And then there's this crap, which is kind of an update to this old post. I agree with the Chinese that what the Japanese did was despicable and they should own up to it. But no Chinese citizen has the right to demand this until they throw off their vile government and confess to the horrible things their country has been doing for the last half-century.
Army NCO Guy decided you should know this at 1139 | TrackBackIt is indeed laughable that the Communist Chinese have the gall to criticize Japan, since the Chinese government's body count of "Chinese people murdered" is most assuredly far higher than Japan's.
However, I'm afraid I must disagree with you on one point: I don't think any citizen of Japan today owes any apology to China — or anybody else — for the actions of the Japanese government in WWII. That war ended sixty years ago. No member of Japan's WWII government is even still alive, let alone in charge — and I doubt very much that anyone who was victimized by the Japanese in China is still alive, either.
The Japanese government has already apologized to China for its wartime behavior. It did so a long time ago, and has done so many times since then (most recently, I think, on the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII, ten years ago). How many times do they have to apologize? I don't see anybody hounding the Germans for apologies, dammit.
Expecting Japanese people today to apologize for what some of their ancestors did in WWII is about as stupid as expecting America's white citizens to pay "reparations" to its black citizens for Slavery: Both the perpetrators and the victims are long gone.
This anti-Japanese crap is part of a deliberate campaign by the Communist Chinese government to sow chaos and throw their weight around. They are also currently engaged in a territorial dispute with Japan over some rocks that barely even count as islands, and they may be hoping to use this to pressure a concession from the Japanese.
They are also no doubt hoping to intimidate Japan away from supporting Taiwan, which the godforsaken Commies refuse to acknowledge is a FREE and sovereign nation.
Which is why it pleases me greatly to know that the Japanese are NOT going to bow down and kiss China's feet. Japanese politeness and civility can only be pushed so far, and the Chinese crossed that line a while back.
Personally, I hope they keep pushing — because the more they push Japan, the closer Japan gets to us.
Tao Libra decided we should know this on 12 Jul 05 at 1353I must have missed that apology because the way I see it, the government of Japan has fallen far short of serious apology and certainly doesn't admit any of the terrible acts it committed during that period (example, textbook issue). Regardless of the fact that the people in power now are not the people that committed these acts or the fact that China has also committed crimes against humanity, China and Korea are owed an admission of guilt and a renunciation of such acts on the part of the Japanese in the spirit of good international relations.
But, that's just my two cents...
I must have missed that apology…
Yeah, I guess so -- because as I said: The Japanese *have* apologized. You might've missed it, but they have.
China and Korea are owed an admission of guilt and a renunciation of such acts…
NO, they are NOT. They aren't "owed" any such damned thing, because they have already GOTTEN it, many, MANY times, REPEATEDLY, over the course of the last 60 years.
Even the current Prime Minister, Koizumi, has apologized for Japan's "wartime aggression" — despite the fact that neither he nor anyone else in Japan's government today had a damned thing to do with it.
It's practically a damned rule that every Japanese Prime Minister has to repeat the same friggin' meaningless apology, every year or two. If you've "missed it," and have genuinely never heard of such an apology being offered even once, then I'd suggest that you don't know a damned thing about Japan OR Japanese history — because that's like saying you've never heard of Mount Fuji.
And I repeat: The current government of Japan owes nobody any apologies for crap that happened 60 years ago anyway. It's not open for debate: They DON'T.
They've offered those apologies anyway, over and over and over again, because those who were alive during WWII felt guilty for being a part of it.
But that generation of Japanese is almost entirely GONE now, and it is completely asinine to suggest that any modern Japanese people — OR their government — "owe" any apologies to anybody for things that happened decades before they were even born.
As for "renouncing" their past Imperialism, they have done so — but maybe you "missed" that too. If so, I suggest you try reading Japan's Constitution, which includes elements forbidding their own government from deploying troops to combat zones, just to prevent any possible recurrence of that big, bad, dreaded Imperialism. Those elements of their Constitution are an expression of their post-war guilt, in the form of pacifism carried to its most retarded extreme — since there's no point in having troops if they aren't even allowed to be near a fight.
If that's not enough "renouncing" for you — or China — then that's just too damned bad.
Tao Libra decided we should know this on 15 Jul 05 at 2146Fark is awesome isn't it?
Jay decided we should know this on 17 Jul 05 at 1319