布拉德福德-史密斯 一个美国人去日本（以及回来）

Bradford Smith: An American to Japan (and Back)

布拉德福德-史密斯 一个美国人去日本（以及回来）

1941 年底，珍珠港事件和太平洋战争爆发后，史密斯应邀作为日本问题专家公开发表演讲。 他发表了一系列关于 "我们的敌人--日本 "的演讲，并在杂志上发表了一系列文章。 他的 "致日本人民的信 "发表在 1942 年 2 月的《基瓦尼斯》杂志上，随后被《读者文摘》摘录，信中表达了他的理解，即普通日本人并不想要战争，但他指出战争已经来临，并预言这将是日本历史上最具破坏性的冲突，因为强大的美国人民将寻求全面胜利。 "我们有战斗的目标，而你们一无所有"。

史密斯随后在 1942 年初的《美洲》杂志上发表了两篇文章。 这两篇文章自称是客观的研究报告，但实际上却是宣传演习。 "1942 年 3 月发表的《日本的思想》声称，日本人的性格可归结为 "神道、鼓道 和武士道"，即对天皇的崇拜和武士的忠诚准则，这些都超过了个人的权利。

"日本赖以生存的符号是一种文化的符号，这种文化一直从个人的灵魂、思想和命运的角度进行思考。 人作为人的尊严，以及我们曾经为之奋斗并将再次为之奋斗的个人自由，在日本并不存在"。

史密斯的文章在公众中广为流传，加利福尼亚州共和党众议员卡尔-欣肖（Carl Hinshaw，大规模排斥日裔美国人的直言不讳的支持者）在国会记录中全文转载了这篇文章。

不久之后，史密斯又发表了第二篇文章《日本： 美女与野兽"。 在这篇文章中，他试图解释似乎爱美的普通日本人为何会做出 "南京強姦案 "等野蛮行径。 他用构成日本人 "民族性格 "的不同价值观来解决这一明显的矛盾。 他坚持认为，这些价值观中包括无节制的性行为、对人的生命的漠视，以及缺乏基于崇高道德和精神原则的宗教。

In the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack and the outbreak of the Pacific War in late 1941, Smith was invited to take a public role as an expert on Japan. He responded with a set of talks on “Our Enemy-Japan,” as well as a series of magazine articles. His “Letter to the People of Japan,” published in Kiwanis magazine in February 1942 and then excerpted in Reader’s Digest, expressed his understanding that the average Japanese had not wanted war, but noted that war had come, and warned prophetically that it would be the most devastating conflict in the history of Japan, since the powerful American people would seek total victory. “We have something to fight for; you have nothing.”

Smith followed this with a pair of articles that appeared in Amerasia magazine during early 1942. While they purported to be objective studies, they were in fact exercises in propaganda. “The Mind of Japan,” which appeared in March 1942, claimed that the Japanese character was reducible to “Shinto, Kodo, and Bushido,” that is, to Emperor worship and a samurai code of loyalty that outweighed the rights of the individual.

“The symbols by which Japan lives are the symbols of a culture which has ever thought in terms of the individual soul and mind and destiny. The dignity of man as man, the personal freedoms for which we have fought and are fighting again have no existence in Japan.”

Smith’s article received widespread public exposure, and was reprinted in full in the Congressional Record by California Republican Rep. Carl Hinshaw (an outspoken proponent of mass exclusion of Japanese Americans).

Shortly after, Smith published a second article, “Japan: Beauty and Beast.” In it, he sought to explain how ordinary Japanese people, who seemed to love beauty, could commit barbarous acts such as the “Rape of Nanking.” He resolved this apparent contradiction in terms of the different values that made up the “national character” of the Japanese. Among these values, he insisted, were uncontrolled sexuality, disregard for human life, and the absence of a religion based upon high ethical and spiritual principles.