Effectivement, les propos du desormais ex-Ministre de la Defence japonais, Kyuma Fumio, ont bien ete presentes comme une gaffe, voire un derapage verbal par une grande partie de la presse nippone, mais je crois que le pauvre bougre n'a pas ete bien compris, lui qui pourtant est originaire de Nagasaki. Il m'apparait egalement au vu du nom de sa remplacante, que la place etait de longue main promise a Madame Koike qui a "brille" precedement dans le gouvernement Koizumi, en se livrant a une active et urgente promotion du furoshiki (tissu d'empaquetage traditionnel japonais) en tant que... Ministre de l'Environnement. De l'ecologie a la defense, j'avoue que l'enchainement logique ne m'apparait pas evident...
Pour revenir a ce qu'a dit Monsieur Kyuma, et surtout aux reactions - dont certaines sont fort comprehensibles, d'autres d'une mauvaise foi absolue - a ses propos, c'est bien la preuve qu'
on peut parler de tout, mais pas avec tout le monde suivant une expression bien connue. En tant que specialiste des questions strategiques et militaires, il n'a fait qu'exprimer une opinion d'ordre purement technique. On peut ne pas etre d'accord avec son evaluation retrospective de la situation, or il ne suffit pas d'aimer ou de ne pas aimer l'idee des bombes atomiques lancees sur le Japon durant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, mais bien de peser avec
prudence et
objectivite les risques, les couts, les probabilites, les chiffres deja atteints et les previsionnels, les moyens de l'epoque, et ne pas oublier que les decisions les plus difficiles ne tournent pas autour de la balance du bien et du mal, mais le plus souvent, du moindre mal qu'il s'agit de distinguer, d'un pire...
En tout etat de cause, Monsieur Kyuma aurait du se dispenser de rendre publique son idee des bombardements atomiques car le sujet est des plus sensibles encore au Japon, mais egalement aupres de ceux qui dans le monde, ne manquent jamais de tout faire pour maintenir le Japon dans son etat d'impuissance militaire decidee apres-guerre. Soit que ces personnes tiennent sincerement la Paix, soit que s'en trouvent parmi elles qui ont un interet particulier, quel qu'il soit, a voir le Japon neutralise.
Enfin pour en savoir davantage, voici deux articles interessants parus ce jour dans le quotidien national japonais
MAINICHI SHIMBUN. Le premier presente les conditions de la disgrace de Monsieur Kyuma, le second les propos Tojo Yuko, de la petite-fille de l'ancien Premier Ministre Tojo (qui dirigeait le Japon durant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale) qui a decide de briguer un siege parlementaire lors des prochaines elections, avec en tete l'idee de redresser, de son point de vue, le recit du Sac de Nankin, le traitement de la question des "femmes de reconfort" et d'exiger des Etats-Unis une complete repentance pour les deux bombardements atomiques... Bref, autant de dossiers epineux qui ne sont pas pres de se refermer.
Article 1.Defense minister steps down over atomic bomb gaffeDefense Minister Fumio Kyuma conveyed his intention to resign to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday after his comments that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki could not be helped caused an outrage.
"It seems that people don't understand my stance on the issue. I think I have to settle the problem," Kyuma said. "So I will resign."
Abe approved Kyuma's resignation.
After meeting with the prime minister, Kyuma told reporters that he was aware that his comments hurt the feelings of atomic bomb survivors. "I have decided to resign after thinking about the effects on the upcoming House of Councillors election (on July 29)," he added.
The gaffe came on Saturday while Kyuma was delivering a lecture in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture. He claimed that the United States dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 to prevent the Soviet Union from occupying Japan.
"A countless number of people were victimized (by the bombs). But it helped end the war. I think it couldn't be helped," Kyuma reportedly said at the lecture.
Opposition party politicians criticized Kyuma over the gaffe, and even politicians from Komeito, the Liberal Democratic Party's coalition partner, demanded he resign.
Kyuma reportedly planned to meet top Komeito politicians and talk about the issue on Tuesday morning. But Komeito officials refused to meet the defense minister.
Toshiko Hamayotsu, deputy leader of Komeito, said on Tuesday morning that she wanted him to carefully think about whether to quit or not.
July 3, 2007
Article 2.Tojo's granddaughter vows to take on WWII issues if electedThe granddaughter of wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo said Tuesday if she wins election later this month for a seat in the Diet she will push to strengthen the military, rewrite the history of the Rape of Nanking and move to censure the United States for dropping atomic bombs on Japan.
Yuko Tojo is seeking a seat in the Upper House of the Diet. She is running as an independent after being rejected by the ruling conservative party.
Tojo told a news conference one of her primary goals in office would be to settle issues from World War II that remain deeply controversial.
On Japan's mobilization of tens to hundreds of thousands of "comfort women" to serve in front-line brothels, Tojo said the government was not directly involved, a commonly held belief among Japanese conservatives despite evidence to the contrary.
She also said the often-cited death toll from the Rape of Nanking -- as many as 300,000 -- has been grossly inflated by the Chinese and it must be corrected.
Tojo said the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki went "beyond all the savage acts that occurred in history up until that time," and accused the United States of being racially motivated. She claimed the U.S. would not have dropped such bombs on other "white" nations.
Japan, meanwhile, went to war to "liberate people of color from the white nations in the world" who were colonizing Asia at the time, she said.
Though Tojo's positions are far right of center, her candidacy has received attention because of her family legacy.
Tojo's grandfather, Hideki Tojo, Japan's prime minister from 1941 to 1944, is widely remembered as a warmonger who was behind Tokyo's invasions of its Asian and Pacific neighbors. It was Tojo who also ordered the Pearl Harbor attack that killed 2,388 American troops and brought the U.S. into World War II.
He was hanged by the Allies in 1948 after the Tokyo war crimes tribunal.
The Upper House elections are to be held on July 29.
July 3, 2007