize he post-exilic Jewish
community envisioned in Isaiah 54 in the context of the Old Testament, as she
is the wife of God in heaven (Isaiah 54:5), and the son she is giving birth to
is the Holy One of Israel, the Redeemer (Isaiah 54: 5). In the context of the New Testament, the
woman with a glorious impression symbolically represents the Ekklesia, the community of the faithful
to Christ, the new Israel, not just for the Jews but to faithful people of all
nations, with a Marian impression, for her childbirth and the nature of the son
she gave birth to.
The description of the male child the woman gave birth to in
Revelation 12:5 evokes an image of the Holy One of Israel, the Redeemer of the
post-exilic Israel, described in Isaiah 54:6. In the context of the New
Testament, the son the woman gave birth to is the Christ, who rules all
nations, as prophesized in Daniel 2:44-45, establishing the eternal Kingdom
above all earthly powers that fight against each other for hegemony. In addition, Revelation 12:6 also implies the
son’s heavenly enthronement to Christ’s assumption, as God snatches him to His
throne.
Isaiah 54:6 gives an impression that this woman had to
suffer, while she was not with her husband, but was called by him. The image of the union of the woman and her
husband in Isaiah 54:6-7 implies the God’s redemption of the Jewish people in
the post-exilic era. On the other hand, in Revelation 12:6 and 12:14-16
indicate that the woman who gave birth to the Messianic son is well-taken care
of God in heaven. Though it is not included in the first reading, Revelation
12:14 alludes to Mary’s Assumption, as Revelation 12:6 suggests Christ’s
Ascension.
 |
| Peter Paul Rubens, "Woman of Apocalypse" |
Echoing the post-exilic Israel described in Isaiah 54, the
woman in Revelation 12 collectively represents those who are faithful to God
from the time of John the Baptist, preparing for the first coming of the
Messiah by repenting, to the time of Jesus’ public ministry and beyond his
Ascension. The woman is also
symbolically projected into a Marian image, suggesting that the rest of her
offspring in Revelation 12:17 metaphorically represent us, the faithful today,
living after Christ’s Ascension (Revelation 12:5) and Mary’s Assumption
(Revelation 12:14).
As Jesus’ very words from the Cross, in John 19:26-27,
suggest, Mary has become also the mother to all of us, the faithful of all
nations. As we are the Ekklesia, she
has also become the mother of the Church.
Now, the woman in Revelation 12:1-2 is also understood as
the Mother of the Church, though she is also interpreted as the Church herself,
as I mentioned above. And, this may
appear rather confusing to some people, wondering if the woman in Revelation
12:1 with a Marian impression represents the Church or the Mother of the
Church. To this, I suggest that we
approach biblical narratives, especially ones with symbolically loaded texts,
such as Revelation 12, not through a dualistic either-or perspective but rather
through a transcendental perspective. This way, the women in Revelation 12:1-2
can be understood as a symbolic representation of the Church, as the community
of the faithful, as well as the Mother of the Church, depending on the context.
During her sojourn on earth, from her Immaculate Conception
until her Assumption into heaven, Mary suffered greatly, as her Son, Jesus,
suffered. As we read the Gospel
narratives of Jesus’ path to Calvary, Golgotha, as we go through the Stations
of the Cross and pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, we can certainly
emphasize Mary’s great suffering through Christ’s pain and suffering. In fact, when Jesus was only 40 days old,
Simeon predicted Mary’s suffering, stating, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted. And you yourself a sword will
pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed”(Luke 2:34-35),
when baby Jesus was presented in the Temple for consecration, according to
Exodus 13:2-16. Because the first born son of an Israelite belongs to God and
is dedicated to service to God, as set in Exodus 13:2-16, Mary had to dedicate
Jesus to God and service to God. And, his service to God was to redeem us from
the debt of sins, resulting in tremendous sufferings that she had to bear, as
he became the sacrificial lamb for the eternal sin offering to God on the Cross.
Even after her son, Jesus died, resurrected, and ascended,
the forces of Satan, which is symbolized in the dragon in the Book of
Revelation, continued to attack those who followed his teaching, including the
Apostles and Mary. Thus, Mary continued
to suffer as she and other disciples were persecuted, described in the Acts of
the Apostles, until she was called by God to be assumed into heaven.
The prolonged suffering that Mary had to bear during her
time on earth, from her Immaculate Conception until her Assumption can be
metaphorically compared to the intensely destructive war between the two Marian
nations across the Pacific Ocean – Japan and the United States, given that the
war started on the feast day of Immaculate Conception and ended on the feast day
of Ascension, as to correspond the suffering of Mary during her earthly
sojourn. It is not a mere historical
coincidence that the war started on the feast day of Immaculate Conception and
ended on the feast day of Assumption, as if Mary’s earthly life span could be
represented or compared to this great war between two Marian nations: Japan
that is dedicated to Mary by St. Francis Xavier and the United States that Mary
is desiccated as its patron saint.
In a way, these two Marian nations, Japan and the United
States, can be metaphorically understood as two of the rest of the offspring of
the women in Revelation 12:17. The
biblical passage says that the dragon, Satan, would wage war against offspring
and the woman. If the woman is to be
understood as a symbolic representation of Mary, then, the war between these
Marian nations can be understood as a Satan’s war against Marian offspring,
turning them against each other. It is
Satan that divides people in order to conquer them, as “Satan” literally means
one who divides and plot against one another.
Thus, a war that Satan makes war against Marian nations in a way to turn
these nations against each other.
Ironically, this war that Satan set against these two Marian nations
across the Pacific Ocean, started on the feast day of Immaculate Conception and
ended on the feast day of Assumption, as if to taint Mary’s earthly sojourn
with this Satan’s war.
In this war, one Marian nation, the Untied States, drove the
other Marian nation, Japan, to the brink of destruction, dropping two atomic
bombs, weapons of Satan. Though so many lives were lost to this war that Satan
waged, the complete destruction of Japan was spared upon Japan’s surrender on
the feast of Assumption. Upon this day,
peace began – though battles still continued in Okinawa beyond that day, into
the following month. Russians (the Soviets) also continue to attack Japan’s Karafuto
(Sakhalin) Island and Manchuko, the nation that Japan set up in 1932 to counter
the Russian (Soviet) threat, even beyond that day. The battles in Okinawa also ended, and the two
Marian nations began to work their way toward reconciliation and normalization
of the bilateral relationship, as the Satan went away from these two Marian
nations.
So, who was this Satan, waging war against the two of the
offspring of the woman, with an image of Mary?
Given the devilish roles that Russia played from the late 19th
century until 1945 in the Far East and in the US-Japan relationship, it is
possible that the Satan was behind Russia.
In fact, Mary herself indicated the Satan’s presence in Russia, when she
appeared in Fatima, predicting the 1917 Communist Revolution as a work of
Devil.
