Japanese War Crimes Against Humanity

Iron Chef,

I respect your idea and decision because I believe you did the right thing. As for Serpico's deleted post, I don't think anyone would have condoned the vulgar language used in it. Until you showed what was actually deleted, no one could know but you and Serpico, so followed the confusion. Sometimes when the sensitive words are blipped out, there's really no telling whether the writer blipped it out him/herslef, the vBcode, or a moderator. Perhaps there can be a moderated stamp saying "moderated"--to let us know. You can't always be graceful and subtle to save face. Just my opinion. Thanks, Iron Chef.
 
Maybe I will drop my comments:

The thing about war crimes, looking into the past is always troublesome, because you just can't get people to see the world in the same way. We have a similar problem here in Poland: during WWII hundreds of Polish officers were murdered in Katyn by the order of Stalin. When the Germans found out, the Russinas blamed them and said it was manslaughter. Now that we know it was the Russians, they won't said anything beside it being just an ordinary murder.

What's my point? I can really identify with the Russians. I mean, the USSR is gone, and Russia's political power has decreased over the last decade (although it is still great). And now you have people taking things from 60 years back - what the hell? So I think that's the way Japanese might be thinking.
 
Eisuke said:
I think it is good to honour those who died in war. However it is bad to honour war criminals.
The 14 leaders convicted as war criminals by an allied tribunal after Japan's defeat should be taken out of Yasukuni Shrine in my opinion.
I agree with that the school history text books should be more detailed about the bad things Japan did in ww2.

The election of the Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as Iraq's president of Iraq only came after the USA destroyed the regime of Saddam. If USA never did anything then democracy likely would not be in Iraq.
I don't think the CCP will become democratic by itself if it is given more time to rule as the only party available in the PRC. Normal relations between Japan and the PRC can only be created and established after China's government has become democratic.

Two points to make:

1. The CCP dictatorship is indeed a problrm that the Chinese have not yet solved. But the by-product of CCP dictatorship needn't be exaggerated. True, the CCP is not willing to be democratic, but it is doing increasingly better than before, despite the fact that it can't, for the time being, overome the ideological barriers it has set for China and for itself as well. China is liberalising beyond CCP's relatively firm-handed control. And within China we have optimism that CCP in its transformation into something like a social democratic party, ( too optimistic yet, though, i am afraid personally)

2. CCP-controlled China is on good, freindly, mutrally-beneficial terms with outside world. But if Japan iwere excluded, we just can't help. Is Japan on good terms with its other Asian neighbors?
 
Tonysoong said:
2. CCP-controlled China is on good, freindly, mutrally-beneficial terms with outside world. But if Japan iwere excluded, we just can't help. Is Japan on good terms with its other Asian neighbors?
I would disagree here. CCP might indeed be credited with China's impressive economic development, however I don't thing the Party did it out of willingness to make life better for Chinese or for anyone else. I think that ultimately CCP regards economy as purely a tool to strengthen China's political position. It is completely natural for other countries to oppose it.

I think Chinese are quite similar to Russians. It goes like this: I love Russians, my friends are Russian, very good people. Just one thing - they have that sudden urge to conquer the world. It doesn't normaly show in ordinary people (as they can't do anything) but it is reflected in politicians. For me that is simply an irreplaceable part of being the Russian. I think of a Chinese the same way - they are great people, kind and with great history. They just want to conquer everything. Again, it doesn't show in ordinary people - but it does for CCP.
 
To be fair, try replacing China with America. You will be amazed how smooth the sentences run. It must be that way with most big countries with enough military virtue to tout. What's really scary is to have the head, or family, of the killing/warring machines on top driving the nation's citizens to war. They are good at it, and they enjoy it, making something on the side while at it. Who wouldn't ? People like those should rot in hell is my prediction.
 
Followup

shiroma said:
Some people are looking forward to witnessing a petit cultural revolution there, based on an interesting retroactive witch-hunt law (news report.)

