78 others in ASDF wrote essays for competition won by fired chief of staff

Thursday 06th November, 03:10 PM JST

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mareo2 at 05:42 PM JST - 6th November

The Education Division of the Defense Ministry’s Air Staff Office had told ASDF officers that writing an essay for the competition would help in their training, the officials were quoted by DPJ lawmakers as telling the party panel in a meeting.

LOL, what kind of training? Filling your friend's competition with essays or political indoctrination?
sabiwabi at 06:10 PM JST - 6th November

The Education Division of the Defense Ministry’s Air Staff Office had told ASDF officers that writing an essay for the competition would help in their training,

But if you do anything but parrot the government's view, you get sacked!
apecNetworks at 06:28 PM JST - 6th November

Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada separately told a session Thursday of the House of Councillors Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense that he plans to encourage Tamogami to voluntarily return his retirement allowance to the public coffers.

I disagree, he should be able to keep his retirement. The problem is the position he was in, ASDF Chief of Staff Gen, and was making a political statement contrary to the Govt. position. Now that he is a civilian, the political implications are gone.

Anyone on JT know a link to the other essays from the ASDF? It's not posted on the APA site.
GG2141 at 06:49 PM JST - 6th November

What was the topic of the essay?????????????

or was it just "write an essay"???
GW at 07:47 PM JST - 6th November

Its pretty clear this contest was for right wing nutters to come out of the closet & re-write history of WWII that Japan can be "proud" of.

lets see if any of the group of 78 get the ole kubi!
mareo2 at 08:44 PM JST - 6th November

According to the MOD, which made the report to a DPJ meeting of its foreign affairs and defense sections, last May, when solicitation began for the essay contest “True Outlook for Modern and Contemporary History” sponsored by the APA Group, which manages a hotel chain and other businesses, the Education Division in the Air Staff Office [under the Chief of Staff’s command] encouraged all its forces stationed in Japan to enter it. As a result, besides Mr. Tamogami, whose essay won the top prize, 78 sent in their entries after filing reports to their superiors [which Mr. Tamogami failed to do, as required by regulations]. None of them won prizes.

http://son-of-gadfly-on-the-wall.blogspot.com/

Im not a lawyer, but I think that we can say that is about revisionism.
OssanAmerica at 09:33 PM JST - 6th November

Having your own opinion is fine and dandy, but saying, "The atrocities >in Asia did not happen" is not OPINION, it's denial of facts.

Smith have you read the essay? Nowhere does it state that the "atrocities in Asia did not happen". In fact, the word "atrocities" does not even appear anywhere.
bamboohat at 09:58 PM JST - 6th November

Well, if this was conspiracy of right wing nutters to claim that Japan wasn't acting aggressivley, then it would follow that they were victims of U.S. aggression. Which would make it kind of funny that a bunch of right wing nutters are trying to rewrite history so they can claim victimhood.
Disillusioned at 10:24 PM JST - 6th November

I would also be interested in knowing the criteria of the essay. And, the purpose, for that matter. - A little off topic, but from all of the jr and sr high school books I've read WW2 seems to have been omitted. This would mean most Japanese have very little, or no, formal education on the events of WW2. It should come as no surprise this joker has come up with a load of clap trap, which resulted in getting himself fired. Ask an average 30 something Japanese person about what happened in Singapore or New Guinea during WW2 and you will not get a conclusive answer.
dontpanic at 10:37 PM JST - 6th November

Setting aside the topic for a moment, the purpose of the competion is to give the essays prominence using the APA corporate name and Japanese businesses history of philanthropy.

Unfortunately, theyve made an obviously poor attempt to manipulate the competition. Tamogami was ASDF Chief of Staff, his own people have submitted a large proportion of the essays and oh yes, the organizer was Tamogamis friend.

Whether you believe in his revisionism, or whether the military should be allowed to influence opinion is mute. Tamogami has destroyed his credibility and that of any opinion he might have wanted to profer.
jeancolmar at 11:06 PM JST - 6th November

Surprise, surprise, big surprise: the Japanese military is a hotbed of ultra-rightist pollution.

Thank heavens for Article 9.
teck at 11:48 PM JST - 6th November

The fact that he won the competition, out of so many others, goes to show that there are some in Japan (the people who gave him the prize) who share the same sentiments.
ptolemy at 12:55 AM JST - 7th November

Good sheep never question, they just walk down the corridor of steel to the knives.
ca1ic0cat at 03:17 AM JST - 7th November

If the chief of staff won the competition then I wonder if the fix was in. Sort of like sumo.
tako10 at 06:51 AM JST - 7th November

FYI: Here’s the summary and excerpts from Gen. Tamogami’s original essay:

Japan built infrastructures, schools, universities, and so forth, and contributed to the development and population increase in Manchuria, Korea, and Taiwan. We liberated the Chinese and the Koreans from their oppressive regimes. The Japanese built colonies where Yamato, Han, Manchurian, Mongolian, and Korean could live in harmony without discrimination. Prime Minister Konoe decided to attack the Nanjing Government because he was provoked by Chiang Kai-shek’s act of repeated terrorism. In the US, FDR also induced Japan to attack Pearl harbor, which was a result of the Comintern’s conspiracy. Throughout the history of human beings, who rules and whom to be ruled could have been only determined by the act of war. If Japan did not attack the US, racial equality we achieved today could have been postponed for another couple of centuries. (I do not guarantee the accuracy of my translation, so please also read the original if you are interested. I tried to summarize without exaggerating the original.)

http://www.apa.co.jp/bookreport/images/2008jyusyousaiyuusyu.pdf

Except the conspiracy theory, Gen. Tamogami’s essay is almost plagiarism of Chinese website justifying Chinese oppression over Tibet.

http://www.china.org.cn/china/LhasaUnrest/2008-03/27/content13697341.htm

http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/zt/zgxz/t385907.htm