You may have believed myopically that Japan became “mad” and
attacked Pearl Harbor out of the blue. If it has been your view, then, you may
also have thought that atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were
justifiable retributions. But, if you view the US-Japan bilateral relationship
from its inception in 1853 until the feast day of Assumption in 1945 and how
Russia (the Soviet Union) played its roles in affecting the brewing of a
conflict between the United States and Japan, you will realize that Satan was
with all of these nations to pit the United States and Japan against each other
and further to pit the United States, Japan, and Russia against one
another. With this historical insight,
you also understand that a seed for the war between the two Marian nations
across the Pacific: the United States and Japan, was planted with the inception
of the US-Japan relationship in 1853, and that Russia also influenced the
growth of the seed of the war, as the Satan was on all of these three nations.
 |
| Henri Meyer, "Le Petit Journal", January 16, 1898" |
Historical Footage of
Satan to Destroy the Friendship of the Two Marian Nations Across the Pacific:
the United States and Japan
Nothing happens in the vacuum. Ex
niholo nihil fit.
As in Buddhism teaching, everything occurs as a result of
rising causes and conditions. Pretty much of these are beyond our
comprehension. However, we may understand some of them in retrospect.
This truth is not exclusive to Buddhism, as it is also found
in the Book of Revelation.
The women in Revelation 12:1-2 did not give birth to a male
child out of nothing. It was not by chance, either. The childbirth concurred the
appearance of the dragon, the Satan (Revelation 12:3), leading to the war
between the dragon and the woman, as well as the war against her offspring, as
Revelation 12 began to describe. Namely,
this war is the long war against God, by Satan, as Revelation 12 – 20 describe.
But, this war between Satan and God did not happen in the vacuum, as there was
the pretext – relevant rising causes and conditions – leading to it.
The ultimate consequences of the birth of the child that the
woman in Revelation 12:1-2, leading to the war, are described in Revelation
20-22. But, what about the pretext ?
Starting the narratives on the Scroll and the Lamb in
Revelation 5, the stories of the seven seals of the scrolls being broken and
what is being revealed upon breaking of each seal in Revelation 6:1-8:1
foretell great tribulations to come, alluding to the war between Satan in the
dragon and God, as well as His people, the women in Revelation 12:1-2, her son,
and the rest of her offspring. Namely, this is a prediction of the final
judgement before the Kingdom of Heaven,
which is imaged in Revelation 22.
Following the stories of the seven scrolls and what the
breaking of each of them reveals from Revelation 6:1to 8:1, there are the
narratives of the seven symbolic disasters, warned by the seven trumpets in
Revelation 8:2-11:19. In fact, these stories from Revelation 6:1-11:19 offers
the pretext to the prolonging war between Satan and God and His people,
including the women in Revelation 12:1-2, her son, and the rest of her offspring,
as described from Revelation 12 to Revelation 20.
The first reading for the feast of the Assumption of Mary,
Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab, touches the narrative of the beginning of the
war between Satan and God, starting with the dragon’s attack on the woman and
her newborn son, following the pretext narratives, indicating the context
behind the beginning of this war against God and His people, including the
woman, her son, and the rest of her offspring – namely, Christ and those who
are faithful to Christ.
Now, this narrative sequence from Revelation 6:1 on,
suggests that the dragon’s war against the woman – Satan’s war against God – did
not happen out of the blue. As the narratives of the seven seals of the scroll
and seven trumpets from Revelation 6:1 to Revelation 11:19, there had been
certain conditions leading to the war, as in the rising causes and
conditions. Likewise, the war that Japan
waged against the United States with the bombing of Pearl Harbor on the feast
day of Immaculate Conception, 1941, did not happen out of the blue. There had
been many factors leading to this beginning of the war between the two Marian
nations across the Pacific Ocean: the United States and Japan. For this, we
must review the US-Japan relationship since the arrival of Commodore Matthew
Perry’s arrival in Japan, 1853. It is also important to examine how Russia’s
expansionism in the Far East from the 19th century and the early 20th
century has affected Japan, the United States, and the US-Japan relationship
from 1853 until 1945.
You may wonder why Russia.
If you review how Russia affected the US-Japan relation and
the Russia’s influence on the bilateral relationship of these Marian nations
from 1853 to 1945, you can also begin to have a fresh insight on why Mary
indicated the Satan’s rising in Russia, and pray for its conversion, when she
appeared in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, around the time the Russian Revolution
is in the making.
Mary began to appear, in Fatima, Portugal, to three peasant
children, Lucia Santos, Jacinta Marto, and Francisco Marto, in 1916, to send
her warning to the world. Her messages can be compared to what the scroll in
Revelation 6:1-8:1 revealed with the breaking of its seven seals and what the
seven trumpets in Revelation 8:2-11:19 warned, in urging conversion of the
world. In particular, Mary’s 1917 message in Fatima is quite noteworthy to
examine how Russia influenced the two Marian nations’ – Japan and the United
States, relationship, leading to the war that began on the feast of Immaculate
Conception, 1941, and ended on the feast of Assumption, 1945. The message is:
If not, Russia will spread
her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church.
The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various
nations will be annihilated' (13-VII-1917).
This is in the third part of Mary’s Fatima message. It
basically indicates that Russia will spread troubles throughout the world,
causing wars and persecutions of the Church, if it fails to heed her revelatory
message of warning and convert. The troubles that Russia will spread in this
message can be understood as communist, as Christians, as well as other
religious, have been persecuted in communist regimes, including the Soviet
Union, which was what Russia became upon its series of revolutions, and where
communist spread from to form other communist regimes.
In addition to understanding the trouble that Russia will
spread in this message as communism, it can be also evil affects that Russia
made upon the two Marian nations, Japan and the United States, through its
perpetual expansionism in the Far East.
Now, with this in mind, let us review the Far East history
in terms of how Russia affected the two
Marian nations across the Pacific Ocean: Japan and the United States, as well
as the US-Japan relationship, leading to the war. In this review, it is also
important to understand how Russia influenced overall geopolitics in the Far
East, involving Japan (the Empire of Japan), Korea (Joseon Dynasty), China
(from Qing Manchurian Dynasty to the Republic of China), the United States,
Great Britain, France, and Germany.
The below extensive description of the historical
geopolitical context behind the two Marian nations’ conflict into the war can
be paralleled to Revelation 6:1-11:19 as the pretext to Revelation 12-20.
……………………………..
Prologue to the
Relevant Background
By the middle of the 14th century, the Mongolian
dominance in West Asia and Eastern Europe declined, giving Russia a chance to
extend its territorial influence toward Siberia and even to the coast line of
the Pacific Ocean in the Far East all the way into the 20th century.
