Posted in: Abe sends ritual offering to Yasukuni shrine See in context
@GW
INCORRECT it all started when the WAR CRIMINALS were SECRETLY enshrined
How did it start when it was a secret? I'd like to correct as following the controversy started in1985, and there had been no criticism against the visits by premiers such as Suzuki and Miki since 1979 when Asahi Simbun revealed the fact.
Before Nakasone's official visit to Yasukuni Shrine ( planned on Aug.15) , Asahi Shimbun carried an article on Aug. 7, saying that China was "looking hard at Japan's behavior" regarding the Yasukuni issue.
China's People's Daily, for its part, reported on Aug. 11 about movements within Japan that was critical of the prime minister's visit to Yasukuni.
The movements against the premier's visit to the shrine were thus launched in Japan and China.
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Posted in: Abe sends ritual offering to Yasukuni shrine See in context
The spirit of the war dead, 2,466,584 men, women and children who served Japan are enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine originated from Boshin War (1868-69) .
In 1979, Asahi Shinbun (leftist tendency) inflamed the controversy to the neighboring countries reporting that 1,068 (0.043% out of all) war criminals were also enshrined there. Since then, the majority of the dead have been facing the threat of being neglected by the top leaders.
I would be pleased and consoled with the visit by a top leader of a nation if I had served my nation as a soldier and become a victim as a war dead.
The notorious Asahi Shinbun is the source of the controversy.
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Posted in: Opponents vow to fight new security legislation See in context
@zones2surf
I take back my wrong assumption about you for having little information inside Japan. I'd like to make an apology for it. I really wish the amendment of the constitution to be achieved for clarification. I intended to say it's difficult not because of the process but people's mentality.
Sometimes I become pessimistic when it comes to the background of people's judgment. Please search more about the WGIP which had hung over the Japanese mentality. That's one of the reason for no amendment for nearly 70 years, while 59 times in Germany, 27 times in France, 19 times in Canada, 16 times in Italy.
Mr. Abe has planned to tackle firstly the article 96 to much more value the people's opinion and at the same time to make it easier to break the ice to the article 9.
Some scholars insist the necessity of a new article in the case of emergency which is lacking in the current constitution and this will also open a breach to amend the constitution.
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Posted in: Opponents vow to fight new security legislation See in context
@zones2surf
You seem not to realize how difficult the amendment is here in Japan where interference by neighboring counties is common (for instance the prime minister cannot go to a shrine to commemorate war deaths and make a pledge to no more war, There are claims to Japanese school textbooks) and where a masochistic historical view has remained due to the WGIP(war guilty information program) designed by the US after the war. Those are big obstacles for Japan to amend the constitution.
I'm relieved you agreed that there is no difference between SDF and the new security bill in terms of reinterpretation to the Article 9 in order to protect people and Japan. After long-time debate, JSDF has become to be accepted to Japanese people and political parties except Japan Communist Party which is aiming to dissolve the forces in the future.
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Posted in: Opponents vow to fight new security legislation See in context
@zones2surf
Mr. Abe's ultimate goal is amending the constitution, but as you mentioned the other day,
the right way forward would be to push to amend the Constitution. However, that is far too difficult and cumbersome for these conservatives.
Amending Japanese Constitution is 99% impossible.There is no choice under the abnormal and unreasonable situation where it has been enshrined as pacifist constitution with no change in the past 70 years and the amendment would be regarded as Japan's becoming belligerent to be start war especially by neighboring countries. As for violating the constitution, isn't the SDF unconstitutional ? It is enshrined as follows, " In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained "? What is the difference in terms of interpretation?
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Posted in: Upper house panel approves contentious defense bills amid chaos See in context
@zones2surf
I'm sure you don't know much about Japan's Constitution. Some statements are so ambiguous that people can interpret in some ways. That's one of the reasons the constitution should be amended to be clearer. It's not correct that the bill is against the Constitution. There is still controversy among constitutional scholars and the media. The posters like you state their opinions without getting much information of pro-and-cons inside Japan.
By the way, this bill is supported by five parties ( including opposition parties) out of ten parties. How can you say this is tyranny?
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Posted in: Upper house panel approves contentious defense bills amid chaos See in context
The opposition parties and groups seem to believe doing nothing is the best. They would also oppose amendment of any articles of the Constitution even after they became relics. The nation where the Constitution has been deified can not exercise the real democracy.
