During an out-of-body experience, I learned something that I'm not sure is true. When I was in elementary school, I had a few out-of-body experiences, and since then, I've occasionally seen the future or the past, or timelines, in my dreams. Among these visions, there was an answer to the question of why Japan went to war.
I learned this over 30 years ago, but no one else has said the same thing, so I thought it might be my imagination. However, I'll write it down for the record, in case it's useful. I think I've written this before, but I'll write it again.
First, you need to accept the existence of timelines. This is a somewhat spiritual topic.
The direct trigger for the war was that a shrine maiden at the Ise Grand Shrine received a message from the gods saying that Japan would win if it went to war. However, the reason the gods said this is actually quite complex. In reality, the gods knew that Japan would lose the war. However, they said that Japan would win in order to motivate people to fight. There's a question of whether the gods lied, but it was a necessary deception for a greater purpose. The gods made Japan fight a war and were bombed, in order to protect the entire Earth.
To understand why, you need to understand other timelines.
In addition to the current timeline, there are several timelines where the Earth was destroyed and then reset.
The timeline that seemed to be going the best was one where Oda Nobunaga survived and expanded to the Pacific coast of North America. In that era, a large country called Japan existed along the Pacific coast, encompassing what is now South America, Southeast Asia, and even China.
In that world, Japan was very peaceful, but Europe, Africa, and the eastern United States were still in a medieval state, with slavery still prevalent. The Earth was divided into two major regions: the peaceful Pacific coast of Japan and the hellish conditions along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, in Africa, and in countries like Russia. The situation in the white nations was even worse, with constant warfare, poor security, and the casual use of slavery. In contrast, Japan had no slavery, and everyone lived equally and peacefully.
Until the 20th century, these two regions existed separately, with each region conducting its own affairs. They were distant stories, and while there was trade, the cultures were largely separate.
However, with the development of nuclear weapons in the 20th century, this became impossible. Regional conflicts began to lead to the destruction of the entire planet. While nuclear weapons were not as powerful as they could be, the development of bombs capable of destroying continents or even the entire planet led to a continuous increase in their power. This was understood to be a theoretical power, but one that was not fully understood until it was actually used.
In one of those timelines, a leader of a certain country decided to use nuclear weapons during a conflict, and that was the first time nuclear weapons were used. As a result, a continent was completely destroyed, the Earth's orbit changed, the atmosphere was blown away, and everyone died instantly from suffocation while experiencing a moment of darkness.
There were multiple timelines like this, each with slight variations. However, in each timeline, a country would start a conflict, and nuclear weapons with the power to destroy continents or even multiple parts of the Earth would be used.
Most of these timelines involved a peaceful Japan along the Pacific coast, ruled by Oda Nobunaga. In those timelines, the Earth was destroyed, and then reset multiple times, perhaps dozens of times.
The gods were troubled by this.
They wondered what to do. In reality, the gods thought that timeline was the closest to ideal. Therefore, they wanted to preserve the timeline where the Pacific coast of Japan remained peaceful.
However, it seemed difficult to achieve.
Even though they are called gods, they cannot do everything they want. The gods I'm referring to are those who manage the Earth, not the all-knowing, all-powerful god who created the universe. These gods can manipulate timelines, and they send fragments of themselves as messengers or send messages to guide the Earth. Many servants work alongside the gods.
However, it was impossible to change the self-awareness and pride of the Earth, especially that of white people, and it was impossible to prevent the white nations from destroying the Earth with nuclear bombs.
If we couldn't use the timeline where Oda Nobunaga conquered the Pacific, then it was unavoidable. We decided to go back to that point, about 500 years ago. We went back to the time of Oda Nobunaga and made him retire without advancing into the Pacific, so that Japan would remain only in Japan. There are several timelines regarding Oda Nobunaga's actions, some where he stays within Japan, and others where he stays within the Vatican. We sent a message to Oda Nobunaga, telling him that if he advanced to the Pacific coast, the Earth would be destroyed. We asked him to reconsider. This was a spiritual message, conveyed through a form of channeling. Oda Nobunaga understood and agreed.
