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(★)(Translated by David Noble)(What led Japan to its disastrous war against the United States and Britain? Why was the notification delayed, giving rise to American vilification of Japan´s attack on Pearl Harbor without a declaration of war? In this ground-breaking book, former Japanese diplomat Iguchi Takeo looks at the failure of diplomacy before examining in depth Japan´s final memorandum to the United States and its delayed transmission to the Japanese embassy in Washington and thus to the US State Department. He finds that individuals in the military (and possibly the Foreign Ministry) colluded to delay Foreign Ministry telegrams to Washington to protect the surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor and in Southeast Asia ; the necessity of responding to an eleventh-hour telegram from President Roosevelt to the emperor also contributed to the delay. After Japan´s defeat, and faced with the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (the Tokyo Trial), such collusion was covered up in order to evade personal responsibility and protect superiors. Thus the whole issue of responsibility was left in a maze of silence and conflicting testimony. Postwar conspiracy theories lay the blame for war on Roosevelt´s provoking Japan into war and questioned the´victors´ justice´ of the Tokyo Trial. And the bleme for the delay in notification of termination of negotiations was placed on the Japanese embassy in Washington. Although such myths might be politically expedient and psychologically comforting, Iguchi believes it is crucial to move beyond ´victors´history´ or ´losers´history´ to uncover the impartial historical truth -both for their own sake and for future generations at home and abroad. ◆Iguchi Takeo [井口武夫] was born in Shanghai in 1930, graduated from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law in 1953, and earned an MA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at St. John´s College, Oxford University in 1956. After joining Japan´s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1953, he was posted overseas to the United Kingdom, the Philippines, France, and the United Nations in New York. He served as Japanese consul-general in Boston and as ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Bangladesh, and New Zealand [1991-93], and was a visiting professor at Tokai University Law School, visiting professor at International Christian University, and professor emeritus at Shobi Gakuen University, teaching international law and politics. He was a Japanese delegate to the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea[1971-80], and has written extensively on this subject. For the past decade he has written and lectured frequently on Japan´s Pearl Harbor diplomacy. Mr. Iguchi comes from a family of diplomats, as his grandfather was a prewar ambassador to France and foreign minister [1931-32], and after the war his father was ambassador to Canada [1952-54] and the United States [1954-56].) |
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