A Book That Tells Us about Jewish Spirit and Japanese Spirit

Nishimura Shingo, Member of the House of the Representatives
The more we look at the Russo-Japanese War, the more profoundly we feel the crossing of
the apocalyptic fates of the Japanese people and the Jewish people.
The Russo-Japanese War was not a mere incident during the imperialistic era of the late 19thand early 20th centuries, in which Japan, a Far Eastern country the with only thirty-some yearsof experience in modernization, defeated an Imperialist Russia ambitiously advancing towards
both Manchuria at the eastern end of the Eurasian Continent and towards the Korean Peninsula.
Nor was it merely a seismic shift in world history which marked the beginning of the end ofa five-hundred-year long rule over the colored Asian and African peoples by the European
whites, ever since Vasco da Gama sailed the route from Europe to India, rounding the Cape ofGood Hope in 1498.
The Russo-Japanese War was fought with a sense of desperation by the Japanese people,
holding the mythically eternal lineage of the Emperor, against Russia, which boasted the world’s
largest army. Japan won this deadly contest, risking her national existence, which led to an
attempt by the Jewish people to build a nation in Palestine, backed by a spiritual power that wasalso derived from myths, two thousand years after their homeland was destroyed by the ancient
Roman Empire.
And today, 108 years after the Russo-Japanese War, Far Eastern Japan and Middle Eastern
Israel stand as nations of people who recognize their mythical origin and derive power from it.
During the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 and 1905, within the Russian Army, fighting on the
Manchurian battlefield against the Japanese Army, there were two military men who were
determined to risk their lives to build a nation. One was a Finn named Gustaf Mannerheim, aRussian Army officer, who fought in the yellow-dusted wilderness of Mukden, and the other
was Joseph Trumpeldor, a Jewish Russian Army officer, fighting against the Japanese Army,
who was besieged in the fortress at Port Arthur on the Liaodong Peninsula.
Gustaf Mannerheim felt certain, throughout the battle against the Japanese Army, that even asmall country, if firmly united, could defeat a great power; he later became a hero who foughtfor the independence of Finland. He later fought against Russia for Finnish independence,wearing a white mantle. That is why he is called the “White General” in Finland today.
Joseph Trumpeldor fought against the Third Army, led by General Nogi Maresuke, of theJapanese Army, which besieged the fortress at Port Arthur. Trumpeldor is a founding father ofIsrael, who fortified his will to construct a state for the Jewish people while living as a P.O.W. at
Camp Hamadera, a Russian Prisoners of War camp, which was established at Takaishi and Sakai,
Osaka Prefecture in 1905, which, incidentally is my hometown.

1

He lost his left arm due to cannon fire from the Japanese Army during the fierce fighting
over the capture of the fortress at Port Arthur. He left the hospital after three months, wasdischarged from military and allowed to return home. However, he wished to return to the front
and the Russian Army appointed him to a low officer rank and permitted him to fight with asaber and a revolver. One cannot handle a small gun single-handedly. A Jewish officer was veryrare in the Russian Army, but the Russian Army recognized his valor and made him an officer
such that he could be armed with a pistol and a saber. Later, Joseph Trumpeldor became afounding hero of Israel, and the Israelis, out of love and awe, call him the “One-armed Hero”.
Recently, Mr. Eli-Eliyahu Cohen, the former Israeli Ambassador to Japan, has written thisbook, and I am very much honored to write this Preface with love toward my home country,
Japan, and his, Israel. Ambassador Cohen himself writes in this book, “It is my greatest joy toconvey how Joseph Trumpeldor lived, contributing his entire life to the cause of preserving his
homeland, to those trouble-ridden Japanese people and especially to young Japanese who are tolead the next generation.” And this is precisely what I feel in writing this Preface.
To know how Israel was founded and how her founding hero Joseph Trumpeldor lived a
devoted life is exactly the same as to know the spirit of the Meiji-period Japanese people, whofought against Russia, regarding it a joy to die for their homeland Japan, which in turn ignited afire of passion in Joseph Trumpeldor’s heart, urging him to create Israel as the homeland for the
Jewish people, who had been robbed of their homeland for as long as two thousand years.
Japanese soldiers whom Trumpeldor encountered as the enemy at Port Arthur were simply
amazing and were admired by all military attachés and observers from various countries. Ten
years later, European countries, including Great Britain, were engaged in World War I, andfought in the manner that the Japanese Army did during the Russo-Japanese War.
The Japanese soldiers who amazed European observers were all killed in action, as General
Nogi Maresuke, Commander of the Third Army, reported the following to the Emperor Meiji:“All the while, our officers and soldiers fought against the powerful enemy valiantly,
faithfully, loyally and fiercely, to the death, which was the inevitable result, some falling under
gunfire and others under blades. All of them jubilantly hailed to your Excellency and gladly
died.”
And, as this book describes, Trumpeldor himself fought, disregarding death and died smiling,
after the model of the Japanese soldier.
It is Great to Die for the Country, the title of this book, is what Trumpeldor inscribed in hisheart while spending time as a P.O.W. at Hamadera Russian Prisoners of War Camp in Osaka(1905), what he told his comrades just before his death (1920) and what now reads, inscribed on
the stone statue of a lion standing in front of his epitaph in Tel Hai in the northern part of Israel,
where he fell in battle.