By the time of the reign of Peter the Great (Peter III), Russia became strong
enough to compete itself with Western Europeans’ long-established imperialism.
Though expanding its territories westward was difficult as these were also
firmly controlled by Western European empires, it was relatively easier to
invade vast lands southward toward the Black Sea and eastward toward Siberia
and Mongolia. Though the Kingdom of Poland was once the most powerful empire,
as it forced its alliance with Lithuania and further with Ukraine, Russia
succeeded to penetrate its imperialistic influence in Poland, as a buffer zone
in competing with Western European imperialism.
The Russian penetration of the Kingdom of Poland paralleled the Russian
penetration of Siberia, Mongolia, and Crimea to form a solid foundation to
become the largest empire in the world by the 19th century – from
the coast of the Baltic Sea to the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Until then, East
Asia, the Far East, which includes China, Korea, and Japan were relatively
quiet and free from the Western intrusions and invasions.
During the reigns of Peter the Great (Peter I) and his wife,
Catherine the Great, from the late 17th century into the 18th
century, Russia took its aggressive expansionist policy, disturbing East Asia,
as well as Central Asia. As Russia solidified its territorial footage through
Siberia and all the way to Alaska by the 1850s, Russia began to conquer East Asia
southward, aiming Qing China, especially its Pacific coastal area and its
southern adjacent territory, Korea during the late 19th century,
while other Western European imperial powers, which Russia had been in
competition ever since the time of Ivan the Great, and newly emerging imperial
power, the United States, were also aiming to extend their colonialism in this
area of Asia. At first, we must understand this Far East geopolitical
historical background.
Besides Russian invasion from the north through from the 17th
century on, Asia has been suffering from the Western invasion ever since Portugal
established its colony of Western India in 1434, followed by the British colonization
of India in 1613 and of Hong Kong in 1842. While Russia swallowed the vast
landmass of Siberia, Great Britain colonized India by the time both of these
European imperial powers were ready to creep into Qing China in the 19th
century. Burma fell under British colonialism in 1824, Hong Kong was taken by
Britain in 1842, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos were conquered by France in 1887.
In the meantime, Russia revoked the 1686 Treaty of Nerchinsk, which set the
Russia-Qing China territorial boundaries, and forged to take over a large
landmass from Qing China by forcing Qing into the 1858 Treaty of Aigun. Additionally, Great Britain and France were
setting their footage to conquer Qing China for the expansion of their own
imperialistic colonialism in the Fat East, through the Arrow War, 1856-60.
This was the historical prologue before the two Marian
nations across the Pacific Ocean, Japan and the United States joined the
imperialistic colonial competition over China – leading to the devastating war
in Asia. Satan already mobilized Russia,
Great Britain, and France to set the stage for Japan and the United States to
inserts their own relatively new imperialistic colonial desires there.
………………………
Far East in the
Latter Half of the 19th Century: Plagued by Satan’s Imperialism Thorough
the Western Powers Invasions
By the 1850s, Qing China was weakened both by its internal
problem and by the Western colonialism. For centuries, in the eyes of the
Western colonialists’ eyes, China had been a mysterious sleeping tiger.
However, through Qing China’s miserable defeat in the Opium War by Great
Britain in 1840, the Western powers began to see China with contemptuous eyes
as a mere object of their new colonial exploitation.
Following Britain’s acquisition of Hong Kong from Qing
China, other Western powers began to flock in China for economic exploitation
and military strategic footage in the Far East, during the 1840s and 50s. At
that time, Japan was still a firmly closed country in the Far East to Western
nations, except to the Netherlands. Japan closed itself to Western nations
during the early 1600s, upon expelling all Christian missionaries from the late
1590s. The continuation of St. Francis Xavier’s evangelization efforts by his
successor had to cease. Prohibition of Christianity, followed by persecution,
and the closing its ports to Western nations, were to defend Japan from the
Western colonial powers, creeping into Asia. Because the Netherlands had never
brought Christian missionaries, the Dutch traders were allowed to come to
Japan. However, they were only allowed
to the trading port of Nagasaki.
By this time, Russian had already conquered the entire
Siberia and made Alaska their territory. They had been manipulating Mongolia to make its firm
access to China, especially to gain unfrozen ports on the Pacific coast.
Though the United States’ expansionism had already swallowed
the Mexican territories in the West and all the way to the West coast by the
1850s, following the Louisiana Purchase and prompted by the gold rush, the
American colonial power had not reached the shore of China, yet. While Britain
had secured its sure access to penetrate China as an extension of its East
India Company by then, and various parts of Asia, such as India, Burma,
Vietnam, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, were already
colonized by European colonial powers, the United States had not made its sure
access to exploit China and the rest of Asia yet.
At that time, Satan in the form of exploitive colonial
power, was not yet with Japan, as Japan was still “minding its own business” as
it was back in the 1600s.But it was already with the United States and other
Western colonialist powers, including Russia, creeping toward Japan.
Of course, the United States could not afford to be behind
the exploitation race in Asia, already enjoyed by other Western powers. Thus, the United States was extending its
expansionism beyond its California coast, crossing the Pacific, and reached the
shore of Japan in 1853.
Encounter of the Two
Marian Nations Across the Pacific: Japan and the United States and Its
Consequences Evolving into the War
The United States, then a newly emerging world power,
demanded Japan, then a feudalistic and closed nation, to open its ports for its
interest in 1853 and establish a treaty. Though uninterested, Japan gave in to the
unfair trade agreement with the United States, to avoid possible military
confrontation. This was the beginning of
the two Marian nations began their interactions. But, at the same time, it was also when Satan
planted its seed of evil, because Japan became forever changed after this and
driven to a point of choosing to become another colonial and imperialistic
power for its own survival.
Feeling intimidated, Japan reluctantly signed the very first
treaty with the United States in 1858, letting the Americans not only began
exploiting Japan economically but also gain an easier access to China. The
treaty resulted in Japan’s frustration and suffering of inferiority complex.
This is how the bilateral relationship of the two Marian nations across the
Pacific Ocean was formed and began, prompting Japan to choose its path of colonialism
and imperialism, to prevent becoming a victim of the Western imperialism’s power.
Feeling threatened to accept the unfair treaty with the
United States in 1858 was enough insult to Japan. As to add insult to injury, other
Western imperialistic powers, including Russia, followed the American path,
demanding Japan to form unfair treaties
with them. Unfortunately, Japan during the 1850s did not have the military and
economic power strong enough to refuse such Western colonial powers’ pressure
to give into their exploitive trading treaties.
But, the emerging leaders of Japan at that time were keenly aware of
Japan’s imminent needs to transform Japan into a Western-style colonial power
house before these unfair treading treaties with Western nations would become
their paths of colonizing Japan.
