Fifty years after the end of World War II, the Japanese armed forces are rising again. And this time, Japan is winning.
The revival of the Imperial military is taking place in World War II combat novels that have become popular in Japan, after being nearly taboo for decades. Dozens, if not hundreds, of such war fantasy books have been published in the past few years, and in many of them, history is rewritten so that Japan triumphs in battles it actually lost.In "The Big Reversal," by Yoshiaki Hiyama, Japan's super-battleship Yamato, which was sunk by American planes in the real war, is saved from that fate by a freak of nature and goes on to decimate the U.S. Navy. In "The Decisive Battle on the American Mainland," by the same author, Japanese troops storm ashore in Washington state and liberate Japanese-Americans interned in California.
There have been many novels about World War II published in Japan in the past 50 years, like "The Human Condition," by Junpei Gomikawa, and "Fires on the Plain," by Shohei Ooka. But such books have typically had an antiwar flavor, depicting the horrors that befell soldiers.
The newer books, which are pulp fiction, not serious literature, present combat as a form of entertainment and often include battlefield maps and drawings of bombers attacking and ships being blown up. Such books have been rare in a nation that is wary of reawakening militarism or of stirring up anti-Japanese feelings in other countries that still recall Japan's aggression before and during World War II.
"It was considered an act of glorification to even touch upon war," said Shin Niina, an editor at Chuokoron-sha, a leading publisher of the war novels, as well as the publisher of the Japanese-language version of the American journal Foreign Affairs.
Now, Niina and others say, attitudes about the war might be relaxing a bit as a new generation coming of age has no memory of the conflict and often little knowledge of Japan's militaristic past because the subject is whitewashed in Japanese textbooks. Indeed, the main readers of the new books are young men, from high-school age to their 30s, he said.
The paperbacks, published only in Japanese, are being called war simulation novels because they imagine what would happen if Japan had taken a different course in World War II. The most popular ones can become best sellers, though most have only mediocre sales.
Perhaps the most popular example of the genre is the "Deep Blue Fleet" series, written by Yoshio Aramaki and published by Tokuma Shoten. It centers on Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, the real-life naval commander who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
The admiral is reincarnated in a parallel world and, looking back on his past life, decides that ultra-nationalism prevented Japan from managing the war rationally. He plots to wage the war over again and stages a coup to install an ally as prime minister.
Armed with weapons more powerful than those it had in the real war, Japan captures Hawaii and gives it its independence from the United States and destroys the Panama Canal.
Japan also behaves honorably. It declares war on the United States rather than mounting a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. And where Japan brutally colonized its Asian neighbors before and during the real war, in the novels it fights to free Asia from Western colonialism and allows free elections in Manchuria.
"I think our assimilation policy is wrong," a man who becomes the prime minister says in the first volume of the series. "Asian countries must be treated equally."
Not all the war novels have Japan behaving so well. In Hiyama's book about the invasion of the American mainland, Japanese troops rape and kill a squad of female American soldiers.
Americans are often portrayed as devious and racist. "The Japanese are a totally different race from us, like dolphins and chimpanzees are," an FBI agent says in Hiyama's novel. "It is impossible to understand them."
There does not appear to have been any significant negative reaction to the novels, inside Japan or from abroad, although publishing industry officials say there have been some complaints that the books glorify combat or are anti-American.
Shinji Miyadai, a professor of sociology at Tokyo Metropolitan University, said the books were popular only among "history maniacs" who can appreciate the changes made by the simulation. He said the novels would not lead to an increase in militarism in Japan any more than did war comic books and war video games, which existed in the past.
Aramaki, a science fiction writer and college literature teacher who has written 43 of what he calls "virtual reality" war novels, defended his books, saying they stirred interest among young people in World War II, a subject not taught well in schools.
As for possible reaction from abroad, Aramaki said: "I hope they would understand that this is separate from reality. These are fictions."
A small sampling of the letters received by Aramaki shows a variety of reactions from readers.
"After reading your books and your postscripts, I realized I need to learn about real wars," a 25-year-old man wrote. A housewife wrote that his books portray "the sleazy American sense of justice," and "characteristics stemming from a multiethnic state that drives them to incite war somewhere in the world."
Not all of the books pit Japan against the United States. In one book, Japan helps liberate Britain from Nazi Germany.
Some of the books deal with more modern themes. Of particular concern in Japan now is the issue of whether to send troops abroad to take part in U.N. peacekeeping efforts or other missions, which some say would be a violation of the nation's postwar constitution.
In the war to drive Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991, Japan sent no troops and was criticized for taking too long to offer financial aid. In "The Second Gulf War," by Eiji Oishi, Japan takes part in the Middle East fighting. The result is that Islamic fundamentalists begin terrorist attacks in Tokyo.
Despite defending his books, Aramaki said that with the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II being commemorated this year, he and his publishers were thinking of restraining advertising because "there's this wind blowing against what we're doing." He also said he was considering having Japan ultimately lose the war when the series ends.
Some other novels already have Japan losing the war or particular battles. "If Japan consistently wins, it makes people feel it's a fake," said Niina, the publishing company editor. "It lacks sophistication."