There are many timelines of Oda Nobunaga, and in reality, initially, Oda Nobunaga did not intend to unify Japan, but he was a warrior because the Japanese gods asked Tokugawa Ieyasu for help. However, in the first timeline, Tokugawa Ieyasu showed no enthusiasm for unifying Japan, and eventually, he was attacked by the Imagawa clan and lost, leading a life of defeat. So, although he was originally asked to help Tokugawa Ieyasu unify the country, he thought, "If he doesn't do it, I will," and rewrote the timeline to move towards unifying the country. In reality, Oda Nobunaga is a fragment of a god (or an angel), which is why he could do that. And things were going relatively well, but in the second timeline, he was killed in the Honnoji Incident. The prevailing theory is that it was Akechi Mitsuhide, but it probably was a scheme by Hashiba Hideyoshi. However, it seems that he didn't realize who the real culprit was until he was killed, and even after his death, it was difficult to determine who the real culprit was. It is only now, viewed from the perspective of the modern era, that we have come to understand that Hashiba Hideyoshi might have been the real culprit. Therefore, who the real culprit is is unknown while the timeline is being rewritten. However, after being killed, he temporarily ruled as a lord in the Shimane area, but because the Sengoku period had ended, he couldn't achieve much. Then, the timeline was rewritten, and Oda Nobunaga was given a second chance, avoiding the Honnoji Incident, unifying Japan, and then advancing to the Pacific coast. There are several interesting episodes from that time, such as inviting a young man who would become the next chief of a major Indian tribe to Japan and having him stay for about a year to foster friendship. That Indian young man later persuaded his tribe to cooperate with Japan when he returned to America. He was a young man from a warrior tribe, and there was a sumo wrestling exhibition where the next chief of the Indian tribe competed against a sumo wrestler, who threw him far away with great force, demonstrating the difference in strength. The many samurai who were watching cheered loudly. Initially, that Indian young man didn't get along well, but when he was called to the bedroom by a geisha from a Kyoto brothel, he was overjoyed and quickly became familiar with Japan. In terms of politics, in that timeline, Oda Nobunaga ordered the implementation of presidential elections. Before the presidential election, a system was created where candidates were recruited from all classes, including farmers and non-samurai, based on the principle that each would govern themselves, and they would hold elections to govern themselves. Then, a presidential election was created where only lords could be candidates. This created a foundation for acquiring a vast territory. As a result, things went well around Japan and along the Pacific coast, but as mentioned above, the Earth was destroyed. The current timeline is a continuation of the timeline where Oda Nobunaga avoided the Honnoji Incident and lived on, but pretended to be dead.
The current timeline was not actively chosen, but rather, we are in the current timeline as a result of the preferred timeline reaching a dead end. And that is, in a sense, an experiment. There is no guarantee that the timeline on the other side will succeed, even if the one here fails. As expected, in this timeline as well, white nations began using nuclear bombs, and the Earth has been shattered several times, and continents have been blown away. In most cases, continents were blown away, but there were also timelines where the Earth was shattered. Even if the Earth remained, it was a world filled with radioactivity, where a rain of death fell. The gods considered all of these incomplete timelines as failures and decided to abandon them.
In any scenario, even if Japan remained a small island nation, the Earth would essentially be destroyed. This caused even the gods to be troubled. Therefore, the gods decided to prioritize the survival of the Earth, aiming to prevent a large-scale nuclear war, even if the outcome was uncertain. Previously, the goal was to maintain Japan's dignity, prevent its territory from being invaded, and ideally, for Japan to manage a large territory and for many people to live peacefully. Therefore, a timeline where Oda Nobunaga ruled the Pacific coast would have been ideal. However, even if Japan remained a small nation like it is now, the same outcome would occur, which was truly troubling.
Even though there were times when Oda Nobunaga subdued surrounding countries, Japan had not waged war against surrounding countries in the modern era. However, as mentioned above, the situation became quite difficult, so the goal shifted from achieving a world without any nuclear war to minimizing the impact of nuclear war.
