Founding Myths

© MMXI V.1.0.2
by Morley Evans

We have an image of Japan as a warlike nation that was pacified when it was defeated in 1945. Is this true?

The Empire of Japan existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1863 until 1945, 82 years. Japan had a martial culture before, but it learned all of its imperial tricks from the Dutch, French, Germans, British and Americans. The United States has had an imperial history since before 1776, 235 years. The Dutch, French, Germans and British have had imperial histories that go back much farther. The Japanese organized the Imperial Army and Navy along the lines of the people Japan copied. Japan adopted a foreign policy that mimicked its mentors too.

Countries all have their founding myths. They are all false, devised as they are by the people who run the country. Like everyone else, Americans need to get past their founding myths that the United States is not an empire and that it is peaceful until attacked by evil-doers: the French, the British, the Barbary, the Mexicans, the Spanish, the Germans, the Austrians, the Hungarians, the Italians, the Filipinos, the Lebanese, the Cambodians, the Laotians, the Russians, the Japanese, the Soviets, the Koreans, the Chinese, the Vietnamese, the Hondurans, the Hawaiians, the Panamanians, the Cubans, the Libyans, the Iraqis, the Afghans, the Iranians, the Nicaraguans, the Pakistanis, the Serbians, the Ottomans, the Egyptians, the Palestinians, and the Canadians, let's not forget the Canadians. That is quite an outstanding record for only 235 years. It is unique in annals of mankind.

The list above does not include native American Indians who are usually forgotten. A few conquered tribes were: the Delaware, the Tuscarora, the Cherokee, the Muskogee, the Seminole, the Huron, the Algonquin, the Ottawa, the Shawnee, the Miami, the Illinois, the Choctaw, the Pawnee, the Lakota, the Cheyenne, the Sioux, the Blackfoot, the Navaho, the Apache, the Shoshonee, the Duwamish, the Nez Perce and the Arapaho.

Perhaps, the founding myth we know of Japan was created by us during World War II as well as by the people who were running the Empire of Japan after 1863. They are the ones who defeated the Samurai who had run things before, without an empire.