Japanese Politician Quotes

Hideki Tōjō

Tarō Asō

Junichiro Koizumi

Morihei Ueshiba

Yoshirō Mori

Kōki Hirota

Mitsumasa Yonai

To me, the appeal of opera lies in the fact that a myriad of singers and instruments, each possessed of different qualities of voice and sound, against the backdrop of a grand stage and beautiful costumes, come together in one complete and impressive drama.

Junichiro Koizumi

I ask you to remember that the Japanese troops are a strictly disciplined force and perform their duties with as little harmfulness as possible.

To practice properly the Art of Peace, you must: Calm the spirit and return to the source. Cleanse the body and spirit by removing all malice, selfishness, and desire. Be ever grateful for the gifts received from the universe, your family, Mother nature, and your fellow human beings.

Morihei Ueshiba

Once a fight has started, if you get involved in thinking about what to do, you will be cut down by your opponent with the very next blow.

Yagyū Munenori

If the plan [to intercept the shogunate emissary to the Kyoto court] is to be carried out, it can only be done with men from the grass roots. To wear silk brocades, eat dainty food, hug beautiful women, and fondle darling children are the only things hereditary officials care about. To revere the emperor and expel the barbarian is no concern of theirs. If this time it should be my misfortune to die, may my death inspire at least one or two men of steadfast will to rise up and uphold this principle after my death.

I investigated reported Japanese atrocities committed by the Japanese Army in Nanking and elsewhere. Verbal accounts of reliable eyewitnesses and letters from individuals whose credibility is beyond question afford convincing proof that the Japanese Army behaved and is continuing to behave in a fashion reminiscent of Attila and his Huns. Not less than 300,000 Chinese civilians were slaughtered, many in cold blood.

The west has always shown a sympathetic, although patronizing, appreciation of the old Japan. Many a foreign observer would remark with a sigh: 'What a pity that things of the past, of beauty and joy forever, should be so mercilessly sacrificed on the altar of modernism!'

Toshio Shiratori

Why does everybody not sing a national anthem all together? The player who cannot sing a national anthem is not a Japanese representative.

One culture, one civilization, one language, and one ethnic group.

It may be inappropriate to put it in this way, but the atomic bombs and the Soviet entry into the war are, in a sense, God's gifts. Now we can end the war without making it clear that we have to end the war because of the domestic situation. I have long been advocating the conclusion [of the war], not because I am afraid of the enemy's attacks or because of the atomic bombs or the Soviet participation in the war; The most important reason is my concern over the domestic situation.

Mitsumasa Yonai

When reflecting upon it today, that the Pearl Harbor attack should have succeeded in achieving surprise seems a blessing from Heaven. It was clear that a great American fleet had been concentrated in Pearl Harbor, and we supposed that the state of alert would be very high.

It becomes essential to choose one's path. Life consists in making these choices. One develops by choosing. It requires strength to become a child of God...

Toyohiko Kagawa

The world is facing a historic turning point because the system of materialistic liberalism has come to a deadlock.

Kingoro Hashimoto

People with high ideals don't necessarily make good politicians. If clean politics is so important, we should leave the job to scientists and the clergy.

Michio Watanabe

The war was started as the result of a mistaken intuitive "calculation" which transcended mathematics. We believed with a blind fervor that we could triumph over scientific weapons and tactics by means of our mystic will.... The characteristic reliance on intuition by Japanese had blocked the objective cognition of the modern world.

Hasegawa Nyozekan

I understand that the bombing ended the war, and I think that it couldn't be helped.