There is also the relatively unknown siege of Changhun 10 years later during the Chinese Civil War. Communist besiegers sealed the fate of 150000 civilians starving to death.
Understandably, no memorial services in PRC for these victims.
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Well, it is sort of understandable that the worldâs first use of the atomic bomb against people is commemorated. And, that atrocity took place on Japanese soil, whereas the various atrocities in China did not.
In any case Japan definitely has a way to go in acknowledging participation in atrocities, the Unit 731 human experiments in Manchuria are particularly gruesome (which ofc did not stop the US buying the results and letting the implicated criminals off).
Remember visiting the associated military museum at Yasukuni years ago. On Nanking, all it said was something like âthere was a battle outside the walls, and afterwards the citizens of the city could go back to peaceâ.
On a second visit many years later, this text had been removed! The new text at least acknowledged that there was some civlian casualties. The museum must have gotten a fair share of reactions from non-Japanese visitors.
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There was Iris Changâs very good bookâŚ
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Who cares? One post and itâs about that ?
I dislike Nanjing massacre deniers as much as I do Holocaust deniers. However, itâs been my experience that most Japanese people donât deny atrocities were committed in Nanjing by the IJA. It is taught in schools even if itâs not called the rape of Nanking and not too extensive.
They do sometimes argue about the degree of crimes committed or that many photos attributed to the IJA and the rape of Nanking were actually photos of crimes against Japanese civilians living in China by nationalist or warlord armies prior to the Marco Polo Bridge Incident.
However, if you want deniers, see any Chinese personâs response to June 4 Tiananmen Square massacre or the tankman photo. Those are real deniers.
Leaders of the Japanese government also repeatedly apologized for WW2 atrocities, some more sincere than others, since a huge segment of the Japanese voters do not wish the government to apologize, and a group of politicians need those votes.
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That is indeed a good point. Sure the nazis killed over 6millions jews but the amount killed by the japanese were even more yet people outside of china and korea really dont know much or care much for that matter.
And there are actual active prolific ww2 deniers in japan such as the owner of apa hotel chains⌠they face little to no backlash, imagine if a german businessman was a holocaust denier⌠hed go bankrupt so fast
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Itâs not just Japan. Jewish people in America hold more power to write history after the war so most of the focus on Nazi war crimes has been the Holocaust and the Holocaust only. Nazi Germany also slaughtered millions of Roma people and even more Slavs. Poland and Soviet Union both lost close 20% of their population thanks to Germany (though the Soviets obviously also killed a ton too), but people to this day still equate Holocaust to Nazi war crimes.
European imperialism killed more than Nazi Germany had during the war, do you see France/Britain/Belgium/NL/Spain/Portugal issuing apologies to poor countries in the Global South for the genocides and massacres committed over centuries? No, and the reason is pretty obvious. When it comes to historical reckoning itâs all about who were killed, not what was done.
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hm
I dont think the Japanese people did ask to be nuked.
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Untrue, the Pacific war started because of Japanâs actions in China, which resulted in a US blockade. The US made sure to see the war to its conclusion at some cost. There were war crimes trials and executions after the war. Other countries as well:
Of the 5,700 Japanese individuals indicted for Class B war crimes, 984 were sentenced to death; 475 received life sentences; 2,944 were given more limited prison terms; 1,018 were acquitted; and 279 were never brought to trial or not sentenced. The number of death sentences by country is as follows: the Netherlands 236, United Kingdom 223, Australia 153, China 149, United States 140, France 26, and Philippines 17.[18]
What is supposed to happen as a result of occasional denials from public figures today?
Why wouldnât they? As horrible as the Germans were to everyone in Europe, the worst was clearly handed out to Jewish people. Itâs not like the other stuff has been forgotten. Far from it.
I disagree, and the trials after the war show this as well.
Itâs more because there was little reckoning at all. To what degree that should happen is just whataboutism though if weâre talking about the Nazi war crimes. They destroyed most of Europe, so of course the West will focus on it.