The 1854 treaty with Russia was, in particular, obviously
damaging to Japan, as Russia began interfering Japan’s Karafuto Island, calling
Sakhalin to claim it as a Russian island. Thus, among the intimidating Western
colonial powers that pressured Japan to give into exploitive treaties with them,
Russia, rather than the United States, stood out as an imminent threat to
Japan.
During the 19th
century, Russia was expanding its territory to the Far East to gain its
strategic access to the Pacific Ocean, as the United States also expanded its
territory beyond the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, seceding Pacific coastal
territories from Mexico to gain strategic access to the Pacific Ocean, followed
by the annexation of Hawaii. For Russia,
the United States’ access to Japan was not something to ignore, to compete with
the United States over the hegemony of the Asia Pacific region.
Russian invaded the northeastern territory of Qing Dynasty,
the Manchu empire that ruled China until 1911 from 1644, and annexed Qing’s
northeastern territory in 1858. Upon this, Russia was putting its footage into
Manchuria and the coastal area of the Yellow Sea for further territorial
expansion. While Russia was expanding
its territory in the Far East, the United States was making its steps toward
the annexation of Hawaii. Of course, it all began with an unfair treaty with
the Kingdom of Hawaii, allowing American economic interest to rule this island
kingdom between the United States and Japan in the Pacific Ocean.
From the late 19th
century into the early 20th century, Japan felt threat both from the
Unites States and Russia, as these powerful nations aggressively inserting
their own hegemonic desires into the Asia Pacific region. But, to Japan, Russia’s threat was more imminent.
Thus, Japan and Russia agreed to set the territorial issue straight on Karafuto
(Sakhalin) island, rather than sharing the island, by agreeing that Russian
takes its exclusive territorial rights on Sakhalin Island, while Japan takes
its territorial rights on the Kuril Islands (Chishima Rettou), in 1875.
Beyond its annexation of the Qing’s northeastern territory,
right above Korea and Manchuria in 1858, Russia continues to increase its
economic dominance in Manchuria through Port Arthur and rail roads in
Manchuria. At the same time, United States was preparing to annex the Kingdom
of Hawaii, as inserting its exclusive economic and industrial rights in Hawaii
to politically hijack this Pacific island nation.
Russia’s rapidly increasing economic influence and physical
presence became a greater threat and compelled Japan to make sure that Russian
influence would not be inserted into Korea, which stands between the
Russian-dominating Manchuria and Japan. For this, Japan began to inserting its
interest in then-Chinese province Korea (The Joseon Korean Dynasty was under
the Chinese imperial control). Given the weakening power of Qing China in the
late 19th century, losing its northeastern territory to Russia and
allowing Russia to dominate its economic privilege in Manchuria, Japan felt
that Qing China was not able to protect Korea from the Russian invasion. And, Japan’s influence on Korea to make it
become independent from China resulted in the First Sino-Japan War in 1884.
%2B-%2B%2BEmpire%2Bof%2BComic%2BVisions%2B%2BJapanese%2BCartoon%2BJournalism%2Band%2Bits%2BPictorial%2BStatements%2Bon%2BKorea%2C%2B1876-1910%2C%2BJun.jpg) |
| "Go Fishing, Tobae, February 1887 |
With Japan’s victory over Qing China in 1885, Japan gained
Taiwan and its exclusive rights in Port Arthur. At the same time, with China’s
defeat by Japan, Korea became independent from China, after almost 1,000 years
of Chinese control. The victory also
enabled Japan to have its access to China as Russia and other European imperial
powers already had. However, Japan was not able to secure Manchuria and China
from the Russian immediate threat.
Using the 1884 Triple Entente as leverage, Russia, together
with France and Germany pressured Japan to return Port Arthur to Qing China,
thought it was legitimately given to Japan through the Treaty of Shimonoseki in
1885. Realizing not having enough military power to fend off these three
European powers, Japan agreed to return Port Arthur to China, while keeping
Taiwan. However, soon after Port Arthur was returned to Qing China, Russia
illegitimately occupied to connect this strategic port to the Trans-Siberian
Railroad to further take over Chinese territory. Soon, France and Germany also began to put
their strategic posts in Port Arthur to start eating the “Chinese pie”, while
Russia had a larger piece and Britain already had another large piece in Hong
Kong. Clearly, Satan was with Russia to
prepare the Far East to become a trouble spot, like the Balkan in Europe.
Russian-led Triple Intervention in 1895 to pressure Japan to
return Port Arthur to Qing China came with an plausible argument that Japan’s
control of Port Arthur would be detrimental to peace in Far East and the
independence of Korea. But, this
argument was nothing but Russia’s excuse to “steal” Port Arthur from Japan so
that it can divide China with other Western colonial powers, such as France and
Germany. The Satan in Russia also
invited Great Britain the United States to pressure Japan to give up on Port
Arthur. Even though Britain was in the
Triple Entente with Russia, it declined to join Russia, France, and Germany to
demand Japan to return Port Arthur to China. Likewise, the United States did
not join Russia, either. However, these
Western powers also declined Japan’s request to counter the Russian-led Three-Nation
Intervention against Japan. At that
time, Satan did not directly pit the two Marian nations, Japan and the United
States against each other – though it was certainly with Russia, manipulating
both Qing China and Japan. This Russian
manipulation led to Japan’s military confrontation with Russia soon and
annexation of Korea.
Losing Port Arthur to Russia through Russia’s deceptive
tactics of the Three-Nation Intervention soon after its victory over Qing China,
rather than returning this war prize to China, really infuriated Japan. The frustration from this incident really
reminded Japan to further build its military power to stand in par with Western powers – so that this
kind of insult would never done to Japan. Not to mention, Japan viewed Russia
as the greatest threat not only to Japan but also to peace and stability of
Asia.
Given how Russia was in “stealing” Port Arthur from Japan in
1885 to conquer China further beyond the 1858 gain, Japan realized its imminent
need to protect newly independent Korea from Russia’s threat, as the protection
of Korea was of critical importance for preventing Russian invasion of Japan.
For this reason, Japan had to make newly independent Korea an ally to. However,
Korea remained politically and socially very unstable and even made its
pro-Russian gesture. Thus, Japan had to
continue its influence on Korea to stabilize under Japan’s protective measure,
while countering Russia’s dominance in Manchuria through its access to the
coastal area of the Yellow Sea, rewarded by the victory of the First Sino-Japan
War. Obviously, as Japan made its way to counterbalance Russia’s geopolitical
interest in Manchuria upon the Sino-Japan War, Japan had to confront Russia in
Manchuria, resulting in the Russo-Japan War in 1904. The Russo-Japan War was
certainly an inevitable consequence of the First Sino-Japan War.
