Japanese and WWII

Hey everyone, I made this post to inquire about a thing I heard about Japanese history, which is that Japan doesn't teach their people the truth about WWII. Whether this is true or not I don't know. An example would be the war crimes and atrocities committed by The Imperial army during this period i.e. torture of pows, the use of chemical weapons etc etc. Why they really attacked pearl harbor (this was because the USA would not trade with Japan).

Gah! I dont have enough posts yet to add urls to third party websites grrr . If any of you want some of the resources i've uncovered you can google "Japanese war crimes" or "Japanese WWII artocities", or you can just pm me and i'll give you the links! Also Wikipedia has an article about it and so does educypedia.
I look forward to reading your replies.

I don't think all Americans love the ball game, but it might be interesting if you search info upon baseball in Japan during the war.

Do or should British and American share or teach their kids the same historical point of views on the War of Independence?
Or do all American schools teach the same interpretation of the Civil War?

What about USA then?

USA newpapers and TV hide almost all of genocide done in Iraq by USA and in [SIZE=-1]Palestine[/SIZE] by Israel. Most of American people didn't know actually there weren't any Nuclear weapons in Iraq before the war. US people still believe that they are fighting for freedom of Iraq people.

US is an expert on decieving people. Indeed there is no other way to calm down people about their war crimes.
I suggest you to google key words "American war crimes" or "Israel war crimes" before blaming Japan or any other country.

What about Turkey's own skeletons in the closet,Armenian Genocide ?

This issue is one factor hinders Turkey acceptance in the EU.

hkBattousai said:

What about USA then?
USA newpapers and TV hide almost all of genocide done in Iraq by USA and in [SIZE=-1]Palestine[/SIZE] by Israel. Most of American people didn't know actually there weren't any Nuclear weapons in Iraq before the war. US people still believe that they are fighting for freedom of Iraq people.
US is an expert on decieving people. Indeed there is no other way to calm down people about their war crimes.
I suggest you to google key words "American war crimes" or "Israel war crimes" before blaming Japan or any other country.

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1. I do not and have never EVER believed that we were fighting for the freedom of the Iraqi people, I've been against the war since it started. Also the overwhelming majority of Americans are against the war in Iraq (I base this on the polls I see in the news), and everyone I know is against it. To be quite honest I have absolutely no idea why we're there, geopolitics I guess. You hear a lot of the general theories, which is because of oil, Saddam tried to kill his dad, and others. Believe me bud i'm well aware of America's shortcomings and I dont agree with our foreign policy whatsoever.
2. I'm not "blaming" Japan for anything, you can't use the word blame when the information is factual (not trying to be a dick, english probably isnt your first language). My post was intended to be as non-threatening as possible. I was not trying to instigate anything. I'm trying to shed some light on a rumor I heard, and that's all.
3. Even though i quoted hkbattousai, I would also like to say that you make an interesting point pipokun, I'll have to reasearch this further.

Maybe I wrote a bit too aggressive and out of topic but that's because what is happening all over the world recently. Sorry about that.

About Armenian Genocide hindering Turkey's acceptance, that's not THE obstacle. EU doesn't want Turkey inside them, so they are just making up excuses.
For more information about Armenian Genocide :
http:*//www*.ermenisorunu.gen.tr/english/intro/index.html
Just remove the * characters, I don't have enough posts yet to add URLs.

extricate,
You seem to insist,
If I am what World War II does not know
Please teach me the truth concretely.

Let's face it....

throughout history , man has done incredibly horrible things. During the heat of battle we somehow justify the evil or become numb to it. When the fighting/hating is over , most are ashamed of what happened and want to forget about it or make believe it never happened. I would like to think talking about the evil and bring it to light would prevent it in the future, but it never seems to. I might go along with the idea of not opening old wounds, but not denying the truth of what took place, or glossing the truth over to look better. I don't believe it does any good for someone to drag up old history to shame another or make themselves(their country) look better. It just seems to spread hate and discontent and flame up old fires.

