Thread: Can you believe this?

I think there may have been issues with Japan refusing to acknowledge their sins in the war. From what I understand (and I could be wrong) they have expunged any wrong doings on their part from their history books, don't teach their school students what happened, etc.

Originally Posted by abaddonxi

Talk about closing your eyes to the past.

Yes, but mostly by the Japanese.

I actually met a japanese girl a few years ago who had no knowledge of the Japanese invasion of SE Asia and thus of the attrocities committed there. She had thought that the allies had attacked Japan!

Three of my cousins were in the 8th. Dvn. Second AIF and were prisoners of the Japanese in Malaya and on the Burma Railway. One died there. The surviving brothers suffered conseqent poor health for life. They maintained to the end of their days that the Japanese race should be outside the protection of law. One of them used to say that it was a pity that the Yanks only had two of those bombs.

I remember the shocked looks on my Japanese TAFE students when I played "The Pacific Century " videos which showed the Japanese massacres in China , and the medical experiments in Siberia.
They had no idea.
regards Philip A

Added to the above, which is well known & I've similar experiences with Japanese exchange students my sister has hosted,- they know diddly about WW2,- there was a lot of persistant myths about radiation and that kept a lot of people away from Hiroshima & Nagasaki.
It would be last on my visiting wish list too.
Also
The cynic in me says Rudd has found a way to get air time by being the first.

That's interesting. I was there in 1987 when Rev. Jesse Jackson was laying a wreath in the Hiroshima Peace Park. I guess he doesn't count as a "leader" though since he was only vie-ing for the Democratic nomination at that stage which he didn't get.

Originally Posted by DeeJay

there was a lot of persistant myths about radiation and that kept a lot of people away from Hiroshima & Nagasaki.
It would be last on my visiting wish list too.

Actually, people affected by the bombs are treated as an underclass and called "Hibakusha". There is still a lot of stigma associated with those who suffered radiation related illnesses and birth defects. In fact Japan in general is a quite discriminatory society when it comes to class distinctions - I guess that's just one of the things you get when you have such a homogenous society.

The far right in Japanese politics have succeeded in virtually expunging all references to what led up to and happened during WWII out of Japanese School History books.
There is a small section of teachers trying to redress the balance (from our perspective) but they are up against a majority who just don't want to know and a small, vocal minority who think that Tojo was right !

It's interesting to compare the collective reaction to the Germans, who generally appear quite shameful about Nazism and WWII.

The lack of acknowledgement about what happened in Korea, (Japan 'annexed' the Korean peninsula in 1910) China and then WWII is what still flames so much antagonism towards Japan in the rest of Asia.