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Korea, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands (120,000). Mainland China (711,000). Southeast Asia and the Pacific (1,299,000). Okinawa and Ogasawara (811,000).

The numbers in parentheses show how many Japanese soldiers and civilians were killed during the Second World War. According to the data, there were more Japanese casualties in Japan and Southeast Asian countries, where massive air strikes by the U.S. were concentrated, than in its colonized regions, including the Korean Peninsula.

Hisao Ishiyama, chairman of a Japanese education association, noted that the figures accurately represent how Japanese people perceive World War II: "Japan was not defeated by the Asian populace," he said. Japan lost to massive attacks by the U.S., and this is the reason why Japanese people still maintain deep-rooted contemptuous views of Asian countries, Ishiyama continued.

Ishiyama presented this analysis of Japan and World War II in his report at an international conference, "The Historic Meaning of the End of World War II and Implications for Today," which was held in Seoul on September 13 by Eastasis Research Foundation to commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the end of World War II.

He argued that the U.S. is responsible for Japan not atoning for what it did during the war. For example, Ishiyama said, the U.S. did not impeach Japan's emperor after the war ended, but rather used him to strengthen its cooperation with the government of the war-ravaged country. This move led many Japanese people to hold complicated feelings as to whether to feel regret for the acts committed by prior generations during the colonial era, the scholar said.

Such a 'confused perception' was more deeply ingrained into Japanese people's minds as right-wing politicians spearheaded an education policy in recent years that banned school textbooks from negatively describing many facets of Japan's past, including wrongdoings during the colonial period and World War II.

"Japanese citizens have gotten more confused about what they should feel responsible for," he said. He added that Asian countries also held
lukewarm attitudes toward making known the brutality of Japanese colonial rule, which did not change until the early 1980s due to the massive economic aid received from Japan prior to that. This position also helped strengthen Japan's perception of its neighbors as inferior, he said.

Ishiyama continued by saying that a majority of Japanese people still see themselves through the prism of the U.S., which defeated their country decades ago, and such an anachronistic way of thinking contributes to Japan's lack of proper appreciation of its neighboring countries, Ishiyama said.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]