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General MacArthurâs strategic decision to make Hirohito immune from prosecution certainly made it easier in postwar Japan to minimise the responsibility of the Japanese people for their wartime crimes. At the Tokyo trials Tojo was coached avoid accidentally giving evidence that would implicate the emperor in the very crimes Tojo was on trial for. Australia and in particular Justice Webb, the Australian president of the military tribunal for the far east, were strongly in favour of trying Hirohito but were overruled by MacArthur and the Americans.
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When the Africans apologize for what they did to my neanderthal ancestors, and when the Mongolians apologize for the terrible atrocities committed by their ancestors, when the Chinese apologize for what they have done and are doing to their own people (and in Tibet and Xinjiang), when the Japanese apologize as per the thread, and so on, then you might have a point. Right now, all I see is a prejudice.
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I guess actions speak louder than words too huh. Not doing it again and not apologizing is better than apologizing followed by jumping right back into more nasty stuff. Of course not recognizing a wrong while continuing to do it is another possibility (which obviously doesnât apply to the Japanese example, but kinda does apply to the colonialism example to at least some extent) Also I think the Japanese did apologize but the apology was Iâm imaging not a good enough apology or something like that?
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The truth about what Japan did during the invasion of China and Ww2 is suppressed in Japan. A disgusting right wing nationalist like Abe, an apologist for Japanâs crimes, can become prime minister just as his grandfather Nobusuke Kishi did - Kishi, the monster of Manchuria (one of the worst criminals of the lot but, again for strategic reasons, spared execution by the Americans)
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Wow, you really do learn something new every day. This is prime idle google reading thanks. And also kind of scary.
So apparently the âMonster of Manchuriaâ became prime minister of Japan in 1957. What?
Vivisection without anesthesia is coming up in the Google alongside various other uplifting factoids, Jesus
Very solidly in the donât do it again territory
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His Wiki page references this article; Iâd love to get it but I only can find references online.
Schaller , M . ( 1995 ). Americaâs favorite war criminal : Kishi Nobusuke and the transformation of. U.S. - Japan relations .
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Found the abstract but for some reason the link wonât share
Anyway this is what I got:
JOURNAL NAME: Advances in Historical Studies , Vol.7 No.2, June 1, 2018
ABSTRACT: The paper, presenting the distinctions between Chinese and Japanese textbooks and museumsâ descriptions on Second Sino-Japanese War, tends to offer explanations for the different presentations of the war. Textbooks from high school mandatory world history courses from Ikeda Senior High School attached to Osaka Koku University in Osaka, Japan and ChenJingLun High School in Beijing, China are chosen to compare. For war-relating museums, the Unit 731 Museum in Harbin, China and the Peace Memorial Museums of Hiroshima, Japan are both one of the most important and profound war museums in both nations. Chinese textbook straightforwardly points out Japanese territorial expansion, Japanese brutal atrocities, and the successful achievement CPC made in the war. However, the Japanese textbook describes Japanâs domestic economic crisis during WWII, Chinese Civil War between the CPC and Kuomintang, and Japanese diplomacy. For the museums, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Hallâs Main Building tells tragedies caused by the A-bomb, survivorsâ emotional stories, and the huge mental and physical damage to the civilian population. The Unit 731 Museumâs Bacteriological Exhibit Hall reveals the human experiments in the secluded Unit 731 military base. Assuming the government-approved mandatory history textbooks in both nations convey the historical information preferred by current national government, and museums serve as the repository of abundant documents and visual evidences, the paper further analyzes the distinctions from social, historical, and political aspects; national war memories, Japanese sense of excluded national pride, postwar US-Japanese relation, and government legitimacy are factors examined to be accounted for the notable distinctions between Chinese and Japanese textbooks and museumsâ descriptions of the war.
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I saw that too, but I think itâs an abstract of an article that references this Schaller article. It was set up confusingly if you look.
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I missed the âhas been cited by the following articlesâ bit 
I found another one by the same author called âthe CIA and Japanese politicsâ can read it but no download.
To summarize they are saying that the CIA had a role in rigging the Japanese political system post war in favour of the guy also known as the monster of manchuria
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He wrote a book; looks worth a read!
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Apparently his topics of interest also include the tobacco industry, Ronald Reagan, and US China relations. Probably all fascinating but if I was going to choose one the Japan topic sounds the most riveting
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