Maciamo
先輩
- 17 Jul 2002
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TheKansaiKid said:that an apology 50 years late would mean nothing anyway so why is it so important?
It apparently means something to Chinese people, as they are still demanding an apology, and still angry at Japan. Just have a look at all the Chinese forum members who post almost exclusively about Japan's war crimes in their country. It's still very much alive, and an apology could soothe this anger.
More important to me than verbal apologies are feelings of regret.
Which I think many Japanese don't have. I only hear people excusing Japan's past or trying to downplay the events and argue about the number of people who died. There is definitely no sense of regret or remorse among the Japanese population. Try and ask people around you about Japan's massacre of some 10 million Chinese civilians. People will either change topic, or find excuses. I haven't heard anyone sincerely tell me that this is horrible, that they feel ashamed of their country's actions and their government's current state of hypocritical actions (homage to war criminals, approval of textbooks that downplay or omit the atrocities...).
While I have no Chinese perspective on the issue it seems to be Japan has made strides to seperate itself from it's militant past. Of course there are factions within Japan trying to move it the other way, but I think that a vast majority of Japanese citizens desire nothing more than peace and understanding between countries.
Of course they want. Because they are not allowed to have an army and feel vulnerable. They also know that China is 10x more populous than Japan and growing strong, and that the Chinese want their revenge. The Japanese are afraid, that is why they claim they only want peace and understanding, but deep inside them don't give a damn about what Chinese people feel and always try to excuse their past rather than face it like Germany/Austria did.
Exactly what is the statute of limitations here, should Rome be apologizing for invading England?
I will have to give you some negative reputation points for this comment, although I usually appreciate your opinion. You can't compare things that happened 2000 years ago with events committed by people who are still alive today, including several politicians or their children. What's more the Romans did not massacre the locals in the invaded countries, and could not have killed 10 or 20 million people, when the total population of the whole Roman Empire from Britain to Egypt was only 4 or 5 million (sources).
In moving forward, a memory of the past is important. (the whole doomed to repeat it thing)
My insight as a history buff is that China will try to get their revenge, as Germany did for WWI, because it was not satisfied with the settlement and apologies. I think that the Chinese in the fast-developing cities of Eastern China are only starting to protest now, as they slowly realise that the Jews and other victims of the Nazi got a much better deal than they did, as they are getting better educated and have more free time.
The Japanese who truly are interested in the truth of what happened in China during the war can find the truth in readily available books in Japan.
Yo don't seem to understand the importance the compulsory national education has on people's minds. How many people are going to read the more pertinent and less nationlistic books ? 1% of the population ? If they grew up with the conviction that Japan has nothing to reproach itself, it's probably too late. Even learning about what really happened, they will only try to find excuses or dismiss the more neutral and reliable sources as "exagerated".
Japan is a country with a very long history, they should mention the horrible things their country was responsible for as well as parts of their history of which they can be more proud.
Japan has a very long history ? The Western civilization has a history going back to circa 3000BC. Japan's first historical records date from circa 600 AD, about 100 years after the fall of the Roman Empire and the end of the Antiquity in Europe. In fact, Japan has one of the shortest history of any Eurasian country (does that explain their immaturity in diplomatic relations ?).
I think in an effort to give their students a positive national identity some textbook writers have intentionally glossed over the darker parts of Japanese history.
Why should they try to give a positive image of their country during WWII ? German textbooks don't. They have enough positive or neutral aside. Why should everything be positive in a country's history ? (except if it's written by nationalists)
He said those photos should be included in Japanese texts, my daughter attends a Japanese school for 2 months every year and I have no desire for her to witness mans inhumanity to man on that scale.
What ? Haven't you seen photos or videos of Nazi concentration camps or the horrors of the Vietnam War when you were at school ? In my school, all students had to (at age 17, as it may be too shocking for younger people). In fact, grade 12's history class was almost entirely dedicated to WWI, WWII and other 20th events (Korean War, Vietnam War...).
After all there are only so many hours in a day to teach the kids, they aren't going to learn everything while they are in high school.
History is on of the most fundamental subject, along with maths, geography and one's mother tongue. The rest (sciences, foreign languages, psychology, arts, sports...) is mostly optional. In several EU countries there is at least 4 years of compulsory history classes (often 6 years), with at least one or two semesters dedicated to the 20th century and WWII, as it is the period closest to us, and necessary to understand the world as it is today. I believe that any education system that does not include this minimum is not a good education system (I have many more critera, of course).