...what's the point of stirring up false emotions. Ted
Exactly!
...Every war has atrocities.
Absolutely!
I agree with your sentiments.
Even the Nazis treated allied POWs well, they were fed and looked after. What puzzles me is how the Japanese officer class did not seem to recognise allied officers as their equal adversiaries . their honour system and their code of bravery only applied to the Japanese apparently.
This is probably best answered in the second part of your comment (below):
...I saw a documentary of a jap mini-sub mission to sink shipping in Sydney harbour. Two of the sub's got snagged on the harbour nets; so the jap crews committed suicide!
It's difficult at best, for most Westerner's to comprehend the Japanese code of honor. For example, when was the last time you heard of an American commander taking his own life as a result of a botched operation? Especially one that cost the lives of his men.
(Hint-You won't. It's not in our culture.)
...Japanese considered surrender or capture dishonorable. Against the Bushido Code. So, if you were a prisoner you were considered shamed and had no rights. That's the same reason why they would fight to the death or commit suicide rather than be captured. They are not of a Western culture and have different values than us.
You understand it correctly.
I suppose when you consider that the Japanese people worshipped the Emperor as a living God : this is in 1945! As already mentioned there was no remorse expressed over their war crimes, only regret at losing the war as Prime minister Abe said last week....
Again it's culture. As for the statement, I can equate to Obama's "apology" for our actions as a nation. That's a "government statement" and not my feelings at all. That may be his position, but he doesn't speak for "me", and I don't recognize his "apology." I can't condemn an entire race and culture for the act(s) of their government.
...In Germany it is illegal to display Nazi memorabilia or openly promote its policies, why then do the Japanese show no remorse and openly condone the honouring of those war criminals?
Different country, different culture.
Across the U.S. in the last many months, thousands of people have been up in arms over the confederate battle flag (actually, there was more than one, but that would actually take a little understanding). Instead of trying to understand it's place in our history and accepting it for what it is, a horrible time for some in our growth as a nation, we protest, riot, and bring law suits to remove it.
The Japanese OTOH, recognize their history and culture even when it hurts, and try to learn from it.
I am trying to understand the contradictions in Japanese culture; on the one hand they advocate honour, bravery and unselfish service to their nation, and in the field of war they starved and worked to death ( murdered) POWs on a huge scale.
How did they reconcile these two disparate moral views?
A feudal system of the highest moral behavior in Japan, and a criminal genocidal policy that killed defenseless captured soldiers.
We probably don't want to go there.
After all, we're not without our own warts in our history.
If you dig long enough and deep enough, you'll find our thorns.
It's a mistake to judge the actions of the past with todays standards. The Japanese didn't view us as their equal in WWII; they didn't sign the Geneva convention; their actions were perfectly logical to them. The USA viewed black people as property and native Americans as animals. We did some pretty horrible things to both of those groups. The difference is we won, so we wrote the history books for the most part.
Ted
Well stated!
Unfortunately, as many have noted, such atrocities during war are all too common and have been probably since the beginning of time. As one whose father served in the Pacific, and who has known at least three survivors of the Bataan Death March, I a naturally appalled. Ask any Korean or Chinese of our age (and many younger) of their opinion of the Japanese and be ready for an earful. The Rape of Nanking is but one example. Kidnapped Korean women serving as "comfort women" for Japanese officers yet another. Yet, also as a Jew, it is hard for me to get past a nation, and an ideology, calling for the extermination of an entire people. Even today we see it with the Sunni/Shia split in the Middle East. Each would happily exterminate the other and many seem hell bent of doing it. The saddest part (and the most perplexing) to me, and it always has been since I first learned of the Holocaust, is how otherwise "normal" people, once the hatred moves from a personal to a national level, become willing participants in such atrocities. It does not say much for us when people, pretty much en masse do not stand up and say "This is wrong, it must stop."
THD....Damn brother! That was an awesome response. Thanks!
I have worked in some 36 different countries to date, including Japan. The first thing I learned is that judging the customs, beliefs and actions of another culture, either today or in their history, using the customs, beliefs and actions of my own culture is an ignorant and futile thing to do because I will always be wrong.
The Japanese did what they did before and during WWII because for them at the time at that point in their history it was the right thing to do. Their treatment of prisoners was terrible by our cultural standards but was correct by theirs.
The good news (for everybody) is that humans evolve. Today the same Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plant that produced the A6M Type Zero for the Japanese Navy produces a good portion of our 787 and major components of all current Boeing models except the 737 are manufactured in Japan and have been for decades.
Amen!!
And this is why I appreciate this forum.
