Japan has no future

[Fu Lai]

Sure Carl, it's your site. But it hasn't been 75 years and China, Korea, Philippines and other offended Asian countries never dropped atomic bombs. And it is not personal to me, these are articles about other countries. Just being conversational. Have a nice day.

 

Enough already. Just let it rest. If 75 years and two atomic bombs aren't enough to satisfy you you can't be pleased.

[Randy W]

I'll have to say I think Fu Lai has a legitimate viewpoint

[danb]

Hello, it is a good thing that we can discuss this topic and the worst thing that has happened is perhaps some cow piles getting tossed around.

 

Unlike what is happenning for real in Asia. Flyovers of fighter jets and other responses to those flyovers. A barrage of threats of missiles and nuclear devices launches and threats of annilations. Fishing and research vessel and various other naval vessels circling and allegedly intrudging on another's sovereign territories. etc, etc....

 

Of course one could say that the above mentioned action have nothing to do with Japan's future. But there are others that might disagree.

 

I wonder what would be the perspective of an aging little ojiichan (Japanese grandpa) named Hashimoto whose country is the only country to experienced not one but two atomic bombings. I wonder if he sittings around wanting for an apology, an admision of guilt of the country that waged atomic war against his beloved Japan. I wonder if he questions the motives behind the droppings of those two bombs.

 

Hopefully little old Hashimoto has learn to forgive and also that he hope and prays that the world never sees another atomic bomb dropped.

 

Danb

[Dan R]

Hello, it is a good thing that we can discuss this topic and the worst thing that has happened is perhaps some cow piles getting tossed around.

 

Unlike what is happenning for real in Asia. Flyovers of fighter jets and other responses to those flyovers. A barrage of threats of missiles and nuclear devices launches and threats of annilations. Fishing and research vessel and various other naval vessels circling and allegedly intrudging on another's sovereign territories. etc, etc....

 

Of course one could say that the above mentioned action have nothing to do with Japan's future. But there are others that might disagree.

 

I wonder what would be the perspective of an aging little ojiichan (Japanese grandpa) named Hashimoto whose country is the only country to experienced not one but two atomic bombings. I wonder if he sittings around wanting for an apology, an admision of guilt of the country that waged atomic war against his beloved Japan. I wonder if he questions the motives behind the droppings of those two bombs.

 

Hopefully little old Hashimoto has learn to forgive and also that he hope and prays that the world never sees another atomic bomb dropped.

 

Danb

Bombs nuclear or conventional kill. More people were killed in Japanese cities than were killed by both Atomic Bombs. War is Hell! There hasn't been a world peace since WWII. Perpetual war in support of politics and grabs for power. 1984 has partially been realized.

[danb]

Hello. Did any one read this story about the US and Japan?

 

http://news.yahoo.com/china-says-u-watch-japanese-nationalism-105710995.html

 

I thought it was kinda of interesting to read.

 

First I would like to say that I do think that Japan's treatment of Chinese people during WWII was very harsh. I am not sure where the lines are drawn during wartime. I used to believe that war ( killing and bloody) is and should be fought be armies. A very naive thought. I guess that is not the way the lines are really drawn. Civilians are drawn into the equation. Too much so. The bombings of WWII illustrated that point all too well.

 

As an individual I think that I should be able to express my thoughts and ideas about pretty much anything. But I am not sure where the lines are when my country or any other country when it comes to official comments on the internal matters of another country. In the past 10 or 12 years I have heard a fair amount critizism about China. "China this and China that etc." Why are so many people bias against China? Where do they get their ideas from? What fuels those biases?

 

As far as the Japanese and their shrine visits i see that as mostly as an internal affair. I wouldn't particular care to be told by a foreign country that I can't , nor that our public officials can't visit the Tomb of the Unknown soldier, the Vietnam War Memorial, the Iwo Jima Mermorial, or Jellystone Park *.

 

BUT I do think that if Japan does need to gear up her military she would be a force to be receckoned with. She would have the same resolve that Israel has with her defense forces. Just as Israel is surround by countries that don't like her, Japan is surrounded by China, North and South Korea, Taiwan, and Russia. All of those countries have territorial disputes with Japan. What good choices does Japan have? A militaritic Japan would not probably be a good thing. I believe if she was force to she would try to go hi tech and not brute force this time.

Danb

 

*( I know...it should be Yellowstone parrk)

[Fu Lai]

Yeah, nothing wrong in Japan... real bright future...

Japanese mayor: Wartime sex slaves were necessary

• http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/6NyQx1c4lYKN06.ZtITAiw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MTYwNTtjcj0xO2N3PTIwMDA7ZHg9MDtkeT0wO2ZpPXVsY3JvcDtoPTQ3MjtxPTg1O3c9NTg5/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/bd563cf92d27cb10310f6a7067001a15.jpg
  Associated Press/Kyodo News - In this May 13, 2013 photo, Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto answers reporters' questions at the Osaka city office in Osaka, western Japan.

An outspoken nationalist mayor said the Japanese military's forced prostitution of Asian women before and during World War II was necessary to "maintain discipline" in the ranks and provide rest for soldiers who risked their lives in battle.

The comments made Monday are already raising ire in neighboring countries that bore the brunt of Japan's wartime aggression and that have long complained that Japan has failed to fully atone for wartime atrocities.

Toru Hashimoto, the young, brash mayor of Osaka who is also co-leader of an emerging conservative political party, also told reporters that there wasn't clear evidence that the Japanese military coerced women to become what are euphemistically called "comfort women."

