Ichiro Ozawa
Posted on 08/26/2010 8:34:54 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Politician tipped as a future Japanese prime minister has said the British are not very likeable, but admitted the way British prisoners marched in The Bridge on the River Kwai demonstrated their best qualities.
Ichiro Ozawa, the former secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Democratic Party, also said he values US democracy but dismissed the American people as “simple-minded”.
Ichiro Ozawa
The 68-year-old veteran politician, who resigned as the second most important official in the ruling party in June after coming under fire for campaign finance scandals, reportedly said: “I don’t like British people,” before praising British democracy and their discipline, citing the 1957 Second World War II film, The Bridge on the River Kwai, in which British prisoners of war march in orderly ranks.
The film, based on the novel The Bridge over the River Kwai starred Sir Alec Guinness, William Holden and Jack Hawkins. Guinness won an Oscar for his portrayal of Colonel Nicholson, who convinces the other British prisoners of war to build a bridge for the Burma-Siam railway as a means of boosting British morale but which eventually turns into a monument to himself. The film won six other Academy Awards including Best Picture.
Veterans of the Second World War who fought against Japan said Mr Ozawa’s comments about Britain were insensitive but they would “not get into a sweat about it”.
John Weeks, 92, secretary of the Burma Star Association, an organisation for those who fought in the Burma campaign against Japan, said: “I don’t like this, I must say. He is just having a go at us but I think we should just let that sort of thing pass us by.”
The former soldier, who served as a captain in the Royal Artillery in Burma, added: “The Japanese are clever people there’s
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
One problem, Ozie. A lot of allied POWS died on death marches in SE Asia as well as in building the bridge. Many Chinese and other POWS died by the thousands and perhaps Malays and even Burmese troops.
I know that it was a lot bloodier than the movie portrayed.
日本＊ピング＊ (kono risuto ni hairitai ka detai wo shirasete kudasai : let me know if you want on or off this list)
Two nukes were not enough...
Japan’s “Democratic Party” must be even more hard up for leadership talent than our own.
This backroom thug is going to be their next Prime Minister?
You gotta read the whole thing. He calls us Americans simpletons but his high opinion of the Brits is based on having seen the movie “Bridge over the River Kwai”.
I’m with the old British WWII vets. This clown isn’t worth the effort of getting mad at.
. . . dismissed the American people as “simple-minded”.
The proof is sitting in the White House.
Before the 2008 election I would have disagreed with him.
He reminds me of Joe Biden.
I'm just sayin'.......
Joe Biden is stupid and he thinks we’re even stupider.
This guy’s just plain stupid.
Oh wonderful, another demagogue idiot gets to be PM.
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Why didn't he just say, "The stormtroopers in Star Wars always showed excellent discipline and that is why I admire the Emperor." It would have made just as much sense.
Yaaaawn.
It was an iconic film - but it also sanitized the horrors of what actually happened to POW’s in Southeast Asia.
I had a jap show me a thing or two in a bar once. He got all karate in my face. It hurt. I elbowed him on the clavicle. He cried. It was gross — I guess that’s what hitting a child or a girl would feel like. That was 35 years ago, and I still feel queasy.
They’re all bravado, no substance.
Agreed. The Japanese are not perfect but they do not elect Muslims to run Japan. Americans are controlled by TV which is controlled by the Saudis and Islam now.
The Networks and all the cable channels they own (90% of every channel) ALL support The Imam, Victory Mosque and Islam. Keep watching sheeple.
Our great “saviors” are RINOs who helped McCain in AZ: - Mitt, Sarah, Huck, Pawlenty, Jan Brewer and other phonies.
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