Panel Begins Probe of pro-Japanese Acts

Collaboration Truth Committee Set to Start Work
 
Castor Krieg said:
I would disagree here. CCP might indeed be credited with China's impressive economic development, however I don't thing the Party did it out of willingness to make life better for Chinese or for anyone else. I think that ultimately CCP regards economy as purely a tool to strengthen China's political position. It is completely natural for other countries to oppose it.

.

Needless to view the whole matter in that gloomy way. Living in China, i am convinced that the CCP is now trying to do a good job out of their good will despite the fact that they have ever wronged the Chinese nation. CCP is now increasigly pragmatic than before, even ideologically speaking.
 
In the past especially during world war 2, many people considered Japan as an expansionist and dangerous country.Today i think that the situation has been reversed, in my opinion China is now the number one threat for smaller countries for example Taiwan.
 
bossel said:
The US is a funny place, too. Where female police dress up as a hooker & talk a guy into coming with her & then the guy gets arrested. Where the state is allowed to look into ordinary citizens' library records. Where they call their country the "Land of the Free" but lock up people for years without trial, or even charge. I could go on, every country has its peculiarities.

The highest percentage of sex slaves in Japan, are you sure? I thought, that would be Thailand.

I've read your posts and thoroughly enjoy them. I think that other guy gets his facts from wikipedia...ahhaha...Japan doesn't have the highest percentage of sex slaves. And if there are sex slaves then they are well paid ! not like Thailand or Borneo where they are forced against there own will because contracts and food. If you really think about it Japan is the best place to be a prostitute because of the money ,so coming here is a hookers dream
 
Masa said:
You people crazy. Japan say sorry many times and givemuch money to China every year. still China say you Japan never say sorry for sixty years ago.

what ? I not remember 60 years ago most Japanese don't.

Do China say sorry for drug smuggling Chinese in Australia or scummy Chinese doribo in Japan. NO ..........never.

China should shut up. Japan should say F YOU CHINA we no give money no more .

I don't care what happened 60 years ago most young Japanese not interested we only think future.

Who are you and where are you from ? I understand your source of frustration because everything you said is 100% true ! It's just you express too much emotion and use alot of strong language. I agree with you though.
 
Eisuke said:
Japanese can freely go to libraries and use the internet or any other form of communication to acquire all the information available about this and anything else.
The Japanese government allows it because Japan is a democracy.

However the People's republic of China has got "The Great Firewall of China" which prevents their citizens from acquiring all possible information about things.

Here is a part of a article:

The Great Firewall of China

Charles R. Smith
Friday, May 17, 2002


Beijing Developing Electronic Chains to Enslave Its People

For nearly a thousand years the Great Wall of China protected the Asian empire from foreign invasion. Today, red China is installing a great "firewall," hoping to stem the tide of foreign ideas from invading the authoritarian one-party state.

Despite claims to be an open society, China has an extraordinary fear of free information. For example, when President George Bush recently visited the Shanghai economic conference inside China, the communist government removed blocks on the Web sites of several U.S. news services.

Immediately after President Bush left Shanghai, the paranoid red forces quickly re-imposed the Internet blocks. Today, the ordinary Chinese citizen cannot indulge in reading the perverted online views of CNN or the Washington Post.

Chinese authorities have shut down more than 17,000 Internet cafes since April 2001. The Internet cafes were guilty of allowing Chinese citizens to surf without special blocking software required by the central government. In addition, the Chinese authorities ordered another 28,000 cafes to install special monitoring software, allowing the local police to watch the Internet browsing of customers.

The Case of Huang Qi

Chinese information oppression often goes much farther than simply shutting down illegal Internet web browsing. In June 2000, Huang Qi, a computer engineer from Chengdu, was arrested for putting up an online missing persons search website.

Huang ran afoul of the communist authorities when he assisted in the return of seven girls abducted from their homes by a slave trading gang. Unfortunately for Huang, the gangsters had connections of their own inside the hierarchy of the local red government.

