I'm sorry..NOT!
I happened to come across this interesting article stating that Chiba Tatsuya of ashita no joe fame had been misquoted by a korean newspaper, donga-ilbo. This all stems from when a fan of Tatsuya asked him at a cartoon convention, which was held in korea, regarding the anti-korean book that's a huge hit in japan which sold 300,000 copies in one month and not coincidently spawning a sequel.. Mr. Tatsuya's answer was he can't really comment on something that he isn't really familiar with but expressed disappointment on popularity of such one-sided book and offered an apology to the questioner. Apparently donga interpreted that unintentionally or intentionally as an offering of apology on behalf of japanese comics.
Now, people being misquoted happens all the time but what really struck me was that on Mr. Tatsuya's website, he had to express how he was misquoted by donga-ilbo with a big bold red link to a page explaining how he had been misquoted. I mean how many letters from ordinary japanese folks flaming that japan shouldn't have to offer an apology for something she did more more than 60 years ago did he get before putting up this big bold red link on his site?
When people tell me ordinary japanese really feel remorseful of their country's sinful past, to that I ask why are they keep voting for right-wing politicians who claim nanjing massacres never happened, claim majority of "comfort women" are fakes and remind them that no japanese politicians ever apologized, as a representative of the japanese government or on behalf of japan, for their atrocities committed during the brutal occupation of Korea. This is in stark contrast to the apology U.S government offered to japan for the japanese interment camp incident. And the japanese people still bring the interment camp issue up yet when koreans talk about the insincerity of japan's hallow apologies, japanese and their apologists cry out korea is still "bitching" about something happened "long time ago".. This is just yet another example of how majority of japanese aren't remorseful of their country's past atrocities.
Now, people being misquoted happens all the time but what really struck me was that on Mr. Tatsuya's website, he had to express how he was misquoted by donga-ilbo with a big bold red link to a page explaining how he had been misquoted. I mean how many letters from ordinary japanese folks flaming that japan shouldn't have to offer an apology for something she did more more than 60 years ago did he get before putting up this big bold red link on his site?
When people tell me ordinary japanese really feel remorseful of their country's sinful past, to that I ask why are they keep voting for right-wing politicians who claim nanjing massacres never happened, claim majority of "comfort women" are fakes and remind them that no japanese politicians ever apologized, as a representative of the japanese government or on behalf of japan, for their atrocities committed during the brutal occupation of Korea. This is in stark contrast to the apology U.S government offered to japan for the japanese interment camp incident. And the japanese people still bring the interment camp issue up yet when koreans talk about the insincerity of japan's hallow apologies, japanese and their apologists cry out korea is still "bitching" about something happened "long time ago".. This is just yet another example of how majority of japanese aren't remorseful of their country's past atrocities.
posted by minty clorets at
11:44 PM
4 Comments:
It's a weird thing in Japan. You would think they should take a lead from Germany, but they don't. I wonder how much blame can be put on American policy at the end of the war?
By
San Nakji, at 11/14/2005 1:55 AM
Some of the blame can be placed on american policy for the way how japan turned out today but let's not forget u.s also had similar policy for germany and look how it turned out..
By
minty clorets, at 11/14/2005 2:16 AM
I was thinking about the emperor and the policy to keep him where he was. Also, Germany was divided after the war, Japan remained in one piece. Maybe enforcing republicanism on Japan may have had some effect? As far as they were concerned, before and after the war, there were no differences. Except they couldn't continue enslaving Korea I guess...
By
San Nakji, at 11/14/2005 3:50 PM
woops meant to reply sooner, but I'm again on the road, this time in the east..
In the grand scheme of things, the impact of keeping the emperor alive, imo, was really negligible in terms of shaping japan's post ww2 economic/political/social systems. After all, the emperor was strip of his power and made to look like nothing more than MacArthur's puppet although some might argue the opposite..
The crux of the problem was ordinary japanese let the very same people who led japan into brutal occupation of asia back in power soon after the war ended. This was no different than what took place in germany where former nazis were integrated into society for various reasons but especially due to the imminent soviet threat. The difference between japan and germany is that german people had the courage to reflect on its past sins and vow never to repeat the atrocities committed by going after the truly despicable nazis who had a hand in promoting nazism, genocide of jews, whereas japanese citizens voted for the same people who committed atrocities all over asia and tries to turn a blind eye to what japan did in the past. The fact that many ordinary japanese feel nothing wrong with their government's ties with Yasukuni shrine, which btw promotes false history and tries to justify japan's atrocities, speaks volumes about japanese mindset....
By
minty clorets, at 11/18/2005 2:15 PM
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