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Chinese ask: Why doesn’t Japan hate America for dropping the A-bombs?

213 Comments
By Rachel Tackett

History has a way of creating awkward situations for future generations. I can’t think of how many times I’ve attempted friendly conversation by asking a Japanese local where they’re from and been blindsided by the answer, “Hiroshima.” I, with my American perspective, will then fall into this comically long pause as I wonder how appropriate it would be to apologize on behalf of my country for turning their city to dust, but the fact of the matter is that most Japanese people bear absolutely no grudge towards America for the atomic bombings of World War II.

Apparently this is difficult for some Internet users in China to comprehend, as there was recently a thread on one of the country’s most popular bulletin board sites asking “Why doesn’t Japan hate the USA for bombing them with two atomic weapons?” Interestingly, the answers that the thread received probably say more about Chinese people’s lingering disdain for the Japanese than Japan’s view of America.

In August of 1945, America dropped two atomic bombs on Japan — one in the city of Hiroshima and the other in Nagasaki — resulting in the deaths of more than 200,000 Japanese citizens. However, in spite of receiving such a terrible blow at the hands of the Americans, Japan is now on friendly terms with the United States both politically and socially.

When compared to the Chinese and the great number of civilians who still detest Japan for the Nanking Massacre that took place in 1937, this happy alliance between relatively recent enemies might seem quite bewildering, and so the question was asked: why doesn’t Japan hate the USA? In response, many Chinese responded with doubt toward the entire situation. “Who says that the Japanese don’t detest Americans?” “Maybe they do hate Americans and just don’t have the balls to say anything?” Such answers would imply that Japan does harbor a grudge for what happened during the war but that the countrymen are either too passive or too weak to say such.

Many other responders made remarks belittling Japan for showing deference to the U.S. with comments such as, “A dog does not hate its master,” and, “It is in Japan’s nature to admire those stronger than it.” Many other speculations were borderline nonsense.

In reality, it is not weak, nor is it rare to show forgiveness and kindness toward those who once wronged you, especially over the course of generations on a global scale. There were at least some Chinese responders who showed reason, reminding other users of the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, the historical name given to the northeast region of China. “Where I live, we don’t resent people from the former Soviet Union for acting according to their reasons,” one such person pointed out.

But perhaps that previous example does not count now that the Soviet Union has dissolved. So, let’s not forget that China has begun playing nice with a number of other former foes, like Britain, following the Opium Wars. British exports of opium into China during the Qing Dynasty around 1840 led to large-scale addiction and enormous deterioration for the country, driving the Chinese to war with the Western world. And yet now, China is on good terms with Great Britain and holds little to no resentment.

The same is obviously not true for relations between China and Japan, where racial discrimination occurs on both sides. Back around the year 1972, diplomatic relations between the two countries normalized and for many years China acted favorably towards Japan, encouraging the importation of Japanese goods, TV, and music. However, things seemed to have turned sour once again following the rise of Jian Zemin as head of state. Jian grew up in a time of Japanese occupation and has imposed an anti-Japan sentiment upon the state, pushing for anti-Japanese education and otherwise.

Chinese bloggers wanted to know why it is that Japan does not hate America, but perhaps an even greater question might be why it is that Japan and China cannot seem to get along. How long will it take before these two Asian countries are once again on good terms?

Source: Searchina

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213 Comments
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It’s simple, Japan doesn’t show any resent towards America even though it bombed two of the major Japanese cities because the day Japan surrendered, it became a puppet/colony of the USA and hence it can’t speak against its master until it becomes sovereign

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Even after the US nuked Japan and set up military bases there, the US sort of did help the Japanese economy improve until the 90s. And given censorship during Macarthur's rule of Japan, it was probably impossible for Japanese to express dissent.

https://adst.org/2015/07/douglas-macarthur-americas-emperor-of-japan/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Japan

Even then there are some Japanese who actually do resent the US--many secretly but few even publicly.

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It really is funny to hear Chinese people said that the Japanese doesnt have the balls or the Japanese are following their master instruction. They seems to have a short term memory lost. Not long ago, China is a country dictated by Russia, especially during the reign of Stalin. Mao is really2 scared of Stalin. He just doesnt have the balls to say no to the Chinese master. lolol.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The reason Japan and China never come along because their personality . Chinese people when they get into war with you they will live with that hatred for maybe 10 generations or maybe forever. They very selfish, picky and bully and they find the way to revenge.

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Sorry i am not well in the history story but from my perspective, Japan in world world 2 is an invader that attacked China, while china felt that they r innocent for being attacked, then Japan and America is both invader that attack others. So Japan will admit defeat for greater atomic power and as an invader they cant blame others invader of being cruel because it was war and Japan also cruel. But for China that time they r Victim of being attacked by others with immense cruelty, therefore hatred should be equally immense. I think Japanese did have hatred but they as an invade, they must hv some rules to obey defeat and japanese also cruel. It is depends on what position yr stands are.

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they shouldn't considering they beheaded more british and Australian and philipino prisoners of war than died in Nagasaki and Hiroshima combined.they used to have competitions to see who could behead the most prisoners in a day.they caught Chinese babies on bayonets and did human experiments of the most despicable kind on kidnapped civilians from Russia china phillipines.sewing heads on different bodies Frankenstein shit,it was called project 731 I believe {google it}they were worse than the Nazis because what they did was hidden so well,for example they would poison a well in a Chinese village and take notes on the effects of the townspeople.looking for an untraceable poison to kill people en masse.they wanted all of asia.the phillipines and china were just the start.it was necessary to drop little boy and fat joe iwould have dropped one on Tokyo too but we showed mercy.

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well, it is very simply to answer the question, how would a person not hate a murder who killed your grandparents, will you still love the murder and say let's be friend? that's just against the basic rule of be a human being. if you witness how cruel your relatives died in the war you will be encourage for the peacefulness in this world but this does not mean I can eliminate the grudge easily, so don't say that japan is more mature then Chinese because they not hate the America, of course they wont say they hate america for destroy their island, because they still need the support and aids from America, well, these two countries are in a mutual benefit relationship from political perspective. let see what happens if Japan become stronger then US one day..... and plus the grudge is not just target on japan but could be anyone who has done unforgivable things to you, so this is not try to be racist or something, I believe the nature of human are friendly, the citizens' thought all over the world in some degree are affected by their own government's political aim, so try not to be bias. everyone have their own right to choose what they believe in, so stop judge someone else's thought as some media's report does, everyone have a purpose of doing something, respect will be appreciated.

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Because of the US occupation of Japan, Japan was occupied by the US after the war under the work by General MacArthur. General MacArthur was assigned by the US government to occupy Japan. When the US occupied Japan, the US introduced democracy into Japan, rebuilt the Japanese economy, and revitalized the Japanese industry. Many Japanese are quite grateful with the US occupation policies to introduce democracy into Japan, rebuilt Japanese economy, and revitalized the Japanese industry. The reason of why the US occupied Japan after the war because the US wanted to avoid communism in Asia and the US wanted to gain more allies in Asia. Due to the US occupation into Japan, the Japanese don't hate the US anymore and the Japanese feel they owed a lot things to US, although the US ever bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Whereas the reason of why the Chinese still dislike the Japanese is because there are still some Japanese politicians who deny the war. There is an article from the BBC about a Japanese politician who denies the war, the politician name is Toshio Tamogami, the article can be seen on bellow:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33754932

Here are Toshio Tamogami's quotes about the war from the BBC article:

"As a defeated nation we only teach the history forced on us by the victors," he says. "To be an independent nation again we must move away from the history imposed on us. We should take back our true history that we can be proud of."

Mr Tamogami believes that Japan did not invade the Korean Peninsula, but rather "invested in Korea and also in Taiwan and Manchuria".

"I can declare that there was no Nanjing Massacre," he says, claiming there were "no eyewitnesses" of Japanese soldiers slaughtering Chinese civilians.

"If this is true, how many soldiers had to be mobilised to forcibly drag those women away? And those Korean men were just watching their women taken away by force? Were Korean men all cowards?"

And btw there are two interesting pages about why are there are still Japanese politicians who deny the war crime, the pages can be seen on bellow:

http://www.pacificwar.org.au/JapWarCrimes/USWarCrime_Coverup.html http://www.pacificwar.org.au/WarCrimeIntro.html

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This article was decent, but it left out a crucial detail. The bulk of the hate that the Chinese have for the Japanese is not due to the death toll per se, but rather due to Japan's revisionist policies. Aka rewriting the textbook.

This renders your Germany/WW2 argument null, because the Germans later recognized their mistakes. http://articles.latimes.com/1990-04-12/news/mn-1752_1_east-germany

The Japanese never did. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_history_textbook_controversies

When you don't document history you don't learn from it. The immediate implication is that generations of young Japanese will never properly learn from their history.

Why do the Chinese care? If you don't know the answer to that question I don't know what to say.

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WW2 It's a horrible part of history no doubt, but before the bombs were dropped, there was extensive studies and debates about putting boots on the ground to take over Japan. There was too much conclusive information that the death toll would of been much higher for the Japanese, and Americans would of lost hundreds of thousands of troops. The Japan of then, was a militant state, and propaganda included the fact Americans raped, and ate babies. Every man and woman in Japan would of fought to the death because of it. I lost an uncle at Pearl Harbor, and another one was captured by the Japanese in the war, but survived in the midst of four years of brutal captivity. I ended up marrying a lovely Japanese lady, so the past is the past. Every generation must live on, and learn from past mistakes. To hate a race of people for something that happened almost 70 years ago, is absurd.

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@silly girl You sure are silly. You don't think there can be racial discrimination with one race? You sure don't know Japanese and Chinese then! The Japanese are the asian version of Germans or English, which ever. They are convinced they're better than all other asians--and white people although whites are their second choice, at lease certain kinds of white people. They think that all Chinese women are a certain type of woman.

20 million Chinese were killed by the Japanese. My Chinese husband lived in Shanghai from age 6-16 in the 30s and 40s. This is why many Chinese dislike Japanese. Today in their classrooms the Japanese basically teach that the war never happened and they were the good guys. That's why they won't pay reparations to the women they raped! The Chinese have never treated any other race in the manner in which the Japanese treated so many. They did this because of their notion of their utter superiority--an idea which they have not lost! Think they have? Look at America's own racists! Racism is a disease that never dies. I know about the Japanese attitudes because my niece (a university professor) is married to a Japanese and lives in Japan. They have a daughter in school there. They also teach that some things were originated by the Japanese which were actually originated by the Chinese. (She tells me all this and she LOVES the Japanese!)

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Michelle Li Jan. 08, 2015 - 07:39AM JST Yes,Japan lost 200,000 people because of the bombing. Well,China lost 7million! Family members were separated and killed by the Japanese people back then,women were rapped,millions of people were buried Alive. Not just that, they Also shot people around the streets randomly, do experiment with a person alive. These were just some examples of what they did. United States and Japan teach all this in their textbook and yet China does.

I realize Japan did many bad things during 1931-45 to their neighboring countries, especially China. However, do Chinese study their own history too? The fact remains that Mao's regime was responsible for death of over 50 million Chinese people.

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I wanted to say something after reading all the comments. People should understand facts these days. Not all Chinese people hate Japan, and yes some still won't forgive Japan and i understand that. Yes,Japan lost 200,000 people because of the bombing. Well,China lost 7million! Family members were separated and killed by the Japanese people back then,women were rapped,millions of people were buried Alive. Not just that, they Also shot people around the streets randomly, do experiment with a person alive. These were just some examples of what they did. United States and Japan teach all this in their textbook and yet China does. This to let people remember of what the Japanese done to them back them. So reading all of that, the Chinese will feel angry towards the Japanese. This is not their fault,because what the Japanese did to chinese(and many more other Asian race) were inhumane. Even this profession in school acknowledge this,because when you look through the evidence and acctually read about it, you will know. Just think about your family members being killed or buried,of course you will hate them. SoThe Chinese are not acting childish or anything. So stop being biased. Also,enocomicly point of view: China is still stronger than Japan. Why? Not because many people do labor, but because, they aren't spending millions of dollars each year like Japan on military defenses. However, still, people now should appreciate the races. Let's put the grudges back of possible and remember the history and not repeat it. No one wants another war because more lives will be lost. Japan and China are both unique and a strong nation.

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I just want to say dropping th Atom bomb saved millions of Americans and possibly Japans entire culture. Also note the aerial raid of Tokyo killed as many as both Atom bombs together.

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There are not many left who remember that time, except from history class. Relatively. And would expect those persons to be concentrated around two cities out of many in Japan. Not all Japanese.

Hiroshima city population about 1% of Japan's and Nagasaki city population about half that. Some small fraction of that would have been around at the time of the bombings.

Why don't Japanese hate USA for firebombing of Tokyo? Killed more people, didn't it? And in nation's capital, too.

Why don't Americans hate Japan for Pearl Harbor?

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Chinese bloggers wanted to know why it is that Japan does not hate America, but perhaps an even greater question might be why it is that Japan and China cannot seem to get along. How long will it take before these two Asian countries are once again on good terms?

Its a GREAT question. This is just my opinion, and a "how I look at things" kind of analogy :

When i was a just a young kid, my friends and i, and each other used to always got into crazy quarrels (sure yall been there), but it always semed for me that one or both of us always ended up holding something we had borrowed from one another. We always had a conection no matter what. It always panned out.. Stayed friends until we got older and moved on. now if I would see any of them, we'd probably just chill on the memory over a cold one! In the end, it always works itself out!

God has a will, and it will be fullfilled. Enjoy life and keep asking great questions to keep us all in conversation, if anything. :)

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David Elson

The irony is that the US is probably the most notorious when it comes to rewriting history, as a result of nationalism and a preference for being told what you want to hear rather than the truth. It is the reason why Americans need to have their own pro-US fairytale versions of history, compared to the rest of the world living in reality. This brainwashing will unfortunately continue in the US through propaganda in the meda, Hollywood and biased school history lessons.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

"Historically, the ordinary Japanese people had never had the chance to manage and govern their own country"

Actually they did. There is what is known as the "reverse course" During the immediate post war years, there was a time where Japan was finally free from all its militaristic baggage. The facist were finally cleansed, but a few years latter the U.S. needed them back in power in order to buffer communism during the cold war. The course laid out by McAuthur and the American writers of the Japanese constitution got hijacked by the same people it was meant to sanitize, as well as in academia and democracy was never realized. Its why Japan today has the largest military in the region while its constitution prohibits it and the apathy towards politics by its people.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

"Japan [has always] admire those stronger than it". If anyone has read the article "Datsu a ron" (leaving Asia theory) by Yukichi Fukuzawa, you wouldn't disagree with the above statement. When China was powerful, Japan was heavily influenced by its culture and considered it as a model to emulate. When Europe became the leader, Japan not only massively borrowed from the Europeans, it sought to eliminate all the elements of Chinese influence, since China was now a weak country. To me this is quite shameful. It's not a bad thing, and maybe even a wise thing, to admire the powerful countries. But to completely reject and look down on the culture from which you've borrowed so much from in the past just because it is now decadent? Many even advocate for Japan to be included as an European country...(yeah as if Europe would have let you in in the first place...) Moreover, Japan always goes to the extremely when emulating other cultures. Adopting western political institutions, technologies and science makes sense, but replacing all of its traditional costumes and outfits with western ones doesn't. It almost seems to suggest that Japan doesn't even respect its own culture, but simply desires to be the same as the leading powers. But of course I'm aware that this is not the case today, when Japan is doing a great job protecting and promoting its culture. Who knows though, if say, India becomes the most powerful country in the 21st century, would Japan throw away every aspect of Western influence and start borrowing from India? I certainly hope not, but judging from the historical precedence, it is by all means possible. I like Japan and especially love its people, however this is something that I'm always a little concern about.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Following the end of hostilities during WWII, the United States did much to help rebuild Japan, its economy and to heal the Japanese people. US - Japanese trade relations have, over the years, provided a mutual apology for 1940's hostility. No such mutual relations have ever been developed between Japan and Communist China.