2

Incidentally, author Eli-Eliyahu Cohen, former Ambassador to Japan, visited the Cities of
Sakai and Takaishi, my hometown, in 2007, the last year of his ambassadorial term, and stayed
at a hotel in Sakai. On that occasion, I was introduced to Ambassador Cohen by Shindo Akira of
the Japan Israel Friendship Association, and had the honor to dine with him.
The purposes of Ambassador Cohen’s visits to Sakai and Takaishi were to visit the site of theHamadera Russian P.O.W. Camp to which can be attributed the origin of the dream of building anation conceived by Israeli founding hero Trumpeldor, to look at the collection of material
concerning Trumpeldor exhibited at the Takaishi City Office and to visit the graves at the temple
in Izumi Otsu where 89 Russian soldiers, including 9 Jewish soldiers, who had died of illness orother causes while at the P.O.W. Camp, are buried.
During the dinner, Ambassador Cohen and I spoke much about Trumpeldor as this book well
documents. Here, I will refer to some other things I found very impressive in our dinner-time
conversation.
Before arriving at the hotel, Ambassador Cohen went to visit the Mausoleum of the 16th
Emperor Nintoku, the world’s largest front-squared, rear-rounded mounded tomb, located somethree kilometers north of Russian P.O.W Camp Hamadera. Describing this occasion, theAmbassador said, “I felt something spiritual there.”
I wondered, “How do you, a Jew, who believes in monotheism, feel something spiritual infront of the Mausoleum?” He answered, “Monotheism and belief in countless deities are thesame.” He continued to explain, “One is all and this is monotheism, while one is in all, and thatis belief in countless deities.” He was born into a family of Jewish religious leaders (Cohen)
who date back as far as three thousand years. I was told that he had learned Japanese martial artsand dedicated Iaido, Japanese sword-play performance, to the Yasukuni Shrine.
Regarding the Mausoleum of Emperor Nintoku, which Ambassador Cohen visited, allow me
elaborate. The Russian prisoners of war at Camp Hamadera were paid a monthly salary andpermitted to go out. Officers were particularly well-treated. Some officers were warmly invited
to civilian homes in the neighborhood. It is easy to imagine that, fully curious about Japan,
Trumpeldor was interested enough in the gigantic Emperor’s Mausoleum nearby to visit
himself.
Before leaving, I asked Ambassador Cohen, “I presume Israel possesses atomic bombs.
What do you say to that?” His answer was, “Whether Israel possesses atomic bombs or not, thepower of nuclear ambiguity is its deterrent effect.”
To return to Hamadera, which Ambassador Cohen visited, the western part is presently
land that has been reclaimed from the sea and has become a coastal industrial section. The
landscape at the time Trumpeldor stayed at Hamadera is completely different from that of today.
To the west, beautiful beaches with white sands and green pine trees stretched endless along3

