Then, the war will come. The war between China and Japan, using Korea as the front troops. The recent visit by KJI to China with his generals should be viewed in this frame of mind.

No, I did not say that.

i don’t know how many times i need to say it before you’ll address it, so this will be my last try. this page is getting way to long, and half of it is me saying the same thing over and over again without it being addressed.

Sorry, Darin. You wouldn’t know it sometimes, but I actually have a life?both professional and social?outside of this blog. I’ll get to it when I can.

What’s the problem here?

So many Japanese individuals were victims, but they were victims of Japan, not of the United States (as the Japanese right-wing seems to suggest). That does not make all actions of the United States justifiable (I don’t think the bombing of Nagasaki was justifiable, nor for that matter Hiroshima).

What I don’t have time to get into right now is that in the historical revisionism of Japan’s far-right, there are perhaps legitimate reminders of Japan’s suffering, BUT a very low threshold for when it’s okay for Japan to instigate wars, which it distorts into defensive wars (e.g., China and Korea).

One last point about your assertion that information was highly limited seventy and sixty-five years ago. This is true, but the people still knew that war was going on. They knew of the victories and they were elated by them. Unless they were led to believe that NOBODY WAS DYING as a result of Japan’s conquests, they were supporters of war and its trappings. Their opposition came when it was no longer Chinese, Australians, Brits, Filipinos, and Americans being killed but suddenly and unexpectedly Japanese.

This “they” is of course not everyone in Japan at the time. For the sake of convenient argument, let’s say it might have been half. The other half are the victims, then, but the half that supported war when the going was good may have suffered, but they are not victims.

At any rate, Japan as an entity was NOT a victim of World War II. But to spell it out for you, many millions of its citizens were, but they were victims of Japan, not some other country.

Japan as a country, the aggressor nation, is not a victim. Similarly, North Koreans who supported the regime of Kim Ilsung cannot be considered victims of “American aggression.”
So then I guess the people that died/were injured during the subway attacks in London are also not victim’s because they “brought it upon themselves”? England supported the war on Iraq, does that mean it’s citizens are fair game?

It seems as though you think that way (PLEASE tell me I’m wrong, I very much hope I’m misunderstanding you), if that is the case then apparently we have a very fundamentally different understanding of the value of human life. I think killing of human beings is wrong under all circumstances, you seem to think killing can be justified. Yet you criticize this ‘Japanese right-wing’ for saying sometimes wars just have to be fought?

I’m not arguing the whole country of Japan is the victim, that’s insane, but the common person are each individual victims. They share that with the common Chinese and Korean person who was also a victim of the same Japanese Empire. This should be something to bring the people of Asia together, and unite them against N. Korea’s regime and China’s regime. However, since most people are living under one of those regimes (or under the lie that one of those isn’t a regime but really their friend), it’s easier to come together and say the Japanese got what they deserved, and they deserve more, and it’s up to us to give it to them since international laws and the international community wont.

Look how caught up you get into a simple one line point I made (the Japanese citizens were victims too) that you completely ignore what I am actually saying, that the people of Asia should all be working together against N. Korea and China. However right now all the brainwashed disciples are wound up and ready to attack the Japanese enemy that does not exist. What they don’t realize is after they attack, they become the aggressor and not the victim. They don’t realize that their crime will be just the same as the crime they are trying to avenge, because they will be attacking people born after WW2, who did committed no crime.

Individuals may be victims; but not all individuals are victims. Having suffered does not make one a victim, not if one supported the circumstances that led to the suffering.
Again what about the people of London? Fair game? What about you? Am I justified in killing you because America started a war? Apparently some people think so.

You seem to keep missing my point that the average Japanese citizen didn’t know the real truth about the war that was going on. Remember, no internet 60 years ago? Remember, control of information? For example there were hall monitors in the hall ways of schools not monitoring the halls, but the teachers. In every class room there were pictures of the Emperor hanging (sounds like Kim^2’s NK??). Every morning a special ceremony was held to open the case the Emperor’s picture was held in…

Movies… Bulgasari I have not seen any of the movies you mentioned, but I will be sure to check them out. However your description seems to show that they show the common ‘people suffer — no war’ theme correct? I don’t recall saying Japanese movies play the victim angle, but it’s very possible I said something that could easily be misinterpreted.

I’ll mention more about the movies I’ve seen later today, for now I’ve gotta run to school.

What Japanese WWII movies are you referring to? Off the top of my head I can think of a few that I’ve seen, and perhaps half of them were set overseas. Of the ones I’ve seen, The Human Condition and Under the Flag of the Rising Sun rather unflinchingly show Japanese atrocities. Both question the military and rulers who led Japan to ruin - the money quote in the latter film being “The government didn’t ask anybody’s permission to start the war. But we’re the ones stuck paying for all of it.” These films were made by directors who were rather critical of the war and the Japanese government, and so may not be representative of the usual attitude.

Two other films that come to mind are The Burmese Harp, which focuses more on Japanese war dead and an attempt at redemption by a single soldier, and Grave of the Fireflies, an animated film about the effects of the war on children; all of these films are among the best anti-war films I’ve seen, and none play up the Japan-as-victim angle; they basically just say ‘War sucks’ (with the addition, in the first two movies, of “and so does our government”).

As I write this, a few others come to mind, like ‘Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence’ and a film about Okinawa, set overseas, as well as ‘Dr. Akagi’ and ‘Black Rain’, which are both set at home. Perhaps it just reflects the small sample of WWII movies I’ve seen (out of 100+ Japanese movies I’ve watched), but those I’ve seen are pretty evenly divided between being set at home and abroad, with a number of them being very critical of the war.

As for the responsibility of Japanese who supported the war, how much is this responsibility mitigated by the fact of censorship (Were the people who supported the war aware of the suffering their troops were causing?), severe punishment for dissidents, and, for the younger generation who were of conscription age at the start of the Pacific war, 10 years of a military government indoctrinating them in school? For the younger generation in particular, the ones who were doing much of the fighting, how much of the blame should be shifted to the government for the militaristic, jingoistic education they received?

It’s not like I invented it. Had this type of posting originated with me, it would be called kushing instead of fisking.

Anyway, about the fisking of my comments, there are too many misquotes (especially of the type where the words I carefully chose were changed when someone paraphrased me, and my critic then argues not the point I made but the one that resulted from the misparaphrasing) and quotes mistakenly attributed to me (when did I ever suggest that Hirohito should have been executed? I would probably go so far as to say that none of the Yasukuni-14 should not have been executed either) for me to kush/fisk this right now.

But for now I’ll just summarize for those who missed it: Whether Korean or Japanese, those who enthusiastically supported the war probably should not be considered victims. Japan as a country, the aggressor nation, is not a victim. Similarly, North Koreans who supported the regime of Kim Ilsung cannot be considered victims of “American aggression.”

Individuals may be victims; but not all individuals are victims. Having suffered does not make one a victim, not if one supported the circumstances that led to the suffering.

The pent-up anger against Japan is bringing the Chinese and Koreans closer. With China getting stronger every day, it is a matter of time for Korea to join the China camp.

Then, the war will come. The war between China and Japan, using Korea as the front troops. The recent visit by KJI to China with his generals should be viewed in this frame of mind.