Photo/Illutration The original post on its official X account by the 32nd Infantry Regiment includes the term "Great East Asia War." (Captured from X account)

A Ground Self-Defense Force regiment posted a wartime term on its official X account that critics say was used to legitimize Japan’s invasion of neighboring nations.

The 32nd Infantry Regiment based in Saitama city used the words “Great East Asia War” in a post about a joint memorial ceremony held with the United States on Iwoto island, which was called Iwojima during World War II.

The regiment described the island as “the site of some of the fiercest fighting during the Great East Asia War.”

Users on the platform, formerly called Twitter, pointed out that the Imperial Japanese government used the term during World War II to legitimize its invasion of neighboring nations.

After Japan’s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor ignited the war with the United States, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Hideki Tojo officially decided to name the conflict as the Great East Asia War.

The General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (GHQ) banned use of the term during the occupation.

On April 8, the GSDF regiment deleted “Great East Asia War” from the original post and replaced it with a different version of the event.

At his April 9 news conference, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said the original reference was deleted because the government in general does not use Great East Asia War in its official documents.

He also said the regiment had no ulterior motive in its initial use of the term.

“In order to express the situation on Iwoto, which was a scene of heavy fighting, the name of that time was used,” Kihara said.

Even after Japan regained independence in 1952, the government has not decided on a single name to refer to the fighting until 1945.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi acknowledged there was no single term, adding that the decision about what term to use depended on the context of the situation.

According to Defense Ministry sources, the term Great East Asia War is often used in documents of some SDF-related facilities and during conversations between SDF members.

Each SDF unit administers its own X accounts, and there have been a number of past examples in which units have used the Great East Asia War term.

A Defense Ministry source said such references would be looked into.

GREATER DEBATE URGED

Issei Hironaka, an associate professor of modern Chinese history at Aichi Gakuin University, said while there was nothing wrong with using the term, it was important to put it in proper historical perspective.

Japan entered that war after expanding its invasion of China and Southeast Asia from the 1930s and finally colliding with the United States.

The term was initially used by the Imperial Japanese government in line with its goal of establishing a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere by liberating Asian colonies from their Western colonizers.

But because Japan was also exploiting and oppressing those Asian nations, the term can be seen as an attempt by the government of the time to legitimize its invasion of those nations.

Hironaka said a discrepancy with accepted public awareness and the SDF may have arisen because SDF members used the term without realizing the different levels of understanding of what went on in Asia during the war.

He said similar differences arise over what to call the war based on the knowledge and position of each individual.

“No common term has been certified in Japan to describe that war,” Hironaka said. “I hope this occasion will serve to deepen discussions after a broader assessment of history.”

Yoshinaga Hayashi, a former major general in the Air SDF who later headed the Military History Department at the National Institute for Defense Studies, said that when he was in the ASDF, “Great East Asia War” was close to a taboo term.

He said he felt the latest use of the term was made without deep thinking.

“There were no signs of cautious consideration and checking, and it could lead to mistrust and suspicions about whether the SDF has truly broken away from militarism,” Hayashi said. “I hope the Defense Ministry will review SDF member education and make the effort to build up trust.”

(This article was written by Daisuke Yajima, Kazuki Uechi and Yosuke Watanabe.)

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