Osaka Bay. To the east, fishing villages were scattered here and there and far away mountains
could be seen, among which is Mt. Kongo, standing majestically, famous for being related to
Kusunoki Masashige, the 14th century samurai leader who fought valiantly for the Emperor.
Trumpeldor must have seen all of this and that was exactly the scenery I myself enjoyed as alittle boy.
Trumpeldor wrote, “I grew up, looking up at the overwhelmingly majestic Caucasus
Mountains.” Indeed, he grew up looking up at the great Caucasus mountains and at Hamadera,
he saw the sea, white-sanded beaches with green pine trees to the west and Mt. Kongo to theeast, fermenting the will to found the nation of Israel someday. And finally he launched thereclamation of the wilderness, of Eretz Yisrael Shelanu (Our Land of Israel).
On April 18, 2010, three years after I had dinner with Ambassador Cohen in Sakai, I visited
the Ambassador’s private home at Maare Adomemu in Jerusalem and saw him again.
On the previous day, I visited Trumpeldor’s grave at Tel Hai and on the next day, April 19,
the Day of Remembrance for the Fallen Soldiers of Israel, I was in Jerusalem and attended the62nd Commemoration of Israel’s Independence.
On May 14, 1948, the first Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion (meaning “lion”)
declared independence in Tel Aviv. The Declaration of Independence began with the following
passage, clearly stating the inseparability of the identity of the Jewish people from the land:“Eretz Yisrael Shelanu was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious
and national identity was formed.” As soon as this Declaration of Independence was announced,
the Union Flags symbolizing the British trusteeship were removed from the land of Israel.
Simultaneously, neighboring Arab countries began invading and attacking Israel and thus
ensued the first Middle East Conflict. Since then, there have been four large-scale conflicts andso far, Israel has successfully emerged victorious. The spirit to valiantly fight for one’s
homeland that the Meiji-Era Japanese had demonstrated to Trumpeldor, founding hero of Israel,
has survived in Israel and has helped Israel defend herself.
Therefore, one European commented, “The 20th century saw the valiant Japanese warriors
turn into mean merchants and mean Jewish merchants into valiant warriors.” The turning points
for both Japanese and Jewish peoples came respectively as the defeat of Japan in 1945 and as
the foundation of Israel in 1948. These occurred almost simultaneously.
Historically, it is high time for Japan to get out of post-war peace and decidedly endeavor topreserve her national existence once again amid the tough and rigorous international
environment. Accordingly, the time has come when in order to become valiant warriors again,
we must learn from Trumpeldor and the founding spirit of Israel as this book superbly indicates.
In this sense, former Ambassador Eli-Eliyahu Cohen’s book is truly valuable to Japan and wemust be grateful to him for his great work.

4Now, let me introduce one more person, an Englishman, who refers to the mysterious
relationship that exists between Japan and Trumpeldor/Israel. He was a military man named Sir
Ian Hamilton. He participated in the Russo-Japanese War as a military attaché and observer andten years later, he fought in the World War I as the general who led the British Army’s
Dardanelles Operation. He admired the Japanese Army in the Russo-Japanese War and in theDardanelles Operation he admired the remarkable frontline performance of the “Zion Mule
Corps” transportation unit created by Trumpeldor, two thousand years after Rome destroyed
Zion.
After observing the Japanese Army in the Russo-Japanese War, General Sir Ian Hamilton
pointed out that what should be learned from Japan is the soldiers’ loyalty, saying, “We mustteach our children and infuse the military ideal into their minds. In order to deeply impress highrespect and admiration toward our ancestors’ patriotism on them, we must resort to every
possible means of influence such as love, loyalty, tradition and education, and work on thenext-generation of boys and girls.” (World History Changed by the Russo-Japanese War by
Hirama Yoichi.)And ten years later, Sir Ian Hamilton, General of the Dardanelles Operation, wrote about theZion Mule Corps under his command and led by Trumpeldor. “They had incomparable courage.
It was very clearly seen, considering the circumstance of soldiers in the trenches. For soldiers in
the trenches, they managed to suppress fear of approaching danger by solely concentrating on
the combat. However, men of the Zion Mule Corps had to not only hold themselves up amid
exploding cannonball fire, but also had to pull out mules too scared at cannonade to move. And
this was not at all easy.” (p.134 of this book)
The high regard for the Jewish corps by General Sir Ian Hamilton must have beenenormously encouraging and pleasing to Trumpeldor, who firmly believed that making the
Jewish corps during World War I that could develop into a prospective Jewish Legion, which
would certainly lay the foundation for establishing a Jewish nation in the future.
Greatly influenced by the way Japanese soldiers fought during the Russo-Japanese War,
General Hamilton set on educational reform in Great Britain. The result manifested itself ten
years later. The casualty rate of British public school students in World War I reachedexceedingly high figure. They shot out of their trenches, kicking rugby balls, and charged atenemy trenches.
General Sir Ian Hamilton became President Emeritus of Edinburgh University after heretired from military. And in 1920, amid criticism over the reckless charges that resulted inheavy casualties, the British Defense Committee edited the official history of the
Russo-Japanese War, writing, “The battle at Port Arthur will forever be referred to as an
example of heroic devotion and excellent courage.”5

