Reports that Japanese soldiers and civilians committed mass suicides at the tail end of World War II on Saipan and Tinian to avoid capture have been greatly exaggerated, according to historian Haruko Taya Cook, one of the presenters at the history conference held Saturday at the Saipan World Resort.<\/p>\n
This presentation may have been one of the most interesting and important presentations that could literally revise parts of World War II history in the Pacific as we know it.<\/p>\n
Cook told the audience that what is referred to as the \u201cSaipan gyokusai\u201d which means \u201cself-destruction,\u201d may have been a myth.<\/p>\n
Cook said that despite the horrible scenes of suicide and murder, fear and misery, desperation and despair that took place in 1944 at key historic sites on Saipan, the facts do not support the conclusion that all Japanese civilians and soldiers \u201cpreferred death to surrender.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cook said a vast majority of these Japanese nationals survived the Battles of Saipan and Tinian, only to be expunged from the war story by wartime propaganda on both sides of the conflict. <\/p>\n
Cook\u2019s research and study on this so-called \u201cwartime myth\u201d was based on interviews with Japanese survivors and the eyewitness account of one of the U.S. Marine Corps interpreters who experienced the battle from the other side and shared his unique perspective on the dangers the creation of the myth would have on the future course of the war against Japan.<\/p>\n
According to Cook, the report of mass suicides by the Japanese military and civilians written by Robert Sherrod appeared on the Japanese press \u201cmore than a month\u201d after the battle on Saipan. Cook\u2019s research on Sherrod identified the journalist to be from Time magazine and his story appeared on Aug. 7, 1944.<\/p>\n
Cook told Saipan Tribune said that some Japanese did kill themselves but majority survived.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut after Saipan fell officially, in Japan everybody was dead and some were already captured and they were not allowed to survive. In Japan, the military rule was nobody was allowed to survive and they extended that to the civilians,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n
Cook also said that the Japanese government at that time knew that many surrendered to U.S. forces.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they never announced it, they reported officially that everybody was dead,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were killed by their own government, often called haji (shame) and that your family\u2019s name will be tainted,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Cook told Saipan Tribune said that schoolteachers taught the children how to \u201cdie\u201d if they were captured by Americans.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeachers told them that if they were captured, they will be raped if you\u2019re a woman and then killed if you are a guy. You\u2019ll be put under the truck or tanks,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n
Cook said that many eyewitnesses later said this was not true.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who knew, who went back to Okinawa, told them that the Americans were not like that, but since they were \u2018officially dead\u2019 through the Japan government, they killed themselves through fear and was told to do so,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n
In her correspondence with retired Lt. Robert Sheeks of the U.S. Marine Corps, she learned that he had spoken with many Japanese civilians and soldiers hiding in the cliffs at the time.<\/p>\n
According to Cook, Sheeks witnessed what happened in the war and that he wrote to the U.S government but it didn\u2019t believe what had happened and his letter was censored.<\/p>\n
Cook said that many had wanted to survive and only a few committed suicide, but there will always be that question lying around\u2014Was it the war propaganda that hid the true nature of the so-called \u201cSaipan gyokusai\u201d or was it the Japanese government killing them off? Or is it all a myth and that the truth lies with the accounts of those long gone?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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