The unapologetic attitude of Japan regarding the rape and massacre of over 250,000 unarmed civilians and prisoners of war in the city of Nanking, China in 1937 remains a sore issue with the Chinese. The brutality of the Japanese army at the time even embarassed their NAZI allies. Little wonder then that even after all these decades there is still a festering animosity on the part of the Chinese.

An official sincere apology might go a lot further than new fighting ships to guarantee a peaceful prosperous future between the two nations. but that's just me, hollering from the choir loft...

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Chinese bloggers wanted to know why it is that Japan does not hate America,

Haplogroup D (YAP positive) and the vowel language as well as the notion of shunyata (everything is inter-dependent not arising of itself) made up the Japanese mentality which is basically credulous and forgiving. The first two factors are absent from the Chinese people and the last one is forgotten by them.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Thanks for the article, Rachel Tackett.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

ViennaSausage isright. While Foreign Minister Matsuoka and FDR were negotiatinng, Tojo ordered several young pilots to become Kamikaze pilots on Mitzubishi Zero. Poor pilots did not have tme to see their family/ It was shock to entire Japan.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Because it ended the war.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

To say that Japan didn't pull a fast one (or at least think they were) with Pearl Harbor is ridiculous. They were in negotiations to end the oil embargo right up to The attack. Whether the US government was aware of their intent is irrelevant....it was underhanded plain and simple.

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@Daffy_Duck:: You wrote " I would wager that the reason that most Japanese are indifferent to the bombs is because they can accept Japan was in the wrong and accept that the bombing changed Japan for the better.? You analyzed well. Sorry for victims whose body was disintegrated in Atomic desease hospitals (died littel later, I;d bet) but relief when we heard we were defeated. No longer practicing to participate in gyokusui.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

To all the people who say Hiroshima was not a valid military target, you may want to check that.

Hiroshima had a HQ for the IJA, an important target had the invasion japan gone through.

Anyways, I would wager that the reason that most Japanese are indifferent to the bombs is because they can accept Japan was in the wrong and accept that the bombing changed Japan for the better.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Check any WW II history books to find what was :Ichiokku gyokusai" Japanese people had to do in case Japan lost the .Taiheiyo Senso/ After Aug 15, 1945, people knew Truman ordered A-bomb, mot American people. Beside that, it was so many years ago.

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Maybe because Japanese in power disrespect Chinese and Chinese reacted many times poorly to disrespectful provocations, reinforcing the vicious cycle. Japanese politicians and Chinese reactions in last 70 years have played a big part in creating and reinforcing this psyche. Japanese basically look up to whites, Americans as Big Brother currently and Western Europeans before 1945.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Japan doesn't hate America because they never denied it and by way of apology spent billions on Japan's reconstruction, and replaced a military government with a more democratic one.

The reason Japan's neighbors are angry at Japan is because it refuses to acknowledge wartime atrocities and has done little to atone for them.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

In USA, Hundai ad on TV says Hondai. How mamy different auto from Korea> KIA has been interpreted abbreviation of Killed In Action, Toyota and Honda rare not only Japanese brand cars. Nissan. Matsuda, Subaru, Suzuki..... There are many Japanese auto factories in many states. There is no made-in China electronic products in USA. Chinese brand cars. either. People are so used to Toshiiba, Sony, Mitsubishi, etc/. USA people thank Japan Inc for job creations, and they badmouth China. even Chinese help USA debt crisis. I live in USA and visit stores often for my business.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

ossan- the flying tigers didnt see action until december 20th 1941, 12 days after pearl harbor

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Sentiments, even if the US administration knew the war is about to start, that doesn't mean Japan can sneak attack us. You don't see us sneak attacking Japan, do you?

That mistake is on Japan thinking that taking our Pearl Harbor and a bulk of our pacific navy, you can delay our efforts into the war and eventually negotiate for a favorable treaty for your own cause.

That is the exact reason why Japan has no right to hate. Your intention was evil and colonial. You wanted what the rest of the western powers had and copied their methods on expanding your own greed.

And you pick the wrong guy to sneak attack. That's on you. There's no what ifs, or otherwise in these actions. You made your bed, you sleep in it. If we had to go to the extremes and stop you from killing us, we have every right to do so because you sneaked attack us.

Badsey3,

Japanese electronic products and home applicances are almost non-existing these days. Everything is about Korean. If you go to Frys, Bestbuys, or online sites such as egghead, pricegrabber...etc. Its all about Korean electronics and appliances. Japanese products get shelved on the corner or less prominent displays on most parts.

The only Japanese brands that are prominent is playstation, Toyota and Honda. These are the 3 brands that most people can name about Japan. That's really much it. Even Sony and Panasonic are dying out these days. And it took the Japanese close to 4 decades to get these products onto the world stage.

Now compare that with China. Other than US since we have this protectionism against Chinese branded products. Almost every parts of the world use Chinese brands such as Huawei, Haier and Lenovo. These are world leading brands and quality wise, Huawei and Lenovo are really on par with the rest of the world. Think Haier as the early 00s Samsung. I think give it another 10 years, Haier will overtake Sony and LG and become the second biggest appliance/electronics maker after Samsung.

The difference between Japanese brands and Chinese brands is one is slowly declining, while the other is rapidly growing.

Which one would you rather be in the no-so-near future?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I live in the USA. Japanese brand cars are all over on USA streets, Electronic product stores, if they don't carry Japanese brand products, they go closing stores. BestBuy lost many stores. Fry stores are popular because they carry mostly Japan Inc. products

Many of the Chinese brands (a misnomer since China doesn't have any popular brand, maybe Haier) that have been cheaper and popular (due to cheap cost) have poor quality and there has been a backlash against this. People are buying Japanese because the quality is good and lasting (has long-term value) -and even buying used older stuff (Japanese Stereo equipment etc). Sadly very few things are made in Japan now and it is a matter of Japanese branding (Chinese made or other) with sometimes poor quality.

-One thing I am hoping that Abenomics can fix. And it is always nice to be able to purchase high-quality items that will last (true value).

Fry's was always known as a computer/parts (computer hardware) store. = Very few people build (assemble) computers anymore. =Maybe their online sales to Nerds is keeping them in business. But NewEgg is bigger.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Many Japanese DO hate America for the deplorable use of the A Bombs. Many MORE realize that Japan was "on the wrong track" and under the thrall and control of poor leaders. That being said, China's hatred for Japan is obvious and the goading of "Hate America" is a transparent FLAW in the Chinese leadership and possibly the Chinese culture - (IF the majority of Chinese citizens "swallow" this attempt at propaganda.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Actually the Reasons for dropping the Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were driven by grim logic

1) there was sufficient intelligence to believe that the Japanese people at the time were indoctrinated into the Imperial Cult that would make them fight as hard as the various Imperial troops that had been fought in the Island Campaign. As the estimated casualties exceed a million on the U.S., quite undesirable after a long war in Europe, it was a major factor in the decision to drop the bomb.

2) Dropping the bomb WAS a signal to the Soviets to knock it off with regards to Japan. FDR knew a shark when he saw one and it was the best way to deter them at the time.

3) It was designed to break the will of The Imperial Cult. Let's see., one city goes up in smoke, and the Imps thought it was a Fluke. The Second started a Trend and they had no way of knowing those were the only two bombs possessed. So, here's the surrender. After that things were relatively civil, all things being equal

Rather than a long drawn out conquest, this broke the resistance in short order. The rest is History. It beat the alternatives. Except for those who can't let go of the past or somehow think they were without guilt.

Like China.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@Sentiments: Nah, I disagree with all of that. Mongolians? You reading the right Wiki article? Also, what's your point in relation to the topic of this article??

0 ( +1 / -1 )

China should take a lesson from Japan and learn to forgive. China's unwillingness to forgive for something that happened more than 2 generations ago, is only going to hurt them going forward. They need to stop teaching hate to their kids, while maintaining a true account of history.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

There is no denial from American about what happened. Its just that all the justifications are pure bull. Its just another type of whitewashing.

Screaming about Pearl does not help either. If a man sucker punches you and runs away, do you go beat up his wife and kids? Or course not! You can shoot all the people in uniform you like, but the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had nothing to do with Pearl Harbor.

About the best excuse America has is that it collectively lost its mind in rage. Not an excuse likely to hold any weight in a court room. But as an American, I can be honest about this, because not only was I not consulted about that heinous decision, I was not even alive in 1945. Why can't other Americans and westerners see that? Conditioning. And the well conditioned are the last people to ever admit the possibility.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

That's because US doesn't glorify A-bombs and Obama doesn't deny and glorify US war tragedies let alone war atrocities. What kind of stupid article is this?

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Chinese ask: Why doesn’t Japan hate America for dropping the A-bombs?

America rebuild Japan's infrastructure and worked together to make Japan more superior.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Highball7:. Yeah the sneak attack is a major part of American rhetorics. I have never understood why. The administration new very well that the war was about to start, they just didnt now exactly when and where. I guess the shock was mainly a question of self-perception and underestimating the foe. Or did they think that war was like a sport so that everyone starts when the referee says so?

Dcog9065: No I think Japan had a few persons in the government that had to much Sake on a daily basis. Most of the population was just normal persons wondering what was going on and how to make a good livelihood. A few facts from before the attack on Perl: Japan got their ass kicked by Zukov (Soviet) and Mongolia. China stopped Japans advance effectively despite the conflict between Chiang and Mao. No I dont believe in the ideas about an invincible race. Maybe a few nutcases like in every country.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Well Japan is proficient in emulating those more advanced than they are, as demonstrated clearly in the early 1900's. This also highlights that Japanese respect those stronger than they are, as can be seen clearly in their history and culture.

Japan, having never been defeated in history until WW2, likely thought they were an invincible race, especially after demolishing Korea, Russia, China, UK, SE Asia, etc. so easily. I think Japan respects the USA more than most think, although I think it has been changing in the opposite direction recently with the USA's relatively declining influence.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

SamuraiBlue

Japan adopted limited election based on amount of tax paid in 1878 and abolished the tax limitation and transited to Universal suffrage in 1925. That is only 10 years later then the British and 5 years later then the US.

What has that got to do with anything? Yes, it was relatively "democratic" in the 20s, but in the 30s and 40s it turned into a military dictatorship.

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There is nothing "whitewashed" about US firebombing Japan or dropping the A-bomb. We wanted, and the world wanted to end the world swiftly with less casualties on OUR side.

Honestly speaking, and also speaking with a line of veterans in my own family. We don't care about the Japanese civilians as much as you cared about ours during that time.

That sentiment had never be hidden. In fact, we enhanced that by putting Japanese AMERICANS on the west coast in internment camps. That's how far we went out to show we didn't care much about you during that time.

And to support this, our history books throughout our educational systems had taught that part of history clearly. That we bombed you not only to stop the war but as retribution because we hated you during that time.

The thing is and I want to make this clear, Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor first, we didn't attack Japan or initiated ambush against Japan. Japan sneaked attacked us so you have no place to hold any grudges for us attacking you back, no matter the scale or manner.

China and Korea and all those Asian nations did not sneak attack, initiated attack or committed any kind of attack against Japan. So they have every right to be upset with you and hold grudges against you since you are the invader. Honestly, how you feel about them being petty or holding grudges is irrelevant. Your opinion really don't matter as the invader.

Why doesn't Japan hate America for dropping the A-bomb? Maybe because Japanese know they are in the wrong for initiating the attack on US on the first place. What did you think US was going to do? Sit back and let you slap us in our faces? How can you hate somebody for reacting to your own attack? Its called justice. That would be like the murderer hating the cop for killing him or putting him behind bars. Your opinion honestly don't matter. And it was fair game. If Japan had the A-bomb, what do you think it will do? I will bet that a few of our cities will end up looking like Hiroshima. Plus, you guys didn't hold back using biological or chemical weapons back then against civilians in China and Korea. So really, it would be hypocritical for you to hate.

We got it first, and we used it. You had your zeros and we bested you later on. You can hate but you don't have any justifiable reason to as the invader and as a murderer who committed mass killing, mass rapes and genocides.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

My Japanese wife's 'animus' about the war is all directed at the government and military of Japan who, in her opinion, were responsible for the war and everything bad that happened as a result of the war. America, in her opinion, saved Japan and that is why she and most Japanese love America.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

This report, to me, is an example of the fact that truth will out. And, as noted by some who have posted, there is no denial of what happened.

Too bad others in Japan haven't grown tired of the nationalist history whitewash and blame game being played by China and Korea and have jumped in neck deep.

Of the three countries, Japan is the one that is best suited to get over this nonsense and stop stewing in such old and rancid political oozes.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It does not matter if teachers skip sections of textbooks or not. Books are writen in Japanese. Children usually read textbooks after their parents purchased., Ditto with magazines or mangas. They know how to use computers to get articles. Also, they know current American people did not A-bombed Japan. Irefuda customs were also used in big towns. No females but many family heads were females and husband had to follow their wives; wish or kicked out t themselves when they married to wives' house. (Yosh Torimuko)

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Go back and read Japanese History book again Thomas.

Japan adopted limited election based on amount of tax paid in 1878 and abolished the tax limitation and transited to Universal suffrage in 1925. That is only 10 years later then the British and 5 years later then the US.

As for local election Japan had been initiating them from the middle ages called "Irefuda(入札)" to elect town/village representatives.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Yes I understand your point and in theory it may well hold water. Even if I also believe that old habits die hard in both organizations and parts of countries I think a lot has happened over the last decades of decline. One way of understanding peoples vote for LDP during a long time could be to question what they were voting for. Could it be that they were actually voting for the success in Japans rebuilding, production/export and welfare. Or did people vote for a specific right-wing policy and did that make them right-wingers? Or did they vote for continued progression and economic development, and cared almost nothing about who was in control (especially since the US was overlooking everything). This could be interpreted as support for the argumentative line you put forth but it could also be understood in such a way that LDP never won the peoples harts and minds. It may have been a poor democratic practice but it opens the possibility that people were not fooled by old imperialistic dogmas in new clothes. It was practical from their point of view. I do not know that many people from production industries (more academics in fact) but with those that I do know the discussion of politics over a beer in the pub can be every bit as engaging as in any country I have visited before. In fact they share the typical problems with democracy that many Western countries are concerned with today (loss of belief in politicians, unclear borders between political parties or extreme differences, low poll numbers). Id like to add that the description you give of Japan and its people fits perfectly with what we in science know about western small to large organizations during the same time period. In fact most of the worlds organizations and companies has been forced to learn from Japan about how to organize work for constant quality check and change. Still I would agree with you about the some time subtle hierarchization practices. Hierarchy seems to be very important. Maybe that is why many people spontaneously lower their voice when they speak about the emperor. The last election, before Abe’s return, which led to Hatoyamas government (maybe not a good one but…) was an interesting political statement from the people. Maybe that´s the best sign for good democratic roots in the Japanese society.

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With the political situation I tried to give a context for the fatalistic attitude is not specific for japan. The point was that the attitude resides everywhere in the world when you combine a sense of power and political ambition.

Japan has been ruled by what is basically military dictatorship for a very long time, probably longer than what most nations had endured. The Meiji Restoration changed Japan significantly but one important thing had not been changed, where one ruler, the Tokugawa shogunate, was replaced by yet another set of elite rulers, the bureaucrats and the military. They had never trusted the ordinary Japanese people, and it didn't help that they had managed Japan for them. After the war, again the situation did change a little, but not that much. The same war criminals and the right-wing bureaucrats had been left intact and they were soon managing Japan under a new name and organizations. LDP was basically a "one-party dictatorship" for over half a century. There was a pretense of it being a "democracy", but in reality ordinary people had little to no say in political matters.