Now, let me ask a question. In post-war Japan, at present, are our society and education duly
admiring, appreciating and mourning the courage and patriotic love of the white-sashed legionof three thousand officers and soldiers who died for honor, charging with drawn swords towards
the concrete Port Arthur fortress during the Russo-Japanese War or of young men of the special
attack unit who charged at enemy warships, who armed themselves with bombs, during theGreater East Asia War?
In Israel, they certainly admire and mourn their brave martyrs. On the front of Trumpeldor’s
grave in Tel Hai, are inscribed the words “It is Great to Die for our Country.”
During my stay in Israel, on April 19, Day of Remembrance for the Fallen Soldiers of Israel,
for two days and nights, the names of all of the deceased in battle were cited on and on over theradio. And on the afternoon of the Day of Remembrance, sirens sounded all over Israel, putting
the entire nation in silent prayer. I also saw the driver of the bus I was riding stop the bus at thetraffic signal, get out of the driver’s seat and stand up in silence. On the highway, I was told,
people stopped and parked their cars on the roadside, got out of their cars and prayed in silence.
Furthermore, they do not exclusively mourn the deceased of the 20th century alone. Israel
still remembers and admires the one thousand Jews who died for honor in 73 A.D. after fighting
for three years against the Roman Army, besieged at the Fortification of Masada, east of the
Dead Sea.
The Israeli Army’s enlistment ceremony is held at the Fortification of Masada, the place
where Jewish soldiers died for honor nearly two thousand years ago. The newly-enlisted hold anautomatic rifle in their right hand and the Old Testament in their left hand and swear, “Masada
shall not fall again.” This is the reason Israel has emerged through over sixty-five years of
Middle East Conflicts. Without this, Israel would not exist today.
Again, I ask whether Japan mourns and remembers the great souls of the deceased in battle.
Why can’t Japan’s Prime Minister visit Yasukuni Shrine to pay his respects? Consequently, canJapan continue to exist as a state?
I want readers to understand how urgent it is that Ambassador Eli-Eliyahu Cohen presents
Trumpeldor to Japanese readers in this book.
Let me emphasize the point again. If Japan continues to lazily dwell in a state of post-war
inertia, there will be no future for Japan.
So, now is the time for us to learn from Israel and Trumpeldor. This is, in other words, toreturn to Japan during the Meiji Period. Remember our ancestors’ devoted and passionate efforts
and honor and mourn them.
Israel and Japan are deeply united by a bond inscrutable to human understanding. This bondcan be seen, only if we Japanese pick up the link between what we were before the War andwhat we are after the War. To resume this linkage is to resume our history and to recover6

ourselves.
Lastly, let me discuss a Jewish couple I met in Jerusalem. The wife told me about the hiddenbond between Japan and Israel, as a living and breathing eyewitness, and the husband suggested
to me what I should learn form Israel.
Three years ago, in Jerusalem, I met Mr. Nahum Admoni, former Director of Mossad (theIsraeli Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations) and his wife, Nina.
Nina told me, knowing that I am Japanese, “Seventy years ago, when I was seven, fleeing
from Nazis, I escaped Europe with my parents, crossed Siberia and boarded a boat, arriving atTsuruga, Japan. Then, we stayed in Kobe for a while. I never forget how kind Japanese people
were to us Jews then.” As she was telling me her story, Nina’s beautiful blue eyes were filledwith tears.
It was Lieutenant General Tojo Hideki, Chief of Staff of the Guandong Army that saved
many Jewish people who fled from Nazi-controlled Europe, traveled through Siberia andarrived at Manchu-li. Ignoring protests from Nazi Germany, Lieutenant General Tojo prepared a
special train to carry the Jews and sent them from Manchu-li to Tsuruga of Japan Proper. Andamong these Jews was seven-year-old Nina. At seven, Nina clearly remembered how kindJapanese people were in Tsuruga and in Kobe.
It is widely known that diplomat Sugihara Chiune at the Japanese Consulate in Lithuania
issued 2000 visas to Jewish refugees from Poland and saved 6000 of their lives. Sugihara was
not the only one. Besides Lieutenant General Tojo Hideki, Chief of special service of theJapanese Guandong Army, Major General Higuchi Kiichiro, ordered his men to help twenty
thousand Jews continuously fleeing Siberia safely pass through Manchuria and saved their lives.
These examples show that the Japanese Army systematically saved Jewish people.
Our country traditionally makes much of the sympathetic sentiment of warriors represented
in the Japanese Bushi-do chivalry and upheld the ideals of peaceful cooperation among the fiveethnics that comprised Manchuria, and of abolishing racial discrimination and of co-prosperityof various ethnics in the Joint Declaration of the Greater East Asia Conference held in 1943.
These were not mere words, but Japan actually carried them out.
However, after the War, this courageous humanitarian practice on the part of Japan was
intentionally suppressed. To some (but not a few) Japanese people who received benefits fromJapan’s defeat in the War, Japan before the War had to be “militarist”, otherwise, it would bevery inconvenient to them.
What Japan actually accomplished before the War was told to me by Nina, who lives far
away in Jerusalem, Israel.
Nina’s husband, Mr. Nahum Admoni, former Director of Mossad, said to me, “What is theJapanese Government doing to bring back the kidnapped Japanese citizens from North Korea?”

