Nariaki Nakazato - Neonationalist Mythology in Postwar Japan: Pal’s Dissenting Judgment at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal

LEXINGTON BOOKS

Lanham Boulder New York London

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Nakazato, Nariaki, author.

Title: Neonationalist mythology in postwar Japan : Pal's dissenting judgment at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal / Nariaki Nakazato.

Description: Lanham : Lexington Books, 2016. | Series: Asiaworld | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016000938 (print) | LCCN 2016004486 (ebook) | ISBN 9781498528351 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781498528368 (electronic)

Subjects: LCSH: Pal, Radhabinod. International Military Tribunal for the Far East : dissentient judgment. | Tokyo Trial, Tokyo, Japan, 1946-1948. | NationalismJapanHistory20th century. | Pal, RadhabinodInfluence. | JudgesIndiaBiography.

Classification: LCC KZ1181 .N35 2016 (print) | LCC KZ1181 (ebook) | DDC 341.6/90268dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016000938

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

For Naoko, Kiyohito, and Midori

The present work originated from a series of informal conversations with younger Japanese researchers specializing in South Asian studies about the existing state of affairs in Japan. Concerned with a growing neonationalist political trend in Japanese society since the 1990s, they would sometimes illustrate that trend with the strange and distorted images of such Indian historical characters as Rash Behari Bose, Subhas Chandra Bose, and Radhabinod Pal, who were being freely exploited by Japanese politicians, journalists, and scholars to justify this countrys acts of aggression in Asia prior to 1945. There was also the implication that if their counterparts active in the late 1960s, the generation to which I belong, had taken a firmer stand against these unscrupulous, revisionist attempts, things would not have taken such a turn. At the same time, the aforementioned Indian personalities were natives of Bengal, and Bengal specialists in Japan and elsewhere, including myself, had amassed a large body of knowledge concerning the regions modern history, anthropology, politics, and literature. So with the encouragement of my younger colleagues, I decided to write a small book, or maybe an article-length essay, on Radhabinod Pal, the least known of the three in India, yet the most important in the context of contemporary Japanese neonationalist politics as a bitter critic of the Tokyo trial. The objective was to inform the general reader of Pals Japanese image, by way of a critical analysis of the political propaganda surrounding that image. After more than half a decade since that decision, what was then a modest research plan has grown into a full study of a minority view expressed at the Tokyo trial. I hope that the present volume will be of some use to those who take serious interest in the two closely connected issues of the prolonged controversy between Japan and its neighbors over war responsibility and the rapid rise of neonationalism in Japan illuminated by Pals decision and its subsequent treatment by Japanese scholars and politicians.

In course of the writing of this book I have incurred heavy debt of gratitude. First, I would like to thank those who graciously granted me interviews, without which my research plan would never have been brought to fruition. In particular, the late Mr. Prosanto Kumar Pal, the eldest son of Justice Radhabinod Pal, offered me his complete cooperation by answering innumerable questions and furnishing valuable source materials. Two other members of the Pal family, Mr. Pratip Bijoy Pal and Dr. Debiprosad Pal, were equally helpful and encouraging. That being said, let me make it clear that I alone, and no members of the Pal family, am responsible for the historical interpretation of their fathers life set out in the present book. Mr. Bimal K. Ray not only took the trouble to introduce me to Mr. Prosanto Kumar Pal and Mr. Pratip Bijoy Pal, but also informed me of the remarkable life of his own father. Mr. Justice Chittatosh Mookerjee was good enough to spare me an interview out of his busy schedule. Mr. Biswanath Bajpayee met me at short notice despite being in convalescence, and Mr. Samar Dutta showed me around the flat in his house that Pal and his family used to rent.