Historically, the ordinary Japanese people had never had the chance to manage and govern their own country. Everything had always been done FOR them by the elite ruling class. Since they have no experience in controlling the fate of their own country by their own hands, Japanese people tend to be unusually fatalistic, they are negativistic about political matters and most stay out of politics, even when compared to all the other Asian nations, including South Korea, which share a very similar Confucius cultural background. They don't try to change the situation which they consider to be bad, even if they can.

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Hey Thomas I think you are missing the point. With the political situation I tried to give a context for the fatalistic attitude is not specific for japan. The point was that the attitude resides everywhere in the world when you combine a sense of power and political ambition. In the case you put forth it was Japan that choose to think and act with tunnel vision and Im sure we will soon see some other countries politicians do the same. But contrary to you I believe we are learning, but painstakingly slow.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The Japanese have had a long history of respecting night..........that is what the US had and still does,,,,,,,,

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Hate the crime but not the people !

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One last thing, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not the primary targets — civilian deaths were not wanted. The cities were secondary targets.

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It may be as simple that Japan does not live in the past but instead works for the future. Japan could also be happy with the outcome as the government would have been a military regime if Japan won.

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My seven year old, who is half, asked about the A-Bombs the other day. She is lucky to have among her Grandfather's friends, several Pearl Harbor survivors. The only sane answer is that war is horrible and this ended the conflict. Last week, we had news stories talking about the battles on Okinawa. I was able to get her to use her imagination to transpose those numbers of deaths to each of the major islands - and she grasped what I said.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

OssanAmerica Jul. 16, 2013 - 07:48AM JST First off, Japan doesn't. Maybe the Koreans could learn a thing or two here. Secondly, Pearl Harbor was a military attack. The A-bombs wiped out civilians.

Koreans learned alot of things about brutality of Japanese. Even during the peace time during the colonial rule of Korea, the demonstrations for Korean national independence from Japan in 1919, about 7,500 Korean civilian people were killed and close to 50,000 people were arrested by the Japanese police and soldiers.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Hate isn't particularly a Japanese emotion. It's not something you see very often here.

In general, Japanese people don't "hate" anyone particularly, Americans, Koreans or Chinese.

Mind you, they would hate Americans if the media told them to, particularly if it was on NHK.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

The question itself is irrational. Hate is a very self-destructive emotion. As for the rational of the dropping of the two Atomic bombs, the cities were legitimate targets for bombing. Hiroshima was the home of the Imperial Navy and had factories producing military products. Nagasaki also had similar factories. Same rational for the fire bombing of Tokyo; factories in the Sumida river districts. Transportation lines as trains were targets. The fire bombing came about because normal bombings didn't work for Tokyo. They didn't know about the Jet Stream at the time. This forced a tactical change to low level bombing using B-29s which were design for high level bombing. Don't forget that these crews were brave since being shot down is a death sentence. The crews probably thought the orders were crazy but they did it. The crew of the A-bomb planes also were not sure that they would make it back. The bombs were armed on route where it could detonate by accident and they were sure the plane would stand the shock wave. No one at the time understood the true dangers of radiation. The US did drop warning leaflets days before the bombings to try and reduce civilian causalities. The Japanese people did blame the militarists for the defeat as can be seen by the manga and political cartoons of the day. The surrender was force not only because of the two bombs and the Soviet entry but also because the J-gov of the time was afraid of a revolt. People were starving.

The USA and USSR were neutral until 1941. The second-Sino war started in 1937, the European war started in 1939.

Axis: Germany, Japan, Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria

Allied: USSR, USA, UK, China, France, Poland, Canada, Australia, NZ, South Africa, India, Yugoslavia, Greece, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Brazil, Ethiopia, Mexico

Finally, you can not judge people of that time with modern understandings. If you must make a judgement, then you have to understand what was considered acceptable for the times. As for the relations among Japan, Korea and China, that is all a different can of worms.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Mitch CohenJul. 16, 2013 - 06:43AM JST How could Japan hate the USA for the bombings, when they bombed the USA first? What would they possible complain about - "but you used a much bigger bomb"?

First off, Japan doesn't. Maybe the Koreans could learn a thing or two here. Secondly, Pearl Harbor was a military attack. The A-bombs wiped out civilians. Thirdly as to who really "bombed first" US pilots flying ROC marked planes were shooting down Japanese planes before 1941 under an OSS program.

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I don';t know why but older and many people in Japan never called Truman as Pres. Truman. Gen. MacAether, Prex Ike, etc, but not Truman. Maybe because Truman ordered A-Bombs?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

How could Japan hate the USA for the bombings, when they bombed the USA first?

What would they possible complain about - "but you used a much bigger bomb"?

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Really, the average Japanese person's view of America is far more likely to be influenced by Hollywood than American politics. I think it comes down less to calculated statistics about culture and politics and economy and more the type of 'feeling' America and China give to the Japanese. Americans are 'hollywood stars' and Chinese are 'those annoying foreigners.' The stereotyping people do without realizing it is often a very powerful motivator in public perception, both good and bad. That's not to say there isn't history behind this conflict, but people tend to simplify larger conflicts into 'feelings' rather than 'well thought out conclusions.'

1 ( +1 / -0 )

People in general don’t hate each other especially when so many decades have passed. In particular, Chinese don’t hate Japanese as the article seems to imply otherwise China would not be Japan’s largest trading partners. Despite all the propagandas created by the governments from both sides, average Chinese and Japanese people can get along just fine. The answers from the thread might be meant for the governments and not for the people at large. Governments especially Japanese stirred up the conflicts just for their own political gains.

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By Chinese raising this question, it may be an opportunity for them to examine their own attitudes toward Japan.

Perhaps.

But it's also an opportunity for Japanese politicians to reflect on what happens when you own up to your past crimes. People will forgive you and even become your allies.

If you deny them or try to downplay them at government level, they will continue to bring it up and bug the hell out of you.

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Answer: Because it was justified.

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By Chinese raising this question, it may be an opportunity for them to examine their own attitudes toward Japan.

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These Chinese people sound very sympathetic to Japan,. After Russia went to Manchuria, many Japanese were helped by Chinese people. A noble lady who married to the brother of Manchu Emperor came back to Japan decided to go back to China, Her older daughter had double suicide because his family refused her, Chinese Chu En Rai prime Minister helped her to go back and apologized 'Sorry, I could not arranger before tragety of your daughter'". She and younger daughter met her husband. She died in her loved China. Her younger daughter lived in Japan.

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Chinese so ready to be treated with "respect" as the world power, the country to emuluate, that they cannot see anything else

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Simple reason that ends all arguments. Why doesn't Japan hate America?

America and Asia made Japan. 100s of billions of gold to fund its so called "recovery". America gave generous access to its market and gave Japan the latest tech at the time. (If you don't like it. Blame the US. This is what they are teaching their kids and what the rest of the world think).

Japan was the aggressor and lost the war. American or in general western tech was the only reason why they were able to commit murder and rape in Asia. If not for the West. In conventional Asian warfare (spears, swords, bows), Japan would have been annihilated before they even reached the Asian mainland.
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See, this is the prevalent view, that the atomic bombings "couldn't be helped" because it "happened during wartime". There is nothing you can do about it. "Shikataganai".

A prevalent view yet when a prominent lawmaker stated this very thing, he was relieved of his duties because of mass civilian opposition. Somehow that doesn't add up does it?

This is what you get when you have people on the internet who have absolutely no clue as to what the Japanese population thinks about the events for it's clearly apparent that they have very little if no interaction with them. These people are merely "projecting" their own bias with absolutely no knowledge of the political spectrum of Japanese population and their respective views of the war.

For instance, take this brilliant gem.

"We are the only nation in the world that suffered atomic bombings! Poor us! And because of that special role, we are committed to world peace! (but we're not actually going to do anything about it to prevent any future wars, let alone teach our future generation about the war)."

The "poor us" and "committed to world peace" population are mostly left wing types who go to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Service in masses. The most notable ones are the "Save Article 9" group and the Nikkyoso types who are the forefront to teach the Japanese population of how bad the Japanese were back then.

Japan couldn't possibly have won against America, the decision to attack the US was a completely suicidal act for Japan. No sane person would have ever attacked America, but nobody was there to stop the decision to attack the US. So goes the belief that "it just happened" "it could not have been helped" "shikataganai". The people were acting as if it was beyond their control, even though those decisions were being made by humans. Not many people are trying to investigate WHY it happened, how it got started in the first place, and how to prevent such tragedies from happening in the future. Nobody is analyzing or investigating, so nobody is learning from the past's mistakes

As in all wars, it started because the negotiations broke down. It's really that simple. And believe it or not, there are many wars that were fought when one side overwhelmes the other despite the fact that the inferior opposition knows this. For Japan, the heads of the government were aware that a long term all out war against U.S. would eventually result in their loss. (See 昭和16年夏の敗戦 authored by current Tokyo governor). What they were hoping for was a diplomatic cease fire and compromise during the battle. (i.e. lifting the embargo, certain compromise of Japan's vested interest in China, etc.)

Overall, though, the main decision for Japan to attack the US was racial arrogance and a belief in racial superiority of the Japanese, or at least the Imperial Japanese military thought so. The Japanese military believed that in the end, a mystical and mysterious "Japanese spirit" (Yamato damashii) would prevail, even if the odds are heavily stacked against them:

And what did the Western powers at that time think of Japan? The feeling was mutual, IMO. I guess your implications is "How dare they challenge superior West!!" Your arrogance is still showing today. And no. The main decision to attack U.S. was simply economic survival as MacArthur testified later in the Senate Hearing.

So why did the Pacific war start? Loaded question for which you can start from Perry's arrival but the Japanese textbooks do in fact gives the failure in negotiations with U.S. that lead up to the decision to attack Pearl Harbor unlike the U.S. which basically states that Japanese attacked them "unprovoked" without any reason.

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Toshiko You're right about the fact that Japanese products are everywhere in America. This is what happens when a country doesn't make a converted effort to protect its own market and prevent foreign goods from entering to own market. . It's called a free market and does wonders for the economy by encouraging competition, increasing product quality, and benefitting the consumer with better pricing and quality. A novel idea! I do have heartbreaking news for you though...The a japanese economy is not doing as we'll as you might hope. Sometimes having excellent access to friendly and receptive markets isn't enough to counter outdated national/management tactics, corruption, and an inability to adapt to an evolving competition.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I live in USA. Japanese brand cars are all over on USA streets, Electronic product stores, if they don;t carry Japanese brand products, they go closing stores. BestBuy lost many stores. Fry stores are popular because they carry mostly Japan Inc. products. A US politician claimed once, :"I only buy American made products" when asked back, he said :"Sony, NEC. Toyota and Honda". IMany states proudly claim their employment rate is high because Tpypta created factory (KY). etc. Many states seek after Japan Inc. Their own GM and Ford are blamed along with China because they have factories in China. Huge debts, China is blamed but inctrsding frbt to Japan is not mentioned. I often check if there are competing US business or makers. Even tires are Bridgestone, Yokohama and now Sumitomo, Good year tires are not displayed in tire stores. This American situation, I feel Japan is exonom.ically winning instead of China;s way. Japan will ignore Chinese wish to blame 70 year ago. Just cozy while Japan Inc. enjoy profits.l /

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illegal internet of Americans

Illegal internet of Americans! What!

Anyway, this is a pretty good summary of why Japan attacked the US:

http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/summary.cfm?q=905

This is neither pro-America nor pro-Japan. As irrational as it was, it simply analyzes why did Japan decide to attack the US. It even suggests that America's pressure on Japan is what made it so desperate to attack the US. It turns out that it was mostly irrational because the decisions were mostly based on emotional factors, such as gaining prestige and recognition in the international stage, as well as fear, fear of defeat, fear of losing face and honor, and so on.

Still, it cannot be denied that, in threatening Japan's economic destruction (and consequent military impoverishment), the United States placed the Japanese in a position in which the only choices open to them were war or subservience. "Never inflict upon another major military power a policy which would cause you yourself to go to war unless you are fully prepared to engage that power militarily," cautions Roland Worth, Jr., in his No Choice But War: The United States Embargo against Japan and the Eruption of War in the Pacific. "And don't be surprised that if they do decide to retaliate, that they seek out a time and a place that inflicts maximum harm and humiliation upon your cause." Roosevelt called the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor "unprovoked." Was it?

Overall, though, the main decision for Japan to attack the US was racial arrogance and a belief in racial superiority of the Japanese, or at least the Imperial Japanese military thought so. The Japanese military believed that in the end, a mystical and mysterious "Japanese spirit" (Yamato damashii) would prevail, even if the odds are heavily stacked against them:

The Japanese also assumed they had little chance of winning a protracted war with the United States but hoped they could force the Americans into a murderous, island-by-island slog across the Central and Southwestern Pacific that would eventually exhaust American will to fight on to total victory. The Japanese believed they were racially and spiritually superior to the Americans, whom they regarded as an effete, creature-comforted people divided by political factionalism and racial and class strife.

There was also a desperate need for them to seek status and prestige in the international stage, to move up in the ranks of national hierarchy, and to be accepted as one of the Western powers. I'd say this view still remains somewhat in Japan today.

Kenneth Pyle, in his masterful assessment of modern Japan's behavior in the evolving international system, identifies "a persistent obsession with status and prestige--or, to put it in terms Japanese would more readily recognize, rank and honor." From the time of the Meiji Restoration in 1868,"Japan strove and struggled for status as a great power. Other countries in Asia were aware of their backwardness, but nowhere else was this awareness so intense and so paramount that it drove a people with such single-minded determination. It became a national obsession to be the equal of the world's great powers." A fusion of state-centered honor and popular nationalism occurred in Japan that prompted "an instinctive need for recognition of its status in the hierarchy of nations, and the values of hierarchy provided a behavioral norm that focused and intensified the realist drive for national power. Establishment of Japan's honor, of its reputation for power in relation to other nations, became a goal sanctioned by inherited values and norms."

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ViennaSausage2Jul. 15, 2013 - 11:11AM JST And getting back to the original article... Simply, how would Japan feel if America denied that the atom bombs were >dropped or that the fire bombing of Tokyo never happened ...or perhaps that these "activities" did occur but that that >the number of victims have been inflated? Would Japan have been able to be so forgiving?

From what I have seen over the decades, the Japanese are not a people who would claim that 1,000,000 people died at Hiroshima ignoring all factual evidence, or go ahead and build an American-Hate Memorial with that 1 million figure engraved into the wall. Nor would they call Americans "deniers" and "apologists" if the admitted to killing 100,000 but not one million. Furthermore, the United States while far from perfect, is a country that did not deny the illegal internet of Americans of Japanese descent during WWII and nobody denies that the A-bombs were dropped, the debate only pertaining to whether their use was necessary or not. Note how in a democracy you an have opposing views. How many Chinese openly argue that the 300,000 figure for Nanking is arbitrary, exaggerated and completely unsupportable or provable? You shouldn't have to ask whether Japan, or the US. are "so forgiving". They already are.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

You really need to study a little more about history before making outlandish theories.

And your source is a movie? lol... speak for yourself.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Thomas Anderson

Admiral Yamamoto the commander who master minded the attack on Pearl harbor himself said that he can only hold against the US fleet for no longer then 3 years. It was depicted in the old Tora,Tora, Tora movie. He was hoping and pushing for a quick cease fire treaty with the US within the military regime. You really need to study a little more about history before making outlandish theories.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

Japan couldn't possibly have won against America, the decision to attack the US was a completely suicidal act for Japan. No sane person would have ever attacked America, but nobody was there to stop the decision to attack the US. So goes the belief that "it just happened" "it could not have been helped" "shikataganai". The people were acting as if it was beyond their control, even though those decisions were being made by humans. Not many people are trying to investigate WHY it happened, how it got started in the first place, and how to prevent such tragedies from happening in the future. Nobody is analyzing or investigating, so nobody is learning from the past's mistakes. Fukushima, anyone?

