今年8月15日是日本宣布无条件投降77周年。77年前，人类进步力量战胜了日本军国主义和法西斯主义，可在今天的日本，日军侵略亚洲的历史不断被翻案，战争受害国人民经历的痛苦越来越被漠视。
August 15 of 2022 marks the 77th anniversary of Japan’s announcement of unconditional surrender in World War II. 77 years ago, the progressive forces in the world defeated Japanese militarism and Fascism. But today, Japan is trying hard to whitewash its history of Asian aggression, turning a blind eye to the sufferings undergone by the people of victimized countries during the war.
分析人士指出，错误的历史认知如今已弥漫日本社会，这个曾野蛮侵略亚洲多国的加害国在不少日本民众心中已变为“战争受害国”。日本政府还不断渲染周边威胁，以此为由大幅增加军费，强化军事力量，谋求突破和平宪法，在军事扩张的道路上狂奔。从惨绝人寰的南京大屠杀，到骇人听闻的731部队人体实验和细菌战，再到灭绝人性的“三光政策”，侵华日军在中国犯下的滔天罪行铁证如山、罄竹难书。日本侵华战争至少造成中国3500万人员伤亡和6000亿美元以上经济损失。然而，这些血淋淋的事实很难在日本的教科书中找到。与此相比，日本受到的原子弹轰炸、东京空袭等则被重点介绍，以体现日本的“战争被害”。
Analysts said that a wrong historical perception is pervading Japanese society today. The country, once being the victimizer that brutally invaded Asian countries, is now seen by many Japanese as a victim of the war. To add fuel to the flames, the Japanese government is hyping up threats from surrounding countries and taking that as an excuse to massively increase military spending, reinforce military forces, and seek to revise the pacifist Constitution , running amuck on the road of military expansion. From the cold-blooded Nanjing Massacre to the appalling human experiment and biological warfare by Unit 731, to the inhuman policy of “burning all, killing all, looting all”, the Japanese aggressors in China committed unspeakable crimes that are well documented with ironclad evidence. The Japanese aggression caused China at least 35 million casualties and more than USD 600 billion in economic losses. But these bloody facts cannot be found in any textbook in Japan, whereas the atomic bombing and the Tokyo air strike in Japan are highlighted and accentuated to portray the country as a victim of the war.
一些日本战犯经过新中国审判、改造，深刻反省、忏悔自身罪行，回到日本后努力以自己的证言还原真实历史，为实现中日和平友好贡献力量。但日本右翼势力将他们的证言污蔑为一派胡言，攻击他们自曝侵略史实是“自虐”。
There are some Japanese war criminals who, after being tried and renovated in the People’s Republic of China, reflected on their crimes and showed remorse. After returning to Japan, they tried to testify to what the Japanese troops really did in China and contributed to establishing peaceful and friendly relations between the two countries. But their testimonies are slandered by Japanese right-wingers as nonsense and they themselves are attacked as “self-abusing” by exposing their aggressive history.
日本历史学家吉田裕 指出，当年在缔结“旧金山和约”时，受日本侵略最严重的中国和朝鲜半岛被排除在外，日本对欧美等单方面媾和。这导致日本在战后不久即形成了虚伪、歪曲的历史观，也就是对外最低限度地承认战争责任，对内则予以否认。这种虚伪敷衍的双重标准，导致日本总体上未能真正对战争进行深刻反省，否认侵略历史的思想在右翼势力心中根深蒂固。
Japanese historian Yutaka Yoshida pointed out that when the so-called Treaty of San Francisco was signed, Japan alone negotiated peace with Europe and the US without involving China and the Korean peninsula, which suffered most from its aggression. This resulted in a false and distorted outlook on history in Japan soon after the war – the country only admitted to a minimal amount of war responsibilities externally and totally denied any responsibility internally. It is these hypocritical double standards that have kept Japan from ever really reflecting on its war crimes. The denial of their aggressive history is engraved in the mind of the right-wing forces.
否认侵略、美化战争、扭曲民众史观……二战以后，日本右翼势力一直通过多种手段试图为侵略历史翻案。
Denying the aggression, whitewashing the war, and distorting the public’s historical outlook…Japanese right-wingers have never stopped trying to reverse the international and historical judgment on the country’s aggressive history after World War II.
在政治层面，右翼政客多年来公然参拜供奉有二战甲级战犯的靖国神社，其中不乏阁僚甚至首相。他们将战犯奉为“英灵”，宣称“向为国作战并牺牲宝贵生命的英灵表达敬意”，公开宣扬错误史观。
On the political level, the rightist politicians have been visiting the Yasukuni Shrine that honors World War II Class-A war criminals all these years, including senior Diet members and even the prime minister. They hold those war criminals in high esteem, and publicly advocate a wrong historical perception by describing their visit as paying homage to the heroic souls who sacrificed their lives for the country.
在社会层面，右翼势力在历史教科书中不仅隐瞒日本战争罪行，还鼓吹右翼史观，将侵略战争美化成“自卫战争”和“亚洲各民族的独立解放战争”。而日本政府近年来对此不仅默认放行，还亲自下场粉饰侵略历史，比如去年4月就以内阁决定形式将对劳工的“强制带走”改为“征用”，将“随军慰安妇”去掉“随军”二字。在这些操作下，日本民众特别是青少年一代对真实历史的认知已经被严重扭曲。
On the social level, the right-wing forces have not only omitted Japan’s war crimes from history textbooks but also advocated the rightist outlook on history and painted the aggressive war as a “war of self-defense” and a “war of independence and liberation for all Asian nations”. Apart from conniving in these lies and falsifications, the Japanese government has even taken part in varnishing the history of aggression. In April last year, the Japanese Diet adopted a resolution to rephrase “forced laborers” as “recruited laborers ”, and shorten the “comfort women for the military” into merely “comfort women”. Such disinformation has seriously distorted the Japanese public’s, especially the young generation’s perception of true history.
如今的日本，不仅沉浸于历史中的“战争被害”，更鼓吹现实中的“军事威胁”。日本政府将周边的中国、朝鲜、俄罗斯都塑造为对日本安全的重大威胁，通过此举为大幅增加军费寻找借口，为修改防卫政策文件寻求舆论支持，为修改和平宪法铺路，以最终实现摆脱战后体制束缚、成为“正常国家”的目标。
Today’s Japan is not only obsessed with the idea of itself being a victim of the war but is also puffing up “military threats” in reality. The Japanese government describes its neighbors including China, DPRK and Russia as major security threats, which gives it the excuse to largely increase military expenditure, seek public support for revising the defense policy, and pave the way for modifying the pacifist Constitution, till it eventually realizes the goal of breaking through the post-war restrictions and becoming a “normal country”.
否认侵略历史、美化军国主义不仅使日本无法与亚洲国家实现真正的历史和解，更有可能让日本重蹈战争覆辙，给亚洲国家和日本人民带来新的灾难。
Denying its aggressive history and whitewashing militarism is no way to help Japan come to a reconciliation with the Asian countries it once afflicted. It will only push Japan to the path of war again, which may bring new disasters to Asian people, including the Japanese.
