FROM MARCO POLO BRIDGE TO PEARL HARBOR: WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE?

The War Responsibility Reexamination Committee, an ad hoc in-house panel of the Yomiuri Shimbun, delved thoroughly into, combed through and examined historical developments during the period from the early 1930s to 1945. The Yomiuri Shimbun presented its readers with its findings of a yearlong "War Responsibility" series ending on Aug 15, 2006, the 61st anniversary of the end of World War II. They comprehensively touch on Japan's mistakes committed at various key points from the Manchurian Incident to the Soviet Union's entry into a war with Japan and named those who should chiefly be held responsible for each event. They elaborate upon the accountability of those who were so deeply responsible and summarize a host of historical lessons from which they should leave for the future generations to learn.