Japan defeated Russia in 1905 and expelled the Russian
dominance out of Manchuria and Liaodong Peninsula (Port Arthur), resulting in Japan’s increasing
influence in Manchuria and Port Arthur. Recovering Port Arthur from Russian
hands was very important. Also with this victory over Russia, Japan
legitimately gained the southern half of Karafuto (Sakhalin) island from
Russia. These post-war settlements with Russia were brokered by the United
States.
By defeating Russia,
Japan officially controlled the railroad system in Manchuria and increased its
coastal economic privilege by redeeming Port Arthur from Russia. This made Japan a bit more secure from the Russian
threat. However, newly independent Korea still remained unstable, vulnerable to
Russian invasion. Thus, Japan chose to annex Korea to directly set its military
defense line against Russia on the Korea-Russia border. Japan’s annexation of
Korea in 1910 was welcomed by the United States, as the United States and Great
Britain also welcomed Japan’s victory over Russia in 1905, as Japan’s rule of
Korea was beneficial to the stability of the Far East, because Korea failed to
be acknowledged by the Western powers to have the abilities to function as a
sovereign nation.
Western nations did not want Russia to further devour Asia
and expand in the Far East. They also realized that the ongoing internal
conflicts within the Joseon Dynasty of Korea continued to keep Korea unstable
and vulnerable to a future regional conflict, as either China would invade to
recolonize or Russia would invade to colonize. The newly independent Korea was
not able to successfully intervene and prevent riots. For this reason, Japan had
to send its military to protect Japanese citizens in Korea from riots and other
social unrest factors. Given this reality of Korea, the international community
– namely the Western powers – consented Japan’s annexation of Korea, for the
sake of Asia’s stability, especially to prevent Russia’s further southward
expansion by devouring Korea. The fact
is different from what Korean anti-Japan propaganda tells about how Korea was
annexed to Japan in 1910, as the Korean propaganda is totally out of context on this matter.
On the surface, the United States welcomed Japan’s victory
over Russia, as it is also of the US interest to keep the Russian power small.
It was the United States that brokered the post-war reconciliation process
between Japan and Russia, resulting in the Treaty of Portsmouth. The United
States was also affirmative of Japan’s intervention in Korea to stabilize this
newly independent nation of social unrest and its final resolution to annex,
for the sake of regional stability in the Far East, especially to keep Russia
off Korea. The United States finally
agreed to revise the unfair term in its treaty with Japan, as it recognized
Japan as a powerful imperial power, like Great Britain. The unfair condition to Japan in the 1858
US-Japan Treaty was finally removed with Japan’s victory over Russia in 1905,
signaling that the United States began to acknowledge Japan not with contempt
any more.
In fact, by then, Japan and Great Britain established the
Anglo-Japan Alliance in 1902, as Russia was also a threat to Great Britain’s
interest in China. In fact, this Japan’s alliance with Great Britain enabled
Japan to secure a loan from Great Britain to finance the war against Russia. Though Britain was in the Triple Entre with
Russia, along with France, it did not respond to Russia’s invitation to
pressure Japan to give up Port Arthur in 1885 and rather supported Japan
financially during the Russo-Japan War.
This certainly makes Britain’s stance to Russia double-standard. And, after
the Russo-Japan War, Britain readjusted its position with Russia through the
1907 Anglo-Russo Entre.
The Anglo-Russo relationship really tells that an alliance
between or among nations can be cleverly manipulated and even betrayed as
Britain did with Russia by supporting Japan’s efforts to defeat Russia during
the Russo-Japan War covertly. It is because an alliance did not guarantee to
preserve mutual interest and benefits of the signed nations. In the
imperialistic paradigm at that time, such alliances were used only to
relentlessly pursue the nation’s own interest even at the expenses of the other
nation in alliance, as Britain did. In
fact, this double-standard character in an alliance began to be seen also in
the US-Japan friendship from 1905 on, becoming a relevant factor to the war between
the two Marian nations: the United States and Japan.
Until Japan’s victory over Russian in 1905, Japan and the
United States, the two Marian nations, appeared to enjoy a friendly term –
though it was based on the unequal, American-dominating, treaty. The United States did not join Russia to
pressure Japan to give up Port Arthur shortly after it was legitimately
acquired by Japan through the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1885. Throughout these
years until 1905, the United States did not interfere and intervene against
Japan. In fact, the United States made a gesture to have become even friendlier
to Japan by lifting the unfair conditions out of the previous US-Japan treaty
upon Japan’s victory over Russia. But, this friendly gesture of the United
States to Japan was an American double-standard toward Japan from that time on
to cleverly manipulate Japan, not as obviously as through the unfair treaty but
more covertly through orchestrating multilateral diplomatic engineering against
Japan.
By 1905, Japan was no longer a small nation in Asia to be
seen with contempt to the United States.
As Japan became a stronger nation, it became a nation to be viewed as a
potential threat to the US interests, especially to the American ambition in
China and the rest of Asia. The fact that the Philippines was already a US
territory by that time also contributed the US to start viewing Japan as a
potential threat, behind its friendly gesture to Japan by brokering the
post-Russo-Japan-War settlement with the Treaty of Portsmouth and by mending
the US-Japan relationship to a more equal term. By that time, the United States also annexed Hawaii. Thus, Japan’s
rising national power in the Far East became a potential threat to the United
States’ expansionist efforts to secure its hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region,
as well as its Open-Door Policy on China.
At this point, Satan was already on the relationship of the
two Marian nations across the Pacific Ocean to tear it up further. A seed of
hatred was already planted by Devil first in the larger Marian nation: the
United States, as the United States began to see Japan as a potential threat.
And, soon, anther seed of hatred would be planted in the smaller Marian nation
on the other side of the Pacific Ocean: Japan, as Japan would begin to notice
American manipulations against Japan through the international diplomatic
means. These seeds of hatred in both Marian nations continued to grow in
setting a path toward the war, starting on the feast of Immaculate Conception,
1941.
As the United States began to view Japan as a new potential
threat, Japan also began to feel the negative effects of the American
manipulations to prevent Japan from gaining further economic and military power
to fend off Russian threat in Manchuria. Upon gaining Hawaii, Guam, Saipan, and
the Philippines, the United States’ national interest was not only to maintain
the security of these newly acquired territories but also to gain more access
to China, competing with British, French, Russian, and Japanese establishments in
China. To gain more favorable access for itself, the United States proposed the
Open-Door Policy on China so that China would not be taken advantaged by
Britain, France, Japan, and Russia – so that the United States would not left
behind in international competition to gain pieces of Chinese pie.
From that point on, the United States also began to wedge
into the Anglo-Japan Alliance to pull Great Britain closer to the United States
from its alliance with Japan. This became evident with the 1922 Washington
Naval Conference . The way this treaty on adjusting the naval powers of among the Untied States,
Great Britain, and Japan, was quite unfair to Japan, as to weaken Japan’s naval
power, while boosting the American and British naval powers.
