Some dangerous sentiments from #Japanese #PM #ShinzoAbe today regarding Japan and WWII

Some dangerous sentiments from #Japanese #PM #ShinzoAbe today. He's basically saying Japan should no longer feel bad for atrocities it committed in #WWII.

Why is this dangerous?  Well, have a look at the specific words Abe said first in a cutting from the above screenshotted AP article from today:

Abe noted that more than 80 percent of the country's population was born after the war, and echoed growing though not universal sentiment in Japan that the country has apologized enough. 

"We must not let our children, grandchildren and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize," he said.

He's just given America permission to stop taking responsibility for dropping the bomb on them--something many Americans have never felt the need to apologize for. Hell, the US still apologizes for slavery. That ended 100+ years ago.

Humans should never lose sympathy for other humans, regardless of who caused the pain and suffering.

I'm a progressive white male--should I still feel bad for the sexism, racism and cultural oppression of my relatives and fellow white males just because I do my best to avoid being sexist and racist?  Of course.  Because even though I'm not related to slave owners (that I know of), I still need to acknowledge that the damage they did still exists in this world.  The cultural memories of slavery and racism from the time slavery was still legal are still with us.  Obviously, sexism still exists too.

Likewise, the damage Japan did to mainland Asian countries still exists in mainland Asian cultures.  You can't walk away from that or point to any past apologies and say "that's enough" any more than America can walk away from dropping the atom bombs on Japan.  After all, Japan still lives with that scar on their psyche despite 80 percent of Japan's populace being born after WWII.  They're still making GODZILLA movies, aren't they?

Ignoring past war atrocities, ignoring the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ignoring slavery, ignoring two wars fought by America in the Middle East for, pretty much, no reason, ignoring war crimes of any generation, whether they were committed last century or this, is the same thing is letting them continue.

All of us must take responsibility for the sins of our fathers, even if we aren't directly responsible.  We all need to work together to make this world a better place and ignoring the damage caused by those who came before us is to willfully allow that damage to continue.

It's so ironic that Abe is giving this speech now, just days after the first nuclear reactor in Japan was turned back on after Fukushima and about a week after the anniversary of the US dropping the bombs on Japan.  It seems like Abe-san is having some problems recognizing irony.

For the record, I am a huge fan of Japan.  I've studied the language off and on for years, love anime, Japanese movies and TV shows, and am generally in love with most things from the land of the rising sun.  So, I don't like to criticize anything about Japan.  However, sometimes every culture needs a reminder of its own flaws.

America sure does... >_<

Fat Man and Little Boy not "the Bombs" we think they were? Seems so. (More fodder against atom bombs ending WWII)

Two Fridays ago, I wrote about how and why the atom bombs dropped on Japan were not justified acts.  The arguments I included in that post were moral ones.  What follows are factual arguments against the conclusions that the bombs ended the war at all.  Today I came across an article from the AP that reports on a new book detailing a tremendous Russian presence that seems to have had a far greater effect on Japan than the bombs, believe it or not:

Historians rethink key Soviet role in Japan defeat
By SLOBODAN LEKIC (AP)

As the United States dropped its atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, 1.6 million Soviet troops launched a surprise attack on the Japanese army occupying eastern Asia. Within days, Emperor Hirohito’s million-man army in the region had collapsed.

…

But following the German surrender on May 8, 1945, and having suffered a string of defeats in the Philippines, Okinawa and Iwo Jima, Japan turned to Moscow to mediate an end to the Pacific war.

However, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had already secretly promised Washington and London that he would attack Japan within three months of Germany’s defeat. He thus ignored Tokyo’s plea, and mobilized more than a million troops along Manchuria’s border.

Operation August Storm was launched Aug. 9, 1945, as the Nagasaki bomb was dropped, and would claim the lives of 84,000 Japanese and 12,000 Soviet soldiers in two weeks of fighting. The Soviets ended up just 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Japan’s main northern island, Hokkaido.

I’ve never heard of Soviet troops being so numerous or so close to Japan.  30 miles is nothing—that’s practically a walk from my apartment in Washington Heights down to Wall Street and back.  The NYC subway would let me make the journey in two hours.

So, that’s how close they were to invading Japan (yes, I know the A Train doesn’t travel between Gornozavodsk and Hokkaido, but you get the point).

On top of that, there’s the part where in May, 1945, Japan tried to talk peace with Russia.  They were interested in an end to the fighting two months before and if Stalin had been more interested in peace, perhaps the end of the war would look very different to us now.

Regardless, this is proof that the atom bombs were not necessary to ending the war. Plain and simple.

Not (yet) Space Battleship Yamato...

error888:

???46cm??????????????????

Taken LONG before the Gamelas asteroid bombs began to strike Earth.

“Saraba chikuyo!”