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Subject: Japan The Victim
SYSOP    3/30/2015 5:22:50 AM
 
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keffler25       3/30/2015 9:23:43 AM
Laying the groundwork for a new policy. The Japanese want to be active actors? This is the last part of the whitewash. See, we might have been 'partially' wrong in the past. Now hold still while we 'peacekeep' you.   
 
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EvanH       3/30/2015 10:42:31 AM
I have Japanese friend whom I love dearly, but Japan in 1945 deserved its atomic bombing.  For one, it  saved my father-in-law's life, because he definitely would have been in harm's way for operations Olympic and Coronet.
 
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Robert Walther    Robert Walther   3/30/2015 12:40:36 PM
Not to make this personal, but any Japanese politician who believes this bull should be forced to visit my Uncle, Eddie. This forever 19 year old is still on the Arizona; and died, I hope, quickly. Japanese apologists should be escorted to his gravesite, without breathing apparatus!
 
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tteng       3/30/2015 12:59:25 PM
" That was because the Japanese saw themselves as a master race (and still do), .."
 
 
Even I, as an ethnic Chinese, think this might be an overstatement.  I just think it is not possible, in current modern time and globalized contact both in person or via the net, that anyone (or broad stroked as a group) can still harbor such 'head in the sand' thought.
 
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keffler25       3/30/2015 1:08:06 PM
You have got to be kidding.

" That was because the Japanese saw themselves as a master race (and still do), .."

 

 

Even I, as an ethnic Chinese, think this might be an overstatement.  I just think it is not possible, in current modern time and globalized contact both in person or via the net, that anyone (or broad stroked as a group) can still harbor such 'head in the sand' thought.

 
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joe6pack       3/30/2015 2:18:53 PM
"Japanese tradition Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito recently suggested that Japan should take a closer look at its World War II experience. What Naruhito was doing was criticizing the decades old attitude that Japan was a victim, not the aggressor, during World War II."
 
I don't think this is necessarily part of a bigger political game...
 
For a few reasons, given my limited understanding:
 
1) It's considered very bad form to try and draw the Imperial family into a political discussion or debate.
 
2)  It would be very difficult (political suicide.. potentially) for a politician to publicly criticize an opinion coming out of the Imperial household..
 
3)The Imperial family is typically quiet about political issues.. and really private (compared to other "royal" families..).. It's very out of the ordinary for a comment like this.
 
It's possible the prince actually feels strongly about the issue.. not sure it's a clear cut...
 
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tteng    gotta be kidding   3/30/2015 3:04:47 PM
Forgot to add one caveat: the E.Asian societies are rather secular and their prevalent religion (Buddhism or Shintoism) are non-aggressive in nature.
 
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keffler25       3/30/2015 3:53:43 PM
Buddhism is a maybe. Of course their opponents are Muslims .
 
 
 
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trenchsol       3/30/2015 7:42:29 PM
It is not true, but might be useful, perhaps. It might make Japan more willing to stand against China. It might establish some balance of power in Far East. The question is how other nations in the region are going to act. They were victims of Japanese policy then and they are victims of Chinese policy now. Violence committed by Japan was far worse, but it was 70 years ago, while Chinese threat is here and now.
 
It might backfire, as well. I watch some South Korean action movie not so long ago. They still resent Japan very much. I say that Japan should restrict those ideas for domestic use as much as possible. Also, I find it hard to believe that Japan could repeat what they done. They were different type of society then, sharply divided into a minority which have been giving the orders and majority who followed without questions. I can't see how could the go back to that.
 
Did Japan deserve nuclear bombs ? I don't know. But, without them, there would have been an invasion of Japanese home islands, and many more people would have died on both sides. Several times more, probably.
 
Anyway, people are going to believe whatever they want to believe, as always.
 
 
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Nate Dog    I dont think deserve comes into it   3/30/2015 9:00:00 PM
Atomics were dropped on Japan for purely military reasons, being, better on torch a 10's or 100's of thousands of Japs then to suffer 1 million marine casualties killing a people who dont know they've already lost.
Deserve has nothing to do with it. Simple expediency.
As to Japanese thinking themselves the master race, well, they've held that belief as an engrained part of their thinking for nearly a millennia, much longer than the Nazi's ever did, so its very very hard to change that belief structure. At least the Germans had their asses handed to them to show them how wrong they were. The Japanes have only really suffered the one defeat in nearly 700 years, so again, to them, its an aberration, not the norm. Its built into their language, the word for foreigner means foreign devil, and that hasn't changed.
 
As to the victimhood angle….. Well, yes, US policy in Pacific region pre WWII was very detrimental to Japanese expansion, embargo on oil alone was really sufficient reason for Japan to go to war. As to finger pointing, well, its passé. They wanted hegemony on the Pacific, and the US showed them how truly naiveté that policy was. Yamamoto warned them not to try… the rest is History.
The Shogunnate pretty well taught the royal family to smile and wave if they know whats good for them, and they've been cowed by sitting governments ever since. Why the crown prince is speaking up now? Well, its probably a good thing. We can't fix the whole world, but we can try and make our one little corner of it as good as possible. His little corner is bigger than ours sure, doesnt mean he shouldn't try.
 
 
 
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