Posted on 02/01/2015 7:05:19 PM PST by SeekAndFind
TOKYO — When Islamic State militants posted a video over the weekend showing the grisly killing of a Japanese journalist, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reacted with outrage, promising “to make the terrorists pay the price.”
Such vows of retribution may be common in the West when leaders face extremist violence, but they have been unheard of in confrontation-averse Japan — until now. The prime minister’s call for revenge after the killings of the journalist, Kenji Goto, and another hostage, Haruna Yukawa, raised eyebrows even in the military establishment, adding to a growing awareness here that the crisis could be a watershed for this long pacifist country.
“Japan has not seen this Western-style expression in its diplomacy before,” Akihisa Nagashima, a former vice minister of defense, wrote on Twitter. “Does he intend to give Japan the capability to back up his words?”
As the 12-day hostage crisis came to a grim conclusion with the killing of Mr. Goto, the world has suddenly begun to look like a much more dangerous place to a peaceful and prosperous nation that had long seen itself as immune to the sorts of violence faced by the United States and its Western allies.
Some described a level of shock not unlike that experienced by the Americans after the 2001 terrorist attacks, or the French after last month’s assault on the newspaper Charlie Hebdo and the murders in a kosher supermarket.
“This is 9/11 for Japan,” said Kunihiko Miyake, a former high-ranking Japanese diplomat who has advised Mr. Abe on foreign affairs. “It is time for Japan to stop daydreaming that its good will and noble intentions would be enough to shield it from the dangerous world out there. Americans have faced this harsh reality, the French have faced it, and now we are, too.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
They always vow revenge but it never happens. ISIS always wins.
The Japanese are a formidable enemy.
The ragheads are insane for messing with them.
Over the dead body of the US Muslim in Chief..
The Japanese are a formidable enemy.Huh?
I want my leaders to talk (and act) like this.
I hope you're right, although it doesn't help Mr. Goto. RIP
The Japanese really know how to take a head off! I’d like to see those ISIS scum get some of there own.
their.................(preview, preview)
Let’s see if the Japs really DO come back from their WW2 pissed offness ... and don’t forget to slap obola on your way to the ME
“...the world has suddenly begun to look like a much more dangerous place to a peaceful and prosperous nation that had long seen itself as immune to the sorts of violence faced by the United States and its Western allies.”
This is less a reflection on Japan’s passivity than it is a reflection on the reality that islam is at war with civilization in general.
I’m not islamophobic. I am, however, islamo-aware. These barbarians are stuck in the seventh century, still heeding the literal words of their pedophile pseudo prophet. We are experiencing the latest escalation of their war on civilization, and we dare not lose.
Welcome Japan to the fight. It will take us all to put this to rest.
Thing is - the outraged nations always vow some sort of retribution against ISIS but nothing ever happens. What did Russia do after 300 kids were killed by Islamists? Nothing.
You do not mess with the Yakuza. The Yakuza messes with you.
Send in the ninjas.
Japan learned it's lesson from WWII. However, they are honorable people and willing to defend themselves. I say good on Japan if it wants to join us in this world war against Islamic Terrorists. Oops, is Holder coming for me since I said words that his keeper, Obambi, won't use?
Yep. But won’t happen. Islam will do what it wants in the US and the fed’s and local gov’t will go along with it. 9/11 to them never happened.
Interesting to see if the Japanese still remember the skill of chopping off heads with a katana.
“You do not mess with the Yakuza. The Yakuza messes with you.”
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Good one ! :-)
God, I wish we had a leader.
.
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