On the 10th, at the award ceremony held in Oslo, Norway, representative Tanaka Terumi, representing the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Victims Organizations (Hidankyo), which received the Nobel Peace Prize, denounced the Japanese government's refusal to provide state compensation to atomic bomb victims. This was the first time that a representative of atomic bomb victims had traveled abroad to indirectly appeal to both domestic and international audiences that the Japanese government is an irresponsible system, and that even after the war, it has followed the principle of state non-blame for atomic bomb victims based on the Meiji Constitution.
Talking about the Atomic Bomb Victims Relief Act enacted in 1994, the representative said, "There has been no compensation at all for the hundreds of thousands of dead, and the Japanese government has consistently refused state compensation and has continued to only take measures limited to radiation damage to this day." He continued, "I repeat once again," and appealed to the attendees and the world, "The Japanese government has not paid any compensation at all to the people who died from the atomic bomb. I want you to know this fact."
International political scientist Seiko Mimaki commented in an interview with the Asahi Shimbun, "Unlike Germany and Italy, which lost in World War II, Japan has clearly drawn a line between military and civilian compensation in postwar compensation. However, if the state is allowed not to take responsibility for the citizens who suffered devastating damage from the reckless war it started, the state will take war even less seriously. In order to prevent this from happening, we continue to demand state compensation."
Japan did not have a bottom-up popular uprising by the so-called third estate, nor did it establish a constitution through a civil revolution. The Meiji Constitution avoided deliberation and proposal in parliament, and was a pseudo-constitution established before the opening of parliament in order to suppress the civil rights movement. Tanaka's remarks in Oslo made it clear to the world that Japan has not yet surpassed the Meiji system. It is no wonder that Japan is despised as a developing country in terms of spiritual and cultural aspects.
Note: The final item of the post on the 9th, "83 Years After Pearl Harbor, Atomic Bomb Victims Go to Oslo: Questioning Body Uniform Obedience and Internal Security Law: The Result of "Opening the Country to Expel Foreigners"③"
"■The Atomic Bombing is the Result of Invasion and Aggression - Condemning the Emperor's Non-Responsibility
Postwar intellectuals liked to quote Maruyama Masao's "System of Irresponsibility". However, if you read the Meiji Constitution before being told by Maruyama, you will find that the prewar Japanese irresponsibility system was established by the Meiji Constitution. Article 3 states that "The Emperor is sacred and inviolable", and the Emperor's non-responsibility and the state's non-responsibility were established. "Even if damage is caused by the illegal acts of the state or public officials, the state shall not be liable for compensation."
According to Maruyama, the problem was that prewar Japanese people were considered subjects and had not been able to form a self-governing citizenship. Even under the new constitution, it cannot be said that a self-governing citizenship that was fully independent was formed, and there is still no prospect of how to change this. As symbolized by the Abe Cabinet, the storm of conservative reaction is choking the postwar democracy. The "Peace Preservation Law" and physical obedience that remain in the hearts of postwar Japanese people are the decisive barriers.
I would like to ponder the words of former Nagasaki mayor Hitoshi Motoshima (1922-2014), who was shot after answering a question at a city council meeting saying, "Emperor Showa is responsible for the war," when he said, "The dropping of the atomic bomb was the result of aggression and aggression. Motoshima was a rare Japanese politician who denounced the irrational lack of accountability for Emperor Hirohito, the supreme commander of the Japanese military, the main actor in the war of aggression."
Please refer to the following.