Observing the situation, nuclear bombs were becoming increasingly powerful, and wars were breaking out, leading to the use of the most advanced nuclear bombs at that time. The power of these bombs would determine whether a continent or the entire Earth would be destroyed.
Therefore, a plan was conceived to use a nuclear bomb at the initial stage when it was about to be created, to demonstrate its power and instill fear, and to prevent its further use.
At that time, many countries had lost contact with the gods, and Japan was almost the only country that maintained a connection with the gods.
Even when prime ministers or leaders of other countries received messages from the gods, they were either ignored or dismissed as mere imagination or inspiration. Because Japan was a country connected to the gods, the will was secretly conveyed to the Emperor and the Prime Minister through the medium of a shrine maiden, and the permission to go to war was granted. From ancient times, the country of Japan has followed the instructions of the gods, and those instructions have always been accurate. This time, they were confident that they would win because the gods had said they would. However, this turned out to be incorrect, because the gods had chosen a battle that they would lose. In reality, the shrine maiden was very skilled and had a high degree of reliability, having rarely made mistakes. This time, she was trusted for that reason. However, the defeat in the war led to doubts about the gods, as it resulted in a failure to predict a major event. Before the war, the words of the gods were absolute and trusted as always being accurate. However, as a result of the defeat in the war, people were swayed by theological arguments questioning whether the gods existed, and people began to believe that politics and military affairs should be managed by human reasoning, distancing themselves from the gods. In reality, this was something the gods did not intend, but they overlooked other things because they prioritized the survival of the Earth.
As mentioned earlier, the gods cannot control everything in detail. However, after the gods convey their will through a shrine maiden, humans take that will and implement it in politics and military affairs. However, the actual outcome is something that even the gods cannot know. Even though the gods cannot know the outcome, they can transcend time and space, and once a timeline is established, they can observe the future and know the result. If the result is a failure, they start over. This is a continuous process.
Fortunately, in the current timeline, the Earth has survived so far. However, while the will of the gods is involved, the details are beyond their reach, and almost everything is allowed to ensure the survival of the Earth. Therefore, the gods were not pleased that Japan was bombed with atomic bombs, but they allowed it as a means to ensure the survival of the Earth. They did not originally intend to go to war, but in timelines where Japan did not go to war, the Earth invariably perished. Therefore, with a certain intention, they intervened significantly in the world's timeline, conducting a kind of experiment with war. And in this timeline, the Earth has survived by chance. It may sound rude to call it an experiment, but for the gods, the current timeline is a kind of challenge to somehow ensure the survival of the Earth. As a result of the will of the gods, Japan was led to war, and Japan was manipulated and bombed with atomic bombs. However, from the perspective of Japan, there are indeed reasons and logic behind the Pacific War and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, as mentioned in various contexts today. However, the underlying reason is that Japan was led to the path of war as a kind of "divine game." Humans may think that what a terrible god would do, but in order for the Earth not to perish, the Japanese people and the Japanese territory were chosen as sacrifices for the greater good, and they were made to work for that purpose. And the Japanese people have fulfilled that role properly. However, the current state of Japan and the Japanese people are somewhat different from the ideal state that the gods originally intended. The gods intend for Japan to return to its original form, a nation based on the gods, in addition to simply ensuring the survival of the Earth. The basic principle is simple: a nation based on the gods. Japan lives with the gods, and even in designing things like airplanes, they receive advice from the gods. For example, the Japanese airplane YS-11 is considered a masterpiece due to the high level of Japanese technology. However, the designers repeatedly visited the gods and received specific instructions on how to design and improve it, which led to its creation. Nowadays, people are arrogant and think that the high level of Japanese technology is the reason for its success, which leads to its failure. There is nothing superior to the power of the gods to foresee the future, and without seeking help for what humans cannot understand, the advantages of the Japanese people will gradually diminish. As a result of the defeat in the war, the Japanese people became estranged from the gods, as explained above. However, the gods hope that people will rely on them again, just as they did in the past, instead of thinking that "there are no gods" because of the defeat in the war. That is the path to the revival of Japan, and it will also prevent the destruction of the Earth.