The current Constitution was supervised by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers 70 years ago. on the assumption that Japan was surrounded with good neighboring countries.
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Posted in: Diet panel to vote on security bills amid chaos See in context
I've supported the security bill to be passed in order to strengthen the deterrent force. The 70-year history of peace in Japan has much relied on the deterrent of Japan-US Security Treaty. I'd really like to ask the demonstrators how they think to protect Japan, only with Japan's defense force?
What's the difference between "Defense force and military force which is prohibited under the Consitution? Their claim is not totally realistic.
Radical activiests call the bill as 'War Bill'. None of Japanese want war any more. The media tend to report focusing on those radical activists, and as a result, reported biassedly. Not majority of people would oppose the security bill.
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Posted in: Japan turns to U.N. to pressure North Korea on abductees See in context
I agree with Furan. Some comments of questionable morality come from their ignorance about the true history. Japan has made efforts to compensate for the war by various approaches, not only financial support but also economic assistance of technical cooperation while expressing apology and remorse by successive ministers. In addition to those compensation, Japan has bilateral agreement on the diplomatic ties with each country, but not yet with NK. The NK's "resolved" is totally different from Japan's "resolved".
By the way, didn't the US army commit crimes during the war??? Did US make apology for its mass killings? It is said about one million people (most of them were innocent citizens) by air raids targeting major cities such as in Tokyo and Osaka, and as everyone knows about 200,000 citizens were perished by two atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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Posted in: Japan turns to U.N. to pressure North Korea on abductees See in context
@ChristopherGlenthe sex slaves - abducted from across the Korean Peninsula
When, who were abducted by the Japanese government??? You cannot have the evidence. Asahi Shinbun retracted articles about Yoshida testimony which reported about "kidnapping" in Jeju.There are classified-adds to recruit comfort women. They were not slaves, but paid quite a good salary.
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Posted in: U.S., Japan trust each other but both wary of China: poll See in context
@FrancescoB
According to the records by the Japan Coast Gurad and just speaking of the year of 2014, Chinese patrol ships violated Japanese waters 6 times in Jan. 9 times in Feb, 6 times in Mar, 8 times in Apr, 5 times in May, 6 times in Jun, 4 times in July, 10 times in Aug, 10 times in Sep, 9 times in Oct, 8 times in Nov., and there was no violation reported until July in 2011.
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Posted in: U.S., Japan trust each other but both wary of China: poll See in context
@Illyas Don't you know some leaders in the world call the fight against terrorism as "the Third World War"? The world war isn't like the one in the past like country-vs-country battles any more.
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Posted in: U.S., Japan trust each other but both wary of China: poll See in context
In the latest survey, 56% of Americans say they believe the use of nuclear weapons was a justified means of ending the war; 34% said it was not.
Is there anyone who can justify using inhumane mass destructive weapons to end the ongoing war of the world's threats against ISIS? If using atomic bombs is the most effective way to end conflicts, why does the UN use them to solve them and get back peace?
The U.S. experimented the effects of the atomic bombs by dropping two types of atomic bombs into two cities targeting citizens, which was absolutely against the international rule. One of the reasons of the current good relationship owed to the education of war-guilty-information imposed by the US that wanted to elude questioning by justifying the dropping.
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Posted in: S Korea's Park says she is not opposed to talks with Abe See in context
Japan has been on the maturity stage since the economic bubble burst the same as those in Europe, but in South Korea where only 10 chaebols has sustained 75% of Korean GDP, the decline of those chaebols effects the whole Korean economy, but Park ignores it and just focus on her anti-Japan status. Japan would feel comfortable keeping a certain distance with her.
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Posted in: S Korea's Park says she is not opposed to talks with Abe See in context
This is not the evidence but just Korean propaganda which has spread as if it were true. No evidence of kidnapping by the Japanese government. I admit some girls were sold to the agency by their own family because of poverty, though. That used to happen in the old days in Japan as well.
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Posted in: S Korea extends travel ban on Japanese journalist on trial for defaming Park See in context
This is similar to "Charie Case" in France, suppressed freedom of speech not by terrorism but by authority.
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Posted in: S Korea's Park says she is not opposed to talks with Abe See in context
raped daily by 50-100 soldiers
Where is the evidence? Some testimonies by former comfort women are inconsistent and unreliable.
