By today, November 6, 1944, one full year has passed since the nations of East Asia, rallying around this Empire, made a joint declaration of their common war objective. This one-year period was a momentous period, a period in whcih [sic] the war of greater East Asia has added to its intensity and entered a decisive stage. The most amusing fact in the military development during this period is that all the trimmings have come off like cosmetics from the Anglo-American war aims, exposing the true nature of their ambitions. The pious cants they had repeated of freedom and emancipation of mankind as their objective in this war were not only incapable of deceiving the peoples of East Asia, but were given the lie before the world public by their own daily acts of aggression.
The United States and Britain are countries rich in material resources and sufficient in means without having to steal Asia's riches. Despite the fact, or rather because of the great riches they possess, their ambition and greed have been whetted and their politicians are committing an unforgivable crime against humanity--both against the Axis nations and their own peoples: against the Axis nations, they act on a programme of conquest and slavery, and against the peoples of East Asia, on an intensified programme of oppression and exploitation. Against their own peoples, the masses of the Anglo-American peoples, those politicians are committing a most hideous crime of dumping young lives into plague-infested jungles and into the unknown depths of the ocean.
It is with these acts that those politicians have come to testify to the whole world by themselves the fundamental difference between the war aim of Nippon as shared by the countries of East Asia and their own, which they claim to be the war aim of the United States and Britain. There is every reason to expect today that the masses of the Anglo-American peoples will come to realize the uselessness and unreasonable character of their Governments'
war conduct, and strongly object to the political measures imposed on them by their administrators. Thus I believe that the pulbic [sic] awakening to the comtrasting [sic] character of war aims and the confrontation of the enemy administrations against their peoples can easily become the cause of a new turning point of this war, in this present historic development.
This present war was first bred in the inordinate ambition of the United States and Britain to assert their ruthless imperialism at the expense of the existence of the Japanese Empire. Armed clash was made inevitable when those two countries tried to suffocate the Japanese people with economic blockade. Japan had to rise in self defence at whatever cost against the brute force which sought to deny her rightful existence and the natural peaceful development of the nation.
What Japan wants and has wanted always is to eliminate political dictatorship and economic monopoly from the world, and create mutually benefitting international relations through the full understanding and respect of the will and sovereignty of each race and State. It is not permissible from this standpoint that any nation should assume itself superior to the rest, and impose its culture upon the rest, oppressing the other nations' cultural patterns, monopolize the world resources and markets, and usurp the economic and commercial freedom from the rest of humanity. Peace will never be kept under a system that allows for that.
The Japanese Government wishes to share in the duty for the honourable task of rebuilding the world. The Joint Declaration of Greater East Asiatic Nations embodies the concrete principles to be applied to East Asia in this enterprise. It was because the various East Asiatic nations realized that their reedom [sic] and liberation can be achieved by the exclusion of Anglo-American oppression and aggression that no sooner had the Anglo-American military influences been ousted from their territories than they entered into relations of co-operation and alliance with Japan and stood on the common front against America and Britain.
Now that they have rid themselves of the shackles of Anglo-American military influences, these countries have now started to stage a national struggle, an entirely new fight, against America and Britain which have begun again to invade East Asia. This struggle is no longer a partial resistance offered in colonies against their rulers but a sacred war to defend the national sovereignty already firmly established and the peoples independence. Thus, the present war which at first broke out as a measure of self-existence and self-defence of Japan has now developed into a war of common defence of all East Asiatic nations. Japan as well as the East Asiatic countries are fighting to protect their independence and sovereignty and, at the same time, want to form and maintain a strong common front against their common enemies, American and Britain, because they mutually respect one another's independence and sovereignty.
This idea of national independence and mutual co-operation and assistance among the nations is a fruit which the East Asiatic nations have achieved through the trials of the current war. The Japanese Empire is firmly
convinced that this idea is an essential prerequisite to the establishment of true peace of the world.
The laying of the foundation-stone for peace, which Japan intends to establish, is not limited to the East Asiatic area alone, but what Japan really and sincerely desires is to establish the foundation for world peace by restoring East Asia, which has hitherto been oppressed and maltreated by the Anglo-American Powers, to its normal and justified position. Consequently, we will absolutely do away with the racial prejudice and discrimination, do our efforts toward the promotion of the characteristics of each and every nation without interfering with the internal politics of each country and with due respects to the traditions of each nation, and also exert our best efforts toward the stabilization of the world and the promotion of the national living by discarding the closed-door policy in accordance with the mutual economic assistance principles. And we will heartily support the speedy realization of an international structure based on mutual assistance and friendship with due respects to the sovereign independence of each nation.
The unjust and self-concentrated international order that makes wars necessary must be eradicated from the very foundation, and needless to say it is all-important to establish a condition of non-intimidation and non-aggression. It nas [sic] been Japan's national policy to further friendly relations with all nations and to contribute positively to the world's culture. Particularly since the Meiji era, Japan's foreign policy has been to avoid the use of military force except for self-perservation [sic] when the very existence of the nation is threatened.
However, America and Britain are intent on monopolizing their control over the world so as to be able to dominate the world order in their favour and to continue their exploitation of other peoples of the world in the post-war world order.
Contrary to the objectives of the Anglo-Americans, Japan and other nations of East Asia are waging a war of defence for the very existence of their countries, rejuvenation of East Asia, and construction of peace the world over. We are thus fighting a sacred war. As long as the Anglo-American enemies tenaciously continue their hostilities for the purpose of enslaving the peoples of East Asia and eradicating their nations, the Japanese Empire is determined to fight to the very last.