The red police confiscated Huang's computer equipment and shut down his web site. Communist authorities later charged that Huang was guilty of "organizing national separatism, destroying national unity" and "subverting the socialist system."

"The following night, June 6, I was taken to a detention center, where the authorities assigned a fellow inmate to monitor me," Huang wrote in a letter recently smuggled out of jail.

"The inmate ordered me to sleep next to the urinal. My head rested only 60 centimeters from the genitals of inmates as they relieved themselves, drenching me in their urine," wrote Huang.

"Every night, I was put in heavy shackles and tasted urine as my head rested near the urinal. ... If I put myself in danger to rescue seven missing girls from the countryside, help over 2,000 families reunite, sell all my belongings to start a missing persons search service to help people and make it possible for thousands of people to air their grievances, please tell me how this can be considered as attempting to subvert the government?"

In August 2001, Huang was tried in a closed court. No verdict or sentence has ever been announced. A government official told Huang's wife, "After your husband is sentenced, don't expect your son to go to school or to have any future."

Newsmax.com - Breaking news from around the globe

Good post ! I agree with you. Actually, I go to the library once a week and I have no problem finding information on anything actually. It's not like the Japanese can't find out about what happened during WW2, it's just that they don't give a " you know what"
 
Democracy or not at present has nothing to do with crimes done in WWII - it's a different issue.

Plus democray is not absolute either... "freedom of speech" only applies to some. Suppose some Middle East background individual openly stating that he does not like Bush and that he demands that Bush pull US troops out of Iraq, do you really think that the guy would be allowed to stand there and say whatever he want? Before he knows it, he'd be stalked by FBI officers every day -_- Just a simple example, lots of examples like that now that the War against Terror is at its climax.

Not saying that democracy is bad... just pointing out some similarity between communist policies and democrats policies. Anyway, I guess this is really beside the topic of this thread. Though I think these WWII related topics should be placed in the "Japanese News & Hot Topics" section, is it not "HOT" enough...
 
McTojo said:
Good post ! I agree with you. Actually, I go to the library once a week and I have no problem finding information on anything actually. It's not like the Japanese can't find out about what happened during WW2, it's just that they don't give a " you know what"

Quite probable (.... Must have been McTojo on a good day!). But there may also be other factors to be considered when the information becomes "too sensitive". This is a reply to one of my own posts on another forum - when I was bemoaning a lack of some material on the Japanese war .... the bold italics are my own.

Larry" on the "Axis History Forum said:
Some worthwhile thoughts and comments there, Sensuikan San. But a couple of them need a little amplification and gentle rebuttal.

1) Japan has a huge historiography on their Asian war, 1931-45. On a per capita basis, it is larger than that of the U.S. and one of the largest in the world.

2) Until 5 or 10 years ago when the veterans began dying off in large numbers, there were veteran associations for just about every imaginable army, army air and navy unit that existed during the war. These circles were exceedingly tight and close-mouthed. Few foreigners were ever able to penetrate them and gain access to the members or their historical information.

3) The surviving Japanese military records are not held by their national archive, but rather by BKS, which is the War History Office under their Self-Defense Forces. It is poorly staffed, uni-lingual and excruciatingly difficult to deal with, even for a native Japanese. You have to be "recommended" and slowly "accepted" before the doors begin to open a little bit for you. They are afraid the information they provide might be used to embarrass Japan.

4) And, as you pointed out, the language barrier is very difficult to surmount as anyone who has tried to use the on-line translators (Babelfish, etc.) has discovered.

5) Finally, the Europeans basically have zero interest in the Pacific because they did not participate in that war. A few Brits are interested in the CBI theater, but that's about it.

--Larry

For those interested by the way - the link to the forum is here ... at ...


Just a few passing thoughts on the subject ....

ジョン
 
Back
Top Bottom