Holocaust Denial!

[kirovman]

Well it's not, but it's in a similar league:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6411471.stm

"Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said there is no evidence that women were forced to become sex slaves by the Japanese army during World War II."

What is the problem with Japan's government facing up to its past aggressions?

From my impressions, Germans have been much more apologetic and honest about their own past.

 

[The Monkey]

The Germans have dealt with their past, the Japanese has not. Japan is kind of a backwards country.

 

[Icarusintel]

Eh, the Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans are all in the same boat in that respect. None of them really like to admit what has truly happened in their histories.

They're proud people, I doubt they want to admit a tarnish on their past.

 

[kirovman]

That is a major weakness, the inability to look at oneself critically.

 

[brink's]

Eh, the Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans are all in the same boat in that respect. None of them really like to admit what has truly happened in their histories.

They're proud people, I doubt they want to admit a tarnish on their past.

SHHH!!! Numbers is coming!

 

[gick]

The Germans have dealt with their past, the Japanese has not. Japan is kind of a backwards country.

Very true. Its a combination of things really, the Allies never really went after the war criminals in the same way as they did with the Germans, many Japanese people today see themselves as being the victims of the war (what with the firebombings of cities, and getting nuked) plus theres the cultural thing of being a very proud people - half the stuff that went on in the war isnt even taught in schools. One of my best friends is a Japanese exchange student, and she didnt have a ****ing clue about Unit 731, the Rape of Nanking, the 'comfort women' etc until we told her.

 

[Nemesis6]

The Rape of Nanking is propaganda if you mean the movie by that name.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

???

No, he's obviously talking about the actual awful event where several hundred thousand people were killed.

Going back to the thread title, If I mention the holocaust, do you say "Schindler's List is fictional you know"?

Honestly.

 

[kirovman]

9/11: The Movie was propaganda.

Yes, the Japanese do seem to see themselves as the victims of the war, or at the very least mutual sufferers. No doubt lots of Japanese people suffered (at the hands of their own government) but it's misleading when their politicians suggest that their country was on an equal moral footing with all others at that time.

 

[The Monkey]

The Ienaga textbook incident

Controversy flared up again in 1982, when the Japanese Ministry of Education censored any mention of the Nanking Massacre in a high school textbook. The reason given by the ministry was that the Nanking Massacre was not a well-established historical event. The author of the textbook, Professor Saburō Ienaga, sued the Ministry of Education in an extended case, which was won by the plaintiff in 1997.

A number of Japanese cabinet ministers, as well as some high-ranking politicians, have also made comments denying the atrocities committed by the Japanese Army in World War II. Some subsequently resigned after protests from China and South Korea. In response to these and similar incidents, a number of Japanese journalists and historians formed the Nankin Jiken Chōsa Kenkyūkai (Nanjing Incident Research Group). The research group has collected large quantities of archival materials as well as testimonies from both Chinese and Japanese sources.

The more hardline members of the government cabinet feel that the extent of crimes committed has been exaggerated as a pretext to surging Chinese nationalism. Such conservative forces have been accused of gradually reducing the number of casualties by manipulating data. However, it is generally acknowledged, both in East Asia and the rest of the world, as a major tragedy in human history whose impact has yet to be fully registered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_of_nanking#The_Ienaga_textbook_incident

That's the kind of things I were talking about. I mean, every country in the world has committed crimes during their history, but most have managed to acknowledge and deal with it.

If Japan ever wants a stable relation with the Koreas and China, they need to deal with this too. If they did, I doubt we would've had number's hate speeches about Japan. I think that people are willing to forgive if the Japanese actually had the courage to ask for it.

 

[Sulkdodds]

I'll deny your holocaust, luv.

If I was a talk show host in Japan I'd totally get an interview with Shinzo Abe then at the last minute swap places with an ex 'comfort woman' so he had to talk to her instead of me.

 

[Darkside55]

Few people want to live up to the mistakes of their past. Not only does pride play a factor, but also shame...in a country like Japan, where shame is literally the core of their culture (haji), they'd rather downplay or outright deny such events rather than face up to them. To a Japanese person, public shame is perhaps the worst thing that can happen.

Whether they truly believe that no such events occurred ("no evidence to prove coercion") or whether the Japanese would rather just not say it happened for the sake of not being publicly shamed as a country, that leaves to be said.

 

[Nemesis6]

That's right. Japan is, religiously, a nation of warriors. And warriors cannot be ashamed. That's where historical revision comes into play.

The Rape of Nanking on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoW2WYdOsvg

Full of ridiculous photo-manipulation designed to make the Japanese look worse. They truly hate each other, and at this rate, they're not gonna make much progress. The Japanese know of no crimes committed by their divine leaders who, historically, have never made any errors whatsoever, and the Chinese will stop at nothing to make the Japanese look like monsters, all the whilst oppressing its own people to the point that they're no better.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Few people want to live up to the mistakes of their past. Not only does pride play a factor, but also shame...in a country like Japan, where shame is literally the core of their culture (haji), they'd rather downplay or outright deny such events rather than face up to them. To a Japanese person, public shame is perhaps the worst thing that can happen.

Yes indeed. Understand the culture, then you'll understand the hesitancy in owning up to past horrors. Culture change is always slow and tedious. The next generation of Japanese might be completely different, that nationalistic pride may be gone completely, they may start forgiving China and other countries that suffered their wrath.

This does not absolve them of their crimes. It just makes it easier to understand why they don't hold proper forgiveness ceremonies....and deny their own history...err.

 

[Jintor]

*Sigh*

It's both an Asian thing and a generational thing. Japan's next generation is very likely to be wildly different from whoever's ruling it right now. Asians in general have trouble admitting mistakes, ever.

 

[Spoonoop]

Some of the worst things I've heard about the Japanese in WWII took place in the Philippines. Soldiers would take babies, throw them in the air, and try to catach them on the bayonet.

 

[Nemesis6]

Sounds like they were being relatively "nice" in the Phillipines. Have you heard and seen the pictures of what they did in Nanking? If you want to know, google it. I'm not gonna describe it here. If you look a little, you will find a terrible, horrifying picture. You'll know which one it is when you see it.

 

[Candy art]

Dai Katana+Vagina




D:

 

[Darkside55]

My dad, who is Filipino, has been on several business trips to Japan. When visiting a Japanese family who worked at the Japanese branch of his company (Toyota), they profusely apologized for things that occurred during the war. At the very least, individuals are not beyond apologizing and owning up for the past--however one could say that they should not be the ones to apologize, as it wasn't their fault at all (which I believe was my dad's stance on it).

It does give hope for future progress though. If individuals can own up, perhaps the nation can as well.