Monday, March 1, 2010

A wish to be somebody....

I read someone’s blog a while ago about an idea of “If you can be someone for one day, who do you want to be?”

The blogger’s response was that he would like to be a beautiful celebrity (I forgot her name), just to experience being a woman and being famous for a day.

I did use my limited imagination to think about my answer to this question. I have few persons on my mind, however, my final chosen one is to be Japanese Emperor Akihito.

Actually, I want to be him to do one thing which may actually take more than 1 day, but anyway what I would do if I were him is to follow what Willy Brandt did in Dec 1970.

After being elected as the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1969, when Brandt visited the famous Warschauer Kniefall, he apparently spontaneously, knelt down at the monument to victims of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The uprising took place during the Nazi German military occupation of Poland, and the monument is for the victims killed by the German troops who suppressed the uprising and deported remaining ghetto residents to the concentration camps for extermination. That famous sentimental gesture was later widely appraised by many people as the symbolic moment of showing German’s complete acknowledgement of their sin, in return general forgiveness was offered by most people in the victim countries.

Certainly, German has no longer a country ruled by facism or Nazism. Yes, there are still some extreme right wing groups in Germany who openly admire Nazi. However, at least most of German’s foreign policies with military-related actions that ‘could’ be accused as the re-uprising of Nazism were not being actually accused. Whatever actions that those neo-Nazi groups took within German were not exaggerated as to be something that the Germany country or the general German population themselves adore. As such, Germany and its people are able to have equal and respectful relationship with most people in the former Nazi victim countries.

I wish that can take place between Japan and its neighbors as well.

Therefore, if I were Emperor Akihito, I would demand a visit to Nanjing. Then, I will make an unannounced stop to the “Memorial for compatriots killed in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Forces of Aggression” and get down there on both knees for a minute in silence, then I will give three deep bows and leave without saying a word. Cos, my action would speak itself.

My action would create an aftermath of shock in Japan, China and Korea as well. I’m not sure if most Chinese and Koreans would accept my gesture the way that Poland, and other Nazi victims did for Brandt. However, I think that would probably the easiest and most effective way to put an official closure to all the pain and suffering caused by the Imperial Army’s crime in WWII, and hopefully, the post-war born people and the leaders in the region can put that constant resurging issue of ‘Japan has never apologized for its war crime’ to rest once for all.

Well, it is just my fantasy, I don’t mean to be trying to be a national hero or something. But, if we can ever have a rare chance to be somebody, I think we should try to doing something good with such gift.

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