enhanced by
Bookmark:
A resurgence of Japanese militaristic posturing.Put Little Boy 2 and Big Boy 2 on standby.......
LOL. Japan's technology is far more advanced than most western countries and they could easily whip up their own "Fat Boys" and erase a country like Scotland.
Also Japan is more responsible and political correct than most western countries and if someone needs a "Fat Boy" to be dropped on them it should be the USA and their British YesMen.
Who needs TV when the real world is so much more interesting :)
Abe becoming prime minister is bad news for Japan and bad news for the world. At age 52, Abe has never seen Japanese nationalism at its worst, nor can he remember the terrible poverty of the immediate post-war period in Japan. Thanks to the shameful, American-sponsored cover-up of Japan's wartime atrocities and the tendency of many Japanese not to engage in too much soul-searching, Abe seems to have bought the ridiculous fantasy that his country merely fought the good fight and lost -- not that they waged a war of aggression, pursuing and torturing thousands of innocent civilians. He seems worryingly ignorant -- or worse still unconcerned -- about Japanese atrocities in China, the Philippines, or indeed all over Asia. And I wonder how anyone, even with the best will, can call Japan political(ly) correct? I spent seventeen years in Japan and have many good, positive memories of my time there. I have dozens of Japanese friends and acquaintances who are decent and honorable people, and none of them would dream of calling their country 'politically correct.' When it comes to being 'responsible,' I merely ask that you contemplate the unfortunately large number of Japanese (many in positions of authority) who still deny that the Nanjing Massacre took place. Wayne (Comment 2), you are right in saying that Japan's technology is advanced; had they been a little quicker than the U.S. they would have had their own Fat Boys. Please read about this -- Dr Tatsusaburo Suzuki, a physicist who saw the devestation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki firsthand, has written on the subject. (You will also find an article about the Japanese A-Bomb in the Scotsman, 1995, by Peter McGill.) While you're at it, read about Japan's Unit 731 in Manchuria and the American post-war cover-up and release of class A war criminals, some of whom had openly committed mass murder. Scott (Comment 3) is absolutely right: anything you see on t.v., no matter how fantastic, lurid or gory, pretty much pales in com
Isn't the world a beta place without weapons... another country with them is just another to have to negotiate with at the UN when they dont get their way. I dont think it's wrong for a country to be able to defend itself and It will take Japan time to build up it's military but surely it will just make China try to race ahead even more with it's plans for Taiwan and poss even revenge on Japan. I see trouble ahead... Japan has used money ordinarily spent on wepaons to buy clout via charities and donations to good causes. Surely we should be following there peacable example that they tread over recent years rather than allowing them to flinch in the face of China.
I totally agree with American Mary (#5). The Japanese still refuse to acknowledge the atrocities they committed during the war. The Rape of Nanking alone resulted in over a quarter of a milllion deaths of Chinese civilians.
As for Unit 731 and their chemical and biological experiments on Chinese civilians, that was totally covered up by the Americans as they wanted access to the Japanese test data.
Hirohito was whitewashed by McArthur, and should have been tried, and executed, as a war criminal; and many, many more senior Japanese should also have been tried and executed.
We should be wary of the Japanese as with their refusal to acknowledge their war crimes, they are perfectly capable of repeating them in future. Just as the Turks continue to do, as they refuse to acknowledge their genocide of over one million Armenians in the Great War.
Mary, every country has its past. And no one should know this better than Americans. Damn, we basically killed and massacred the whole Indian culture for their land. And then enslaved millions of Africans to work the land. And there are a lot of Americans in their ivory towers who would still say it was for their own good. LOL. I would say most countries including Japan have nothing over the U.S. when comes to the "past."
And many of our own leader don't seem to care that innocent Iraqi women and children are being killed. Its kind of easy to understand sometimes why terrorist want to kill us. And I can't tell the difference between Bush, Chenney, and Rummy, from Osama bin Laden.
Most Americans feel our President is an idiot. And compared to our leader, everyone is more "politically correct." :-)
Wayne #8
You have brought a breath of fresh air!
I advise everybody to go out and buy a good history book. All of this has happened before and it will happen again if we don't learn our lessons.
I was brought up to believe that civilisation was the way to go; no more wars, tolerance, understanding, peace, all that good stuff.
So where are we now?
Those that forget the past are destined to repeat it.
Wayne, it is indeed true that every country has its past. You are also right in stating that many Americans would like to make light of our own holocaust and persist in believing that slavery was not a cruel and inhuman institution. I personally believe that there are parallels between what the Japanese did during the war and what the U.S. did to its native peoples and African slaves. But for the most part, our own atrocities are well documented and we make an effort to teach our children about them. Under Prime Minister Abe, Japanese children will continue to learn about the firebombing of Japanese cities and the attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, but they will not learn the unvarnished truth about the Nanjing massacre, Japan's comfort women, Unit 731, etc. I find it appalling that comparatively few people -- Japanese or otherwise -- know about Japanese wartime atrocities, mainly thanks to the American cover-up. As for history books, I am a great believer in these as well, but do not stop at one: read a good sampling of them for a balanced view. I strongly recommend Jintaro Ishida's book 'The Remains of War: Apology and Forgiveness: Testimonies of the Japanese Imperial Army and their Filipino Victims.' Please also do a Google search on Yoshio Shinozuka, a former war criminal and worker in Unit 731. He is not a historian, just a man with a conscience. Would that I could say the same about the people who covered up Unit 731 and decided to spread the fiction that the emperor had nothing to do with war policy. It may sound perverse, but I believe that the American cover-up of Japanese war crimes should itself be counted as a war crime against the Japanese people. It is hard to accuse the Japanese of forgetting the past when they have not had the opportunity to learn about what really happened.
