Yasukuni Shrine and the legitimacy of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal (Video)

I definitely think it’s a mixed bag issue. Generally, the application of ex-post facto laws is illegal in most modern legal systems. In most cases, a party may not be tried for the breach of a law that did not exist at the time the alleged breach was made. Technically, the Tokyo Tribunals were illegal (or highly flawed) in that they employed new post WW2 type laws against humanity.

The revisionism comes in with what to make of this. Some revisionists argue that since the rulings were flawed and legally unfair, Imperial Japan was absolved of any war guilt. This is a logically flawed argument. The manner was wrong, but the fact remains that other numerous crimes could have been prosecuted. Imperial Japan could have been guilty of a host of other laws that existed at the time. One major question I have is why the Allied Powers did not use many of the same laws which were employed against Nazi Germany in the Nuremburg Trials? Why use the Tokyo Tribunal as a legal “showcase” if you will, and thus risk de-legitimatizing the outcome in later generations.

Regardless, this is all focusing on the surface and not paying attention to the substance. During the war Imperial Japan was indeed guilty of massive atrocities. The purpose of any post-war trial is to highlight those acts. When you lose, it is the intrinsic nature of war that the brunt of the responsibility falls on the loser. Victor’s justice, yes. But any unfairness can be addressed in later generations if done even-handedly. While it is true, (and desirable) that the Allies come clean about the fact that they committed the same crimes (mass bombings, mass rape, equally abhorrent treatment of POWs, pursuit of imperial possessions), such facts do not absolve any party of its crimes. The initial post-trial is a symbolic act of closure. Any feeling that “victor’s justice” is wrong, would best be dealt later on in highlighting and bringing a more balanced picture of the war activities to light. For example, I certainly think that more recent works regarding Russian treatment of Germans following the collapse of Nazi Germany, attempts of colonial powers to hold on to their possessions, Allied treatment of enemy POWs, and so forth, balances out the often heavy handed focus on Axis crimes.

What troubles me is by focusing on the technical illegality of the rulings, the Japanese right wing effectively skirts the substance of the trials– the conduct of the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied countries.