Uncle Frank

☝

I don't know about the USA now, but when I was in gradeschool (18 years ago), history went like this "there were a bunch of indians in america (we learned about them) then pilgrims came and made friends. Then there was a war for independence. Then there was railroads and expansion, then a civil war (that was it, nothing actually about it), then there was WWI. Then there was WWII where the nazis were beaten. The end. There was no real teaching of history. It got slightly more in depth in highschool, but still topical. If an american wants to learn history, they need to read it themselves or go to college. Just like any other country, Japan included. I don't think there is an intentional conspiracy, it's just that history is not a "core subject" when you are 9 years old. They focus on math, english, spelling, and that's it. Not even any real science except for a very topical touch. Personaly I feel that my first 8 years of school was a complete waste of time, but for kids who would rather run around and throw things instead of reading a book, it should be fine. You can't educate everyone, only those who want to be educated.

hkBattousai said:

US is an expert on decieving people. Indeed there is no other way to calm down people about their war crimes.
I suggest you to google key words "American war crimes" or "Israel war crimes" before blaming Japan or any other country.

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Americans have known for a few years now that there were no "weapons of mass destruction", and CNN and Fox News all want ratings, and to get ratings you have to keep things simple for your largely uneducated audience (where 70 percent of the population has not gone to college) - the information is easily available for people who want it, but most of humanity is relatively illiterate and only cares about what is going on in front of thier nose. Do you honestly think that people would be so against the war if they thought it was a good idea? No country has a monopoly on stupid, every country has more than it's fair share. So please get off your soapbox.

Its not so much "not teaching the truth" but ignoring those points and concentrating on the loss and victimisation. Focus tends to be on Pearl Harbour and Hiroshima/Nagasaki with very little attention paid to the war crimes. During my own history lessons there was focus on things like the civilian sufferings in Vietnam, WWII events like Dresden are covered as much as the POW camps, etc etc.

I wouldn't say that people are ignorant or anything, quite amusingly while talking to some people with my Shorinji Kempo teacher I was asked where I was born (Darwin, Australia) and mentioned its not really famous, and my Japanese teacher piped in that the only really famous thing is that it was bombed during WWII and I laughed. Funny he should know such an obscure fact

pipokun said:

I don't think all Americans love the ball game, but it might be interesting if you search info upon baseball in Japan during the war.
Do or should British and American share or teach their kids the same historical point of views on the War of Independence?
Or do all American schools teach the same interpretation of the Civil War?

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Actually in southern states in the US, they call the civil war the war for southern independence.

never heard that before

Gundamisgod said:

Actually in southern states in the US, they call the civil war the war for southern independence.

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Interesting... I've never heard this before

hkBattousai said:

About Armenian Genocide hindering Turkey's acceptance, that's not THE obstacle. EU doesn't want Turkey inside them, so they are just making up excuses.

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The main obstacles are the fact that Turkey continues to cut relations with another EU state, Cyprus, and the fact that the political/social politics/laws are not acceptable yet. More reforms are needed.
It might surprise you, but no one hates Turkey. (besides some far right-wing fascists, but that's all different story).

On Topic: It's only natural to avoid teaching our country's bad events to the youth on history classes.

Another war story
Kagawa Education Institute of Nutrition publishes a cooking and food educaiton magazine, Eiyo to Ryori, nutrition and food.
The institutes generously offers the archives from 1935 to 1965.
Even though you don't read Japanese, I think it quite interesting to see the cover design over years.
There are many interesting articles to read, but I just picked up some covers.
1935: the year they started publishing the magazine.
1945: the first and last edtion before the end of WWII
1946: the year they restarted the publication after the war.
1965: The magazine contained more colorful and more photos from around 1960, so it may be a good resource for those who study Japanese.
2006: You can find the latest edtion at most public libraries, I think.

hideway said:

It might surprise you, but no one hates Turkey.

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We has Turkish WWI veterans who fought against Australian troops invited and marched in the veterans parade (ANZAC Day Parades - Aug 26th) in Australia last year, and not one bad thing was said on the day.

Can you imagine Japanese troops taking part in Korean or Chinese memorial/victory parades?