Japan Honours its War Criminals

[Chuck]

HMM, Maybe we didn't quite finish the job:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/libra ... 05m0q.13j1

Japan's Abe Sent Note to Ceremony Honoring War Criminals

August 27, 2014

by VOA News

Japan has confirmed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a personal message to a ceremony honoring hundreds of World War II-era Japanese war criminals.

The Asahi newspaper reported Wednesday that Prime Minister Abe sent the note to the April ceremony held at Koyasan Okunoin temple in western Japan.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Abe's note was sent in his capacity as head of Japan's ruling party, and not as prime minister.

"In this case, he sent this message as Shinzo Abe and as the head of the Liberal Democratic Party. As such, the government thinks of him in this respect as a private citizen," said Suga.

Asahi reported that in the note, Abe expressed grief for the death of the war criminals, who he said "sacrificed their souls to become the foundation of the country."

You got to wonder at the mentality of some people. I wonder if the western media picked that up, sure would sicken a lot of survivors and relatives of those who died at the hands of these sadists!

[piroflip]

I'm not disagreeing with your comment but at the same time that this was all going on the UK had been occupying India (by military force) for 250 years!!!!!!

the hypocrisy (to complain about what Hitler and Japan were up to) of of our wartime politicians was staggering.

Hitler "invaded",,,,,,,,,,we had our "empire",,,,,,,,,what exactly was the difference?

Flame me if you like but put your brains fully in gear and read the facts before you do.

[Chuck]

Piroflip, why should I flame you, fair point that you are entitled to make. In years gone by we were just like ISIS or any other emerging power. Invade, kill, posess and subjugate.

I have noproblemwith any side honouring its war dead, BUT, when CRIMINALS are honoured then that's different, war crimes are war crimes. This guy was not honouring the Japanese forces but war criminals...I do see that as just wrong. Would be like Merkel honouring Hitler, Mengele, Goebels and assorted SS members executed for war crimes.

[Tommygunn]

One problem here is that japan simply doesn't teach in it's schools, or want to accept, the wrong committed in this period by the Japanese armed forces, their history books skip this period or merely cover it in broad terms, if you were to ask the average Japanese what they knew of the rape of Nanking for example it's unlikely they would have a clue - as far as most there are concerned there was a war, honourably fought, which they lost to superior forces - young Japanese tourists are often shocked at the hostility with which they are sometimes greeted outside japan because of what their armed forces did

[froggy]

young Japanese tourists are often shocked at the hostility with which they are sometimes greeted outside japan because of what their armed forces did

So should they be. This blame culture is absurd . Post-war Japanese are innocent of those crimes, the same way today's Brits are of their Victorians forefathers inventing concentration camps and murdering 10' of thousands innocent Boer women & children ...

[DaveB]

This blame culture is absurd . Post-war Japanese are innocent of those crimes, the same way today's Brits are of their Victorians forefathers inventing concentration camps and murdering 10' of thousands innocent Boer women & children ...

Quite agree. I am reminded of my annoyance at the whole collective responsibility fallacy every time the government here gives away millions to settle 'treaty claims' with Maori. I wasn't here in the 19th century. I didn't steal their land. I didn't oppress them. I am not responsible for whatever was done to them and I refuse to feel guilty about it.

Now if I could only somehow figure out a way to refuse to contribute to paying for it.

[Tommygunn]

You're quite right, subsequent generations cannot by any measure be blamed for the actions of their forebears, but by the same token trying to ignore it ever happened at all and honouring individuals who have committed criminal acts, particularly on this scale, is quite wrong. I think Chuck says it well enough in making the simile with nazi germany - but significantly they, as with so many others, have taken ownership of their past and moved on.

The point I am trying, and apparently failing, to make is that by not accepting these things occurred, and, it would appear, actively trying to expunge this period from history, they are still honouring individuals and acts which others find very offensive.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21226068

[FencepostError]

young Japanese tourists are often shocked at the hostility with which they are sometimes greeted outside japan because of what their armed forces did

So should they be. This blame culture is absurd . Post-war Japanese are innocent of those crimes,

Agreed, but...

the same way today's Brits are of their Victorians forefathers inventing concentration camps and murdering 10' of thousands innocent Boer women & children ...

I'll just leave this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLhFXIkysk4

[froggy]

The bombing of a "demilitarised" city and deliberate targeting of civilian population can earn you the rope. Despite 200K Dresdenians burnt alive, there is a statue of Air Marshall Arthur "Bomber" Harris right in the heart of London ... which I guess, preaching devil's advocate, to the descendants of the victims, is not so dissimilar to Chuck initial story ...

[Chuck]

Blurred lines eh. When does bombing of cities (which was really tit for tat initially) become a crime and when does shooting prisoners become a necessary evil.

I wonder what the rules say??

We honour the DamBusters but vilify those who blitzed Clydebank, Coventry etc -One could "justify" Clydebank in that by killing the workers you stop the shipbuilding - but would burning thousands in Dresden really make a difference. We know now that it made the people stronger, so we have learned a lesson there in some respects. In saying that nowadays we are more prepared to walk away job half done because we have casualties on BOTH sides and we worry about public opinion - especially that of those who would just submit at every turn.

Same with nuking Japan, it was "justified" by saving X amount of allied lives - so does the means justify the end.

Who was it that said something like a few hundred is a tragedy, a few thousand is a statistic?

Could be that prisoners and civvies captured as in say Singapore were NOT combatants when they were bayonetted in their homes, hospital beds and of course prison camps where there would normally be a duty of care under the Geneva Convention.

That's the problem with 21st Century morality applied to a situation none of us have been in. Would exterminating every last trace of Boko Haram and ISIS be seen as a crime?? It would by some.