Kokoda Diggers 'eaten' by Japs

Herald Sun ^ | 8/18/02 | SHELLEY HODGSON

[AmericanInTokyo]

"However, gaijin is an insulting term, regardless of whether some Japanese hottie wants to use it to hit on you"

Somebody better tell them to clean up their website, (at: http://www.gaijininvestor.com/commentary/010301digitaltv.html) then!!

/sarc

[AmericanInTokyo]

Here's even a foreigner in Japan with his own website referring to himself as -- gasp-- a "gaijin"!

At: http://www.nanyo.net/e/mag/gaijin_eye/people.html

[AmericanInTokyo]

Text from a travel site: "If you're looking for a place to live in Japan, The Wind Site: Roomate and Guesthouses in Japan should be the first page you check out. The site's creator, Miyuki Kanda, has visited some of Tokyo's most popular Gaijin Houses, and written detailed reviews of them. There are photos, maps, prices, and contact details. The Gaijin House information is very good, but the best part of her site is probably the Roommate Wanted Bulletin Board. Although a lot of the messages are in Japanese, there are lots of good deals and because you are sharing a room with a Japanese person, you probably won't need a guarantor or have to pay key money."

If its such a nasty word, why do people use it in such an unapologetic and positive way?

You must have had somebody look at you bad and point a finger and say 'gajin', and you took it from that that the whole word denotes racism somehow. My, there is even an amateur actor's group of foreigners in Tokyo for years called "Gaijin-za", and nobody ever got hot under the collar.

[fire_eye]

The Japanese of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere are not the Japanese of today.

You're sure of this?

You're sure about the Germans, too?

You're sure that the last war *really fundamentally changed* these two authority-worshiping societies, to the point where they will never again become a focal point for global totalitarian brutality?

I've always wondered if the Romans knew something we don't, when they made a point of utterly destroying those civilizations which attacked them, rather than trying to assimilate, accomodate, or change them.

History will certainly judge... but I just hope I'm not still around if it passes the kind of judgement that I can see in my mind's eye, in my darker moments...

[Hoplite]

I Concur, so long as we're attributing the perverted nature to individuals rather than a nation.

[Hoplite]

Yes, I'm sure, though I can't speak to "never again" given that encompasses future events beyond my current knowledge.

But the point is, the youth of Japan and Germany today are not brought up to unquestioningly follow orders as they were in the '30's and '40's, and this somewhat puts the kaibosh on filling the ranks with happy little drones willing to wage aggressive war on one's neighbors.

[Bamaconservative]

Agreed. I also work for a Japanese company (for the last 20 years) and have always been well treated. Of course, working with them every day for 20 years I undoubtedly know a lot less about them than some of folks expressing strong negative opinions on here.......

[earplug]

I don't need first hand experience about the Japs. I have served in South Korea and learned enough second hand from local retired veterans.
Its not a hatred I have. Its just prudent information to file away. Much as Winston Churchill learned about the United States Civil War, he used that information to benifit in WWII. You can learn from history or you can do it again and again etc.
Do you think our experience in Afganistan is going to be much differant from the Russians, British, or?
Do you think we can continue to have a Republic in the United States and still cater to every minority that feels slighted and intitled to take from the majority?

[GATOR NAVY]

Cannibalism??? In New Guinea???

LMAO! Yeah, must something in the water!

[American in Israel]

There is a difference, Japan is our allies now, and have not attacked us for 60 years. Over here they never stopped. Sure, forgive what happened 60 years ago, how about yesterday?

[GATOR NAVY]

If I had 120 yen for every time I've been called a gaijin, I'd have a lot of Georgia coffees!

[jokar]

When I said went for both sides I mean both sides had a good chance of being simply executed on the spot by the enemy if they surrendered.

And you have documentation correct ?? Please post. My father served in the pacific and I have diaries stating that the japs prisoners were used to gather intelligence. Dead men tale no tales. Prove your point.

[weikel]

Some were spared but the two sides in the Pacific hated each other making them less likely to take prisoners( the hatred was all the fault of the Japanese who were atrocious). As you mentioned such things are hard to prove as dead men tell no tales.

[jokar]

As you mentioned such things are hard to prove as dead men tell no tales.


You ran your yap and you have no proof. I also had a deceased uncle that was on the Batann death march. Of course they hated the Japanese. We prosecuted the war in a professional manner. We did not starve them, torture them and we court martialed American soldiers that did. I have the proof. Your moral equivalence is stain and a slander against many tortured and dead men.
I demand that you apologize.

[weikel]

I am NOT preaching moral equivalence I had a grandfater in the Pacific too( he died of polio 2 years after the war when my father was 6 so I never met him and my Father of course only really saw him during those 2 years after the war). The war was the Japanese fault and the hatred was justified. Still when the other side really really hates you Im simply pointed out that the enemies pissed off infantry men might just simply blow your head off when you surrender. Its human nature.

[Tickle Me Pank]

"Lexus IS a Toyota."

Yes, but the SC 430 a really, really nice one! And damned fun to drive..... :)

[RushLake]

Be careful Shryke & auggy. Even though you may have exerience with the male of the species, there are Honda driving jap lovers out there will take exception. Turn the other cheek and all that rot hey what!

[Dimensio]

I drive a BMW. You cannot effectively insult my vehicle choice without invoking Godwin's Law. Nyah.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Yeah,right.

So you had a bad, subjective experience in Asia. Fine, go cry in your own coffee. Your experience does not speak for everybody, any more than mine does.

You also don't speak for the thousands of foreigners that did well in Japan and left and have good memories, or otherwise still do business with Japan. Like I said, there is no stampede of 38,000 Americans to Narita airport to evacuate the place.