Medium Post #4 (Week 5)

Considering the intense racial animosity that Dower outlines in his introduction to War Without Mercy, why do you think the Japanese and US governments were so quick to see each other as allies?

I think the US and Japanese governments were so quick to see each other as allies because it was beneficial for both parties. The US could maintain its position as a world superpower by pacifying Japan. They did this by carrying out air raids and dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This demonstrated the US’s military prowess to other countries. On the other hand, Japan did not have any other option but to surrender and to ultimately democratize and demilitarize the country. I believe Japan also saw this as an opportunity to erase colonial rule, imperialist aggression, and war atrocities from history.

In doing so, they also created a new narrative in which the US was the aggressor and Japan was the victim. Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto, in his chapter on No Regrets for Our Youth, refers to this phenomenon as victim consciousness which “enabled [Japan] to avoid addressing the question of war responsibility seriously” (128) and to explain Japan’s transition from militaristic to democratic without any contradictions (127). Yoshimoto also brings up two interesting questions: “Who was responsible for the war?” and “Who is the deceiver and who is being deceived?” These are two questions to consider when thinking about why Japan practiced victim consciousness and conversion narrative.

Do you believe that the transition was as quick for ordinary people? Think about how this question (including a version of this question that is put forth in Kurosawa’s No Regrets for Our Youth) risks effacing the scrutiny of Japanese colonial rule and imperialist aggression in Asia.

I do not believe the transition was as quick for ordinary people. They must have been sad that Japan surrendered, angry at the US, and shocked that Japan and the US were so quick to see each other as allies.

In No Regrets for Our Youth, Yukie represents historical continuity and bridges the gap between imperialist and democratic Japan. The film not only offers audiences an escape from reality, but also a linear, streamline narrative of Japan’s political conversion. Furthermore, Yukie’s hands are a recurring image throughout the movie. They represent the physical changes that Yukie goes through as time passes.