While Russia, then-became the Soviet Union, remained as a
threat, Japan began to feel that the
United States was certainly against Japan, also destroying the Anglo-Japan
Alliance, given the way the 1922 Washington Naval Conference turned in favor of
the United States and Britain against Japan.
Following the victory over Russia in 1905, Japan continued
to secure Manchuria, Korea, and Port Arthur, not only as a buffer zones in
defending Japan from Russia but also as a new economic development zones to
make sure not only Russia but also the United States would not intimidate Japan
any more. By this time, Satan was also in Japan as Japan had already become a
practitioner of imperialism, just like Russia and the United States. The Satan that infected Japan then made Japan
follow a similar pattern to the way Satan affected the United States earlier,
given the way Japan angered China upon the First Sino-Japan War of 1884-85,
leading to Japan’s establishment of Manchuko, and the way the United States
intimidated Japan ever since its first contact with Japan in 1853. As the
United States imposed the unfair treaty upon Japan, by intimidation, Japan also
used intimidation tactics and imposed unfair treaties upon Qing China. But,
when Qing China was taken over by the Republic of China in 1911, China became
more hostile to Japan with its the new Chinese nationalism, for the unfair
treaties that Japan imposed over its predecessor, Qing China – though it did
not show the same hostility toward Britain, France, Germany and Russia, the Western
imperialism that had imposed similar unfair conditions upon China.
While Russian (Soviet) threat remained, the relationship
between the two Marian nations: Japan and the United States continued to become
sour more evidently, upon the 1922 Washington Naval Conference, as Japan
continued its economic developments in Manchuria, Korea, and Port Arthur, to
build its economic and military power in the Far East. At the same time, the new Chinese nationalism
drove China to confront Japanese establishments in China more hostilely. Thus,
Japan struggled in maintaining its economic and military establishments in
northern China, gained through the victories of the two previous wars: the
First Sino-Japan War and the Russo-Japan War – Japan’s successful attempts to
secure Japan from Russian threat.
The increasing Chinese hostility toward Japanese
establishments in the northeastern China throughout the 1920s led some Japanese
military leader to secure Japanese national interests in northeastern China by
establishing more solid power in Manchuria, namely, Manchuko, keeping the
Japanese establishments in the region safe from the Chinese hostility and the
Russian threat more effectively. This
Japanese thinking to secure Manchuria more effectively from the southern threat
by the Chinese hostility and the northern threat by the Russians, leading to
Japan’s establishment of Manchuko follows a very similar pattern that the
United States took in securing its economic and military interests from Native
Americans’ protests. For this reason,
the Jackson Administration of the United States destroyed the Republic of the
Cherokees, which did not fight the United States but sought for a peaceful and
equal treaty with the United States during the 1820s.
At that point in history, Satan was infecting Japan, China,
Russia, and the United States, to steadily prepare the path for the two Marian
nations to pit against each other in war.
By 1930, Japan’s military leaders desired to gain total
control of Manchuria, keeping this geopolitically strategic place completely
secure both from Chinese attack and Russian threat. And this contributed to the Liutiaohu
Incident (a.k.a the Mannchurian or Mukden Incident) in 1931, further leading to
Japan’s establishment of Manchuko in
1932, as Japan’s satellite nation. The United States was very critical of Japan
on the Liutiaohu Incident of 1931 and refused to acknowledge Manchuko as a
legitimate nation, by issuing the Stimson Doctrine in 1932. Through the Stimson
Doctrine, the United States bitterly criticized Japan’s establishment of Manchuko
as violation of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, which denounce the use of
military forces to resolve an international conflict, also citing the legal
doctrine of “ex injuria jus non oritur”.
Obviously, Japan’s efforts, to secure itself by establishing
Manchuko not only as Japan’s defense zone from Russia but also to build itself
to discourage the United States and Russia to treat unfairly, were costing this
small Marian nation in the Far East tremendously. The Establishment of Manchuko
prompted not only the United States’ hostile stance toward Japan but also
blatantly hostile responses by the Republic of China.
Though the region of Manchuria was not originally a Chinese
territory but the homeland of the Manchu tribes, who conquered China in 1644,
establishing the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China, which overthrew the Qing
Dynasty in 1911, claimed the land to be theirs.
The way Japan manipulated the Manchurian affairs was to restore the
lineage of the Qing Dynasty in a way to make the Manchuko pro-Japan. Therefore,
the Chinese claim of Manchuria and legitimacy of Japan’s control of Manchuria
through the re-establishment of the throne of the native Manchu dynasty is
debatable.
In addition to this intra-Asian issue involving in Manchuko,
the United States increased its insertion of powers against Japan began to
increase in more hostile manners, given the American interest in China through
its Open-Door Policy. Thus, the United
States began to see Japan as a more realistic threat to the American national
interest in Asia, exhibiting more critical attitudes toward Japan through the
League of Nations and the Stimson Doctrine. This increasingly critical American
stance toward Japan soon became the American hostility toward Japan.
Upon Japan’s establishment of Manchuko, the Republic of
China brought this matter to the League of Nations, denouncing Japan and trying to mobilize the Untied States and other
Western powers to its side against Japan – though 20 nations and states,
including Vatican, directly and indirectly approved Manchuko as a legitimate
nation. Though the United States and
Great Britain were officially against the legitimacy of Manchuko, on the stage
of the League of Nations, these Western powers inserted their economic interests
by establishing many businesses in Manchuko, rather than practicing trade
embargo or economic sanction. Satan infecting these Western colonial powers
sure made them practice double-standard policies.
The League of Nations, which was created upon the 1919 Paris
Peace Conference, as a result of resolving the matters from the World War I,
sent the Lytton Commission to investigate the 1931 Liutiaohu Incident
(Manchurian or Mukaden Incident), which Japan reasoned to establish Manchuko in
1932. However, the ambivalent nature of the Lytton Commission Report was no
help in resolving the conflict between the Japanese interest and the Chinese
interest in Manchuria and determining the cause of the Liutaiohu Incident. This is often cited as an example of the
ineffectiveness of the League of Nations in living up to its lesson from the
World War I for world peace and conflict resolution.
In response to the Liutiaohu Incident, Japan’s establishment
of Manchuko, and the Lytton Report, the
United States maintained its hardline stance against Japan with the Stimson
Doctrine, and the Republic of China increased its heat against Japan, resulting
in series of violent attacks against Japanese establishments throughout
China. In response to the Lytton Report,
finding its conclusion unacceptable, Japan resigned from the League of Nation
in 1933, isolating itself from the international community of the League and
siding with the Kingdom of Italy and the Nazi Germany. At that point of
history, the ground for the World War II was already fertile.
