Flashermac Posted December 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 You know, who is the one overreacting? As to Japan bashing, I posted a news report. Kamui then responded with some admitted bashing. I mentioned the visits to the shrine with the war criminals. Then Panadolsangwidge joined in to slam the Japanese war criminals of WWII. I don't see that anyone has been bashing Japanese today (except maybe Kamui), though you certainly seem to think so. Is mentioning history forbidden? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
think_too_mut Posted December 11, 2011 Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 No, but the government's handling of past misdeed is abominable. The Japanese government's refusal to accept responsibility for the "comfort women", for instance. Yet while insisting it wasn't their doing, they set up a fund to "compensate" those who were forced into prostitution for years. Most of the women refused to accept the money without a genuine apology. Japan generated extremely negative publicity around the world from this incident. No one hates the Japanese today, at least I have never met anyone. But as I said, the prime minister's visits to the graves of war criminals is simply unbelievable. Can you imagine a German leader paying respects to the graves of Nazi war criminals? The Italian PM honouring Mussolini's fascists? A Croatian leader The Japanese government simply does not seem to understand how the world views their actions. Man, go back to the slavery in the US. Would you dig through that now? Even Obama was born out of the marriage that was illegal back then. If I have to say that, I am an Australian. From that or any western perspective, Japan is "our man in Asia". No better friend the West has in Asia than Japan. Sure, Thailand also has no better friend than Japan. Massive investments. Massive jobs gains for Thais. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 No argument over that. Japan today is a very different country. A friend told me something his wife Japanese wife did when they were first married. She took him to a statue of Douglas MacArthur. She said, "That man liberated my country." What she meant was the status of women in Japan. Before WWII, they were virtually nothing. I have always felt comfortable in Japan, though I grew up hearing horror stories from my father's friends who had fought in the Pacific. But that was two generations ago, past history. Slavery was ended in the US by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. That is 146 years ago. I don't think there are any ex-slaves left alive to demand compensation. There are still many victims of WWII around. That is what keeps the memories of Japanese war time acts alive. In maybe another 20 years no one will be left from that generation and it will be forgotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 No argument over that. Japan today is a very different country. A friend told me something his wife Japanese wife did when they were first married. She took him to a statue of Douglas MacArthur. She said, "That man liberated my country." What she meant was the status of women in Japan. Before WWII, they were virtually nothing. I have always felt comfortable in Japan, though I grew up hearing horror stories from my father's friends who had fought in the Pacific. But that was two generations ago, past history. Slavery was ended in the US by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. That is 146 years ago. I don't think there are any ex-slaves left alive to demand compensation. There are still many victims of WWII around. That is what keeps the memories of Japanese war time acts alive. In maybe another 20 years no one will be left from that generation and it will be forgotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
think_too_mut Posted December 11, 2011 Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 ... Slavery was ended in the US by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. That is 146 years ago. I don't think there are any ex-slaves left alive to demand compensation. There are still many victims of WWII around. That is what keeps the memories of Japanese war time acts alive. In maybe another 20 years no one will be left from that generation and it will be forgotten. Oh, more alive and accute in America. 4 out of 10 black Americans have been jailed. Black women steer clear from anyone who had been in jail, understandable, anyone would. Now they (black American women) have each 4-5-6 non-jailed black Americans to fight for. "Man sharing", they call it. They might unlikely marry down (like a professional Black woman marrying a postman) but they would never not marry "out" (like marrying a white man). Marrying a white man recalls the days of slavery and white men are not sex-appealing. (The Economist published an excerpt from that research) While we are having that, we still dig the Yasakuni shrine and who visits it. What an unexpected angle it may be. Those (black Americans) being more race aware than anyone, during peace time. Japanese being ruthless racists pale compared to above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 So when is Australia going to have a black head of state? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamui Posted December 11, 2011 Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 What a Japan bashing thread we have here. Based on books and about things 70 years ago. By authors and here posters who have never understood Japanese. Japan has since 1945. made this world a better place. The collective Japanese mind got skewed by the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Kanto is Tokyo and around, total devastation, one would thing the pictures from Yokohama were from Hiroshima after the atomic bomb. Then Japan turned into militarism. But that was over 1945. I guess you have not read my previous comment on Japan for to know, that I know a little bit about Japan and its history. I have lived there, I speak the language and I am doing business with Japan . I am huge fan of the Japan culture, I even talk about it at conferences in Europe... Anyway, that the Kanto Earthquake has forged the Japanese mind is IMHO nonsense. Japanese nationalism, imperialism and racism had started before. Already in 1910 they had occupied Korea. Even worse, shortly after the Kanto earthquake Japanese mobs killed thousands of Asian foreigners, especially Koreans, due to completely unfounded rumors. Link As a German, we have of course an even darker history than Japan in regard to the first half of the 20th century. But luckily the German politicians of the 60th and 70th were able offer sincere apologies (and reparations) to our surrounding nations. And I am glad and sometimes surprised (if you read about the holocaust, you know what I mean) there aren't many resentments left in our neighbor countries. Japan never really apologized and Japanese courts still rule today that victims of Japanese war crimes are not eligible to compensations. Instead of trying to make friends in Asia they constantly rubbed and still rub salt in open wounds - especially with the yearly pilgrimage of Japanese right wing politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine. In my opinion Japan could have taken cultural leadership in Asia (in a positive, non threatening way), if Japan would have apologized properly and paid compensations to victims of the Japanese war crimes. Japan is the only country in Asia with whose cultural heritage and development was never destroyed by internal conflicts (like cultural revolution in China) or decades of occupation (like Korea and Hongkong). Even more the Japanese culture of the 20th century was always on eye level with the West. No other Asian country can say this about its culture. Before WWII in Asia it was only Shanghai which could come close to the cultural vitality of Tokyo. Now China is taking over, a country which has to rebuild its own culture after decades of destruction under Mao. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbaron Posted December 11, 2011 Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 What a Japan bashing thread we have here. Based on books and about things 70 years ago. By authors and here posters who have never understood Japanese. Japan has since 1945. made this world a better place. TTM - I'm not sure which thread you are reading but I fail to see how you don't see what the point is... NOBODY is bagging/bashing Japan, and NOBODY disagrees Japan as a country/people are doing plenty of good - since 1945 (maybe because they weren't allowed to spend so much money on military stuff so they used it for "good" instead but that's another story.....) The point of the story I think is self explanatory. If you want to compare the US/Africa's bad past re slavery - start another thread as it has zip to do with the Japanese war crimes story.. Same same with Aussie's "black" history, and every other country's dark past.... Maybe I'm missing something (it has been a long year...) but how an aussie cannot see how this is a problem really makes me scratch/shake my head..... rant over - as you were everybody - peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
think_too_mut Posted December 11, 2011 Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 So when is Australia going to have a black head of state? Who got the nation's worst job in America? A black man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 Who got the nation's worst job in America? A black man! We studied this at university in Asian History classes. Doesn't seem to have changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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