Comments on: MUST READ: ‘The best damn general on this stinking island’

By: sanshinseon

sanshinseon — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 07:01:57 +0000

Right. They could have negotiated it out, over time
– and that would’ve been SO much wiser. If they had
left US interests is alone in the Philippines… i
wonder if the Americans would have let them take China
and Indochina…? Could’ve been a hell of an empire.

By: wjk

wjk — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 04:51:33 +0000

I think there are some people out there who argue that Japan had no choice but to bomb Pearl Harbor, because it faced US embargoes and sanctions over Manchuria.

These people are idiots.

By: yankeesfan_77

yankeesfan_77 — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 23:19:59 +0000

The Japanese descision to attack was in response to US sanctions against oil and steel embargos. The attack was not in direct retaliation, but, as they reasoned, necessity to strike and seize theior own sources of these valuable materials. These sources of rubber, oil, stell etc. could be found in SEA Asaia.

Militarily, Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor was a pre-emptive strike to defeat the only real obstacle to Japanese dominance of the Western Pacific ocean. Japan’s reasoning was that once the US 7th fleet was out of the way, the conquest of the Phillipenes, Malaya, Indonesia and Indochina would occur with little resistance.

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 23:12:34 +0000

According to exhibits in the Yasukuni Museum, Japan invaded and conquered its Asian neighbors to save them from Western colonialism and was forced into a war with the United States because of an arms embargo and blockade, enacted in response to Japan’s takeover of Manchuria. Below is an excerpt from a display about the attack on Shanghai:

“Gen. Iwane Matsui “warned Chinese troops to surrender, but Commander-in-Chief Tang Shengzhi ignored the warning. Instead he ordered his men to fight to the death and then abandoned them. The Chinese were soundly defeated, suffering heavy casualties. Inside the city, residents were once again able to live their lives in peace.”

from http://www.rense.com/general28/tudg.htm

and this about Korea’s ‘liberation’:

A display labelled the Sino-Japanese War Operation Plan goes into the details of the war itself and Japan’s swift victory. When the war was over, there was the Treaty of Shimonoseki:

“With the treaty of Shimonoseki, Korea achieved true independence, which Japan had long hoped for.” 「下関条約によって、朝鮮の独立は確実なものとなった。日本は長年の念願を果たした．．．」

from http://www.chinajapan.org/site.....rjwar.html

another interesting read on the museum: http://www.zmag.org/content/sh.....temID=7970

I knew the reputation of the museum and debated the morality of spending 800 Yuan admission, which goes towards the maintenance of this glorification of war, and ended up going in. I can only hope most Japanese visitors see through the lies and distortions.

By: Joel

Joel — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 22:40:49 +0000

Could someone point me to the sources or just tell why exactly Japan attacked China and later on US? There is a ton of information about Pearl Harbour, but not much about reasoning Japan had at the time.

By: yankeesfan_77

yankeesfan_77 — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 22:32:15 +0000

I went on a trip to Iwo Jima a few years ago. Basically, Kuribayashi went against all the previous strategies the Japanese had used at other islands and he made sure the island was heavily fortified and the defense supported by a vast tunnel system (something like 24 miles of tunnels). More importantly, he forbade wasteful banzai charges and tasked his soldiers to each kill 10 Americans.

Really sad part about Iwo Jima was that we initially planned on bypassing the island altogether, but our heavy bomber losses against the Home Islands incurred a requirement for an emergency landing base. Too many bombers that were shot up over Japan had to try to make it all the way to Guam, and many did’nt. Even as fighting was raging on Iwo and the island was far from secure, several bombers made emergency landings there!

I think the final casualty count was 22,000 Japanese and 5,000 American KIA.

By: tomojiro

tomojiro — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 15:11:32 +0000

>From what I understand, even if the Japanese won various crucial battles, it would have only >won them some time, not given them victory. Truly American industrial potential was huge.

You are just right. These statistics actually confirms this.
http://www.combinedfleet.com/economic.htm

The Japanese should never started this war with America (and ofcourse the invasion against china, which led to the war with America).

By: shakuhachi

shakuhachi — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:52:43 +0000

From what I understand, even if the Japanese won various crucial battles, it would have only won them some time, not given them victory. Truly American industrial potential was huge.