Starts with their "adventures" in Manchuria in the early 1930's; goes through the postwar Japanese War Crimes trials.
Posted on 09/18/2007 3:36:43 PM PDT by Stoat
> But what incentive do they have to do that, when so many Americans buy Japanese products and trash American products?
Thorin, when you’re right, you’re right, do doubt about it.
The sad thing is, Americans taught ‘em all that they know about Quality. W Edwards Deming was an American, and he taught the Japanese all about TQM. And we keep buying Japanese product. By so doing, we rewarded bad behavior.
And we let the Japanese catch whales “for research purposes” just because they can, and because it makes GreenPeace mad. (Hint: the Japanese are researching Sushi, which we keep buying because it tastes nice).
There has been no natural consequence for their behavior before and during WW-II: and the atomic blasts at Nagasaki and Hiroshima were *not* a natural consequence, they were the only way to stop an out-of-control nation from carrying out an out-of-control process.
Nobody in Japan has said “sorry” yet. They should.
He did however tell me that now and again Japanese soldiers would show some humanity. They would be severely punished if they were caught showing any kindness, but they would occaisionally walk up to prisoners and "cuff" them around a bit, and surreptitiously drop a piece of fruit, or a boiled egg next to the prisoner where he laid. It didn't happen often, but he did tell me that it happened to him a few times.
In “Flyboys” by James Bradley, he writes that Japanese troops would amputate the limbs of captured American flyers keeping them alive over several days to put on the menu.
Otherwise the meat would spoil.
G.H.W. Bush was very, very lucky to have been rescued by the sub “Finback”.
BUMP
Starts with their "adventures" in Manchuria in the early 1930's; goes through the postwar Japanese War Crimes trials.
You don't know much about the auto industry, do you? Or maybe I missed the sarcasm. In the 80s, I had a Suzuki instructor who showed smuggled photos of the oppressive working conditions in Japanese factories. The Japanese simply don't care about their workers the way domestics do - it has not been a level playing field for a long time.
Easy answer, Germans were, are, and never will be granted the status of humans, by sophisticated folks anywheres. I mean wheres the money in that?
Once again we see history repeating itself with another set of subhumans, the muslims. Yet we have forces in this nations government as well as the ACLU and CAIR that are coddling, protecting, excusing and encouraging these enemies of America within our own borders as well as over seas to act bolder in the face of what they see as a weak and divided nation. Come 2008 and beyond I am hoping for an awakening in this nation that will seal the traps of these loudmouth villans of America, but I am afraid we all might not see the bigger picture “ there once was a great land called America” Time will tell.
I wouldn’t. Multiple generation later apologies are hollow words and vacant platitudes. They change nothing about the past and demonstrate nothing about the present and if they have an effect on the future it’s to tempt people to forget. We should always remember, but without modern anger, what happened 70 years ago isn’t the fault of modern Japan.
My mother spent a couple of years in a Japanese concentration camp. When she heard that Japan was bombed with atomic bombs her response was, “Why only two?”.
I just glad their on our side now. We may need their tenacity in the coming years.
“..I’d have liked to have seen him stripped, paraded through the streets of Tokyo and summarily sliced, julienne style before his imperialist cabinet and warlord officer corps.”
Tsk, tsk, very un-American of you.
When I was in High School, my best friend’s father was 100% disabled and unable to walk. A gift from the Japanese who had cut his legs open and sewn in dirty rags after capturing him. He lived in pain his whole life.
Nuking Japan was the best thing we ever did. It ended the war, saved millions of lives, and freed tens of thousands of people from medical experimentation by sadistic men with no remorse.
> Multiple generation later apologies are hollow words and vacant platitudes.
In New Zealand we know all about multiple-generations-later apologies and it costs us plenty. Every time the Waitangi Tribunal meets, we say “sorry” and fork over heaps of cash.
I would like to see that happen to Japan. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. If it is good enough for New Zealand to do _ad nauseum_ it is most certainly good enough for modern Japan to do.
Max Hastings is the best WW2 historian I have read.. Armegaddon was by far the best book I have ever read on WW2!
“America is great in the eyes of God because she does not return evil
for evil in the way of some.”
That does remind me of the story I heard about how Japanese women got
more rights thanks to MacArthur (and a lady secretary) by exploiting
the Japanese sense of social obligation.
IIRC (and probably not with 100% accuracy), during the discussions
MacArthur had with the remaining Japanese leaders, there was a lady secretary
that did a “yeoman’s” job of recording the proceedings.
(Yeah, some of these “discussions” were probably MacArthur artfully
telling the Japanese how things would go).
Suppossedly, as things were being wrapped up in one of the final sessions
of the discussions on the new constitution, rule of law, etc...
MacArthur said to the Japanese delegates:
“Ms. So-and-so has worked long and hard during these sessions.
I think we owe it to her and the women of Japan to give them the votes
and many human rights.”
Apparently that Japanese sense of social obligation did the rest.
And thus Japanese women moved quite a way up the social food-chain
of Japan. Thanks to MacArthur and the secretary.
And if that recollection is inaccurate or only partly true...
well, as they say in Texas:
“If it ain’t true, it oughta’ be!!!”
And another thing that today’s high-school students won’t see about
MacArthur...
I can’t recall which documentary had it, but there was contemporary
newreel footage of MacArthur’s departure from Japan. It was like a deity
taking his leave from his loving supplicants...the streets were filled
with Japanese showing their respect for the man that helped defeat them.
And brought them out of the ashes (some of them radioactive).
Actually it is a good thing for both sides that they did surrender after the bombing of Nagasaki.
After the dropping of the two prototypes we did not have any A-bombs left and would not be able to make any more for at least a year.
It had taken over two years to produce enough U-235 and Pu-239 to make the tower test bomb, the Hiroshima bomb and the Nagasaki bomb.
Mass production facilities were being built but the material for the three bombs had been made at what were essentially laboratory scale or concept demonstration facilities.
Had Japan not surrendered after the second bomb was dropped a land invasion would have taken place.
We were out of nuclear weapons.
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