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

Thomas Anderson-The reason Japan got involved is clear. They had invaded China in search for natural resources and had plans to colonialize much of SE Asia to that same end. This invasion and subsequent report of human rights abuses caused the US to intervene my organizing an oil embargo of Japan and this brought the Japanese economy to a screeching halt which prompted the decision to attack the US. The thought was that by destroying the US Pacific fleet would give Japan 18 months of uninterrupted time to take over the Pacific rim and many thought it might be longer given the US's focus on Europe and the feeling within the Japanese ranks that the mongoloid citizenry of the US couldn't get its act together and focused enough to threaten Japan.

Yamamoto was right when he made his sleeping giant quote.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Sentiments

I suggest you read the correspondents between Japan and the US up till the US issued the hull note which was the final fuse lighting pearl harbor. The US had her own ambitions towards mainland China in which the US was the last entrant for land grabbing. The US did not really care what happened to SE Asia since Japan proposed to move out in exchange for acceptance of Manchuko which was controlled by Japan at that time anyways.

The barricade as you put it was already in place with the block economy at full swing after the global depression in which European Imperialists through protectionism were placing tariff on both import as well as export to products.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

I wish I could say its because the Japanese have the sense to realize that every person who had anything to do with dropping the A bombs is dead and buried.

Unfortunately, that does not hold water, particularly since so many Americans today approve of the decision, and responsible or not, that should rankle.

The truth is that they are simply do not have an education system brainwashing them to hate Americans for this, nor do they possess the strength or independence of will and spirit to think on this on their own and come to a clear decision. Americans on the other hand have an education system that instills a belief that beyond all reason, the dropping of the A bombs were not war crimes. And the Chinese were taught to be rightly see the Japanese invasion for what it was, but they were taught wrongly to blame the Japanese of today for it, rather than simply recognize the appalling ignorance of today's Japanese on the subject. And that goes to show just how powerful it is to have your hooks in the education system, because you make most of the populace either believe or overlook just about anything.

Probably only those protesting U.S. bases hold a clear and firm self generated opinion on something like the A-bombings, and they are few and mostly Okinawans. Even the mellowness of Hiroshima and Nagasaki residents is quite surprising, and I find, a bit infuriating. If they can't stand up and shout, it makes it a bit harder for the rest of us to.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Okay thanks Thomas. That was more to the point. A few comments to your viewpoint. A quote from Hirohito is not a good reference for Japanese people. The emperor’s position and role requires them to speak " like if they are above the clouds". I think what he wanted to say was that "at that time in the war there was absolutely nothing I could do, the nukes came like a shock to us". About how the war started in a Japanese perspective in general: There are many Scholars in both Japan and West that favours the perspective that Japans imperialist ambitions in China/Manchukuo triggered the blockade response from the US, GB, the Netherlands. Of course the US was not just feeling sorry for China, she was actively trying to stop the competition from gaining power. Sharing power is not exactly the hallmark of US foreign affairs. I think that the blockade respons may have been a bit hard to grasp for the imperial government at that time. Thus the Japanese, given their ambition to become a superpower (need for resources), ended up with only two options, a) to comply with the blockade/embargo and give up all ambitions, become a second rate nation in Asia or b) take the initiative and launch a desperate attack at the foe when he didn’t expect it. I think they more or less new that it was an "all in" gamble that they most likely would loose but they felt that it was the only feasible option. From my point of view that would make it quite reasonable with a “ the war was unavoidable” perspective.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I see that all the arguments of this article are based on one single assumption that "the Japanese do not hate Americans." But how could the author be so certain about this even when the Japanese themselves aren't so sure?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

notasap, its horrable how you mentioned that there was no innocent victims, in fact, apart of the regimes at the time, all humanity were innocent victims.

Its an important lesson for the world that if America has weapons of mass disctruction, nearly everyone should have them.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The bombings were necessary. Nuff said.

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I think its a fair questions. But from the Chinese people I know, they are very much facinated with Japan and would love to make friends with us. There are nationalist centiments everywhere so some people in China protesting at Japanese is like the guys here in their black vans chanting anti Chinese slogans. Silly people live everywhere thats a common value we all share.

Japan however does not share the same values as America. our values are very different.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Actually, it is strange that the Chinese are asking why Japanese don't hate the US. Chinese and Japanese were getting along fine until Jiang Zemin became president in the 90s, and they generally didn't hate Japanese. I had uni classmates from China under a special intergovernment program, and they went for free. And they really admired Japan. Jiang Zemin grew up under Japanese occupation, and when he because President, he started the anti-Japanese education that influences Chinese feelings about Japan today. He didn't like Japanese for personal reasons, and he projected that hate over the whole of China.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Thomas, for starters, my wife can.

Okay, then please tell me. You know, the Japanese have a word for the fatalistic view that they had during the war and it still continues to this day... and that is "shikataganai", "shoganai" or "it cannot be helped".

This is interesting:

Thus, when Emperor Shōwa was asked, in his first ever press conference given in Tokyo in 1975, what he thought of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, he answered: "It's very regrettable that nuclear bombs were dropped and I feel sorry for the citizens of Hiroshima but it couldn't be helped because that happened in wartime."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikata_ga_nai

See, this is the prevalent view, that the atomic bombings "couldn't be helped" because it "happened during wartime". There is nothing you can do about it. "Shikataganai".

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

Drop A-bombs?

On Japan?

Our American comrades never did anything of the kind.

I'll be setting this and other things straight in a few weeks when new history text books will be issued for Japanese students.

S.Abe

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Thomas, for starters, my wife can. Anyway, do you go around speaking to random Japanese people about war? Didn't your mom teach you not to discuss war and politics with strangers, son?

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Can ANY Japanese person (or even foreigners, except for serious historians, etc) point out why Japan started the war? No, they can't... The Japanese education does not tend go into details about how the war was started. There is yet to be a serious analysis of and how and why the war started like the Germans did for Nazi Germany. To them, it just happened, that is the prevalent view in Japan

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

Thomas Anderson: I´d like to know how many Japanese you have interviewed in order to make statements concerning all of Japan. Or at least any distinction concerning perspective. I have not met and spoken to that many Japanese citizens (maybe 50) but I can assure you that my experience is perfectly different from yours. Why is that? Even at the war museum near Yasukini shrine, which is a place for remembering ancesters killed in war, not objective statements, they state complex scenarios about how the war started and ended. What is your perspective built on?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

ViennaSausage2

Toshiko Japan "winning economically"? What decade are you living in?

The 1980s...

technosphere

Apples and oranges, An attack on military base / naval harbour is not a same as bombings of innocent civilians by combat nuclear devices. I feel sympathy to parents of those students who chose that "top private high school" . The level of education, let alone its quality is pretty incredible -)

...

Actually, I think children asking "Why did America drop nuclear bombs?" is a fairly common thing in Japan... since the Japanese education often teaches as if Japan was a completely innocent victim that did nothing wrong... and they got bombed by the US and somehow the war ended. They act as if the war was completely inevitable, the Japanese got dragged into the war as if it was a natural disaster that was outside of their control. If the war wasn't their fault, then neither was the atomic bombings. You'd think that this would lead them to blame the Americans, but actually they'd think that even the bombings were something that was inevitable, as if an act of fate that cannot be changed. Nothing is under Japanese control.

So why doesn’t Japan hate America for dropping the A-bombs? Actually instead of begrudging the Americans, they instead play the martyr role. "We are the only nation in the world that suffered atomic bombings! Poor us! And because of that special role, we are committed to world peace! (but we're not actually going to do anything about it to prevent any future wars, let alone teach our future generation about the war).

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

My friend is a Japanese teacher (also she is Japanese) she told me that when the USA dropped the bombs, the Japanese people were starving, but the propaganda machine tells a different story. So the USA might have helped them by bringing the war to an end quickly, so they could start eating again.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Pearl Harbor was a "sneak" attack; this is the main difference...America (as did most of the world) found such an act cowardly, underhanded (weasely). That's what brought about the ire the American people.

Ask any Japanese person under 50 years old when World War 2 began and see if they answer it correctly. For them to not to know such a basic fact of an event that completely reshaped Japan is telling. The "level" of the schools in this country have no relationship in the students' understanding of Japan's modern history.

Anyway....

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Having said that, on the Japanese side of things, I had the opportunity during my brief time as an English teacher to teach at Shukutoku Yono High School, which is generally considered one of the top private high schools in the Kanto region and was filled with the best and brightest of the Japanese upper-crust including politicians daughters and the like.

One day near the anniversary of the bombing one of my students asked me why the US government dropped the bombs unprovoked and after a pause I asked her if she was familiar with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and she replied she was not. I then polled my class of about 40 students and found only a few who were aware that Japan lobbed the first volley.

I then assigned them to do a research report on the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Apples and oranges, An attack on military base / naval harbour is not a same as bombings of innocent civilians by combat nuclear devices. I feel sympathy to parents of those students who chose that "top private high school" . The level of education, let alone its quality is pretty incredible -)

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

And getting back to the original article... Simply, how would Japan feel if America denied that the atom bombs were dropped or that the fire bombing of Tokyo never happened ...or perhaps that these "activities" did occur but that that the number of victims have been inflated? Would Japan have been able to be so forgiving?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Well, they stopped the biggest treat: URSS and kept them away until it disappeared and it saved million of people. Additionally, Japan is the biggest consumer of American products like Microsoft and Apple.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Toshiko Japan "winning economically"? What decade are you living in?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Holding grudge against USA daily? No, Japan Inc. in USA has been taking away USA business. How about auto industry in USA? TV? computer? Japan is not bankrupting but USA is, thanks to Japan Inc. China is trying to instigate but Japan will not cooperate with China;s wish. When Japan Inc. own USA business, why complain A-bomb?

Lost in WWII but winning economically.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

The vitriols,denials, justifications,dragging of other issues, and name calling by commenters show why China cannot forgive Japan. The US does not keep harping on the 2WW at every election. No politician will gain points for glorifying or justifying why the US dropped the bombs. The 2 bombs, rightly or wrongly were necessary to stop the war.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

If China was still under Japan influence or control, China would not dare talk about the past Japanese atrocities because Japan would not allow it. Because of the asymmetric relationship between the US and Japan, Japan can not criticize the US

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

lol so true Pontepilate

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Sometimes the question being asked says so much about the mentality of the person asking it that the question itself becomes irrelevant.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Hate only creates more hate. Instead of hating.. Japan as a society as well as Germany have shown the strength of its culture to overcome what some consider war crimes.. looking only to the future. Take it to an individual level and you see people who never let go of the past and live to hate.. hate only creates more hate.. not healing and not growth. I have been to Hiroshima and while speachless at the horror of war.. met with Habakusha and found inspiration as the legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will be world peace.. a day of no war.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Japan knows that it can count on a good friend: the U.S. Regarding China's ongoing mention of the Nanking incident. I don't deny that Japan acted very badly. But I am certain that Japan has learned its lesson. However, the reason China keeps bringing this incident over and over is for political reasons. It is easier for them to bring Nanking up than for them to bring Tibet up. You see, China miserably fail to see their own fault and only see other's fault. I am certain that If the reverse had happened - China invaded Japan - they would have done as bad or worse in Tokyo than what Japan did in Nanking. If anyone doubts it, look at what China did to Tibet and its citizens. Japan made many idiotic and horrible actions during its war, but China is no better. If China had been strong and powerful in the old days, they would have attacked Japan and all other near-by countries.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

THE ANSWER IS BECAUSE COUNTRIES LIKE CHINA, SK AND NK NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT HISTORY CANNOT BE CHANGED. THE 18TH, 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY WARS SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME, BUT NOW THE WORLD KNOWS THAT THEY WERE A WASTE OF RESOURCES AND HUMAN LIVES. It would be very easy for Americans to continue to propaganda and hate for Pearl Harbor, but it doesn't. The Pearl Harbor Memorial has thousands of Japanese visitors every year. Unfortunately, the waste mentioned above continues in NK, Afghanistan and Iraq, not to mention what the Chinese are doing in Nepal.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

"The original reason why Japan went to war in the first place was to break the oligopoly in South East Asia to gain free access to natural resources and market to products which was shackled by the Europeans and many Chinese traders who acted as middle men for the British."

One of many ridiculous comments I've read here. First of all, this isn't what Japanese revisionists loudly proclaim. Rather, they claim that Japan--a colonial power in its own right--fought an anti-colonial war of liberation on behalf of Southeast Asians against Western powers. Second, if you're going to refer to "the original reason why Japan went to war in the first place", shouldn't you be discussing events of 1931 or 1937 rather than 1941-42 as this commenter did?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Truth Lives

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Ask most Japanese about history and the answer will be the same. It's in the past I don't care. Unless it involves food or money Japanese have no interest in it. Japan like Singapore only focuses on self improvement. Everything else is a distraction. There isn't any rememberance of the dead who died needlessly in any of the wars (WWII or wars before that). It completely ignored. In other countries, people activity remember the past. This is in order to remember the past mistakes made by governments.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

No, I would not. On the contrary I would like to see the US more contrite about the bombs, the reason for dropping them, and admitting the fact that they were not the answer nor were they 'good' in any way. In the same vein I would like to see Japan acknowledge history without downplaying and trying to revise it, and without seeing some lawmakers and politicians flat out deny things like the Nanjing Massacre or sex slaves happened -- and don't keep denying that people deny them.

That's not what I was asking, smith.

Do you believe that bombings were necessary? Imagine a same question being asked to the U.S. Lawmakers and the President on a regular basis by Japan. The outcome will be obvious, right? Just imagine Japan acting like China/Korea towards U.S. always bringing this to a forefront until Japan gets a satisfactory response from virtually all of politicians, most especially the President because that's what it's going to take or there will be no progress on the U.S.-Japan relations.

There is a good reason why we don't really know how each U.S. Politicians view the atomic bombings as opposed to Japan where their view on history are questioned and answered for the other country to dissect.

-1 ( +8 / -9 )

...and in relation to China the UK doesn't rewrite their history to white wash the opium wars (and other imperial inflicted tradegies).

David Elson - Well that's just not true at all, is it? First off, the opium wars don't figure in school history anyway, but I also never learned about Bomber Harris's carpet bombing of Dresden, and I never learned about the plantation of Ulster or the treatment of Republicans in Northern Ireland. And I never learned about Culloden and the attempt at genocide that took place in the days and weeks that followed, or the Highland clearances, or the slave ships that sailed from Bristol.... But it was jolly nice to have an empire anyway.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Why don't the Japanese hate us? Because they aren't a dictatorship like China as described above, have found democracy a better way of life than the military controlled fascism of pre-WWII, and recognize that all sides committed horrible acts to each other in war, and that while remembering the past is important it should not disrupt the advancement of the country and it's relations with others. The United States and Japan share common ideals. China does not.

ROTFL. What "common ideal" Japan share with you? Perhaps, to be a runaway for your military jets or harbour for your carriers, huh? During post-war occupation you imposed not only your version of Constitution to japanese people but also extremely perverted viewpoint concerning to military and navy of Japan. The whole generation grew up without true respect to japanese history, military and naval forces. A boneless herd. They were forced to feel a Guilt for actions of their Emperor, military and naval forces. Some idiots even believe that "it was Hirohito who solely responsible " for nuclear bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki . In China and Russia people are free of rotten influence of American ideology. They respect their Naval and Military forces. And they understand a principle that every sovereign nation has a Right for Revenge in case if some country attack their civilians by WMD. Plain and simple. The key word is "sovereignity", not your "democracy-schmocracy". Chnia and Russia are sovereign states while Japan is your puppet state, thank to japanese politicians. Therefore, Chinese and Russians can rise sharp questions, japanese people can not. “A dog does not hate its master,” Sad but true.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

imperialist icpower*

imperialistic power

Because they should be grateful for all the help they got after the war?

That help was for the sake of the USA interests as well. Don't make seem the USA like a Non-profit organization. If you aren't part of their "soft" empire, you'll see how kind the USA can be. Vietnam, Iraq...try to ask them an opinion about the matter.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

"Because they should be grateful for all the help they got after the war?"