As for the number is still controversial from the study on comfort women by researchers and historians.
Comfort women were well paid and could enjoy their free time as you can see according to the link above of "Interrogation on Prostitution".
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Posted in: Gov't cuts budget for Okinawan economic development See in context
The governner didn't show how to revive Okinawa without the subsidy (Only tourism isn't enough) and how to protect Okinawa from the threat or attack by other countries.
The more Okinawa resists to the government, the more China would rejoice. Some activists in Okinawa (many are from the main land) are backed up by China that is seemingly planning to gain Senkaku islands, finally Okinawa in a good location as a gateway to the Pacific Ocean.
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Posted in: S Korea's Park says she is not opposed to talks with Abe See in context
@hotmail Do you thihk slaves are well paid much better than standard amount of salary? I don't think so. You should not use the inappropriat word "sex slaves".
Those comfort women were also recruited and paid : see the evidence http://f.hatena.ne.jp/sakuneko/20061017072902 http://f.hatena.ne.jp/sakuneko/20061017072904
Their salary was 300yen( about 600,000yen, 5,533,000won, $5,114). Of course, on the process to the comfort stations, there must have been possible cases that young women from poor families were deceived and sold to the Korean or Japanese agencies by their own families. but many comfort women(prostitutes) were attracted by it as well as Japanese prostitutes. There are bank notes, too.
Japanese government had already paid $800 million for the sake of those suffered individuals to the Korean government, but the government kept it secret until 2005. In 1994, the Japanese government set up the Asian Women's Fund to distribute additional compensation to Asian countries including South Korea. That's the Korean government who should compensate to her own people. Do you think Lai Dai Han were born after agreement? I don't think so. Raping is a criminal act. Koreans ignore the crime unless the victims complain, don't they? No guilty sense to 30,000 poor Lai dai han?
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Posted in: S Korea's Park says she is not opposed to talks with Abe See in context
Talking about comfort women, why doesn't Park ask the US for compensation for the poor comfort women who serviced American soldiers? Did South Korea make an apology and pay compensation to Vietman women for 30,000 Lai Dai Han born after alleged rapes of Vietnamese women by Korean soldiers?
Let's discuss fairly if we view of human rights for women.
http://ianfu.blogspot.jp/2007/07/us-armys-comfort-women-in-vietnam-war.html
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Posted in: S Korea's Park says she is not opposed to talks with Abe See in context
@Hotmail it blew up into a major issue once Abe's administration went full out and claimed it never colonized Korea, and that Korea willingly joined Japanese empire, and that Japan's war time records of atrocities and sex slavery didn't happen.>
Japan's Colonization of Korea, imploring Japan to be part of the empire due to the straintened circumstance, 3,10 million of Japanese victims including the victims by inhumane atomic bombs are all facts of history.
The Abe administration has never denied the facts. But, Japan hates what his ancestors did, and is going straight to a proactive peace country. Abe is going to announce his statement on the war issue this year, following in the Murayama statement on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the war's end.
You have to post comments seeing things in perspective and taking away your biased view.
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Posted in: S Korea's Park says she is not opposed to talks with Abe See in context
I think Park wants to meet Abe to improve the Korean economy like what her father did, but she is concerned much about the radical people.
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Posted in: S Korea's Park says she is not opposed to talks with Abe See in context
Regarding the latest war, everything was over by "Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea" in 1965.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_Basic_Relations_between_Japan_and_the_Republic_of_Korea
The one who takes responsibility for those victims is the Korean government who received $800 million compensation from Japan.
Asahi Shinbun spread the "comfort women"'s issue to the world based on the groundless claim written by Seiji Yoshida about abduction and forcible sex(= rape) , and finally, after more than 30 years those reports were retracted by Asahi Shinbun. Japan doesn't need to approach South Korea which is facing an economic crisis until Park begs Japan for help as long as she continues unreasonable demand.
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Posted in: Frozen in time: Hospital room preserved since 1945 Tokyo firebombing
Posted in: Death of S Korean actor at 24 sparks discussion about social media and internet culture
Posted in: Japan targets 60% emissions cut by 2035 from 2013 levels
Posted in: Death of S Korean actor at 24 sparks discussion about social media and internet culture