"[excerpt] Like the Italian Croce is saying, I think that it is a fact that liberty, an essential part of human nature, absolutely cannot be destroyed. Even though it appears as if it is suppressed, deep down it is always fighting, and in the end it surely will win. Although authoritarian and totalitarian countries may prosper temporarily, it is certainly a plain fact that they will be defeated in the end. I think that we can see that truth in the Axis countries of the present world war. How about Fascist Italy? Nazi Germany also already has been defeated, and now authoritarian countries are collapsing one after another like buildings whose stone foundations are destroyed. ... The ambition to make my beloved homeland Japan a great empire like the former British Empire became futile in the end. I think that if persons who truly love Japan had been allowed to stand up, Japan would not have been driven to a situation like now."
January 1, 1970