Why not?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

"Because they should be grateful for all the help they got after the war?"

Nah...

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Simply put... right now, America is the most "powerful" country in the world. Historically, Japan has always sided with the strongest country in the world. First, it was China. Then in the 19th century, they thought that it would be a good idea to gain the goodwill of the British, which was the strongest country at the time. Then that changed to Germany, again which they thought was the strongest. And now it's clearly the US. But for how long will they side with the US?

Japan was culturally influenced by China, but there wasn't a political alliance between them. Anyway, Japan respected Chinese culture for centuries, until it was brutally forced to open itself to the West from the USA. Do you know Perry? In that moment Japan started to admire Western culture and despise Chinese culture, and it copied Prussian model to become an imperialist icpower like European imperialistic powers. Finally, it lost WWII, and like consequence it is still occupied from the USA army.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Because they should be grateful for all the help they got after the war?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Respectfully. Because of a brain washing.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Yeah actually is a good question. Me, as an European who lives in Japan I often wonder the same thing. I see here in JP that the Americans are almost idolized by the Japanese, while if you say that you are from some country in Europe or Asia they don't give a frack. The Americans always have the best payed jobs, houses, etc, the can get a job 10x times more easily than a guy that is from Belgium or Holland from example. And talking from experience here...

Simply put... right now, America is the most "powerful" country in the world. Historically, Japan has always sided with the strongest country in the world. First, it was China. Then in the 19th century, they thought that it would be a good idea to gain the goodwill of the British, which was the strongest country at the time. Then that changed to Germany, again which they thought was the strongest. And now it's clearly the US. But for how long will they side with the US?

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

Chinese probably got it all wrong... I think the Japanese are just so good at hiding their true feelings about of Americans...

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Yeah..."history is written by the victors", so, in Japan people learn only what is convenient to the victors. They don't learn about their war crimes a lot, but they don't learn about the A-bombs a lot either. Plus, we should remember the force of soft power: Hollywood, Coca Cola, jeans, etc. built up the "American dream", and it was a way to conquer the trust of people in the countries that were/are occupied from Americans. So, it's simple enough to say why Japanese don't hate Americans.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

@Badman,

Thanks for the informative post.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The fact is that imperialism was the main problem in the first place. It's not like British Imperialism or French Imperialism was "good", even if France and UK were part of the allies. European Imperialism has been a great horror that brought to two world wars. Japan was first forced brutally by the USA to open itself, later it copied Prussian model to become an imperialistic power like European powers. When I see Europeans blame Japanese imperialism implying Japanese were worse than them, the ones who slaughtered tons of people in Africa, America, Asia, Oceania, yeah, basically in every continent, even if I'm European, I can't avoid to think it's very hypocritical. And yeah..."history is written by the victors", so, in Japan people learn only what is convenient to the victors. Plus, we should remember the force of soft power: Hollywood, Coca Cola, jeans, etc. built up the "American dream", and it was a way to conquer the trust of people in the countries that were/are occupied from Americans.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

badman..I've been married almost 30 years to a Japanese woman whose father was pressed into service in Manchuria and was a POW of the Soviet army following WWII. He never thought he would have made it back home.

The stories he told to my children on the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII were shocking to say the least.

What happened, happened.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

A lot of interesting comments. During my 7 years in Japan, marrying a Japanese woman whose relative was a kamikaze pilot while my grandfather was severely injured in the bombing of Pearl Harbor, gave me ample reason to contemplate much of what is being discussed here and this was surely influenced by my time in the US Navy.

It has been mention, and I think bears repeating, that history is written by the victors. I'm not going to rehash all the previous comments, though there were many thought provoking posts. I do believe the mental anguish Truman expended before pulling the trigger has been embellished after the fact, but we may never know what information has been suppressed and if the decision to drop the bombs was just an honest choice given the perceived circumstances at the time.

Having said that, on the Japanese side of things, I had the opportunity during my brief time as an English teacher to teach at Shukutoku Yono High School, which is generally considered one of the top private high schools in the Kanto region and was filled with the best and brightest of the Japanese upper-crust including politicians daughters and the like.

One day near the anniversary of the bombing one of my students asked me why the US government dropped the bombs unprovoked and after a pause I asked her if she was familiar with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and she replied she was not. I then polled my class of about 40 students and found only a few who were aware that Japan lobbed the first volley.

I then assigned them to do a research report on the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The class when we discussed the assignment devolved into a room full of bawling and apologetic students who had no idea about the "sneak attack". In seeing their reactions, I then concluded I needed to give some further context and tried to alleviate their new found guilt by informing them of many of the issues leading up to the attack, but the point I took away was that I had a class full of students who were on their way to Todai, Kyodai etc. and they had little to no knowledge of the geo political background of WWII. And frankly, their knowledge of anything historical or sociological was so lacking it was astounding.

So, I guess my point besides that the younger generation of Japanese is ignorant of this aspect of history, is that maybe the reason that there is little animosity towards the US is that many aren't familiar enough with the events to form strong opinions.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

About A-bombs, the USA imposed a strong censorship in Japan about their effects, on the contrary, there was a pro-nuclear propaganda that induced Japanese people to accept to have nuclear reactors in their territory, even if they were nuked. If you don't know the real effects of something, you don't fear that thing so much. It was a great business both for Japanese and American governments.

It is well known that the origin of “the peaceful use of nuclear energy” was part of “Atoms for Peace,” a policy that U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower launched at the U.N. General Assembly in December 1953. - See more at: http://www.japanfocus.org/-yuki-tanaka/3521#sthash.mYsLOJgi.dpuf

Source: http://www.japanfocus.org/-yuki-tanaka/3521

The USA rebuilt Japan according to their needs, anyway I don't know what Americans study in their textbooks, but apparently they don't know many facts.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

The Japanese people gained greater human rights and the peace and prosperity that goes with them. That is not something to resent. Also, the phrase "atomic bombs" can be thrown around for emotional shock upon those who do not understand the underpinnings of their use. But in comparison to prosecuting the conventional war which was otherwise imminent, the atomic bombs saved many more lives than were lost. People can appreciate that too. So, may the innocents consumed in war rest in peace and the new Japan born from its ashes thrive in harmony.

As for China, my first hand impression is that they have very little appreciation for Japanese people as a whole, especially given historical incidents, and way too much appreciation for themselves to the point of even being persistently disrespectful and holding disdain. Maybe it is just the region that I am in, but the two are obviously different peoples.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Yeah actually is a good question. Me, as an European who lives in Japan I often wonder the same thing. I see here in JP that the Americans are almost idolized by the Japanese, while if you say that you are from some country in Europe or Asia they don't give a frack. The Americans always have the best payed jobs, houses, etc, the can get a job 10x times more easily than a guy that is from Belgium or Holland from example. And talking from experience here...

1 ( +2 / -1 )

This article has several problems. First of all, who is Rachel Tackett, and if she professes to be an expert about China, why can't she spell Jiang Zemin's name correctly? Also, much as it makes me sound like an old fogey, anonymous posts by commentators on blogs do not, and should not, constitute a reliable source on which to base assertions on matters such as international relations and east asian history. Ms. Tackett, why couldn't you go interview a couple of university professors, intellectuals, political dissidents or members of the Chinese communist party? Or even the man on the street? You chose to cite from blogs, when you don't know who is posting (if it's anything like Japan's slimy 2channel, the same poster might even be posting under several different names). Sorry but in my book that's not an acceptable form of journalism. It's too bad, because the subject matter interests me. But what you've written is worse than worthless. Sorry, nothing personal.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Why doesn't Japan hate America? My question is why do people want to drag up the past of things done wrong to a country. Why don't the Chinese hate their government which gives them limited freedom, why don't the Japanese hate their government which controls them. Simply put, If one was to conquer another country it is better that America did back then when there was still liberty in America than another country defeating them who had no morals. General Mac Arthur wanted to send in missionaries to help but the democrat congress said no. More would have been done if it were not for the democrats in office at the time but America help to rebuild everything and teach the people how to be somewhat free. Japan is much better because of America who held no grudge because of the war atrocities inflicted upon us. I am for Japan having it's own defense against against another nation invading and not relying upon Big Brother. I just question if the leaders in Japan have the morals to be just and true.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

nah there are people over there that don't like america still. like my japan ex bf he would diss Americans call em fat white trash lol i'm startin to dislike em japanese lol

0 ( +2 / -2 )

@mitch They were voted in by rural districts where they inherit their seats from farmers. And they are decendents of war criminals. Ishihara was elected because of Tokyo voter disgust at the LDP. It was onlly an anti-LDP vote. And the ultra-right Restoration Party only one 2 seats in the Tokyo city election. Good thing: if LDP gets more urban vote, they will not be so dependent on farmers and can do some modern things, and maybe not upset China and neighbors so much. Also, I recently read that among 60% of Americans under 25 who actually know that atom bombs were dropped, 70% of them think the bombs were dropped on Korea. The state of US education. I wonder how many knew there was slavery or that there was a WW2. That is why it is so easy to see China as an enemy.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

There is a fringe group in Japan who deny everything. Forced prostitution (I hate the word "comfort women"), outright rape, theft, Rape of Nanjing. But for most Japanese people, they regard this type the same as you would in the US if someone denied that there was slavery in the US and that blacks all came over on cruise ships. Yes, there would be a fringe group that would say Yes! It's true! But most Americans would say the guy is nuts. Nearly all Japanese regard this type of person as nuts.

I agree with some of what you're saying. The average Joe (or Nakamura) in Japan do not deny Japan's past atrocities. However the BIG difference is that people like Abe, Ishihara and Hashimoto are voted into power by the ordinary Japanese people. The only reason why they have a voice is because they have support of the people.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

And yet, Shinjuku, where I live, after a few month lull following the "anti-Japanese" demonstrations, is full of busloads of Chinese tourists again. You hear Chinese spoken up and down the streets of Shinjuku. Shopping, shopping, and shopping. The shopping seems more important than war memories.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Perhaps the Japanese were just grateful the Americans as the victors didn't bomb every damn city in the country as they could have done while the Japanese were at their mercy.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

nigelboy: "So I guess the next question is would you want Japan acting like C&K towards U.S.?"

No, I would not. On the contrary I would like to see the US more contrite about the bombs, the reason for dropping them, and admitting the fact that they were not the answer nor were they 'good' in any way. In the same vein I would like to see Japan acknowledge history without downplaying and trying to revise it, and without seeing some lawmakers and politicians flat out deny things like the Nanjing Massacre or sex slaves happened -- and don't keep denying that people deny them.

"Negative outweighs the positives by a wide margin which is CLEARLY proven with U.S.-Japan."

Did you perhaps mean the opposite? In any case, it's easy to be 'positive' when you deny the negative ever existed.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

China is a "communist" state and such a political system requires strong xenophobia so that people won't open to the outside world. It makes people feel scared about other nations so that the heroic communist state would come and "rescue" everyone. Fear is a justification for cruelty of the state. But in reality the society is exhausted with the obsessive propaganda and their own nationality is tiring. At least that's how it looked like in Eastern Europe before 1989.

How long will it take to reset the Chinese-Japanese relations? I can give a local example of Polish-Swedish relations - the last Polish-Swedish war took place in... XVIIth century, and in modern times people don't care about it any more. So it took more or less 4 centuries of neutral coexistence. The WW2 officially ended in 1945, so: 1945+400=2345. But that's quite a pessimistic vision, since it would require another 332 years before China and Japan would really get along. Too bad that the year 2345 is quite distant, and it is far beyond the lifespan of anyone living today.

But after all it's just my guessing so maybe things will get better a lot sooner.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

There is a fringe group in Japan who deny everything. Forced prostitution (I hate the word "comfort women"), outright rape, theft, Rape of Nanjing. But for most Japanese people, they regard this type the same as you would in the US if someone denied that there was slavery in the US and that blacks all came over on cruise ships. Yes, there would be a fringe group that would say Yes! It's true! But most Americans would say the guy is nuts. Nearly all Japanese regard this type of person as nuts.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

There are two reasons. Culture and government. Japan was a prosperous country before WW2 and is a prosperous country after WW2. Japanese people are simply way more civilized

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

Even look at some of the posts on this thread: some supporters of Japanese white-washing are actually acting as though China is in the wrong for being upset and Japan is some kind of saint for 'forgiving' the US. It is not nearly as simple as this article tries to make out.

So I guess the next question is would you want Japan acting like C&K towards U.S.? Any person with a decent amount of common sense will beg to differ. In fact, most of the civilized world decided not to take that route for a good reason. Negative outweighs the positives by a wide margin which is CLEARLY proven with U.S.-Japan.

-7 ( +4 / -11 )

nigelboy: "I think anybody that clicks your name will find out that you rarely provide links. I've done it. Perhaps you should."

It's amazing you whine to the mods to have things removed, but insist on making the majority of yours posts about whether someone who links actually does or do not -- and you're insisting there is no denial of history? Wow. As I said, I provide plenty of links, and as you pointed out I do not link them to the actual articles but copy and paste the links in. Perhaps that is why you do not see them when you scour the hundreds if not thousands of posts I have posted (I'm flattered, really) since the 2012 posts you claim you checked up to. Furthermore, you don't need to link when something is well known fact or opinion -- show me someone who links to other sites after saying the world is round or that 2 + 2 = 4.

"No. There are those who deny the positions of each sides and hence the debate continues. What I don't get is why you have a problem with this?"

You HONESTLY cannot stop denying the FACT that there are people who flat out deny the Nanjing Massacre occurred. Now, do you REALLY need me to give you the links again??

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7140357.stm

http://www.debito.org/?p=9977

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201202210046

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/07/14/2003059347

Those are not detailing debates, they are looking at the flat-out denials by Japanese lawmakers/politicians.

"The nations and her citizens that continually brings this are those nations that indoctrinate "hate" element into their education."

No, they are the nations that continually point out the fact that many Japanese will not admit the truth about what happened and in fact set out to alter history in the books -- something Abe himself has done literally, even AFTER being proven wrong in his claims that no military engaged in sex slavery, there were no brothels they went to, etc.

"It's that simple."

When you close your eyes to the truth, yes. Your comments are proof of why the rest of the world questions why some Japan cannot come to terms with and acknowledge denials, and why others are justified in continuing to be upset.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

America did nothing wrong

Really? I guess spending the interwar years and longer undermining Japan's interests at every turn doesn't count. Or making support for the Europeans contingent on cutting off Japan's supplies? That's a casus belli throughout history.

And let's not forget that WWII started when Britain declared war on Germany. Yes, it was presumably in response to the invasion of Poland (if that were the true reason, they would have also declared war on the Soviet Union), but they wete the aggressor nonetheless. Are you upset they didn't get "what they deserved?"

The point being, there was no nation with clean hands, yet you try to justify the indiscriminate attack against civillians by one country while villifying another. By modern standards of international justice, Roosevelt, Truman and Churchill would be right up there in the docket at Tokyo and Nuremburg. It would be hypocritical otherwise.

3 ( +7 / -5 )

we spend a lot of time here speaking of the pacific war, speaking of atomic bombs vs firebombs and such. the thing is- we need to let it go,

yes -we always need to acknowledge that something happened- but when we spend time in our generation- pointing fingers as if the war was still on- well why did our parent go off and fight for?

they don't want us to be fighting over the same things today?

we hear a lot of the Japanese not raising thier hands enough and saying - it is our fault- yet- the Germans are still having trouble doing that today.

and if you think of what happened after the war when the winning parties took all the scientists - no matter how bad they were- for their own research- nuclear, rocket, bioweapon, it's time we just stop. we just pray for our dead and move on.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Just because you choose not to see them, as with the truth about Japan's history, does not mean they are not there. And talk about not reading!!

I think anybody that clicks your name will find out that you rarely provide links. I've done it. Perhaps you should.

And yet when I say some Japanese deny it -- an opinion and perspective, no? -- you claim it's idiotic and has been proven wrong. Hmmm...

