by FUMIKO HATTORI

Japan was among the Allies during World War I but it does not observe Veterans Day. Nor does it set aside any other day to thank military veterans for their service.

This is because Japan is still in limbo over how to deal with World War II, when it fought against and was defeated by the Allies. Japan committed atrocities that killed millions, and it also suffered from the U.S. atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The debate over thanking and remembering the veterans creates pacifist and militaristic sides. Many Japanese, who consider remembrance a personal or family issue, are caught in between.

Observer photo by Fumiko Hattori
Aug. 15 is not a national holiday but the shrine displays the flag.

“As a veteran, it is a frustrating situation,” said 81-year-old Shigemitsu Saito, a World War II navy pilot.

Japan’s current 15 holidays were mostly created in 1948, three years after the country’s defeat in World War II.

It was a time when Japan’s government and military leaders were being tried at war tribunals and executed. A new, pacifist constitution had just gone into effect, clearly stating that Japan will “forever renounce war” as well as “the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.”

The pendulum had swung to the anti-military side. The immediate post-war period did not have the atmosphere to create a day to thank the veterans.

“A lot of us didn’t utter a word about having fought in the war until about the mid-1950s,” said Saito. “It wasn’t until the mid-1960s that we started to organize small veterans groups on our own.”

Because of this tone set six decades ago, the Japanese generally tend not to remember collectively those who died in service, either. It does not have an equivalent to Memorial Day.

For many of the Japanese who remember the veterans, it has nothing to do with being pacifist or militaristic — it’s often personal. The sentiment of remembrance is displayed at a time of tradition, which later took on military connotations.

Aug. 15, the day Japan surrendered, draws crowds of people to Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines nearly 2.5 million people who died during service in wartime since 1868.

These include World War II class-A war criminals.

Visits to the shrine by Japan’s political figures make headlines in Asia. When Japan selects a new prime minister, one of the issues the media focus on is whether he will visit the shrine on Aug. 15.

The public picks up on this political battle, and some people visit the shrine on this day based on their militaristic views.

But others go because their relatives are enshrined there. Mid-August is when many parts of Japan celebrate the obon festival to honor the ancestors. The fact that obon is a Buddhist festival and the shrine is Shinto, which are two different religions, doesn’t seem to matter.

Aug. 15 is when a centuries-old tradition and a military event blend.

Yumiko Uemura of Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo visits the shrine on this day because her grandfather, who was killed in the 1945 Okinawa campaign, is enshrined there. She has to avoid visiting the actual grave because of the complicated family matters related to her grandfather.

“I’m annoyed by how the shrine is used as a political tool. The debate over the shrine is completely unrelated to how I feel,” Uemura said.

World War II navy pilot Takehiko Ena, 84, visits the shrine every year on Aug. 15 around noon, which is when Emperor Hirohito’s speech to surrender was broadcast in 1945.

“When I was young, I traveled across the nation to visit my comrades’ graves. But I’m too old for that now,” Ena said. “I visit Yasukuni because my comrades are enshrined there. It’s like visiting all of their graves at once.”

“When some of us veterans get together, we sometimes talk about how it would be nice to have a day when the public acknowledges the service of the people in uniform, past and present,” said Saito. “But it’s too political. The atmosphere isn’t there.”

Observer photo by Fumiko Hattori
Due to the political controversy, the riot police stand by outside the shrine gates on Aug. 15.

Japan’s inability to officially come to terms with World War II has left its people in a cultural stalemate for more than six decades. When it overcomes this inner conflict, maybe then it can mature culturally and politically.