Japan - WTF?

[Felix_Nietzsche]

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My question is why are Japanese officials behaving like this, and why is it tolerated? Aside from being morally repugnant, white-washing Japan's past really darkens the country's reputation amongst its Asian neighbors, particularly China and Korea (its number 2 and 3 trading partners). It seems especially futile when the general truth has been pretty well established by historians. Is this part of a revolt by a younger generation against the guilt of the past? Pure bull-headed chauvinism? Something else entirely?

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How many living Japanese were involved in war crimes?
How long are modern Japanese suppose to feel guilty for acts they never committed.....

They guilt thing gets old after a while..... With China acting like the next evil empire I'm glad the Japanses are growing some balls again. If war breaks out with China AGAIN.....we will need a strong Japan on our side.

[Rearden]

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My question is why are Japanese officials behaving like this, and why is it tolerated? Aside from being morally repugnant, white-washing Japan's past really darkens the country's reputation amongst its Asian neighbors, particularly China and Korea (its number 2 and 3 trading partners). It seems especially futile when the general truth has been pretty well established by historians. Is this part of a revolt by a younger generation against the guilt of the past? Pure bull-headed chauvinism? Something else entirely?

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How many living Japanese were involved in war crimes?
How long are modern Japanese suppose to feel guilty for acts they never committed.....

They guilt thing gets old after a while..... With China acting like the next evil empire I'm glad the Japanses are growing some balls again. If war breaks out with China AGAIN.....we will need a strong Japan on our side.

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By your sparkling logic in a few decades Germany can deny the Holocaust because no one who was involved is among the living....nice.

Modern Japanese shouldnt feel guilty but they should learn about it as fact. Just as we as Americans learn about our mistakes (unless your teachers sucked or you went to school generations ago) such as slavery. Denying it all together is ignorant and represents a moral failure.

I am a US citizen. I dont think there are any US citizens alive who participated in the "Trail of Tears". I do not feel personally guilty that it happened nor should I as I wasnt alive or involved.... But I wont DENY it as a regretable fact and part of my nation's history.

I agree with your comments as to the historical impact of a strong China v. a weak Japan or vice versa. I dont think that any strength is given from denying something terrible that happened during a war (even if it was a war over a half century old). Denying war crimes has nothing to do with Japan "growing some balls again"

[MidGe]

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How many living Japanese were involved in war crimes?
How long are modern Japanese suppose to feel guilty for acts they never committed.....

They guilt thing gets old after a while..... With China acting like the next evil empire I'm glad the Japanses are growing some balls again. If war breaks out with China AGAIN.....we will need a strong Japan on our side.

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It is not a matter of guilt. You are missing yhe point, it is a matter of acknowledging the facts, so as not to be forced to relive history.

By the way there are still many women of comfort survivors. Yeah, it is old history!

Wait, Japan is needed to support the USA own economic interests. Ah well, I presume as usual, then Japan need not concerns themselves with the facts then. How convenient!

[Mickey Brausch]

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Why are Japanese officials behaving like this, and why is it tolerated?

[/ QUOTE ]
How many living Japanese were involved in war crimes?
How long are modern Japanese suppose to feel guilty for acts they never committed?

With China acting like the next evil empire I'm glad the Japanese are growing some balls again. If war breaks out with China AGAIN.....we will need a strong Japan on our side.

[/ QUOTE ] I agree absolutely.

Taking it one step further, how many Nazi camp survivors still living? And how many Nazis ? (That many?? Damn.)

Anyway, when they all die, I'm looking forward to the Germans re-writing History so as to absolve their nation of all guilt. About time the Germans grow some balls again!

If war breaks out with uppity Russia, America will need a strong Germany.

[HajiShirazu]

This isn't 100% true but it's close enough that I can't take too much exception to it.
Japan is scary. It's turning into more and more of a neo-fascist state these days. On the outside you see a supposedly high level of personal freedom, high standard of living, "free" elections, and overall peaceful position on world affairs. Behind the kuromaku is massive political corruption, a media controlled by right-wing militarist yakuza elements that want to bring back the emperor, an ever-widening income gap that has led to a new class of working poor and a government looking to punish these people with regressive consumption taxes, widespread collusion among businesses to keep prices artificially high and pay low, the list goes on and on. Japan is just as bad as any communist country ever was, the only difference is that they are more successful at it because they are less transparent, making things look democratic instead.

[SNOWBALL]

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This isn't 100% true but it's close enough that I can't take too much exception to it.
Japan is scary. It's turning into more and more of a neo-fascist state these days. On the outside you see a supposedly high level of personal freedom, high standard of living, "free" elections, and overall peaceful position on world affairs. Behind the kuromaku is massive political corruption, a media controlled by right-wing militarist yakuza elements that want to bring back the emperor, an ever-widening income gap that has led to a new class of working poor and a government looking to punish these people with regressive consumption taxes, widespread collusion among businesses to keep prices artificially high and pay low, the list goes on and on. Japan is just as bad as any communist country ever was, the only difference is that they are more successful at it because they are less transparent, making things look democratic instead.


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Hi Haji,

You write well. Please post more.

[Phil153]

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Who effing cares? Bad things happen in wars. Why dig up the past? Do you really think acknowledging "war crimes" will heal anyone?


I'm not sure you understand the extent to which these things went on. The Japanese were brutal and evil, far beyond what they needed to be, and most of the younger Japanese generation don't know. Some of these people are around today as fathers, grandfathers, teachers, businessmen.

There was shock and surprise in the country some years back when "Blood Oath" was shown, a realistic and less than graphic depiction of Japanese atrocities during the war. Many young people could not believe their own country did such a thing, because they are taught a different version of history in their schools and museums. Many believe America was largely to blame for the war, and that the atomic bomb was the reason the US won. These people need to be violently disabused of this notion so they see the sickness that exists in their own society, their racism and their rituals.

American leaders made an unforgivable mistake not requiring a guilt clause in the surrender treaty. They had close to absolute power over the Japanese and should have crushed them when they had the chance.

Anyway, I suggest you read the articles below. The Japanese were as evil as the Nazis and committed atrocities on the same scale - genocide in the millions, brutal human experiments, rape camps..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731


******Edit:/Jman220Post Edited by Jman220. Calling an entire race "evil" or "the enemy" will not be tolerated. Warning Issued.

[fmxda]

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LOL @ the guy who mentioned the Japanese internment. These were fanatical, loyal members of an enemy race who held regular emperor worshipping ceremonies and had little integration with US culture. They were stationed next to important US bases and could have been a threat. The world wasn't racially integrated like it is today. And these people were treated very humanely.

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LOL @ you and your view of Japanese internment

[Phil153]

I don't wish to derail this thread with that debate. Suffice to say comparing that with Japanese actions is silly. Feel free to start a new thread.

[AlexM]

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If war breaks out with China AGAIN.....we will need a strong Japan on our side.

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Uhm... the last time we were involved in a war with China, we are ALLIES against the Japanese...