Japan's record in history and Japanophilia
 

How do you people square your interest in Japanese culture with it's more sinister aspects? I'm talking about japanese racist chauvinism and a seeming lack of respect for human life. I was a typical japan fan in high school, learning the language etc., but I swore it off forever after talking to my great uncle, who fought the Japanese in the Pacific and learned to despise their fanaticism and vile cruelty. It sickens me that Japan escaped a fitting punishment for its crimes at the end of the second World War. Look at the medical researchers of unit 731, many of whom escaped any punishment. I hear there is one brazen enough to travel Japan talking about his atrocities.
There is also the new trend of historical revisionism in Japan that glosses over Japan's shameful record of rapes and massacres.
I learned to respect Japanese art and scientific achievements when iI was a Japanophile but eventually I felt like I was betraying my family and culture by continuing to spend more time learning about this essentially depraved nation than about my own
What are your thoughts?
BTW, this isn't a troll post or anything like that. I'm writing an article for my University's magazine on this topic, as it sems relevant considering how many Japanophiles go there. I need some comment or opposing views.

Japan has been around several thousand years, so thier history is full of things, both good and bad. Most nations that have been around that long have similer tails. The US has it's share cruelty as well, so it isn't like we can point fingers persay. Yes, Japan did some henious things in WW2, but they certainly paid a heavy price for it with the Firebombing raids and the Nuke hits. Some could even say those bombing runs were henious in and of them selves, so I suppose it depends on perspective.

Japan's culture has been dominated by the way of the warrior for a long time, certain things were exspected because of that, being an island unto themselves Japan was rather isolated from other cultures, so they wouldn't have a large reference of other viewpoints at the time. Sparta in ancient Greece, considering thier own warrior ethic, was easily as vicious as Japan.
Warrior culture in general tends to favor the strong willed over the weak willed. The Zulu's under Shaka were the same way. I dare say some of the American elite forces would be just as aggressive.

Go screw yourself, you unimaginative bigot.




Is that what you wanted? Happy now? STFU -fu-

I dislike the word 'japanophile'. It's irrational to blindly love everything Japanese, disregarding the fact that there are good AND bad things in Japan, as well as any other country. Similarly, I find it irrational to suddenly dislike everything about Japan because of something that occurred 70 years ago. You've basically jumped from one extreme end of the spectrum to the other end.

Yes, there have been numerous attempts at whitewashing Japanese history in textbooks. Some things Japan has apologized for, other things they haven't. The only people who are trying to downplay this stuff are a small group of old right-wing fogeys. The general populace in Japan is aware Japan did bad things in the past, and they don't want to revisit those things anymore than anyone else does. Anyone even old enough at the time to have been in charge of Unit 731 are likely passed away by now. Bleak as it was, it's old history now.

I hope you're aware that it was the Allies who exonerated the Japanese imperial family after World War II. Allied war trials against the Japanese were comparatively a lot more lenient than they were against the Germans. In fact, everyone involved with Unit 731 was pardoned by MacArthur in exchange for the scientific information gathered there.

Well dude what about all the shameful and crappy things Americans did to outsiders hmm? Slavery, discrimination bla bla bla. Are you proud of that?

Every country has its ups and downs.

Thats the best way to point things out.:vsign:

We could sit here all day comparing and debating genocides and social injustices. But in reality, human nature is full of these things (in every culture)

Basing one's opinion of a modern country on how they were during the second world war is basically gross bias. The majority of people you meet in Japan today were not alive during the war, and amongst the younger generation especially, there is a huge change in outlook. They don't want to read censored text-books; they don't agree with the actions of their predecessors, and there's little hostility remaining against the nationals of their historical opposition. They may ask of Americans "what do you think of Hiroshima?" but it is with curiosity, not aggression. We should have the courtesy as world citizens to do the same to them. The trend in 'historical revisionism' is neither new nor limited to Japan alone. In the UK, certain information about individuals and action taken during the wars will be kept confidential for up to or beyond 100 years. Japan is no different, and I imagine no other country is either.

I also resent this idea that 'learning about Japan' somehow is implicitly connected with betraying your country and your culture. I'm sorry, but if you want to play that card, then I should like to point out that people with an interest in Japan were vitally important in the war, and were more vital afterwards in trying to establish new, peaceful working relations between nations. You show a certain ignorance when you say you went from 'Japanophile' to 'Japanophobe'. You think you're the only one with relatives who fought in WWII? Many amongst us here have as well, and we respect their views and their suffering, but perpetuating an atmosphere of their justifiable hatred towards another nation now populated by those unrelated to those sufferings, will not help this world to progress in the way it should. Do not confuse this with "Mindless forgiving and soft-hearted forgetting"; it is neither. There is no point, however, as i think i've already made clear, with tarring a whole nation with the actions of a few.

This idea of 'no respect for human life' is also rather bogus considering the current PM has just effectively scrapped the death sentence by appointing a head of criminal affairs who holds a strong anti-corporal punishment sentiment. Your opinions seem founded in a bloody past, with no real anthropological or modern-day understanding of what it means. It's also unfair to compare too closely between Japan and the West. We are different cultures, and in some respects, Japan is a few years behind. I don't mean that they are slow, i mean that in less than 100 years they have had radical social and cultural changes, from the foundation up. Combined with economical difficulties that have delayed such changes.

Japan is not perfect, and I square my interest with it in the same way I square the negative side of Great Britain with my identity with it's culture- by realizing that it does not define the country as a whole. I'm not a Japanophile. That label is only rarely true of people with an interest in the culture, and implies that the interest is unhealthy, irrational and dysfunctional. I don't agree with all of Japan's policies, but at the same time, it's clear that not all Japanese National's do either and to say that it is 'essentially depraved' is bordering on racism. That's akin to going to Bolivia and picking up a child from a nomadic jungle tribe and declaring that South American's are 'essentially stupid'. We now live in a world where assumptions and under-mining stereotyping of that kind is no longer acceptable, and I hope your article reflects that!

My grandfather died during the Portuguese Colony Wars (@ Angola)

Today one of my best friends is Luso-Angolan. (Portuguese/Angolan)


"All forms of anger are the corruption of reason and therefore detrimental to good judgement"