CreekDeTorrens comments

@bigsurchiba,

I think you have made a good point there. China and Korea really did miss out on the opportunity to exact revenge on Japan. While of course the nationalistic agendas of both governments play a big role, if it had Korean and Chinese troops fighting in Okinawa and occupying parts of the main islands afterwards, then perhaps both countries would be a bit calmer today.

As an aside, I wonder if any South Koreans blame the Japanese for the break up of their country and Korean War. There has to be a strong case for Japan leading to all the communism in East Asia in the aftermath of the war.

I think probably most Japanese feel that having the sh&t bombed out of their cities, millions of civilians killed, most of a generation of males, their armed forces, shipping fleet and most key infrastructure wiped out, then their women raped and hundreds of war criminals hung when the occupying troops arrived was probably sufficient payback for their sins. It is easy to imagine just wanting to get on with life after the war.

(Japan has given billions of dollars in aid to China and Korea subsequently and apologized on countless occasions - so yes, please explain how much soul-searching is required.)

For those of you who still are not satisfied that enough contrition is being shown for this event from 73 years ago, then by all means tell us which country you are from. I am sure we can come up with something in your country's closet that isn't taught about adequately/is conveniently glossed over and/or which your government has not properly apologized for.

I know that Japan did some horrible things and that some Japanese people out there try to negate that. Full credit to this woman and I agree that it should be properly documented, commemorated and taught. But is it only me, or does the “religious-like" fervor of some of those out who write comments on here extolling Japan/the Japanese to repent (I know they have, but they don't really mean it!) for these crimes committed 75 years ago?

I understand why Chinese like to bring it up – it has been drummed into everyone and conveniently used by the Communist Party to provide a sense of nationalism/common enemy, consolidate the state, and best of all it helps overshadow the most horrific man-made disaster ever – the 36+ million who died in the Great Chinese Famine.

But really, I would like to ask how many of you outraged Japan bashers are willing to hold your own countries up to the standards you expect of Japan, in a truly objective manner? I suspect many of you are not even aware of some/many of the eye-popping things that your forebears have done. Maybe this was not on the scale of Nanking, but unsavory nevertheless.

For example, please tell me how the firebombing of Tokyo, where 100,000 died in a night, is so different from Nanking….because it was done from a couple of kilometers up in the air instead of face to face? (Sorry, but “well because they started it” doesn’t excuse it.) The Allied armies raped just as well as the Japanese in Nanking – look up “Rape during the occupation of Japan” in Wikipedia if you don’t believe me. I could go on about the “take no prisoner at all” approach of US soldiers or “souveniring” of Japanese soldiers’ skulls/ears/fillings.

I know that Japan has been protected by the US since WW2, but you have to admit that it seems to have learned its lesson since the last war and its behavior is now exemplary (same for Germany). The same cannot be said for a lot of other countries, where either on or off-the-battlefield behavior is certainly no better than during WW2.

Like Speed and HeyLars, I recall seeing a couple of TV programs over the years on Nanking. Cannot remember which channels - I think one was Chikuya Tetsuya. The programs were rather graphic and definitely featured ex Imperial Japanese army soldiers on camera both who had witnessed (unsuccessfully tried to stop his comrades)and several who admitted actively participating in it.This is not new.

@Lost in Nagoya

Number of deaths in Japan was 1.142 million in 2008. (See: http://www.stat.go.jp/data/getujidb/index.htm A-1)

I wonder where on earth did the author get the "shyness" quote. If he is going to make shyness such a central part of his argument, then surely he should quote his sources so we can examine his translation of the word.