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Sixty years in the mountains

By M.Behnoud

In 1974 the news exploded like a bomb: A Japanese soldier found in the mountains of a small Japanese island was unaware that World War II had officially ended thirty five years earlier, and so had spent these years guarding his post. Many writers were moved by the news and offered their views. Among the most famous was Jean Paul Sartre who coined the phrase "Japanese soldier" which came to express in some languages someone who maintained total allegiance to a cause.

Last week the news appeared that two other Japanese soldiers were found living in the mountains of the Philippines for the past sixty years. According to news reports, these two men were afraid of the punishment they would receive from the Japanese military should they abandon their posts and so continued their guard. The mountain villagers reported seeing the men only on occasion in winter - when they came down to the foothills in search of provisions. The story reads like a fable. Is it not true, though, that more and more people are setting aside their interest in fables after realizing that in many cases fantasy can not rival the intrigue of reality?

In our daily routines when encounters such as a dead cell phone zone while chatting with a friend, a car break-down in the morning, an inoperative computer at a local bank or the airline office seem as ifs the end of life, staying out of touch with the rest of the world for sixty years is really unthinkable.

How can the two elderly men be expected to know that Japanese nationalism and militarism was blown away by two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And that from its ashes rose another Japan,
one with a different sort of power – based on invention and industry. A Japan that has attained such respect from other nations that it is now offered a Security Council seat, all without waging a war or even maintaining much of a military. It must be hard for the elderly Japanese soldiers to grasp this new reality.

There is another angle from which to view this news. Power seekers will heave a collective sigh of nostalgia for bygone times. They will cling to a useless desire for loyal, unquestioning, obedient soldiers. They must recognize that in this age of information, few will stay in their grave-like trenches awaiting orders. Today individuals, regardless of how much propaganda and disinformation they're exposed to, will seek the truth and find it. Then they no longer will be the "Japanese soldier." These two recently uncovered examples are rare, even if a few like them can still be found. They must be relegated to the museums as examples of a race of fully loyal and wholly obedient individuals.

If we look closely we see that those who have sacrificed humans at the altar of power - regardless of how they frame their actions - are no longer safe. They are right to fear that the world no longer rears "Japanese soldiers." The thought police too will be exposed sooner or later. And it won’t take people sixty years to come down the mountain.

China, the country that certain leaders look upon with great affection and advocate its imitation, had for many years built a wall of isolation around one fourth of the world's population and sealed off every crevice for world news. Even today, it has only opened a window to let in the rays of commerce and industry but not of information. Mao’s fabled marches and cultural revolutions are melting away. It is only a matter of time before a new chapter based on first-hand experience completely transforms the old ways.

Thirty years ago when the first story of the "Japanese Soldier" burst on the global scene, there still existed a search for meaning among the youth that inspired awe and respect for the soldier. Now, the news of the two elderly Japanese would be met with amusement and pity. In an age of crumbling ideologies and fading nationalistic causes, the world is no longer a place to idolize ignorance and blind allegiance. The understanding that being human itself is the highest value and that no ideal is worth the sacrifice of humans, reduces the power players, even if they've set China as their model, to fighting for a ghost. Models have changed, as have people. Even there are still those who view the past with a certain nostalgia.