No. There are those who deny the positions of each sides and hence the debate continues. What I don't get is why you have a problem with this? Each country has their own version of history that benefits themselves while it would be offending others. This is universal except for the fact that C&K makes this a political issue for god knows how long As many had alluded to numerous times already, majority of the world moved on despite those differences. The nations and her citizens that continually brings this are those nations that indoctrinate "hate" element into their education. It's that simple.

-6 ( +5 / -11 )

Kazuaki: "It is amazing how far the brainwashing goes until you can get to "America did nothing wrong". You can argue it was the lesser of two evils, possibly, but "nothing wrong?""

Thank you for proving the point of my original comment. To say Japan forgives the US for the atomic bombings while China 'still holds a grudge' about history is not only oversimplification, it's wrong. As your comments rightly suggest, the attitude prevalent among some Americans -- that they did nothing wrong or the bombs were good, etc., is something people here and elsewhere should be upset about. Likewise it's not as much what actually happened in China and South Korea, not to mention much of SE Asia in general, but the fact that the incidents combined with the attitude that it's okay because the numbers weren't that high, or that those nations should forget the past while Japan alters it to make Japan look more favourable, that they not only refuse to acknowledge it in some cases but want to rescind the acknowledgements of other Japanese, and that some flat out deny what happened that is what makes people really angry.

Even look at some of the posts on this thread: some supporters of Japanese white-washing are actually acting as though China is in the wrong for being upset and Japan is some kind of saint for 'forgiving' the US. It is not nearly as simple as this article tries to make out.

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

I think it would best for all those involved in this lively debate to lay off the name calling and threats. The majority of readers (on this forum) have a good understanding of history and the current geopolitical situation and climate and can come to their conclusions without having to resort to such therapeutic exercises. Truth lives....and those trying to whitewash history or distort the truth are not only doing a disservice to their own country, but compromise their own dignity in the process.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I truly love and respect Japan and wish her well, but let's be clear, America did nothing wrong.

It is amazing how far the brainwashing goes until you can get to "America did nothing wrong". You can argue it was the lesser of two evils, possibly, but "nothing wrong?"

Japan was in alliance with the Nazis and the Italian fascists.

It has been said that the Axis was a group of less-fortunate nations who couldn't find sympathy from those with better luck, and so turned to each other.

She got what she deserved. Dont forgrt Pearl Harbor.

So, in your mind, an attack against a military target justifies attacks on civilian ones? And the idea that civilians are separate from military is not such a new concept.

Japan killed a greatly Americans in WW II and many more would have died if we had not used such overwhelming force.

Overall, the Americans killed more Japanese than the inverse.

Japan refused to surrender after being warned by the United States.

By this crummy logic, I'm sure Japan warned China to surrender. She didn't. Does this mean China deserved all those 20 million deaths?

1 ( +10 / -9 )

nigelboy: "Once in a hundred if not more (I stopped count once your post was dated in 2012) is not "often""

Just because you choose not to see them, as with the truth about Japan's history, does not mean they are not there. And talk about not reading!!

"You are not correct. You are not reading."

So I'm incorrect and not reading, Pukey is incorrect and not reading, and the rest of the world save Ishihara and other Japanese screaming it never happened are all incorrect and not listening, according to you.

"Japanese have varying opinions and perspective on those two events and the debate still continues."

And yet when I say some Japanese deny it -- an opinion and perspective, no? -- you claim it's idiotic and has been proven wrong. Hmmm...

"In regards to Nanking, the debate has been "number of deaths and circumstances that resulted in civilian casualties due to the presence of soldiers disguised as civilians in an occupied area or simply an indiscriminate massacre if civilians". For "Comfort Women", it's a debate as to whether or not the government at that time ordered the forced recruitment of these women."

And in the cases of both, there are STILL some Japanese who outright deny it. Now, can you admit that much, despite saying such a comment has been proven wrong, or like them, will you deny it?

In any case, in regards to the atrocities you admit occur, they occurred, and the inflation or deflation of numbers does not matter -- they were pure evil -- and when you have politicians in power trying to rescind apologies for them, why on earth would the nations who were raped and had thousands upon thousands NOT be angry? I know Japanese who try to claim "the reason Taiwan loves Japan so much is because we gave them modern education while they were under Japan's charge!" Yes, literally.

Again, the US does not deny the atomic bombings took place, and many Japanese will even say the Japanese government at the time was wrong and Japan was bombed as a result. But again, what would those same people say when confronted by people like Abdella above who claim "America did nothing wrong" and that they were not aggressors, that the bombings were the right thing to do and, yes they actually say it, SAVED lives? Such thinking is disgusting, as is any thinking that shrugs off or defends Japan's war time actions because of numbers or other nations' histories, let alone the fact that many still deny what actually happened.

3 ( +9 / -6 )

The US is pretty good at building relationships with other countries, even the ones we fought wars with in the past. Just wish others could get over it. Still a lot of hatred/anger in Asia and Europe.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Not at all. I provide them quite often.

Once in a hundred if not more (I stopped count once your post was dated in 2012) is not "often"

You said my post was idiotic and that I've been proven wrong, when in fact I am correct and gave you but a few of the four million links to prove that. And while you admit to Nanjing and sexual slavery, the fact remains that a large number of people, including lawmakers and prominent politicians, flat out deny it. THAT is one of the reasons why China, among other nations, does not forgive Japan quite so quickly as most Japanese seem to have forgiven the US for the bombings (not the rational behind them, or defense of them, per se).

You are not correct. You are not reading. Japanese have varying opinions and perspective on those two events and the debate still continues. In regards to Nanking, the debate has been "number of deaths and circumstances that resulted in civilian casualties due to the presence of soldiers disguised as civilians in an occupied area or simply an indiscriminate massacre if civilians". For "Comfort Women", it's a debate as to whether or not the government at that time ordered the forced recruitment of these women.

-8 ( +5 / -13 )

Links from smith!! That's rare. It would of been nice if smith had the common courtesy to "copy, paste, and "link" " so that the readers don't have to repeat the same process. But then again, little baby steps.

Read my post again. As to the term "Rape of Nanking", the term was first introduced by Iris Chang's book. There are many historians within Japan even the "great massacre" supporters who deny this book due to poor research. In fact, those people had stated that her book basically diminished their past works.

So again, read my following post in regards to the debate of "number of deaths and circumstances that resulted in civilian casualties due to the presence of soldiers disguised as civilians in an occupied area or simply an indiscriminate massacre if civilians"

-8 ( +4 / -12 )

Nigelboy:

You have a habit of not reading posts correctly. "Nanking" did happen. What's been debated are the number of deaths and the circumstances that resulted in civilian casualties due to the presence of soldiers disguised as civilians in an occupied area or simply an indiscriminate massacre if civilians.

Wikipedia:

In 1990, Ishihara said in a Playboy interview that the Rape of Nanking was a fiction, claiming, ”People say that the Japanese made a holocaust but that is not true. It is a story made up by the Chinese. It has tarnished the image of Japan, but it is a lie.”[35] He continued to defend this statement in the uproar that ensued.[36] He has also backed the film The Truth about Nanjing, which argues that the Nanking Massacre was propaganda

I'm sorry, but I can't be half-arsed to find links just for someone who, deep down, knows it was an indiscriminate massacre. I don't care about the numbers, whether they're inflated or deflated, something evil happened. And innocent people were tortured and murdered. And people like you and Ishihara just won't admit it (in public).

circumstances that resulted in civilian casualties due to the presence of soldiers disguised as civilians

What the heck were Japanese soldiers doing in China in the first place? Oh, that's right, the Chinese ASKED to be invaded.

I noticed you haven't responded to the rest of my post.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

smithinjapan: Yes, I am deadly serious. Of course there are problems in Japan, just as there are in every country. Social problems, debt, drugs, unemployment, dealing with disasters, you name it. The Tohoku disaster was a catastrophe of unprecedented magnitude and they are dealing with it as best they can; you can even say they are dealing with it better than other countries deal with lesser disasters, for example the Americans with Hurricane Katrina and the damage in New Orleans. Exactly what do you expect--perfection? Please name me one country in the world that does not have a multitude of problems, I sure would like to know where it is, I would move there. Japan has fewer than many, and many fewer than China. with its corruption, pollution and authoritarian government and fear of "social unrest," or Korea, a country that has been in a state of civil war for 60 years.

There would be no excuse for disputes with China and Korea except for one thing: China wants the Senkaku Islands (which under international law, belong to Japan). Ditto for Takeshima. What do you expect Japan to do? Hand them over because China says they are "inherent sacred Chinese territory," or Korea says the same about Takeshima? You may not be aware that Japan is the ONLY country in the world that has restrictions imposed on its military, due to the Americans who wrote it into the Japanese constitution. Are you saying a country does not have the right to defend its territory? Especially when China has a policy of threats, provocations, intimidation and economic warfare, and regularly violates Japanese territory. Of course people want a government who will stand up to China. You should be aware that it is not only Japan that sees China as a threat, most of the world does, especially its neighbors. You should be asking why China has built up its military fourfold in the last decade when it is threatened by nobody. Certainly not by Japan, which is not allowed to wage war and does not have the means to do so even if it wanted to. Surely you are aware that Japan has been one of the most peaceful countries in the world since WWII ended? That is a lot more than can be said for China and Korea. But what Japanese want most is a good economy.

As for economics, the world got along just fine trading with China hardly at all until 30 years ago, you could even argue that the developed world was a lot better off before they exported all their manufacturing jobs to China, but I will leave that to the economists. But I should mention that the standard of living has gone up greatly in China in the last couple of decades (at least for a third of its population), it now has a "middle class" that it did not have before. On the other hand, the middle class has shrunk in most developed countries, and incomes have stagnated for many people.

I have been studying East Asia for the last 50 years, and I am appalled by how little many people who comment on forums like these know about recent history, or any history at all. I note on this site there are more Japan bashers than anywhere outside of China and Korea. I wonder why. I presume some of them are Korean or Chinese, such as the guy who wants to rip out my guts with a chain saw. I am puzzled by people like you, who apparently live in Japan. Some of them are just the usual types who cannot accept or adapt to another culture, I have never experienced any more racism or discrimination in Japan than I have in my own country that I was born in, so perhaps maybe the fault lies with them? You seem to have a great hatred for Japan because you bash it every chance you get--why do you live in a place that you obviously hate with a passion?

3 ( +9 / -6 )

I truly love and respect Japan and wish her well, but let's be clear, America did nothing wrong. Japan was in alliance with the Nazis and the Italian fascists. She got what she deserved. Dont forgrt Pearl Harbor. Japan killed a greatly Americans in WW II and many more would have died if we had not used such overwhelming force. Japan refused to surrender after being warned by the United States. The author of this article is a guilt ridden bleeding heart liberal mess. When you raise the sword you have to suffer the consequences. The blood of the dead is on the hands of the agressor. At that time in history it was axis powers including Japan. I think we have forgiven Japan and admire and respect her as a great country.

-9 ( +3 / -12 )

I know at lot will question my post but the true winner of WW2 was Japan and SE Asia.

The original reason why Japan went to war in the first place was to break the oligopoly in South East Asia to gain free access to natural resources and market to products which was shackled by the Europeans and many Chinese traders who acted as middle men for the British.

After the war SE Asia gained their independence and Japan was able to trade freely without outlandish tariffs on either import or export of goods from that region which Japan depended on. Japan paid a heavy price to gain this free trade and lost many lives but at the end it was worth it. Why should Japan have any remorse if Japan was able to gain from what we sowed?

If you look at surveys from China that was taken in the late 70's and early 80's, you'll find much less hate against Japan. This is because the nationalist teaching started after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 when Jiang Zemin targeted Japan to legitimize the Chinese Communist Party's place as the sole authority to fight against democracy.

As for Korea it started right after the annexation started by privileged few who enjoyed power before Japan took their place.Remember there were less then 10% who were able to read and/or write before the annexation and their lives were still in the dark ages controlled by the rich elite who owned the land. This movement splinter off into various groups and saw rise of other groups like the communist group which gained steam with the Russian revolution.

At the end if you look at the cause of why these two nation still harbor animosity against Japan is not what Japan did but how Japan is dressed to show their own legitimacy of power to their own people. This is also the reason why Japan does not harbor any hate against the US since the Japanese government does not need to dress the Americans as an enemy to legitimize their own power like the other two nations.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Interesting comment considering that the Chinese consider the dropping of these bombs as a "good thing" and cheered massively when they heard the news.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Consider who is asking the question. Chinese netizens/nationalists seem to view the world these days as comprising of countries you (they) should hate and countries you (they) should like.

The question the way it has been posed and the simplistic answer that it seems to be seeking is a form of 'projection'.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@Article

Actually, there are some in Japan that do mind (mostly on the right). The primary reason IMHO, probably has something to do with America handling the situation after WWII mostly correctly. Most Japanese compare the gap between the worst America could have done considering how completely they had won, and what they actually do, and correctly consider themselves lucky and grateful for America's relative maganimosity.

@Comments

Perhaps because the US doesnt deny the dromping the US and in relation to China the UK doesn't rewrite their history to white wash the opium wars (and other imperial inflicted tradegies).

What is whitewashing and what is not? The C&Ks are just not happy the section on Nanking is not bigger, not willing to admit that to Japan, it is an incident in one battle in one theater of one 8 year war (depends on how you count it, of course) in 2000 years of history. When you do all the divisions, a paragraph is probably the correct amount of space!

Besides, Nanking is entirely deniable compared to the dropping of the atom bomb, since you can probably pick up the radioactive traces of it today.

The U.S. does not deny the atomic bombing but they justify by stating that the bombings resulted in Japan's surrender which is false

I have to agree that trying to justify the bombing is a greater whitewash than just skipping it out as too small.

Japanese were taught to accept that the atomic bomb was a necessary evil to end the war, even some high ranking Japanese military officials acknowledged this.

To the extent that is true, it didn't stick very well. Many Japanese seem to think the atom bomb is not acceptable.

The atomic bombs were dropped on Japan as a morally questionable means of ending a horrific war that had been going on for almost a decade, with a death toll in the tens of millions. It was done to force the surrender of a country that viewed itself as the divine ruler of all of East Asia, which routinely sanctioned war crimes and slavery at all levels of its political structure, which launched unprovoked attacks and conquests of neighbouring countries, and had vowed to let every Japanese die rather than surrender. The morality of the decision, or whether it was necessary, may be debated, but all understand that it was a decision taken in extreme circumstances, with a view towards ending a war.

You are really drinking down your country's whitewashing program. Don't deny, don't leave it out; just justify to divert your citizens' eyes away from the fact that a few of your guys managed to kill a substantial fraction of Nanking's toll (collected by many, many soldieers) as estimated by the Allies.

War crimes such as the Nanjing Massacre, Unit 731, etc, on the other hand, were exercises in pure sadism and aggression, committed as part of Japan's imperial conquest of East Asia and done to terrorise the local population into submission as Japan continued its relentless expansion and subjugation of human beings. They can in no way be justified or explained, and they speak of an aggressor nation.

Really ... so the fact that the Nanjing Massacre was a loss-of-control rather than a nationally directed act (even Chiang has to admit it was not nationally pushed) does not even have an honorable mention in your estimate?

As for Unit 731, I weep for those who sacrifice, but Unit 731 is a covert program, which will be counter to your theory that it is done to "terrorize the local population into submission".

Besides, if we must say the purpose is to terrorize the local population into submission, and not make any distinction between state-sanctioned acts and those not, then we can justify both by saying they were attempts to make China surrender. If it works, then in principle if you can accept the atomic bombing, then you can surely accept the deaths caused by this too. And though it clearly didn't work ... well, will your evaluation of America's atom bombing change if it didn't work and you had to go with Operation Olympic after all?

Japan has furthermore continued to deny, downplay, or justify these actions

Oh, and you hadn't noticed that you had already bought your own government's justification and downplaying of its own actions?

