America's leaders now grovel.
Posted on 09/18/2007 3:36:43 PM PDT by Stoat
America's leaders now grovel.
WWII Ping
“Hirohito’s descent from heaven”
And, it seems, his first time use of his godlike authority to command Tojo and his warlords to accept the inevitable after not one, but two atomic bombings (that it took two, not one, points to fanatical Japanese determination).
I was a 7-9 years old Army dependent in Japan 1956-58. Friendliest people I had ever known up to then. WWII consisted only of my Dad’s Nazi war souvenirs. Japanese kids and American kids played baseball together like there was no tomorrow - or yesterday.
Never have been able to figure out how the Japanese people went from fanaticism to docility virtually overnight. Some have written that it took only Hirohito’s imperial command. Others say that it was because Gen. MacArthur deprived Japan of their god-emperor, and then generously gave them another - himself.
But the memory of WWII Japanese atrocities must be forced, for their victims’ sake, to live forever!
But now it's over, and it's time to move on. Forgive, but don't forget.
bookmark
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Japan Admits Dissecting WW-II POWs
On May 5, 1945, an American B-29 bomber was knocked down over southern Japan. Eight American airmen prisoners were made available for medical experiments at Kyushu Imperial University. The eight were dissected organ by organ while they were still alive.
This is the only site where Americans were incontrovertibly used in dissections and the only known site where experiments were done in Japan. Kyushu University, Fukuoka, is midway between Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Several of my uncles were Pacific island hoppers. (Dad dropped bombs on Nazi heads.)
As a little kid, I remember one uncle at family reunions would need to excuse himself and go lay down in a bed to shiver from malaria, the result of fighting Japanese in the Pacific jungles.
He certainly didn’t suffer the way our unfortunate POWs did, but watching him shake and sweat on the bed gave a young boy at that time some indication of how hard these men fought in WW II and the consequences years later.
I’ll never forget the sacrifices these men made.
| "men of the arrogant nation which sought to treat [their] motherland with unwarranted contempt. "As [he] gaze[s] upon them, [he] feel[s] as if [he is] watching dirty water running from the sewers of a nation whose origins were mongrel, and whose pride has been lost. Japanese soldiers look extraordinarily handsome, and [he feels] very proud to belong to their race." Seems to be racism borne out of resentment or perceived slight ('they(x) looked down on them(y) first, so now they(y) will look down on them(x)). Very human, Thing is, counter-racism doesn't end racism, and just gives European descendants the opportunity to go, "Look, look, [they're] victims of racism, too." |
I suspect the reason for their behavior is strong Japanese nationalism and emphasis on social order that has no external source of moral authority. When Germany came out of WWII and realized what they had done there was national shame. Germans knew the difference between right and wrong but had looked away from what was going on. In contrast, Japan’s war shame was not due their brutality at all, it was in their loss of the war; it was rooted in their failure to be victorious. Why would a nation with such a mindset apologize to the victors? They wouldn’t; they would apologize to each other, and so they did. That mindset has not changed, nor can we expect it to.
I wonder what price you would have them pay, who would pay it and who would receive it? Unfortunately there are not that many people left who were directly involved. Would you have the old guy in Okinawa send some yen to an old guy in Seattle? At some point it simply devolves to the same issue as slave reparations. Regrettable, but a reasonable solution is not there IMO.
Lastly, I would be more than happy to buy a Ford or Chevy if they were not junk compared to Toyotas and Hondas. I have been loyal over many years and my loyalty has been severely taken advantage of. I have had enough. The last straw was when my Ford Crapstar caught on fire due to the speed control switch – a well known problem that has reportedly burned down homes and killed people. Ford told me that no recall had been issued on my minivan, so it was my problem. I could go on for quite a while on that vehicle. Or perhaps everyone would like to hear about my Ford Escort – so named, apparently because one dare not take it anywhere by itself. Designed with an interference engine and a timing belt rather than a chain, it was only a matter of time (and not much time, at that) before it destroyed itself. Again, Ford told me it was my problem not theirs. I can provide similar Chevy experiences – the Caprice with “crow checking” paint that began to flake off after only five years (not GMs problem). The hot #1 cylinder characteristic of the early 4.3L V6s (not GMs problem).
Are there people who have had great experiences with American cars of all makes and models? Of course. Are there people who have had bad experiences, similar to mine, with Japanese cars? Of course. But on the whole, people are buying Japanese vehicles because they are reliably made, and they are avoiding American cars because they are not. It hasn’t got a damn thing to do with providing an incentive for an apology from the progeny of those who perpetrated the war by the progeny of those who responded.
We still had LeMay.
“I recently looked over a book on the Rape of Nanking. I’ve got a pretty
strong stomach, but I could not bring myself to buy the book.”
I did the same a few years back. Just horrific, even in the photos.
But the real impact for me was scanning through the section about the German
diplomat that complained to Berlin that the Japanese troops were just
totally out of control.
In those days, when a German diplomat cried “Foul!”, it really did
mean the perps had totally sailed off any sort of moral map.
“But now it’s over, and it’s time to move on. Forgive, but don’t forget.”
Yep, telling the history is important.
AND writers (and readers) should let it overtake them.
While I take Wikipedia with a large measure of salt...it looks like
depression while researching a book on The Bataan Death March may
have contributed to the suicide of the author of “The Rape of Nanking”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_Chang
| Agree that there should not be anger toward modern Japan, and that Japanese living today (except maybe some of the old ones) are not responsible for what happened in World War 2 any more than Americans living today are responsible for American victory in that war. But of the opinion that the nation--especially when the nation has such a central figure as the Japanese emperor--can apologize for what Japan did in the Second World War, and that such an apology, while not as strong as one by the Japan of that era, would not be empty, and that the nation can do so because the nation is itself an organism, and one--in the case of Japan--that is millennia old. |
Inside that box I found snapshots that I'm sure were from the Bataan Death March. And were taken by the Japanese. The gentleman walked in on me as I was looking at the pictures. He gently took the box from me, wrapped the rubber bands around it again and put it back on a shelf. I looked at him and he had a look on his face that I had never seen before or since on any human being. I knew not to ask him any questions. I wanted to but I knew better. He was not going to speak about what he had seen so many years before.
You can find horrors like I saw that day on the internet. Horrid images. But it's doubtful you will ever see that look like he gave me that day. He had seen evil of the sorts I never want to run in to.
Since the beginning of this republic so many Americans have given so much so we all can live free. And they still do today and will again tomorrow. God bless them.
The old gentleman has been long dead. May he rest in peace.
Yes thank God we had LeMay and Oppenheimer.
bump
That sounds just like the movie “Empire of the Sun” except the location was in Japan. That was a hard one to watch.
Our values come from our Judeo/Christian culture. Sometimes it is shocking to realize how different that makes us.
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