Bill #9, just remeber, when you buy that history book, history is written by the winners not the losers, a very important point once brought up to me by my history professor.
#12, Suzzy - those who question the "official" historical accounts in many cases are either ridiculed or imprisoned by those wishing to maintain "control of hearts and minds as they pertain to history".
We owe it to ourselves to source the truth, no matter where it may lead us.
Mary, I agree that Japan has a past and many Japanese do not know about their history. But you should not be suprised or even appalled. I mean how many Americans know about the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. I did not learn in school that our country imprisoned Japanese Americans just because they were of a certain ethnicity. Just like the Jews in Germany, these people were racially profiled and persecuted. They lost their jobs, land, money and a their freedom for no good reason. My history books in school never thought me about that. My history books never talked about the systematic eliminatiion of the Indian culture. All my history books mentioned about the Indians were how they share their food with the pilgrims. And forget about black history.
To be fair, we have made apologies and amends to our past in many ways. But our history is greatly distorted too. And to see how it is greatly distorted, one only has to turn on the televison and watch Fox news to see how conservatives twist the facts to justify our President's actions and our war in Iraq. Its shameless. Many Americans still believe that the atomic bombs dropped on Japan was a necessary evil, which many books and our national archive have stated as untrue.
I don't want to sound like I'm one of those bleeding heart liberals who sometimes unfairly trash our country or someone trying to justify Japan's past or actions. But too many Americans in my opinion are so arrogant and they feel that just because we behave one way everybody should follow. But I can see you are a person with genuine concern at any type of injustice. And you make very valid points that cannot be ignored or discounted.
But its not like the Japanese are totally in the dark too. Nanjing, comfort women, and Unit 731 are openly discussed in their news. And there are a lot Japanese who are voicing their objections against the growing nationalism in their country as well as the o
Mary, I agree that Japan has a past and many Japanese do not know about their history. But you should not be suprised or even appalled. I mean how many Americans know about the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. I did not learn in school that our country imprisoned Japanese Americans just because they were of a certain ethnicity. Just like the Jews in Germany, these people were racially profiled and persecuted. They lost their jobs, land, money and a their freedom for no good reason. My history books in school never thought me about that. My history books never talked about the systematic eliminatiion of the Indian culture. All my history books mentioned about the Indians were how they shared their food with the pilgrims. And forget about black history.
To be fair, we have made apologies and amends to our past in many ways. But our history is greatly distorted too. For example, one only has to turn on the televison and watch Fox news to see how conservatives twist the facts to justify our President's actions and our war in Iraq. Today's news is tomorrow's history. Its shameless.
I don't want to sound like I'm one of those bleeding heart liberals who sometimes unfairly trash our country or someone trying to justify Japan's past or actions. But too many Americans in my opinion are so arrogant and they feel that just because we behave one way everybody should follow. And our standard should be the world's standard. But I can see you are a person with genuine concern at any type of injustice. And you make very valid points that cannot be ignored or discounted.
But its not like the Japanese are totally in the dark too. Nanjing, comfort women, and Unit 731 are openly discussed in their news. And there are a lot Japanese who are voicing their objections against the growing nationalism in their country as well as the other things you point out. This cannot be ignored or discounted too.
Also, its my opinion
Sorry for the double post. LOL!
I see the same old talking points here.. Blame America for every wrong done in the world, past present and future. Liberals are quick to point out differences and their "perceptions" of right and wrong. What you never see are answers and/or solutions. (other than blame America) Every country has some dirty laundry. Deal with it. What the "libs" (especially in Europe) have failed to realize is the fact that some people, countries idealologies etc want to kill us. Regardless of what we say or do their main goal (only) is to kill. You can appease them until you are blue in the face, it does not matter. What is really said is that they are using our freedoms to do it. As an American, I am tired of being the world policeman. It is about time countries start defending themselves. I give the Japanese credit. Long after Europe is run over, Japan will still be there.
Hello everybody.I can not speak English, but I want you to understand a certain thing.
Norimitsu Onishi is a Japanese-Canadian journalist.He is currently the chief correspondent of Tokyo branch office of the New York Times (since July 2003) and a staff writer for the Seoul Times.
NEW YORK TIMES TOKYO BUREAU 5-3-2,TSUKIJI,CHUOH-KU,TOKYO,JAPAN
ASAHI SHIMBUN TOKYO OFFICE5-3-2,TSUKIJI,CHUOH-KU,TOKYO,JAPAN
The same place.The Asahi Shimbun is one of the five national newspapers in Japan.
<< Asians Angered, Again, by Visit to War Shrine by Japan Leader >>TOKYO, Oct. 17. 2005 - By NORIMITSU ONISHI (NYT)Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to a nationalist war memorial here on Monday drew immediate and fierce criticism from Asian countries, threatening to isolate Japan and worsen its strained relations with China.
<< U.S. NY times paper said, "Meaningless provocation" the Yasukuni visit to a shrine. >>TOKYO, Oct. 19. 2005 - By ASAHI SHIMBUN U.S. NY times paper entitled the Yasukuni visit to a shrine "Meaningless provocation".Prime Minister Koizumi was criticized severely by the Yasukuni Shrine visit, and he was said, "The worst militarism of Japan was allowed" by U.S. NY times.
Japan is hated by NewYorker ... so sad ...Perhaps, I think that it is both articles written in the same building. (by the same person ?)What happened ?, Do you understand ?, What kind of person is he ?, Is he a God ?I want you to think it.
To write only this, I lost half a day.Oh my wise friends !! The authority of the mass communication has already disappeared in Japan.There are a lot of companions of him all over the world.
