Originally posted by Atobe:
While your views are generous towards the Japanese, concerning
their possible positive contributions in the present day, many
people across Asia who have suffered the ruthless and babaric
Samurai, Shinto and Bushido spirit of the Japanese are reluctant to
be so.
militarism and armed aggression by any other name is still that:
militarism, and armed aggression... the Samurai spirit and the
Bushido is not inherently belligerent and cruel. it is in fact a
code of honour. not to mention that the brainwashed conscripts who
swarmed over S.E.Asia in the 1940s were children of peasants, not
samurais... and infused with ideas of Fascism and racial
superiority nonsence disguised as Bushido.
The fact remain that the Japanese Government - (unlike the
Germans) - have refused to acknowledge their contributory role and
the ruthlessly babaric behaviour of the Japanese Military in
Asia.
Unlike the Germans, the Japanese Government have persisted to
change and distorted the WW2 events in the contents of the history
books for their school children.
i agree that this impedes normalisation of relations between
countries formerly occupied by Japan and it disgusts me that they
do it so shamelessly, but as mentioned before, they were able to
get away with it because they see themselves as victims as well...
its deeply ingrained into their psyche that THEY were the first to
be nuked.
right or wrong, who's to say? did the nuke save more lives than it
took? was it justified? the arguments go both way...
and until the US is able to reconcile the fact that they nuked
Japanese civillians to save American lives, u can't take the
Japanese fully to task for their atrocities...
besides, the "war criminals" aka. scape-goats have already been
dealt with... those deemed "useful" had been even allowed to
"disappear" thanks to the same pple who captured them.
that is the problem with the Japanese reconciliation of the war...
by selectively enforcing war crimes on certain unfortunate
scapegoats... the rest of the population and future generations are
encouraged to forget and move on...
While the Germans have banned Nazism and do not even pay homage
to the cemetry of Nazi War Criminals, every successive Japanese
Prime Minister is required to pay homage at the shrine of their War
Dead that include the Government Militarist Prime Minister of Japan
during WW2.
thats the difference betw the Japs and the Germans... as
mentioned, the legacy of Nazism and the Holocaust have become an
inalienable part of their identity... but at the same time,
collective guilt has allowed the main perpetrators to get away as
well cos no one person is deemed at fault.
thats why Mossad had to hunt Nazis years after the war ended... cos
most of them got away!!! the Nuremberg war trials were mostly show
trials targeted at the top level Nazis.
In your article that was accidentally vaporized by Viper, you
had correctly objected to charaterization of people by race - (as
we have been brought up in Singapore).
Sadly, as much as anyone will want to avoid to speak in racial
overtones, the fact remain that racial characteristics differ from
one racial group to another, and each race will have different
reactions to differing cause and effect affecting their
character.
i would've preferred to cite a combination of environmental,
social, economic and cultural factors rather than "race"...
Much as you like, you will hear about the "hot blooded temper"
of a person from the latin world; or the dead block mentality of a
Texan cowboy; or the coldness of a China Girl; or the heated
passion of some girls from some countries
hee... those are called "shallow stereotypes" ...
Even our SM LKY had made a keen observation that using the
Mekong as a dividing line, he noticed that the peoples (race ?)
that live east of the Mekong are more energetic, enterprising, and
industrious; while those living west of the Mekong, are more
idyllic, carefree, and have different less energetic
priorities.
again, its more environmental, economic and social... i don't
agree with everything LKY says... some of it is really quite
facetious... dude got his education and his leanings in London...
the home of Eugenics...
The fact that successive Japanese Government comes from the
ruling LDP - (and Japan has never seen any other political party
since WW2), and also that the LDP is supported by many Japanese
industrial giants with links to the military past, have all added
weight to the fear that Japan cannot admit their role and
responsibilities to the atrocities committed across Asia, and the
peace is but a short respite (lasting a few decades).
please... war is bad for business... if they were allied with
zaibatsus, the zaibatsus, why would they shoot themselves in the
foot by wanting to start a war? Japan's wealth is due to post-war
stability, not war gains.
Since the Japanese Government did not, will not, and cannot
admit the Japanese "National Guilt" of the HISTORICAL atrocities, -
(which their Military had committed in the name of the Japanese
Emperor) - against the Asian neighbors, will put a stronger onus on
them to expunge the memory from their fellow-Asians towards
them.
as if anybody can forget in a hurry 
its
not up to them to decide who remembers and who forgets u
know...
Racial characteristics that are determined by culture, history,
and social practices will be important in our understanding as to
the future threats from any one country challenging Asia as a
whole, or towards Singapore.
if they're determined by so many things, then why cite genetics
to be over-riding???
One of the Principles in Sun Tze's Art of War, require us to
know our opposition - (in total ? including the characteristics of
the race opposing or threatening us ? ) .
sun tzu never said "race"... he said know they enemy and know
yourself...
