Memorial forging bonds between Japanese town, Canadian WWII pilot's family

It was Yoshio who changed their minds, convincing them by saying, "It is not enemy soldiers we hate, but the war itself."

A noble sentiment and gesture. We need more people like this.

Nice story.

It is nice to read these kind of stories here, a nice change of pace from the usual and giving a good positive message that may be specially close to some of the people frequenting the comment section of the site.

More stories like that.

Make peace because reward is way higher than fighting.

Japan has succeeded because it did not invest in grudge against its occupier.

Wick's pencilOct. 1 08:22 pm JST

And we share both democratic ideals and common enemies.

Sharing common enemies is problematic, that's how world wars start. Japan must consider another country an enemy simply because our ally is trying to pick a fight with them.

If you share the democratic ideals, you must of necessity share the same concern about the 1.4 billion pound gorilla that doesn't share them. Japan doesn't have the nukes to go it alone.

Keepyer InternetpointsOct. 1 07:22 pm JST

sociopath's wars of lordship over others.

Sounds like an argument to resist Putin.

This is why I like to bring up Shunsaku Kudo, a Japanese Navy Captain who parted with the usual heartlessness of the IJN and rescued Australian sailors who were drowning.

You mean the practice of western navies since navies have existed.

But remember, keep looking back. Keep looking over your shoulder at the OTHER "them", the most likely source of your troubles.

Sounds like looking for scapegoats rather than keeping your eyes on the threats in front of you. The world is not a friendly place.

We were all enemies back then but we are allies now. And we share both democratic ideals and common enemies.

This is not a tale of two nations. Its a story of individual humans. No nation may rest on their laurels. We must each create our own laurels, by refusing the rich man's wars of profit, the greedy man's wars of plunder, and the sociopath's wars of lordship over others.

We must stop looking forward to make enemies of the other ordinary people like ourselves, and rather, look backward at the evil among us that makes these horrors happen.

This is why I like to bring up Shunsaku Kudo, a Japanese Navy Captain who parted with the usual heartlessness of the IJN and rescued Australian sailors who were drowning.

This is why I salute Claus von Stauffenberg who tried his best to assassinate Hitler, seeing that demon may have been the German leader on paper, but in reality he was the enemy of every decent German that ever walked, or Austrian for that matter.

I don't know anything about Robert Hampton Gray, but I doubt he had anything to do with starting the war. He certainly had nothing to do with inexcusable Japanese imperialism. And until I hear he was intentionally attacking civilians, I will assume he was not. And so, he is worthy of honor from any decent human of any nation.

But remember, keep looking back. Keep looking over your shoulder at the OTHER "them", the most likely source of your troubles.

And we share both democratic ideals and common enemies.

Sharing common enemies is problematic, that's how world wars start. Japan must consider another country an enemy simply because our ally is trying to pick a fight with them.