Anti-fascist cooperation between the communist parties of China and Japan in past decades offers example for today

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has made a spate of provocative remarks and taken a string of reckless moves since last November. These include her repeated claims that a Taiwan contingency could constitute an “existence-threatening situation” and her advocating revising Japan’s Three Non-Nuclear Principles. This state of affairs bears an alarming resemblance to the historical context in which Japan waged its fascist war of aggression more than 90 years ago.

Referring to provocative remarks made last year by Takaichi regarding the Taiwan question, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), Japan should have reflected on the wrong path it took in the past, including its invasion and colonization of China’s Taiwan region.

It is a historical fact that the Communist Party of China and the Japanese Communist Party joined forces against Japanese imperialist aggression by translating and publishing Mao Zedong’s works. The strategies and experiences from that era remain highly relevant for visionary individuals in both China and Japan today.

Sanzo Nosaka, a co-founder of the JCP, was initially imprisoned in Japan for opposing the Japanese government. Later, he joined the Communist International (Comintern) led by Lenin. After staying in the Soviet Union for a period of time, he planned to return to Japan to continue organizing anti-fascist resistance. However, following the Japanese invasion of China, he instead made his way to Yan’an, where he established the Japanese Peasants and Workers School. The main purpose of this school was the ideological re-education of Japanese prisoners of war captured on the front lines.

In addition to professional revolutionaries such as Nosaka, the JCP leadership also included scholars and Sinologists. They set up a committee for the compilation and publication of Mao Zedong’s works. The CPC was unaware of the initial translation of some individual works. It was not until the translation of Selected Works of Mao Zedong that the CPC got involved. In 1961, Koji Anzai, a member of the Secretariat of the JCP Central Committee, visited China and signed an agreement on joint translation and publication with China’s International Bookstore, the predecessor of China International Book Trading Corporation. The JCP sent a group of Japanese Sinologists to join the translation team. This marked a phase of joint efforts by the two parties to translate and publish Mao Zedong’s works.

There was an interlude during this period. In the 1960s, differences emerged within the international communist movement. As a result, the direct cooperation between the two parties was suspended. The Chinese side then began to independently establish a book and periodical distribution network in Japan with the help of many former JCP members and friends who remained friendly to China.

The establishment of the Chinese Book Distribution Network in Japan was a typical example. The Oriental Bookstore in Japan originally started as Daian Co Ltd, an affiliate of the JCP. Its president Masayuki Yasui, who agreed with the CPC’s propositions, broke away from the JCP to establish the Oriental Bookstore independently. In the early days, the Oriental Bookstore faced great difficulties as the relatively low price of Chinese books at the time could barely sustain its daily operations. Therefore, Yasui promoted political theoretical works, such as those by Mao Zedong, alongside Chinese historical classics to Japanese universities and research institutes on Chinese studies, including the University of Tokyo. Gradually, the bookstore expanded its business. Having gained its footing, the Oriental Bookstore also published books after China launched its reform and opening-up policy, including a large number of Chinese language learning textbooks. Today, the Oriental Bookstore remains one of Japan’s most influential institutions for distributing Chinese materials, documents and classics.

There were many other similar bookstores in Japan, such as Uchiyama Bookstore, Liaoyuan Bookstore and Tomo Bookstore, which are well known to Chinese people. Consequently, there are three Japanese versions of Selected Works of Mao Zedong available in the Japanese market. In addition to the collected works, many individual works, such as On Protracted War and Talks at the Yan’an Conference on Literature and Art, were also widely available. These works are now collected in the National Diet Library of Japan and can still be found in some bookstores.

The most widely circulated work was Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong. For example, the edition translated and published by Kadokawa Shoten was edited by the famous Japanese Sinologist Minoru Takeuchi. According to Takeuchi’s memoirs, the Kadokawa Shoten edition sold 110,000 copies. Another edition, which was published by the Oriental Bookstore, was translated from the Chinese origin of Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong. Based on Takeuchi’s figures, total sales of various Japanese editions are estimated to exceed 1 million copies.

The history sketched above demonstrates that visionary members of Japanese society can take the lead and work with China and other Asian countries to forge strong combined internal and external pressure to effectively combat imperialism and fascism.

The resurgence of militarism under the Takaichi administration in Japan must be promptly exposed, sternly condemned and resolutely contained.

The reactionary moves are nothing but a transient countercurrent in a millennia-old history of cultural exchanges between China and Japan. They will inevitably be discarded by the Japanese people, and can in no way halt the irresistible advance of friendship between China and Japan in the long run.

The author is a professor at the School of International Journalism and Communication at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.