As the Chinese
military continue to attack the Japanese establishments in China, the Marco
Polo Bridge Incident happened in 1937, becoming a prompting factor for the
Second Sino-Japan War, which continued further into the Great East Asia War
(a.k.a. the Pacific War). Japan attempts
to settle the conflict with China. But, China continue to choose to fight
against Japan, as it finds the conditions that Japan offered to be unfair and
disadvantageous to China. Therefore, the conflict between the Republic of China
and Japan escalated. To make this matter worse, in December 1936, Chiang
Kai-shek’s Republic of China and Mao Zedong of the Chinese Red Army (Chinese
Soviet Communist) already joined together, after years of fighting to take
control of China, to fight against Japan. Thus, the Chinese attack on the
Japanese establishments continue to increase on its scale, inviting greater
Japanese military responses, to make the Chinese-Japanese conflict escalating
into the Second Sino-Japan War.
Anti-Japan propagandas portray as if Japan suddenly invaded
China, taking advantage of the Chinese vulnerability at that time, out of the
emperor’s wild dream to conquer the entire world, starting with conquest of
China. However, the Japanese economic
and military establishments in China were legitimate as these were based on the
bilateral agreement between the Republic of China and Japan. It was China that
first fired against Japan (the Japanese establishments in China), refusing to
resolve the conflict through a diplomatic means, reasoning the unfair condition
that Japan had imposed, such as the extra territorial rights.
Of course, the whole long-seated Sino-Japan conflict leading
up to the Second Sino-Japan War did not start with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident
in 1937. Though some attribute it to the Liutiaohu Incident (Mukden Incident)
in 1931, resulting in Japan’s establishment of Manchuko in 1932, as this event
made China’s anti-Japan hostility more evident.
But, China, as the state of the Han Chinese, has no legitimate claim on
Manchuria, if Japan has no right to claim it, because it originally belongs to
the Manchu people. During the time of imperialism, it was Japan that
resurrected the ousted Manchu dynasty back in its homeland of Manchuria for Japan’s
strategic interests in response to Russia’s continuing threat and in need of
Japan’s further military and economic development so that the United States and
Russia would not intimidate Japan as they used to do.
Others argue that the roots of China’s hostile anti-Japan
stance is traced back to the First Sino-Japan War, 1884-1885 and the way the
settlement from this war was made with Japan. What brought China (then, Qing
China, China ruled by the Manchu dynasty, not by the Han Chinese) and Japan to
this war was these nations’ interest in controlling Korea. Though China had
been dominating Korea for almost 1,000 years, Japan began to have its influence
on Korea, upon recognizing Russia as a threat.
The fact that Qing China had lost a large portion of its northeastern
territory to Russia in 1885 made Japan realize that Qing China would not be
able to protect Korea from a possible Russian invasion. Besides this, Japan had
to put up with Russia’s unfair territorial demand on Karafuto (Sakhalin) in the
1854 Shimoda Treaty. Upon Russia’s total takeover of Karafuto (Sakhalin), in
exchange for the entire Kuril Islands in the 1875 treaty also made Japan feel
the Russian threat. Thus, Japan could neither afford let weakening Qing China
to rule Korea nor allow Russia to take over Korea, as having both Karafuto
(Sakhalin) and Korea as Russian territories would mean Russian invasion of
Japan to follow.
Given this historical and geopolitical background from the
1850s all the way to the break out of the Second Sino-Japan War in 1937, upon
the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, there was the Russian imperialistic threat,
prompting the Sino-Japan conflicts over Korea and Manchuria. Japan’s imperialistic interest in Korea and
Manchuria was also prompted by the way the United States imposed the unfair
treaty on Japan in 1858. Japan’s more definite interest in Manchuria was
further motivated by the way the United States let the 1922 Washington Naval
Conference, making Japan feel American belittlement.
As the Second Sino-Japan War progressed and its scale became
greater, as both the Chinese Nationalist Army (Chiang Kai-shek) and Chinese Red
Army (Mao Zedong) fought against Japan, the Franklin Roosevelt Administration
of the United States secretly sent American airmen to China to prepare air
bombing Japan under the disguise of the Chinese Air Force. In addition to this secret operation to
attack Japan by using China, the United States imposed economic sanction
against Japan to kill Japanese economy,
inviting Britain, which controlled Malaysia (including Singapore), China, and the Netherlands, which controlled
Indonesia, forming the ABCB Encirclement, to block Japan’s sea lanes.
Furthermore, the United States sent the Hull Note, demanding Japan to give up
its control over Manchuria, in order to avoid further American economic
sanction against Japan. To Japan, the
Hull Note was not acceptable.
In response to the Hull Note and to improve its relationship
with the United States, Japan requested to negotiate with the United States in
regard to the terms of the Hull Note in November, 1941. However, the United
States flatly refused. Japan felt being driven to an inescapable corner,
prompting to wage war against the United States, while fighting the Second
Sino-Japan War. And, on the feast day of Immaculate Conception, 1941, the
little Marian nation on the west side of the Pacific Ocean made a direct attack
on the greater Marian nation on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, in order
to survive the severe economic sanction imposed by the United States.
In order
to secure new supply routes and sea lanes, Japan also had to declare war against
Great Britain, and the Netherlands, as these nations also participated in the
American led economic embargo against Japan. Some also say that Japan’s war
against the Untied States, Great Britain, and the Netherland was to help Asian
nations under these Western nations colonial rule gain independence, under the
Japanese-led the Great East Asian Shared Prosperity Philosophy, freeing Asia
from the Western colonial oppressions. Those who support this argument also
remind us that Japan proposed the clause of the racial and ethnic equality in
the League of Nation Charter, only to be rejected as the leading nations of the
League were practitioners of racism and racism-based colonialism at that time.
To Japan, Manchcuria was a hard-earned land to protect Japan
from Russia and also to stand strong against contemptuous intimidation that
Russia and the United States put against Japan. After all, Japan followed the
American expansionism , as the Devil in Japan’s Manchurian acquisition can be
only compared to the Devil in American acquisition of Native Americans’
territories and the Kingdom of Hawaii. The way Japan acquired Manchuria in 1932 can
be also compared to the way Russia acquired the vast coastal land above
Manchuria and Korea from Qing China by forcing the 1858 Treaty of Aigun.
And, Japan’s attack of the Pearl Harbor US Naval Base can be
compared to the Republic of China’s attack on Japanese military establishment
near the Marco Polo Bridge, a.k.a. the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937. If
the American response to Japan’s Pearl Harbor attack can be justified as a war
of defense and retaliation, so should be Japan’s war against China, in response
to the Marco Polo Bridge incident in 1937. As a response to severe economic
embargo, Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor can be also compared to the United
States declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812, protesting the
blockage of American sea lanes in the North Atlantic Ocean by Great Britain, to
fight over more Native American lands and resources.
Now, we can see how Satan can confuse our conscience to keep
dividing nations.