"To maintain discipline in the military, it must have been necessary at that time," said Hashimoto. "For soldiers who risked their lives in circumstances where bullets are flying around like rain and wind, if you want them to get some rest, a comfort women system was necessary. That's clear to anyone."

Historians say up to 200,000 women, mainly from the Korean Peninsula and China, were forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers in military brothels.

In Seoul, the Foreign Ministry expressed disappointment over what it called a senior Japanese official's serious lack of historical understanding and respect for women's rights. It asked Japan's leadership figures to look back on their country's imperial past, including grave human rights violations that were committed, and correct their anachronistic historical views.

Hashimoto's comments come amid mounting criticism at the prospect of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's conservative government revising Japan's past apologies for wartime atrocities. Before he took office in December, Abe had advocated revising a 1993 statement by then-Prime Minister Yohei Kono acknowledging and expressing remorse for the suffering caused to the sexual slaves of Japanese troops.

Abe has acknowledged "comfort women" existed but has denied they were coerced into prostitution, citing a lack of official evidence.

Recently, top officials in Abe's government have appeared to backpedal on suggestions the government might revise past apologies, apparently to calm tensions with South Korea and China and address U.S. concerns about Abe's nationalist agenda.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga repeated the previous government position and said that those women went through unbearable pain.

"The stance of the Japanese government on the comfort women issue is well known. They have suffered unspeakably painful experiences. The Abe Cabinet has the same sentiments as past Cabinets."

Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura said Hashimoto's remark doesn't help as Japan has faced criticism from its neighboring countries and the U.S. over its interpretation of history.

"A series of remarks related to our interpretation of (wartime) history have been already misunderstood. In that sense, Mr. Hashimoto's remark came at a bad time," Shimomura told reporters. "I wonder if there is any positive meaning to intentionally make such remarks at this particular moment."

Hashimoto, 43, is co-head of the newly formed Japan Restoration Party with former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, who is a strident nationalist.

Sakihito Ozawa, the party's parliamentary affairs chairman, said he believed Hashimoto's remarks reflected his personal view but expressed concerns about repercussions.

"We should ask his real intentions and stop this at some point," he said.

 

Japanese apologies have been rebuffed by most because of wording and lack of legal repercussions. Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues notes the use of a word Owabi, not Shazai, in those Japanese apologies. The coalition said, "the expression owabi in Japanese in most cases means a sense of apology slightly weightier than an Excuse me."

[tsap seui]

With an attitude like this guy has lets hope to God this gentleman never gets in charge of anything other than his own town, or gets a weapon with a bayonet on the end of it in his hands, especially if he and his men get into any situations with the "bullets flying around like rain and wind". I mean the boys do need their rest ya know. Otherwise they would become unruly and we could no longer get them to do what we want them to do.

 

This thread, and if it was about Germany also, raises something extremely primordial inside me that I have had a problem with since I was a school kid and became aware. I stayed out of it as I know I will go way too far and way beyond even the most simplest bounds of civility.

 

I hate it when my emotions and hackles get raised to the point where I feel the need to go savagely kill something...again and again and again. I'm jes gonna take my calculated and oh so purposely dull axe and go attack that tree stump out back for a few hours until I have to lay down in exhaustion and can no longer think the thoughts this conjures up in my mind.

 

I reckon I don't need to say more about where I come from. Sorry if I seem weak willed.

 

I promise to forever scroll past on this one moderators.

 

tsap seui

[warpedbored]

I don't think any country has a shortage of politicians who say stupid shit. Like Ronny I'm glad this idiot is only a mayor. The nationalist groups the author was talking about have been around in Japan for ages. I've seen them myself back in the 80s when I first visited Japan. They drive around in their cars spouting their poison from loud speakers on top.

[ameriken]

 

Japanese apologies have been rebuffed by most because of wording and lack of legal repercussions. Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues notes the use of a word Owabi, not Shazai, in those Japanese apologies. The coalition said, "the expression owabi in Japanese in most cases means a sense of apology slightly weightier than an Excuse me."

 

Let me add a little levity here, your post about the differences in the Japanese apology reminded me of Larry David in one of his "Curb you Enthusiasm" shows.

 

[Fu Lai]

I don't think any country has a shortage of politicians who say stupid shit. Like Ronny I'm glad this idiot is only a mayor. ...

 

The guy is mayor of the other major city/are in Japan and the PRIME MINISTER shares his views. That's a problem.

[Randy W]

An interesting editorial from the Global Times

 

Diplomatic row due to disoriented Japan

 

 

Quote

Japan's strategy for China drives its activity around China's neighbors. Japan's prudence and cautiousness prove that China will have a major influence over Japan in the 21st century.

But Japan's wishful thinking of "encircling China" is just an illusion. Besides sneaking a few bargains from its competition with China, Japan does not have the strength to prevail over China's influence in Asia

. . .

Japan is trying every means to hide its decline against China in order to boost its national morale, but China does not need to compete with Japan to regain confidence and prove its strength.

The conflict between China and Japan should not be regarded as a "strategic" game. In fact, the overall strategic future of Japan and China has already been determined. Gains and losses incurred by the frictions between China and Japan make no difference to the futures of either country. There is no need for China to exert too much energy on Japan.

. . .

This is not a final showdown between China and Japan, neither is it an opportunity for China to mend its broken fences with Japan. All China should do is "take it easy." China should be aware that Japan tricks can never impact China strategy. China should take the initiative to decide when and how seriously we respond to it.

In fact, both China and Japan should not be the barriers that block the road of another's development. Only with mutual trust and respect can both sides co-exist in harmony. It is believed that this co-existence will not only be helpful for both countries, but also contribute to the peace and development of the international community.