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Based on real events during WWII, this is the story of four Allied POWs who are forced to build a railroad through the Burmese jungle. 2004 · 2 hr 1 mi [See comment for more description]

I had a conversation with my brother in Oregon, last night. Besides the usual family matters, he brought up a call he received from a ‘friend.’ The friend wanted to check on my brother and the family amidst rising violence toward Asian Americans. While my brother appreciated the gesture, he told his friend that it wasn’t necessary. The friend said he had been concerned about all the anti-Asian violence ever since Trump and the “China” virus rhetoric. The friend knows my brother is a staunch conservative, so my brother got irritated. He asked the dude, what’s Trump got to do...

In the early morning hours of December 7, 1941 the mettle and determination of a generation were challenged when the Imperial Japanese Navy unleashed a sneak attack on the U.S. Navy fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor. In the face of these attacks the Sailors of the U.S. Navy responded with honor, courage and undying commitment. Heroic actions were embodied by common men who, when suddenly faced with the challenge of battle, responded with the resolve and character that defined the Navy and nation. The personal stories and accounts listed here provide a chance to reflect upon, ponder and understand...

JAPANESE peace campaigners have written to US President Donald Trump urging him to declare the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings a war crime. A copy of the letter from the Society for Requiring the Admission of Historic Responsibility of the US Government for Dropping Atomic Bombs on Japan, dated today was sent to the Morning Star. “This indiscriminate mass killing should not be forgiven, because it was a crime against humanity,” it read, pointing to the 340,000 deaths from the bombings on August 6 and 9 in 1945. But Washington continues to justify the atrocities “with the excuse that they hastened...

In a letter to the Hawaii Republican Party on Wednesday, Rep. Beth Fukumoto wrote about the partisanship she saw from her colleagues on the right, which included criticism from her own caucus that she felt was due to her participation at the Women's March in Honolulu in January. "This election, I saw members of my party marginalizing and condemning minorities, ethnic or otherwise, and making demeaning comments towards women," Fukumoto wrote in her letter. "So, when I listened as our now top office holder refused to condemn the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, speaking out didn't seem...

The sex robot industry is thriving, with some academics predicting that humans will be having more sex with robots that with each other by 2050. But while many people find the idea of sex with a mechanical object abhorrent, academics are keen to find out who is most willing to embrace (literally) this new technology. Speaking at the Love and Sex with Robots conference at Goldsmiths, University of London, Jessica M. Szczuka from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany took on the preconceptions of lonely men shacking up with cyber-lovers.

Pearl Harbor Published December 06, 2016 Associated Press Facebook Twitter livefyre Email Print Now Playing Pearl Harbor survivor marks 75 years since attack Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won't apologize for Japan's attack when he visits the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor later this month, the government spokesman said Tuesday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that "the purpose of the upcoming visit is to pay respects for the war dead and not to offer an apology." Abe announced late Monday that he would have a summit meeting with President Barack Obama in Hawaii and visit Pearl Harbor. He...

...So I crawled in the total darkness, and I got to the opening. And by the time I got there, the building was on fire. That meant most of the girls were burnt to death. Although that happened in the morning, it was already very dark, like twilight. And the two other girls managed to come out, and three of us looked around. And in the darkness, I could see some dark moving object approaching to me. They happened to be human beings shuffling from the center part of the city to where I was. They just didn't look like...

The Rape of Nanking and the evil human experiments done by Unit 731 usually come to mind when we think of Japanese war crimes. Unfortunately, those awful incidents weren’t isolated cases. Fueled by racism, fanaticism, and finally desperation as their defeat seemed inevitable, the Japanese in World War II perpetrated several acts on par with Nazi war crimes. 10Laha Airfield MassacreFebruary 1942 This ghoulish event, which killed more than 300 Australian and Dutch POWs, followed the Japanese capture of the Indonesian island of Ambon. Allegedly as an act of reprisal after the Allies destroyed one of their minesweepers, the Japanese...

Japan Prime Minister Gives Speech at Stanford Amid Protests Over Country's Use of "Comfort Women" During WWIIJapan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered a speech at Stanford University Thursday amid demands by Korean-Americans and others that he apologize for the use of sex slaves by Japan's military during World War II. Abe's speech focused on innovation and partnerships between his country and Silicon Valley, which was followed by answering submitted questions, according to Stanford spokesman Brad Hayward. "I want the best, brightest Japanese talent with superb technology and high motivation to dive themselves into Silicon Valley," Abe said. "I also want...