Logically, if the US response to Japan’s Pearl Harbor attack
is justified, then, Japan’s retaliatory war against China in response to the
Chinese attack on the Japan’s military establishment near the Marco Polo Bridge
can be justified. This is an important lesson to understand how Devil pit
people and nations against each other to destroy all.
If you find this argument is flawed because Japan’s control
over Manchuria is illegitimate, then, the same argument should be applied to
invalidate American possession of Hawaii and the Republic of the
Cherokees. In fact, Japan modeled the
United States in establishing Manchuko, except for the Manchuko’s monarchy,
because this new nation that Japan control was to be an experimental new
nation, like the United States, in the Far East, where the Manchu, who are
native, the Japanese, the Han Chinese, the Korean, and even the Russians could
live together in harmony. Now, if you argue that it was a mere Japanese
propaganda to rule Manchuria, then, you can see the hypocrisy in the American
Declaration of Independence, for making equality and harmony of all men in the
newly independent nation. Under this equality, those who had been living in the
land were treated as subhuman. Though the Japanese supremacy in Manchuko was
evident, the way non-Japanese residents in Manchoko were treated were far better
than the Native Americans and the slaves from Africa were treated under the
name of “all men are equal” in the United States.
An important lesion here: if you are to find a blame one
side in conflict over the other, you will never learn what a real root of
conflict – how Satan puts us to pit against each other until we kill one another
all the way to the extinction of all humans.
It is my hope that the above historical review offers some
insights on how Satan entered into the relatively quiet and peaceful Far East,
including China, Korea, and Japan. Satan
first let Russia disturb Siberia, Mongolia, then Qing China, the sleeping
tiger. When the Russian devouring mouth
was believed to be projected to Korea, Satan also got on Japan to become an
imperialistic nation, just like the Western powers, including Russia, that were
already fighting for their share of the pie of China. The United States also
wanted its own share of China pie, upon acquiring the Mexican territory in
California. Along the way, the United States annexed Hawaii and took over the
Philippines from Spain, and putting Japan under its advantage through the
unfair treaty. But, as Japan grew its power in competing with the Western
imperialism with its own imperialism, Japan had to be eliminated in the eyes of
the American desire for hegemony. That
is why President Franklin Roosevelt secretly prepare to attack Japan under the
disguise of the Chinese Air Force and manipulated the US-Japan diplomacy as to
instigate Japan to attack the United States to justify the United States to
engage in war as the retributory means.
Perhaps, we must examine how Satan had infected the
conscience of those who invaded the lands of another racial and ethnic peoples
not just during the years upon Columbus’s discovery of the “New World” but also
way back to as ancient time as the Biblical years.
………
Concluding Reflection
for the Hopeful Future
The above extensive description of the geopolitical dynamics
in the Far East through a historical perspective can be understood in light of
critical prophetic warning into our future, just as the gradual revelations of
the Scroll through the breakings of the seven seals and what seven trumpets
directed to in the Book of Revelation.
Just as the Book of Revelation teaches grave consequences of
failing to heed the prophetic warnings from 6:1 to 11:19, we must take a lesson
from the above-described history of how Satan’s imperialism and pathological
nationalism have put nations against each other, including two Marian nations:
Japan and the United States toward destruction.
The fact that we continue bloody wars throughout the world
beyond the feast day of Assumption, 1945, clearly indicates that we fail to
listen to the prophetic message from the Book of Revelation and its implication
from the war between the two Marian nations: Japan and the Untied States. The
great war between the two Marian nations from the Marian feast day of
Immaculate Conception in 1941 until the
Marian feast day of Assumption in 1945
should be taken as a great lesson for us to recognize how Satan divide
us and make us hate each other to a point of mutual destruction, in light of
the Book of Revelation.
The woman, whom an image of Mary is projected to, in
Revelation 12, gave birth to the son, who is a metaphor of Christ. But, upon
his birth, Satan declared war against God and God’s people, including the
woman, her son, and the rest of her offspring, according to Revelation 12. But,
Satan, symbolized with the Dragon, is defeated, before the Kingdom of God is
established and Christ the King will reign. This prophecy can be indicated in
the history of the two Marian nations’ war – so that we can view that
reconciliation of Japan and the United States upon the Marian feast day of
Assumption, 1945, gives birth to what is symbolized in the birth of Prince of
Peace by the Marian woman in Revelation 12, leading to the conquer of Satan and
establishment of his Kingdom.
This Kingdom is not a geopolitical one, as Jesus himself
suggested to Pontius Pilate, when asked, “Are you the king of the Jews?” (Mark
15:2)
Those who could not understand the meaning of the Kingdom
were infected by evil seeds by Satan and engaged in wars after wars under their
own nationalism, imperialism, desire for hegemony, and so forth – repeating
bloody circle of war history of the Old Testament, all the way into the 20th
century and further into today.
It is no coincidence that the great war between the two Marian
nations across the Pacific Ocean started and ended on Marian feast days. Today,
these once divided and bitterly pitted Marian nations enjoy mutual trust and
friendship. As indicated in Revelation 12, the labor pain of Mary brought the
Prince of Peace, the Christ on earth, to fight the very root cause of wars
among the rest of Mary’s offspring.
The great pain and suffering can be paralleled to the labor
pain of Mary in Revelation 12 – so that we can take a great lesson from the war
in a way to let the war to give birth to new peace.
May the peace brought by the true uniting trust and
friendship between the two Marian nations: Japan and the United States be a
powerful symbolic reality of hope for reconciliation and harmony in this
still-war-infested world.
May Mary, the Mother of the Prince of Peace continue to help
us fight Satan, who tries to divide and conquer us by making us killing each
other.
May Mary help us establish and enjoy the Kingdom on earth as
it is in heaven, without cheesy philosophy that justified the conquering the
Native Americans’ lands and the Manchurians’ lands.
May merciful God in heaven repose the souls of those who
have fallen during the Satan’s war against God and His people, including those
who suffered and died the war these Marian nations across the Pacific fought
against each other.
Perhaps, along with the above historical reflection in light of the significance of Mary in the Book of Revelation, we can also ponder upon the below words from the Anacle of Confucius.
憲問恥、子曰、邦有道穀、邦無道穀、恥也. 克伐怨欲不行焉、可以爲仁矣、子曰、可以爲難矣、仁則吾不知也 (論語、憲問第十四, 1-2)
Yuan Xian asked about shame. Confucius said:"When the state is properly run, one still receive salary without any having results; When the state is in disorder, and one still receive salary without doing anything beneficial to the state. Both situations are deemed as shameful." Yuan Xian asked, "Compulsion to win, boastful, harbor grudges, covetous,if anyone does not have the above behavior, can he be considered benevolent?" Confucius said:"To have all these is difficult, as for whether one can be considered benevolent because of lack of these behavior, I have no answer for it."
