Japan Premier Apologizes at WWII Ceremony

WSJ/AP ^ | 16 August 2010 | WSJ/AP

[AmericanInTokyo]

Japan Premier Apologizes at WWII Ceremony TOKYO—Japan's new liberal prime minister shunned a visit to a shrine that has outraged Asian neighbors for honoring war criminals, breaking from past governments' tradition and instead apologizing Sunday for the suffering World War II caused. Members of the now-opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which ruled Japan nearly continuously since the end of the war, made a point by carrying out their own trip to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan bowed to offer prayers for the war dead at Budokan martial arts hall in Tokyo. The Shinto shrine—a spectacular building with sweeping roofs and a museum in its grounds that glorifies kamikaze pilots—has set off controversy by honoring the 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including Class A war criminals such as Hideki Tojo, Japan's war-time prime minister who was executed in 1948.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Saw article claiming that Japan surrendered because the Red Army overran Manchuria, thereby making the Japanese realize that they could not long hold out. It asserted that the a-bombing was therefore unnecessary. The fact is, however, that Stalin declared war on Japan BECAUSE through his spies he knew that we had the bomb and that we would use it to force Japan to surrender. He declared war BECAUSE he knew our possession of the bomb made it impossible for the USSR to serve as middle man and extort concession from both us and the Japs.

Russia didn't enter the war on Japan until after Hiroshima.

[devere]

“There is something wrong with honoring the ones like Tojo who were executed as war criminals.”

I don’t know about Tojo, but some of the executed war criminals were just fall-guy stand-ins for Hirohito and his Uncle Prince Asaka, who were real class-A war criminals. They willingly died as their patriotic duty to save the imperial family.

[Zionist Conspirator]

However, the Japanese Government has never showed adequate contrition through it’s actions - “official apologies” notwithstanding - for the atrocities it committed during the war.

I agree. While Germany (West Germany at least; East Germany was always exempted from war guilt because it was Communist) has had to come clean Japan, as a non-white nation, benefits from political correctness despite having been a fascist state. It seems only one half of WWII was "the good war."

I don't know that I'd trust them to rearm until they exhibit the same genuine repentance the Germans have. And if they ever did go rogue again (G-d forbid!), today's libs would support them as a quaint "other culture."

The official ideology of WWII Japan, a curios blend of fascism and state socialism, was in many ways a forerunner of the bizarre left wing nationalism of today's "indigenous pipples." Yet it seems that it has been little studied. Too bad.

[RobbyS]

One does not go to war in 24-hours. I mean that Stalin decided he needed to go to war after the test of the bomb. It took a whole to set the Red Army in motion. Truman says that Stalin was not surprised by the news of the test, and Hiroshima confirmed him of the need to secure his share of the pie. After all, NO ONE knew the damned thing would work until it did, and NO ONE knew how effective the atomic weapon would be until Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[Zionist Conspirator]

One does not go to war in 24-hours. I mean that Stalin decided he needed to go to war after the test of the bomb. It took a whole to set the Red Army in motion. Truman says that Stalin was not surprised by the news of the test, and Hiroshima confirmed him of the need to secure his share of the pie. After all, NO ONE knew the damned thing would work until it did, and NO ONE knew how effective the atomic weapon would be until Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

My bad.

I have an overly chronological view of history.

[RobbyS]

Japan was a very strange place. They actually worshipped the Emperor as a god. He was much like the ancient pharaohs. They are still a very strange people, in my view.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Japan was a very strange place. They actually worshipped the Emperor as a god. He was much like the ancient pharaohs. They are still a very strange people, in my view.

Yes, but they did give us anime babes.

[ArrogantBustard]

They also "gave us" a lot of manga that's downright scary, and evidence of really disturbed minds ...

[NeverForgetBataan]

“I don’t know about Tojo, but some of the executed war criminals were just fall-guy stand-ins”

FWIW Masaharu Homma was no “stand-in”. He was known as the the “Beast of Bataan” and commanded the Japanese troops who force marched to death many American soldiers on the Bataan death march. Of course, he denied knowledge of their actions. He got a more merciful and quicker death than they did. A firing squad. He should have been set in the sun for a week and made to eat salt.

[bill1952]

[devere]

The verdict in Homma’s trial was very controversial at the time it occurred (Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy protested the verdict). Apparently Homma never gave any order for prisoners to be treated brutally; which they certainly were. It seems that Homma was condemned to death for not properly supervising his own men. He was shot rather than hanged as a concession by General MacArthur to his military honor.

[NeverForgetBataan]

So you suspect Homma was one of your “Stand -in” guys? Really? Well... I guess Homma should have done a better job of “supervising” his men or at least training them in the proper treatment of prisoners of war. He was a poet. Maybe he should have written the judge a Haiku.

[devere]

“So you suspect Homma was one of your “Stand -in” guys?”

No, not at all. He was just held to the standard that a general who neglects what the troops under his command are doing can be held criminally liable for their actions. Maybe that is appropriate, and maybe not; but it was new at the time, and controversial. I wonder what happened to Major General Yoshitake Kawane, the man Homma made responsible for transporting the Bataan captives?

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

I’ll have to speak for my Dad and his Bud’s,,,

They are all dead now,,,

My Dad was WIA on New Guinea in ‘43 and died in ‘73 as

a result of his wounds,,,

From what I heard from them Japan should have been bombed

into a hole in the water and killed them all,,,

I’m sorry they didn’t kill all of them...

[hoosierham]

It is wrong to honor the Japaneses soldiers who bayoneted,shot,and beat to death tens of thousands of civilians and captured Allied soldiers,and "honorable soldiers" who raped Chinese,Korean,and Philpine women in the field or in forced brothels.

A whole lot more Japanese should have been executed for their crimes.

[AmericanInTokyo]

It was a hell of a war.

No doubt about it.

That's your choice to feel that way.

I'm not going to make a public, value judgement.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

It sure was,,,

I really can’t help the way I feel about the Japanese,,,

The way I look at it is they killed my Dad...

[MHGinTN]

Last weekend I met the wife and little daughter of my cousin's son. The mother is pure blood Japanese, and her father is half Japanese and half American. The Japanese wife is a very beautiful, charming, kind, intelligent, and family oriented person. The daughter is a beautiful little two-years old child. What happened in WWII does not change who these beautiful, God-given gifts are. Our family welcomes Mako and Tina without any baggage. Don't let the past direct your future when God calls us to reconcile and come to him. Those alive today are ALL just descendants of Adam in God's eyes. What precious souls Mako and Tina are! I'm so thankful for them in this family now.

[TheThinker]

I actually saw “Wham!” there once. Well, at least I can admit it, eh?

LOL

[TheThinker]

One does not go to war in 24-hours. I mean that Stalin decided he needed to go to war after the test of the bomb. It took a whole to set the Red Army in motion. Truman says that Stalin was not surprised by the news of the test, and Hiroshima confirmed him of the need to secure his share of the pie. After all, NO ONE knew the damned thing would work until it did, and NO ONE knew how effective the atomic weapon would be until Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Stalin was an awful, murderous human being, but he was a brilliant strategist.