When will Japan remember murdered citizens?

[dannavy85]

It is estimated that between 1932 and 1945, 35,000 Japanese citizens were arrested, imprisoned and murdered by the secret police or Kempi tai for standing against the Militarists who took Japan into the illegal war in Manchuria and China then the insane and suicidal war against the United States and the allied powers.

I find it apauling that Japan can moan and complain about being a victim with their yearly Hiroshima rants but they have done nothing to remember those who were murdered for trying to prevent their country from going to hell under the militarists and then Emperor Hirohito.

Don't you think it's finally time for Japan to truely face the ugliness of their history?

[chiuchimu]

No one alive today did anything.

My Mom was a BABY at the end of WW2. Why should I apology or recognized crimes I didn't commit?

I don't understand people that see Countries as an individual and expect its citizens to behave as one unified person.

[Ryzorian]

Apologies mean little to nothing when they are made by folks too distantly removed from the situation to even know what anything is. I was born in 1967, it would be silly for me to try to apologize about what Admiral Perry did in Japan back in 1857.

The same holds true for some of the things in question about WW2. Nasty things happened yes, but I think Japan and Germany both paid a heavy price for thier leaders actions in those days.

[Dayanx]

Originally Posted by chiuchimu

No one alive today did anything.

My Mom was a BABY at the end of WW2. Why should I apology or recognized crimes I didn't commit?

I don't understand people that see Countries as an individual and expect its citizens to behave as one unified person.

This is true. There is nothing personal here I think- just a simple acknowledgment of wrongdoing from times past by those in charge. Closure. Heck- the Vatican just recently apologized to Galileo. I think the US might one day say that nuking two cities to bring the war to a close might have been just a TAD heavy handed. (but such is hindsight)

As to Manchuria- nations can be bit by the conquest bug. China, England, Germany, Japan, Russia, the US, as nations all have gone ballistic and started conquering everything in sight. Sometimes you just have to let go and be friends. And I say this as a man with 6 family members that fought in the '42-'45 Pacific campaign.

[steven]

Originally Posted by chiuchimu

I don't understand people that see Countries as an individual and expect its citizens to behave as one unified person.

Unfortunately that's how a lot of people think in this world (as far as I can tell anyways).

At the same time though, I think that just because something is in the past doesn't mean that it should be glossed over. People involved in WWII are indeed becoming fewer and fewer, but I think it's still a living history (the people responsible for it are no longer with us though). Because of this I feel that people are losing the connection of history and their everyday lives. I've talked to a lot of middle school students in Japan who don't seem to have any sense of what kinds of things were happening in Japan 70+ years ago. Not that I'm that old myself, but I used to be able to talk to my grandpa about "those days" which gave me a vague idea of what went on. These days, kids' grandparents weren't really alive back then thus making those kinds of histories kinda hard to keep.

In other words, I think it'd be something worth learning about. Are people learning about that in schools I wonder? I remember my high school history teachers kind of glossing over the internment camps for Japanese-Americans in America during US History classes. It was VERY relavant at the time too in my opinion seeing as how "Arabian" people were being subjected to a similar process around that time.

If you take away the sentiment of what Dannavy is saying, I think I can agree with him somewhat. I think there should be an effort to remember (or teach) these kinds of things. However, apologizing it might not be felt as taht sincere because non of the apologizing parties/receiving parties could have been alive when that kind of thing was going on. (please correct me if I'm mistaken)

[Ronin4hire]

Originally Posted by Dayanx

This is true. There is nothing personal here I think- just a simple acknowledgment of wrongdoing from times past by those in charge. Closure. Heck- the Vatican just recently apologized to Galileo. I think the US might one day say that nuking two cities to bring the war to a close might have been just a TAD heavy handed. (but such is hindsight)

An apology in that spirit has been made by Japan numerous times I thought.

That's the impression I'm under.

[dogsbody70]

Originally Posted by dannavy85

It is estimated that between 1932 and 1945, 35,000 Japanese citizens were arrested, imprisoned and murdered by the secret police or Kempi tai for standing against the Militarists who took Japan into the illegal war in Manchuria and China then the insane and suicidal war against the United States and the allied powers.

I find it apauling that Japan can moan and complain about being a victim with their yearly Hiroshima rants but they have done nothing to remember those who were murdered for trying to prevent their country from going to hell under the militarists and then Emperor Hirohito.

Don't you think it's finally time for Japan to truely face the ugliness of their history?

Hello there, where did you get that information. I would be very interested?

[dogsbody70]

Originally Posted by steven

Unfortunately that's how a lot of people think in this world (as far as I can tell anyways).

At the same time though, I think that just because something is in the past doesn't mean that it should be glossed over. People involved in WWII are indeed becoming fewer and fewer, but I think it's still a living history (the people responsible for it are no longer with us though). Because of this I feel that people are losing the connection of history and their everyday lives. I've talked to a lot of middle school students in Japan who don't seem to have any sense of what kinds of things were happening in Japan 70+ years ago. Not that I'm that old myself, but I used to be able to talk to my grandpa about "those days" which gave me a vague idea of what went on. These days, kids' grandparents weren't really alive back then thus making those kinds of histories kinda hard to keep.

In other words, I think it'd be something worth learning about. Are people learning about that in schools I wonder? I remember my high school history teachers kind of glossing over the internment camps for Japanese-Americans in America during US History classes. It was VERY relavant at the time too in my opinion seeing as how "Arabian" people were being subjected to a similar process around that time.

If you take away the sentiment of what Dannavy is saying, I think I can agree with him somewhat. I think there should be an effort to remember (or teach) these kinds of things. However, apologizing it might not be felt as taht sincere because non of the apologizing parties/receiving parties could have been alive when that kind of thing was going on. (please correct me if I'm mistaken)

I feel that it is important to teach younger generations. Yes 70 years ago is very distant-- but none the less truth should be told.

[RobinMask]

Originally Posted by dogsbody70

I feel that it is important to teach younger generations. Yes 70 years ago is very distant-- but none the less truth should be told.

I actually very much agree with you, Dogsbody. In our history education we had a very narrow scope of 'history', and what little we did learn about WW2 was very much glossed over. We were told for weeks about the evils of the Nazi government, but our own mistakes and America's (particularly Hiroshima) were completely ignored. I didn't even learn about Hiroshima and Pearl Harbour in the school environment at all. Countries like Japan didn't even exist in WW2 according to what we were taught :P

I think it's highly important for children to be given a well-rounded education. It seems very much that 'history is written by the winners', and we're that determined to be the good guys and the heroes that we ignore any parts of history that undermine that image. We want our kids to be patriotic and proud, and admitting to mistakes seems contrary to that. Of course, I don't speak for all educational systems, and I'm not sure if things have changed since I studied history either.

As for apologising for past errors, I agree with Dayanx. If a country has made a mistake then it needs to apologise for it, it's not so much that it gives closure but it reassures the victims involved that things have changed, that the other country knows it was wrong and that it'll endeavour not to commit the same error again.

[Ronin4hire]

I'll say it again.

Japan has apologised numerous times for its actions and its former expansionism.