"We Were Deceived by Emperor Hirohito"

IN a war, no one wins. War doesn't only inflict suffering to those who are attacked. In some cases, the aggressors can be the indirect victims of the hidden political agenda of the ruler.

While still living in Japan, Mitsuhiro Tanaka worked as a woodcutter. After being drafted, he was trained in Manchuria, China, at the age of 20, before being assigned as a warship machinist in Indonesia. 

When Japan lost the war, Tanaka came to Magelang and subsequently decided to live there and marry a Chinese woman. Tanaka reasoned that at that time, there were no more ships carrying prisoners of war, and even if he insisted on returning home, he was sure he would be killed by the Allies.

The Grief of Ianfu

Tanaka knew that Indonesian girls were used as sex slaves or ianfu by the Japanese military in Magelang. They were placed in about 20 houses run by local people. For the military personnel, there were military brothels or ianjo in Semarang and Surabaya. They built a lot of ianjo in Surabaya because the city was the base for the Navy or Kaigun. Meanwhile, there were two houses built by the Japanese military in Flores, into which girls from Java were sent and placed. After a month, they were transferred to Timor-Leste or other islands and returned to Flores two or three months later. 

The girls were 15-20 in age, mostly from Manado because they have fair skin, similar to Japanese women. One ianjo was occupied by around 50 girls. By order of the Japanese military, the facility was managed by gonzoku, civilians working for the military. Tanaka was tasked with transporting soldiers, while the responsibility of transporting women was given to other officers. To transport the girls, the Japanese army used wooden boats that could carry around 500 people.

Tanaka suspected that becoming an ianfu was against the girls' wish, because when he visited the ianjo, there was a girl who was crying. He asked the girl, "Why are you crying? Didn't they pay you with money? Wasn't there an agreement?" 

With tears flowing on her cheeks, the girl replied, "I shouldn't be working like this. I didn't come from far away to be like this. Why do I have to serve ten to twenty Japanese soldiers everyday? I was tricked. I cannot accept this kind of work."

However, according to Tanaka, some of them liked the profession, because there were girls who smiled and approached the Japanese soldiers (Koichi Kimura who interviewed Tanaka stated that Tanaka didn't have a gender perspective).

Deceived by the Emperor

Tanaka was one of about 2,000 Japanese soldiers who chose not to return to their country and defied Emperor Hirohito's order to surrender to the Allies. He took part in the struggle for Indonesian independence by engaging in guerrilla warfare. Tanaka taught battle tactics to Indonesian comrades such as Sarbini, Ahmad Yani, and Gatot Subroto. General Soedirman even gave an Indonesian name to him, Soeroto.

Tanaka didn't feel defeated even though the Japanese military lost the war, as he helped gain the independence for Indonesia alongside his Indonesian comrades. He didn't regret it at all. "I can praise myself, this is a Japanese man who deserves praise. We, Japanese soldiers, have been deceived by the Emperor. He said he was a God who we couldn't see. We were fools that we got deceived by him. The Emperor must take responsibility for this war." 

"If only I had understood this problem long ago, I wouldn't have gone to Indonesia."

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