BTW, you should learn to differentiate between Denial, Refute, De-emphasize, Downplay and Justify. In my book:

Denial (using Nanking as an example) is to say it did not happen, or to say it is the Chinese soldiers who were doing it. A partial denial is to agree it happened but the casualty count is much lower. If the denial comes with some reasoning and evidence, it is a Refutation.

De-emphasize is to admit it happen, but to keep its profile in the public view as small as possible.

Downplay often involves Moral Relativism, as in, militaries have historically raped and pillaged in war. Or in the zeitgeist of the time, it was an acceptable action.

Justify ... well ... it is basically what the US does with the atom bomb. Don't deny it, make it prominent, but emphasize other people's atrocities so in relation the US looks good (downplaying), then try to put up reasons as to why it is necessary (justify).

In my experience, for Nanking, Partial Refutation is the predominant mode. If you accept the author's reasoning and evidence, it does lead to a conclusion that they are right. The government's official stance is De-emphasis (though depending on your POV perhaps the present level of emphasis is correct). Downplay and justification are not really seen.

For Comfort Women, it is partial refutation (I've glanced over some sites who counter it, and they include re-analyzing the "incriminating documents"). Downplaying is sometimes done, but only after the refutation of the sex slave bit.

Japan, on the other hand, has not changed much at all under its veneer of "pacifism", and an article of the constitution that is currently under attack by Abe is all that stands between modern Japan and a return to the 1940s. That is why Japan's neighbours are angry.

I'm not so sure. People who say this don't notice America would probably have let Japan revise it since about the Korean War, but the Japanese people are cool.

So go on, tell me how Japan's war crimes are justifiable because other countries also committed war crimes.

Oh, so at least we get to the part that you admit other (Allied) countries do commit war crimes. The difference is that they had the hypocrisy to try only the Japanese, but not themselves. After that, they go and write about certain of their atrocities in the most positive interpretation, and join C&K in whining when the Japanese just don't allocate enough precious space in their textbooks to slap themselves.

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

Well, everybody has a strong opinion here. One possible answer among many in answer to the question posed: Because of the nature of the US military occupation that followed the atomic bombings. Was Hirohito dragged out of the imperial palace, shot and strung up by his heels like Mussolini in Italy? No, he wasn't even prosecuted. He wasn't even forced to abdicate. Japanese in 1945, well aware of how their nation had quickly dispatched with Korea's monarchy 35 years earlier in 1910 following annexation of the peninsula, must have been stunned by MacArthur's decision to let Hirohito remain on the throne.

And although there were cases of assaults and rapes, the US occupation of Japan was nothing like the orgy of violence and mayhem that Germans in the eastern part of the country suffered under Soviet occupation. In fact, it was US policy to insure that occupation forces were made up largely of men who hadn't experienced combat against Japan during the war. Instead it was mostly fresh-faced guys from Ohio like Donald Richie who fell in love with the country.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Japanese people, don't want to even acknowledge history but suggest Nanjing never happened, there were no comfort women, etc., etc

Mods. Can you do something about this idiotic post that he/she has been posting for god knows how long? It's been and countered by many in the past but for some unknown reason, he/she repeats the same rhetoric.

Japanese people do not deny any of those events. It's the varying interpretation of those two issues that are still being debated by netizens as well as historians today within Japan. This is what democratic nations do unlike the counterparts where any dissenting views of the central government are purged socially and sometimes physically.

Also, in regards to U.S. President, there are no official requests for past and present Presidents to visit the Peace Memorial ceremony. In fact, it's only been recent that the Ambassador visited the service probably in due part that in that year, Obama received a Nobel Peace Prize. To answer your question, it's not expected in the first place. As to your other question how Japanese would react the U.S. view, one prominent LDP former Defense Minister stated something like that. He was labeled as "right wing" by the left as well as the mayor prompting his resignation from the post. Just so you prematurely exxxxxxte and say "I told you so!", it's the sane left that vehemently denounces Japan's past wrong more so than sone other countries.

-10 ( +8 / -17 )

I think it's because, deep down, even during the middle of the war, the Japanese (most probably like East Asians nowadays in general) looked up to westerners. Immediately after Japan surrendered, the Emperor was already kowtowing to General MacArthur. In the aftermath, they just couldn't get enough of American culture. This carries on today where you see Asians trying to dye their hair blond, have surgery to make their noses and eyes look more western. Frankly, this is all just part of an Asian inferiority complex.

Another example I see is in Hong Kong, where there is a growing discontent and anger toward the local government and how it's Beijing pulling all the strings. There have be calls for a revert back to British rule and the flying of the colonial Hong Kong flag! I mean, WTF. Have some pride and at least demand independence. During it's colonial days, the locals weren't always treated well by the masters.

Arealist:

ut the reasons for the acrimony in this situation is 100% the fault of China and Korea, and it is in their political interests to have Japan for an enemy, a whipping boy to blame their own failures on.

You can say the same for ANY country. America always needs a bogeyman, especially during election time. If it's not the Communists, it's the Russians or Chinese or Muslims. Japan hasn't become a bogeyman because it's in a master-dog relationship. Plus, US needs those bases in Okinawa. Japan itself has its own bogeyman. Can't blame the North Koreans? I know, let's take it out on the Zainichis.

yuriotani:

Ah perhaps it is because Japan is a civilized country.

What country is civilized when half its people think that foreigners don't deserve human rights? What civilized country detains suspects for days without access to lawyers and relatives and then forces them to make a confession and then, doesn't say a single word when they've been caught out years later (think Nepali guy).

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

nigelboy you keep talking about the A-bombs as not being necessary, which is not a fact but a disputed idea. Many saw them as a means to get the Japanese gov to come to the reality that they were beat. There was numerous attempts to get the surrender accomplished before 1st bomb and then again before the 2nd. Also you keep talking about the "innocent" victims of the bombs. Sorry but there were none. It was a total declared war. A war that the Japanese started. In the end the blood of those that died lies on the Emperor and his cabinet who started the war and continued it well past the point of anything other than total defeat. The Chinese have their modern version of hate for the Japanese due to a need for the CCP to have fall guy to point to in order keep the billion or so angry peasants from rioting and lopping off the heads of the CCP leadership. Its much easier to control the people when you have then focused on a "common" enemy.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

JeffLeeJul. 14, 2013 - 09:27AM JST

Because the bombs paved the way for Japan's postwar era: the most prosperous, stable and healthy era in the history of Japan. That success was built on the sweeping reforms ordered by General MacArthur and Truman's policy to turn Japan "into the Switzerland of Asia."

That's just ignorance at its worst. Japan's post-war prosperity had little very little to do US benign occupation and when Truman talked of Japan becoming 'the Switzerland of Asia' he meant for them to manufacture paper napkins and plastic cups.

Japanese post war prosperity was largely due to the Yoshida doctrine and the Korean war.

-4 ( +7 / -11 )

@ Realist I live in China and read the press daily. Where are the daily reports on Japanese evil? Wait till Japan become stronger than the US, then let's see what happens. In the meantime it is to US best interest to keep Japan weaker than them. What destroyed Japan were 2 bombs. There were no records of rape, plunder and chemical experiments. The bombs were faceless. Japanese soldiers atrocities were cast in the victims minds. Japanese banana currency created havoc and plundered economies! We were forced to learn Japanese and sing the Japanese war anthem. People were starved to death and forced to build railways. Thousands and thousands had sisters forced into prostitution and killed if they became pregnant with a Japanese child. Nobody knows how many unborn babies of Jpanese fathers were murdered. And here we have people saying Japanese are civilized, matured and even godlike! What nonsense! What can't the Japanese learn the real history. Visit Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines etc. and get the real history. Museums there will tell you what the Japanese did.

0 ( +8 / -8 )

Seirei Tobimatsu: This is what Mao said when relationship with Japan was normalized. The Japanese people also suffered under the military, like everyone. Mao did not ask for an apology, and neither did Zhouen Lai, who was partly Japanese educated. I wonder why Chinese don't remember this.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Japanese were grateful for liberation from the MilitaryIndustrial Kempeitai

6 ( +8 / -2 )

China needs to take a lesson from the US reaction after the A-bombs were dropped. Did the US just roll into Japan and subjugate the Japanese to genocide, imprisonment of citizens and proceed to colonize Japan with US citizens? No, the US said the bombs caused much more devastation and long-term affect than were expected, and did what very few conquering armies do... which was help rebuild what was destroyed. I do agree Japan has to make 100% sure that they don't cater to overly nationalistic Japanese that try to re-write history on what atrocities Japan If I was as begrudged as the Chinese are against Caucasians in the US because my great grandfather was enslaved in the past, or because my grandfather had to suffer through civil-rights abuse during his lifetime I'd look like a fool that can't think beyond the past. China needs to learn to know what happened in the past, but move forward and not attempt to carry on pointless hatred from generation to generation. It distracts from the potential good that can come in the future.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

A Realist: "But the reasons for the acrimony in this situation is 100% the fault of China and Korea, and it is in their political interests to have Japan for an enemy, a whipping boy to blame their own failures on."

You ARE joking, right? to suggest Japan does not need China -- whom many current high-level politicians were elected for due to their promise to "take a strong stance towards China (and Korea) on the island issues", want to revise the constitution due to the "growing threat of China and NK", etc. -- and all this conveniently coming when it's clear they have not adequately dealt with issues in Tohoku, social programs, the extremely high and quickly growing domestic debt, etc. Look at HALF the rhetoric that is coming out before elections and you'll see it's aimed at China in particular to give Abe and Co. more support so they can beef up defense and change the constitution when elected in majority. Suggesting Japan is not the same in this and other regards is simple hypocrisy.

1 ( +7 / -6 )

To distrust the U.S. government and military, which I do, is one thing, and to hate or dislike the Americans as a nation, which I don't, is another. It is unfortunate that people in China don't seem to know the difference. They should know that many, if not all, of us Japanese do not trust our government much the same way they don't theirs. The reason we can NOT hate the Americans is simple: we can talk about history with some of them without us nor them ever getting emotional toward each other.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

A very biased article and one just as guilty of the same kind of thinking the author purports the postings say about the Chinese.

nigelboy: "True. To the Chinese, the atomic bombings are their version of Nanking hence the question."

As with the article, your comment is so limited. It would better not to ask why Japanese (all Japanese) don't hate the US for dropping the bombs, but instead asking the Japanese what they think about the American president refusing to show up at a Peace Memorial ceremony to mark the occasion, or what they think when some Americans say, "The bombs were a good thing -- they save thousands of lives". Now, add to this fact that you'll get a FAR different reaction when you ask such questions the fact that the current government and past governments, as well as a lot of Japanese people, don't want to even acknowledge history but suggest Nanjing never happened, there were no comfort women, etc., etc., and you can begin to understand why it's not just some narrow-minded assumption like, "China holds a grudge but Japan does not".

“A dog does not hate its master,”

Ouch!

7 ( +12 / -5 )

I do not put much stock into foreigners writing about the Japanese psychology. Any book dealing with that is just pure speculation. You would have to ask each Japanese person in every part of the world this question and you would never get a solid majority answer. All of the ideas shown here are just assumptions made by those who do not know and make things up because they think they know.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

See? It is easier for victims when their attackers don't lie and deny past atrocities.

You're comparing apples and oranges. Americans don't think it's an "atrocity", and they never apologised. They think the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of women and children was justified. Yet the Japanese still forgave them. America helped Japan immensely after the war get back on her feet, and no doubt that helped the Japanese accept them.

Japan did apologise, and helped China after the war too, but all they got in return was anti-Japanese indoctrination of Chinese youth.

3 ( +11 / -8 )

If you're really interested in Japan after WW2, check out "Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World 2" by John W. Dower. It's extremely detailed and academic but you'll never learn more about that period of history and Japanese psychology at the time (and maybe learn a bit about contemporary Japanese psychology also)

4 ( +4 / -0 )

It is because the Chinese government needs an outside enemy in order to help them stay in power. Daily, Chinese are bombarded with anti-Japanese propaganda, they teach it in their schools and learn to hate Japanese on their mama's knee. Just read the Chinese media and every day you will see numerous anti-Japanese articles that are nothing more than preaching hatred. Funny, every other country involved in WWII or any other war has managed to put those wars behind them and have good relations. There are two countries in the world that have not, and those countries are China and Korea.

As long as they insist on living in the past and refuse to become mature and responsible countries,nothing will ever change. For instance, just look at the love-in between China and South Korea today in spite of South Korea suffering hundreds of thousands of casualties in the Korean War at the hands of the Chinese. It is all politics on the part of China and South Korea. And quite naturally when the Chinese and Koreans hate Japanese, Japanese are not going to like them either.

I am not Japanese, Korean, or Chinese. But the reasons for the acrimony in this situation is 100% the fault of China and Korea, and it is in their political interests to have Japan for an enemy, a whipping boy to blame their own failures on. It took South Korea much longer to build a good economy which is still very far behind the Japanese economy (North Korea never did) and China is still a "developing country." Lots of envy and jealousy there too.

8 ( +15 / -8 )

The basis of nationalistic hatred aimed at Japan from China, has many roots.. but if anything.. unit 731 has left a entrenched legacy..

biological weapons: Cholera, Anthrax, Syphilis, gonorrhea, Plague, etc.

Conventional weapon delivery systems (bombs, grenades), as well as injections, disguised as innoculations.

Whats more the physicians and directors were granted immunity (biological weapons research exchange). Many such individuals became part of the fabric that defines Japanese industries today.

though, contentious, 8/6~9/1945 had more military, moral, and political reasons behind its basis (Kyoto was at the top of the list of bomb targets, but was changed due to the its cultural, socio-political nature), while hundreds of thousands died, and millions were maimed by covert, tactical, and experimental uses of biological weapons.

the consequences, be it social, economical, and political, will linger for generations..

0 ( +1 / -1 )

lets put the A bombs into perspective, 200,000 lives lost, during WW2 there was a n estimated 65million killed USSR had the highest toll of about 22million, China 10million, Germany 7 million, Japan 3 million, UK 450,000, USA 420,000. Poland 5million, dutch east indies 4million, India 2.5million. these are the higest losses by country. so you can understand that the Abombs while a great loss for Japan, to other countries its more of a symbol of the end of WW2, as a symbol of loss towards humanity many suffered as much and a lot more than Japan ever did.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

To ask the question is to not understand history.

True. To the Chinese, the atomic bombings are their version of Nanking hence the question.

Both U.S. and Japan tries to justify for A-bombs and Nanking, respectively. Many Asian nations who were invaded by Japan does not subscribe to the idea that Japan was fighting against the Western colonial powers who had a stranglehold on Asia. Same goes to U.S. version that their indiscriminate bombings in Japan towards innocent civilians were to save these Asian nations from Japan's domination. However, the reality us that These Asian nations mostly believe that their respective actions were for their own selfish reasons and nothing more.

