I read *An Atmosphere That Takes War Too Lightly* (by Masahiro Yamazaki, Asahi Shinsho). The book’s subtitle is “Modern Japan Following a Path Similar to the 1930s.” True to its title, it compares the present day with the 1930s and sounds an alarm regarding the attitude of modern people toward war—an attitude that treats it as something happening to others, almost like a game.
According to the book, pre-war Japanese people also viewed war as a kind of event and participated in it as spectators. This was because, right up until the Pacific War, war was something professional soldiers waged in foreign lands; Japanese soil never became a battlefield, nor were ordinary citizens caught up in the fighting.
Japanese society at the time was also plagued by rising prices, and an atmosphere of hostility toward China was rampant. The government focused on military expansion rather than measures to combat inflation, shifting its primary emphasis toward war. Media outlets—newspapers and radio—played a role, both overtly and covertly, in fostering this climate. In short, the entire nation underestimated the gravity of war. The public adopted the mindset of spectators, while the leadership was arrogant, seemingly using war to mask the fact that they had run out of economic solutions. The result, as everyone knows, was a catastrophic defeat that claimed the lives of countless citizens.
What, then, of modern Japan? People are indeed suffering from rising prices, and the government is concentrating on military expansion. Furthermore, the vast majority of the population has no experience of war and views it as something that does not concern them personally. In recent years, a segment of society has become increasingly vocal with aggressive, provocative rhetoric directed at other nations; such statements likely flow so freely because these individuals have never known war and perceive it much like a sporting event.
I am no exception. I have never known war, and it feels like something happening to others. In that sense, I, too, have taken war too lightly—a point on which I must reflect. I am grateful for this book, which prompted such self-examination.
Yet, to be perfectly honest, grasping war as a personal reality remains incredibly difficult. That said, we must strictly avoid the rashness of viewing war—at the very least—in the same light as games or sports. (Kei Kitajima)

※Translating Japanese articles into English with AI