7I was at a loss for words. I could not answer his question.
Israel chases after perpetrators of terrorism on the Jewish people to the ends of the earth andnever fails in extracting revenge. Consequently, no terrorist dares to abduct Israelis.
He said, seeing me unable to answer, “Exchange is one option. In the past, during the war,
we caught a piece of intelligence that Syrian generals were going to inspect the front. So, we
ambushed and caught them, and managed to exchange them for many Israeli soldiers held as
prisoner of war.”
Hearing him, I remembered the Japanese Government and particularly, the face of the thenForeign Minister. Some time ago, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il’s son, Kim Jong Nam wascaught trying to enter Japan using a fake passport and the Japanese Government and the Foreign
Minister at that time wasted no time in sending the man back to North Korea, aboard an airplane,
first-class. When my comrades and I began action to urge the Japanese Government to exchange
the dictator’s son for Japanese who were kidnapped, the very son was on his way home, aboard
an airplane. But I was too ashamed to tell this incident to the former Director of Mossad.
In September 1972, eleven Israeli athletes and coaches participating in the Olympic Gamesin Munich were held hostages by members of a terrorist group called Black September and allof the hostages were eventually killed. Against this terrorism, then Israeli Prime Minister Golda
Meir, then in her late seventies and a brave fighting woman, immediately ordered the“Operation Wrath of God.” The operation’s goals were to bomb the radicals’ basecamp in
Palestine and to kill all members of Black September, the perpetrators.
Air attacks instantly began and two hundred members of the Palestine Liberation
Organization were killed. Still, the vengeful pursuit of Black September by Mossad patiently
continued over several years until finally they killed the chief terrorist. No terrorist incident of
this kind has ever reoccurred since then.
In January, this year (2013), when ten Japanese engineers were killed by terrorists at In
Amenas, Algeria, I remembered former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. What would she
have decided to do?
And I paid special attention to Prime Minister Abe’s address on his conviction and policy,
that was scheduled several days later. Prime Minister Abe did not mention anything about
retaliatory measures against this tragic incident, unlike Golda Meir.
How did the terrorists take the Japanese Prime Minister’s address?

Certainly, they thoughtthat the Japanese were easy terrorist targets, without any risk of retaliation. Consequently, theJapanese will likely continue to be targets of terrorism.
So, what Japan should learn from Israel is that it takes severe firmness to maintain the stateand defend her people and land. Whether or not we understand this firmness decides, forexample, whether Japanese people in In Amenas can safely go about their business, or whether

8kidnapped Japanese will ever be released, or whether the Senkaku Islands are secured orwhether our country remains as Japan.
I give my most sincere and heart-felt gratitude to Mr. Eli-Eliyahu Kohen, former Israeli
Ambassador to Japan and expert in Japanese martial arts, who, through this great book, vividly
introduces to us Joseph Trumpeldor, a founding hero of Israel, from whom we have much tolearn and who fought valiantly against the Japanese Army, losing his arm, and a one-armed hero
who later spent time at the Russian Prisoners of War Camp Hamadera in Osaka.

9