Japanese imperial war flag
Japan is once again facing controversy over its past treatment of occupied countries before and during World War Two, which featured forced slavery, forced prostitution (comfort women) and brutal atrocities.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/05/08/japan-admits-past-denial-proof-forced-sex-slavery-based-on-limited-study/?test=latestnews
Unlike Germany, which has openly confronted its Nazi past and educated its children about the horrors of the Third Reich, Japan has never fully come to grips with its crimes under the imperial government. True, it has become a democracy and respecter of human rights, but Japanese schoolchildren are not fully aware of all the things that were done in places like Korea and China when Japan was occupying those countries.
Similarly, European countries like Austria and Lithuania have also failed to face up to their participation in the murders of the Jews and the Holocaust. Anti-Soviet partisans welcomed the German army into Lithuania (as did Latvia and Estonia) and considered them as liberators from the Soviets. They began massacring Jews before the Germans had even unpacked their backpacks.
Japan still has some diplomatic fence-mending to do with their Asian neighbors. A full and open acknowledgement of the past-in its entirety- is needed and would be worthy of today's Japanese people.
4 comments:
I was listening to Mark Levin one time, and he was getting all upset that the Monticello tours went into the conditions that the slaves had to endure. This kind of reminds me of that - you can be proud of your country while fully acknowledging the mistakes.
The US does acknowledge its mistakes, slavery, segregation, discrimination, the internment of Japanese Americans from the West Coast during WW@. I am not proud of any of those chapters in our history.
There is much about our country today that bothers me, but I am still proud of my country.
Well, SOME of us do; some get offended if you even mention it (like Levin was).
And I feel the same way - I'm proud of all the things that my country has gotten right.
For the record, I have been on the Monticello tour - I left it with a profound sense of respect for Jefferson while realizing that he was certainly not perfect by any means.
And Jefferson also owned slaves.
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