-17 ( +4 / -21 )

One of the reasons is Japan could develop very much and get a long peace and a bigger economy than before 1941 as the US ended the war by dropping bombs. If Japan won, such a militarism would NEVER have succeeded in everything like today.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The idea that Japanese may secretely hate Americans is preposterous. However, we do not get such a pro-American education as you think. Most high school teachers are very leftist, and no matter what the textbooks say or don't day, they make "supplementary materials" that graphically show what Japan did to China and what the US did to Japan. This is to promote their total anti-war standpoint. I've been to China many times (business and pleasure), and have always been treated very well. Chinese are not so stupid. They understand the difference between "Japan" which they may not like and present day living Japanese. Fortunately, some Chinese I talked to realize that there are stupid Japanese politicians (mainly decendents of war criminals) who want to downplay the evil Japanese did to Chinese. They know this does not reflect Japanese as a whole. There were many players during the war. "True believers" who really wanted to get Europeans out of Asia because Japan was next. Industrialists who wanted Asian resources. Criminals sent to the front who wanted to rape and kill. Why was the extremely hated Japan given such royal treatment by America after the war? Some American elite realized that their name would be forever attached to atom bombs being dropped and firebombings, and decided to make that easy to forget by making Japan a strong and prosperous country again. Better to be remembered for that.
7 ( +13 / -6 )

To ask the question is to not understand history.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

I do not believe any comments about Japanese hating Americans. I have many Japanese friends in person and on the net. I do believe there are the few,same with here in the US with resentment towards Japan which is few and far in between. I do not see any, some underground, unforseen hatred burried in some dark secrete part of society in either society as a few try to induce here in the posts.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Curious about the nationality of the female who wrote this article. What is her desire? Stir up the pot and make waves that are not there?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

This question is like " Why doesn’t S Korean hate China for helping N Korea to attack S Korea during Korea war? ". My answer is because of understanding. You would feel relieved whenever you understand why people do something even you don't like it.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Japan gave birth to the Buddha Nichiren Daishonin, who predicted all of these wars and invasions!! And he predicted all of this over 700 years ago, so the Chinese need to learn something from a Japanese Buddha to understand how Japan can not only forgive the USA but even become great friends and now allies, protecting each other and having something most mainland Chinese do not have, true freedom of religion, etc...

-6 ( +4 / -10 )

Most Japanese weren't resentful towards Americans even immediately after the war. There's quite a few reasons why. There was a collective feeling of guilt, a sense that they may have deserved the hardship of war and the atomic bombings for past evils. They also directed more anger at the nationalists and militarists who they felt misled them. And then there's the mindset that may or may not be unique to Japan: That the victorious are somehow absolved from guilt simply because they won the war and therefore the Japanese must subjugate themselves to the victors.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

I have read some very good comments here on the with mindset of Chinese. They are taught to hate, they are taught lies and deception from birth since their parents have been taught the same to pass down to their children along with their text books and teaching through their educational system, and it does benefit the totalitarian type government and how they suppress the Chinese people based on lies and deception, censorship and taught hatred towards others, and now they use this taught hatred towards almost everyone in the region as China is trying to steal other's territories. Brand these nations as enemies so these leaders of China can continually, with the Chinese public support,continues their aggression against other. This is totally against anything peaceful, so China needs to definitely make some changes to join the civil societies of the world.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

Because the bombs paved the way for Japan's postwar era: the most prosperous, stable and healthy era in the history of Japan.

That success was built on the sweeping reforms ordered by General MacArthur and Truman's policy to turn Japan "into the Switzerland of Asia."

What did Japan do in China after Nanjing, by contrast? It merely continued its pillaging and raping until America and the allies forced Japan's surrender. The answer to the question in the headline is sooo obvious that it doesn't warrant the silly article that appears under it.

14 ( +22 / -8 )

As horrific as the the atomic bombings were, I've never understood how people regard the bombs as somehow more inhumane than the fire bombings of Tokyo or the carpet bombings of Dresodon. And regarding why the Japanese do not generally hold a grudge against Amerca: America completely defeated Japan in the Second World War, and instead of exploiting and and abusing Japan , American invested a fortune into rebuilding It , gave Japan basically free reign in the American market to to rebuild and bolster its businesses and iexonomy, protected Japan militarily, and provided Japan with a template ( the Japanese constitution) to conduct itself in the New Workd order. I would guess most Japanese believe that if Japan had been in America's shoes (and been the victor) it wouldn't have been so magnanimous.

9 ( +14 / -5 )

The grievance-government-bureaucracy-industry thrives on the Left, not the Right. Look at Obama and the nanny state on the Left, vs. the traditionalists and moral-conservatives on the Right in Japan & US, its a big chasm between the two and their respective behavior concerning "offenders" speaks volumes.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

So go on, tell me how Japan's war crimes are justifiable because other countries also committed war crimes.

Not justifiable for they were punished for it via military tribunals throughout Asia where judge, jury, and the executioner were Allied members. On the other hand.....

-5 ( +11 / -16 )

To simply claim that Japan committed numerous war crimes without having a fair and balanced view on the nature of war crimes, and the repeated violations of war crimes that other countries have committed, and who are still committing, is clearly wrong, even from an academic standpoint.

Translation: "WAAAAHHH WAAAHHH! What about the US war crimes? And also WAAAHHH!

So go on, tell me how Japan's war crimes are justifiable because other countries also committed war crimes.

Japan has not officially denied Nanking, in fact it has apologized and paid reparations and ODA. End of discussion. Do you understand?

No, this is not the end of any discussion, much as apologists like yourself would like us to stop holding Japan to account. Japan apologises, and attempts to pay off its victims, but then in the same breath denies and downplays its atrocities. Denialism is present at the topmost levels of Japanese politics, and denialist films like Ishihara's still get huge patronage and tacit support, while bands of thugs attempt to silence those who make documentaries revealing the extent of crimes while the police turn the other way.

No, the discussion is not over. Get it?

-8 ( +9 / -17 )

I think the answer is..... Japan did and may still hate America. There is a saying and its quite accurate. "Keep you friends close and your enemies closer." Japan was defeated and the U.S. had won. At that point all Japan could do was to embrace America and keep it as close as possible.... with the possibility that someday they may get the chance to show America up in some way. After the war Japan with help from America, re-built and quickly became strong again. Everything was going well, but in their effort to show America how good they really are they overlooked too many very important factors. They became a manufacturing powerhouse but they sacrificed traditional family values along the way. Everything went well until around 1990.... then it all caught up with them and it has been down hill since.

-17 ( +1 / -18 )

@Fugacis<< The court of public opinion is in full swing. The use of the atomic bomb has been viewed less favorably internationally, so your ramblings have less merit than several years ago. To simply claim that Japan committed numerous war crimes without having a fair and balanced view on the nature of war crimes, and the repeated violations of war crimes that other countries have committed, and who are still committing, is clearly wrong, even from an academic standpoint. This is why you have the Medina Standard in place. Japan has not officially denied Nanking, in fact it has apologized and paid reparations and ODA. End of discussion. Do you understand?

3 ( +11 / -8 )

Well, it's probably true that it mostly has to do with education. While Japan still teaches and acts as if the atomic bombings were the most terrible thing that the humanity had ever suffered at the hands of other humans (although the atomic bombings were clearly terrible, equal or even more horrific atrocities had been committed by the hands of the Japanese Imperialists), America had ordered Japan to not teach anti-American education. So they don't. China on the other hand, went full-on with their anti-Japanese education.

-11 ( +5 / -16 )

The cold equations type answer is the USA dropped the bombs to keep from having split Japan with Russia.

But the human answer is that while war is horrible; When it is over, people will care for other people. My uncle was an army doctor who has photos of the Tokyo and Hiroshima families he treated from the years of the Occupation.

There's other stuff about psychological makeup - but I'm not writing a term paper here.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

The equivalence being drawn between the atomic bombings and Japan's war crimes against the Chinese is insulting. They are not the same.

The atomic bombs were dropped on Japan as a morally questionable means of ending a horrific war that had been going on for almost a decade, with a death toll in the tens of millions. It was done to force the surrender of a country that viewed itself as the divine ruler of all of East Asia, which routinely sanctioned war crimes and slavery at all levels of its political structure, which launched unprovoked attacks and conquests of neighbouring countries, and had vowed to let every Japanese die rather than surrender. The morality of the decision, or whether it was necessary, may be debated, but all understand that it was a decision taken in extreme circumstances, with a view towards ending a war.

War crimes such as the Nanjing Massacre, Unit 731, etc, on the other hand, were exercises in pure sadism and aggression, committed as part of Japan's imperial conquest of East Asia and done to terrorise the local population into submission as Japan continued its relentless expansion and subjugation of human beings. They can in no way be justified or explained, and they speak of an aggressor nation.

Japan has furthermore continued to deny, downplay, or justify these actions, and was condoned in doing so by the US' cynical Cold War politics. Few Jews still hold a grudge against Germany for what it did against them, and that is because Germany has erected memorial after memorial, and educated generation after generation of its people about the dangers of ultranationalism and the responsibility they have to never see the same repeated.

Japan, on the other hand, has not changed much at all under its veneer of "pacifism", and an article of the constitution that is currently under attack by Abe is all that stands between modern Japan and a return to the 1940s. That is why Japan's neighbours are angry.

-3 ( +16 / -19 )

Perhaps because the US doesnt deny the dromping the US and in relation to China the UK doesn't rewrite their history to white wash the opium wars (and other imperial inflicted tradegies).

You should read this. Seriously. http://www.globalresearch.ca/hiroshima-and-the-glorification-of-american-militarism/32377

3 ( +6 / -3 )

I noticed in one line..."racial discrimination" and I believe it is not possible to have racial discrimination within the same race, in this case Asian.

-14 ( +3 / -17 )

A lot of you miss the point. Really. It is not because Japan has grown up, or is more mature. It is about the education system. Since the 1950s, education had undergone a massive overhaul. Japanese were taught to accept that the atomic bomb was a necessary evil to end the war, even some high ranking Japanese military officials acknowledged this. The bombs were downplayed and never critically analyzed from the stand point of international law, but more about Japan being defeated. When Douglas MacArthur arrived he made sure that all vestiges of Japan's nationalism were suppressed. Topics about Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Okinawa were regarded as incidences which occurred as a result of war. No other discourse was taught and allowed in schools. That is all!

-7 ( +10 / -17 )

Because the current generation of Japanese aren't petty enough to hold onto a grudge of an act that a past generation of Americans did during WW2.

What's so hard for the Chinese to understand? Do they harbour the same feelings against France and Poland who 'don't have the balls' to hate Germany for invading them. Or is this just another thing for the Chinese (who are still stuck in WW2) to be petty about against the Japanese. I think its the latter.

5 ( +15 / -10 )

Ah perhaps it is because Japan is a civilized country. These days with the US spying on China and Japan, they are shown as perpetrators and not heroes. Worse they defend their crimes of spying while crying they are being spied upon.

-18 ( +17 / -35 )

These nations were never really on good terms, Ms. Tackett. Theirs was a relationship marked by China's strident belief that it possessed a "Mandate from Heaven" to rule "all under the sun," a perspective that reduced the status of most nations surrounding China to that of tributary nations to be tolerated rather than dealt with as equals for most of the latter half of China's 5000-year history.

Brief cultural exchanges occurred between Japan and China in the 4th and 5th Centuries. But even this exchange was decidedly one-sided, with Japan borrowing more from China than China ever thought it needed from Japan, including a complex writing system, political thought, and philosophy.

Throughout the vast majority of China and Japan's long interaction, there had been no mistake about who was the boss in the relationship. China was unmistakably the strongest nation in the region and had no qualms about proving it, judging by how vigorously and rapidly it expanded its territory militarily throughout the 2nd Millennium.

It certainly didn't help relations to have Chinese merchants harassed constantly by Japanese pirates, and the relationship would enjoy no upswings with not one, but two attempted invasions of Japan spearheaded by Kublai Khan's Mongolian/Korean/Chinese forces under the auspices of the Yuan Dynasty.

Needless to say, these two countries have enjoyed more animosity towards one another than they have any form of friendliness based on modern concepts of mutual respect.

Add to this Japan's 220 years of self-imposed isolation in the 17th and 18th Centuries, effectively stopping the relationship from maturing, and you have the mix for something volatile when Japan returns to the world, and following a flurry of modernization efforts, pays China a visit for what some might very well characterize as payback for perceived Chinese slights over the centuries.

Obviously, the motivations for Japan wanting to exert military control over China were economic and geo-political in origin, but there's certainly enough grist in the mill of Japan and China's long history as neighbors to convince the less . . . mature . . . that it's all rightfully a long series of justifiable tit-for-tat.

And judging by how some Chinese netizens believe what Japan and America's relationship should be some 70 years after their conflict, it seems that immaturity shows no signs of abating.

6 ( +10 / -4 )

Japan has depended on American defense since the end of the war. Japan only had to spend, and still does, less than 1% of their GDP on national defense. Japan has handed their entire national diplomacy onto the US. In the international stage, America manages Japan for them. It would be unwise, or so the Japanese bureaucrats think, to piss off those who protect you. I'm pretty sure that the American government also pressure those who harbor anti-American sentiments. Actually you can be sure that any major Japanese politician who is thought to be an anti-American will not have much of a future career left for him/her.

Japan still plays the "victim" for having been the only nation to suffer atomic bombings, but they're also (vaguely) aware that they were the aggressors of the war. So I think that it would be unwise for them to unilaterally blame the Americans, since America could easily say that Japan had been the aggressor and they were only trying to stop Japanese aggression.

-2 ( +21 / -23 )

Easy answer. Japan is an adult country, while the PRC behaves as a child. The war crimes against each other are incalculable and should not be forgotten, but for the sake of the victims not dying in vain, we let go of the past to work for a brighter future together.

7 ( +30 / -23 )

David Elson,

The U.S. does not deny the atomic bombing but they justify by stating that the bombings resulted in Japan's surrender which is false. Japan does not deny many events but like U.S.in the atomic bombings, one minor textbook gives their version.

As badsey3 stated above, the A-bombs was not the worst for the record for killings in a SINGLE day for that honor still goes to Tokyo Fire bombings which despite being a prosecutable war crime under London charters, it is omitted in U,S, History. Despite this whitewash, both Japan and U.S. moved on because they both understand that history will always be viewed differently by each respective sides.

-12 ( +29 / -41 )

The purely Chinese people I know (have grown up, and still live there) have a very poor ability to see any grey areas in any given situation. They tend to see the black and the white of things only, and their views and opinions on things lack a certain sophistication, subtlety and nuance.

That this kind of discussion exists even in China reflects this.

I do think there is an envy of Japan at play in China though, because Japan has been the economic and cultural king of Asia for a long time. Even today, as the Chinese economy goes past the Japanese in size - it takes 10 times as many people to do so. China seems to spend an inordinate amount of time with it's eyes on Japan.

10 ( +23 / -13 )

I think they hate the A-Bombs more than America, but the fire-bombing was actually worse and more destructive. Fukushima may be worse long-term and I wonder if that sort of hate will not allow them to fire up the nuclear plants again (be dependent on imported oil). Once you get Japan rolling one way it is hard to turn it back the other way.

China has much larger issues however: Water quality #1, with farmers forced off their lands #2. China has a much larger population also --> much harder to keep them happy especially with the higher than Japan corruption.

1 ( +11 / -10 )

Let's face it China 'hates' Japan because China wishes it was Japan. The maturity of the Chinese is like that of the little elementary school girl that comes up to you punches you because she likes you... that makes sense when you're eight years old.

Chinese people copy (in most cases quite poorly) EVERYTHING that is Japan and then claim that Japan sucks, Japanese are lower than dogs, etc. Chinese in general have what's known as an inferiority complex and a MAJOR CHIP ON THEIR SHOULDER. Through in a little paranoia, anxiety, selfishness and overall sociopath into the mix and you have Chinese culture straight up. How else do you explain such illogical, reckless and childish behaviour?

-5 ( +32 / -37 )

Perhaps because the US doesnt deny the dromping the US and in relation to China the UK doesn't rewrite their history to white wash the opium wars (and other imperial inflicted tradegies).

See? It is easier for victims when their attackers don't lie and deny past atrocities.

27 ( +53 / -26 )

There is no hope for improvement until the Chinese government itself is prepared to work as hard to eliminate anti-Japan sentiment as it has to create it. And as long as China remains a one party authoritarian dictatorship that finds national anti-Japan sentiment to be useful political and diplomatic tool as well as a means of keeping the populace under control that will never happen.Why don't the Japanese hate us? Because they aren't a dictatorship like China as described above, have found democracy a better way of life than the military controlled fascism of pre-WWII, and recognize that all sides committed horrible acts to each other in war, and that while remembering the past is important it should not disrupt the advancement of the country and it's relations with others. The United States and Japan share common ideals. China does not.

4 ( +34 / -30 )

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