Before leaving for the states, I wandered back to the shrine two more times. The second time there, I went through the museum (1st level was free, but the exhibit itself was worth the fee). I was curious how the museum would present the Emperor's Army and Meiji Restoration Era.
My third time there was an unplanned drive-by situation on the way to the airport. The taxi driver insisted on showing me the Imperial Palace (despite assuring him that I have seen the Palace and I have visited Japan many, many times). He was very sweet about it and very proud of his town. I am glad he did this, because we drove by the Yasukuni Shrine. As we did so, I asked him if he's been inside. He nodded with a big smile and said that he has lived in Tokyo for 20 years and that visiting the shrine for New Years is tradition. Not just a tradition for him, but for families throughout Tokyo. He said it gets very crowded.
In the airport, I looked up the news stories about Prime Minister Abe's visit to the Shrine. Sure enough: reports of South East Asia's outrage and appall at Abe's visit were released just a few days before the New Years. So, was his visit part of a Japanese tradition? Was he showing respect to old leaders and soldiers? Was he really trying to stick it to China and Korea?
Without the Meiji Restoration Era, Japan would not be as westernized as it is today. Japan threw out its Samurai Bushido code, and its educational system and replaced them with new ones. These new systems reflected (what the Japanese believed) were the best of the Western World. Westernization and modernization is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, a country must sacrifice aspects of its cultural identity. On the other, the transition from being a developing economy to a developed economy offers the opportunity of higher education and a greater standard of living to its people. The way I see it is: The world's system has been developed, nurtured, and influenced (primarily) by western powers and European thinkers. Global systems (ie international law, economic policy, treaties, judicial systems) were created with a western background, a western perspective, ideology, and standards. So, if the nature of International Relations was developed and influenced by western leaders and policy makers, of course non-western world countries would have to adapt to those standards. It's Darwin's Theory of Evolution and Survival of the Fittest on a global scale. Countries of the old world have been trying to adapt to Western systems since decolonization (World War I) and have made monumental transformations since the Digital Age (think India and China).
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| Map of imperial Japan |
Before visiting the shrine, I had only understood its controversy through China's eyes. Now, I see it a little differently. There is China's perception and anger at the crimes committed on its soil. The bitter sentiment lingers and continues to play into their relations with Japan. On the other hand is Japan's point of view: without the Meiji Restoration, their modernization process would have certainly happened much later and much slower. I am not justifying the "Crimes against Peace" that Japanese commanders and soldiers were convicted of in the Tokyo trials. What I am saying is that it was a necessary step for Japan to take in order to be taken seriously by the Western powers during World War II.
The Meiji Restoration may have been a militant one, but the Restoration and the aggressive modernization was arguably necessary for Japan's future.
The Shrine symbolizes all of this - the transformation, the growth, and the ugly details of the era. Specifically, it honors those that fought in the Emperor's Army during the Meiji Restoration.