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe will "express remorse" for World War II, the Associated Press reports. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday that his government would express remorse for World War II on the 70th anniversary of its end in August. [Snip] He said the government would draft a new statement "that includes Japan's remorse for the war," though he stopped short of saying it would apologize. The Japan Times has more on the move:

More than 60 years after the end of the Second World War, the name "Unit 731" still has the power to generate shock, revulsion and denial in Japan. The Imperial Japanese Army's notorious medical research team carried out secret human experiments regarded as some of the worst war crimes in history. Its scientists subjected more than 10,000 people per year to grotesque Josef Mengele-style torture in the name of science, including captured Russian soldiers and downed American aircrews.The experiments included hanging people upside down until they choked, burying them alive, injecting air into their veins and placing them in high-pressure...

Every morning for the last three months, Yuko Tojo has prayed at a war shrine for Japan's fallen soldiers including her grandfather, Gen. Hideki Tojo, the executed World War II premier who ordered the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Yuko, 68, will fight her own battle in July, when she competes as an independent in elections for parliament's upper house. An ultra-nationalist, her mission is to restore Japan's honor by scrapping its pacifist constitution and enacting a full-fledged military, giving the country the clout she says it deserves. "I was born as Hideki Tojo's granddaughter, and as a Japanese national....

For 62 years, Akira Makino spoke not a word of what he’d done, but to those who knew him well it must have been obvious that he was a man with a tortured conscience. Why else would he have returned so often to the obscure, mosquito-blown town in the southern Philippines where he had experience such misery during the Second World War?He set up war memorials, gave clothes to poor children and bought an entire set of uniforms for a local baseball team. Last year, at the age of 83, he embarked on a grueling pilgrimage to 88 Buddhist temples...

Japan's Foreign Minister has attended a ceremony remembering allied prisoners who died during World War II. Taro Aso attended the ceremony as a private citizen after last week rescinding invitations to foreign ambassadors to attend the service. The ceremony was held at Jugangi, a Buddhist temple in Osaka that commemorates more than 1,000 prisoners of war who died during World War II while working in forced labour camps around the city. The temple holds a similar ceremony in August each year, but this was a special event timed for the minister's visit. A company owned by Mr Aso's family has...

The front-runner to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi suggested Monday that he would visit a shrine honoring Japan's war dead if elected, despite the damage such visits have done to Japan's relations with China and South Korea. Speculation has been building about whether Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe would follow Koizumi's example and keep up the Yasukuni visits or avoid them for the sake of repairing relations with Beijing and Seoul. "I would like to continue putting my hands together for those who died for our nation and pray for their souls," Abe said without elaborating when asked if he...

JAPANESE Emperor Akihito has called on Japan to "accurately understand" its history at the end of a year marked by criticism abroad that the country fails to atone for its militarist past. In an interview marking his 72nd birthday today, the Emperor said "there were rarely peaceful times" in the 20 years to 1945 when Japan surrendered to the Allies to end World War II. "I believe it is extremely important for the Japanese people to strive to accurately understand this past history along with the ensuing era," Akihito said. "This is also important when the Japanese people interact with...

TOKYO (AP) - Victims of the U.S. atomic bombings of Japan joined a sit-in rally in Hiroshima on Saturday to protest plans to base a nuclear-powered American warship in the country, an activist said. The protest came as talks got underway between top Japanese and American security officials on how to realign the U.S. military presence in Japan. About 80 people - many of them victims of the 1945 U.S. atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki - rallied against plans announced Friday by the U.S. Navy to deploy a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Japan, said Kazutoshi Kajikawa, who...

A WOMAN carrying leaflets denouncing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi stabbed herself in the neck and stomach today outside his office as he kicked off his re-election campaign, reports said. The woman in her 50s drove her car to Mr Koizumi's official residence and when police stopped her, she stabbed herself with a fruit knife, Fuji TV said. Jiji Press said the woman, who was alone in the car, possessed a number of leaflets denouncing the Koizumi Government. Her name was not disclosed in the media and police would not comment. News reports said the woman was in critical condition. Mr...

The leader of Japan's main opposition party says that victory in next month's election means Japanese troops, which are being protected by Australian forces, will be pulled out of Iraq. Some 600 Japanese troops are based in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa, which is under the control of Australian soldiers stationed in Al Muthanna province. Katsuya Okada, president of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), railed against Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's decision to extend the historic deployment of Japanese forces. "If we win the election, that means Japanese nationals wish to withdraw from Iraq, as we have promised it...