Aso stays away from Yasukuni Shrine
But, as this video from NTV shows, former Prime Ministers Shinzo Abe and Junichiro Koizumi visited Yasukuni today:
About 40 lawmakers from the nonpartisan “Let’s visit Yasukuni Shrine” group visited today. Minister in charge of consumer affairs Seiko Noda was the only cabinet minister present.
Today is, of course, the 64th anniversary of the end of World War II. The Prime Minister and the Emperor delivered official statements:
“Our nation inflicted significant damage and pain on many countries, especially on people in Asian countries,” Aso said during the nationally broadcast service.
“On behalf of our people, I express deep remorse and humble condolences for all of the people who fell victim,” Aso told the ceremony attended by 5,000 people, mostly elderly veterans and bereaved families.
Emperor Akihito said: “I profoundly express my condolences… with my sincere hope that such war sufferings will never be repeated.”
Opposition leader Yukio Hatoyama, who supports a plan to replace Yasukuni with a new war memorial, also issued a statement of condolence.
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
- Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)
| Related Posts: |
|
August 15th 2008: Prime Minister Fukuda not expected to visit Yasukuni |
Full RSS Feed
I don’t see a reason why one should not go to the shrine. You have to respect the fallen souls. They didn’t start the WW2.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
The problem is that the ones that did are also in there. While they are far outweighed in numbers by the pawns, their presence makes it controversial. In fact Yasukuni itself is controversial: it was built to enshrine those who gave their lives for the Emperor rather than those that died fighting for Japan.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I would suggest to watch the documentary “Yasukuni” by an independent Chinese director to see the variety of Japanese people going there to celebrate the fallen souls.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Not sure “celebrate” is the correct term there, cowboy.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Sorry but English is not my mother tongue, I do my best to use the most appropriate term. Didn’t want to be ironic or something.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Have you ever been there? Because otherwise you’d known that the “variety” of Japanese people that goes to visit the temple is MUCH different to what is shown in that extremely biased and politically heavy documentary. I’m sure that a chinese “independent” director is exactly the right person to pass judgement on Yasukuni, is he?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
The director and his crew went there and shot the documentary: I don’t know if it was out of chance or what , but you can see a lot of scary people who would like to go back to the Empire days right away.
There must be a reason if still nowadays all the neighbouring countries are so careful about it?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Yes, and the reason is simply that they still hope to gain political advantages using alleged war crimes from 60 years ago as an excuse. Or you’re maybe hinting to the possibility of a few colorful demonstrators in a temple in Japan being a threat to world peace? If you’re looking for threats, you might want to shift your gaze a lil to the left on the map, to where North Korea is.
The director and his crew went there and shown exactly what they wanted to show, conveniently leaving out, of course, all the 99.9% of normal people that go to the shrine to honor the dead normally like people from any country do to their war memorials and cemeteries.
Congratulations for falling for their political scheme, mate
That’s exactly the reason why that film was made, in any case.
If you think those people are “scary” you might want to go look into the ultra-right wing nationalists in your own country, because you know, any and every country has them, and they are given the right to speak and to demonstrate in democratic countries.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Sounds like Hatoyama may actually try to do something to resolve the situation, which it should be. There should be a memorial, going back to the Restoration, without the A-class team.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Hatoyama’s plan is shameful. Why should Japan replace a traditional place of worship because of external pressure over “criminals” tried by the winners of a war? many of those “class-A” didn’t receive a fair trial after the war, as a little of research shows.
I don’t remember anyone asking american or british politicians not to go and honor the ones that ordered carpet or fire bombing of civilian cities.
War is not a clean affair, and it has not been one from both sides. The pressure received by Japan on their “war crimes” has always been excessive, and giving up to them would be silly.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
So you would also say the same for the Nazis? All victims od the war? Japanese Unit 761? Victims? War criminals are war criminals, not war victims
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Too bad that a little of (unbiased) research would show that the “war criminals” in question weren’t even given a fair trial by the IMTFE in order to be used as political scapegoats. The “best evidence” rule was used during the trials, allowing simple heresay without any solid support to be used as proof.
When i’ll see people going to the chinese, american, british or russian cemeteries demanding for the ones that committed (or that were accused to have committed) atrocities to be dug out, then the Yasukuni issue will have a resemblance of meaning.
Until then, maybe you should study some history before commenting on it.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Well, the Allies won the war, so they did whatever they liked. That’s why winning is good…
But Yasukuni was always a place to promote Imperialism: it is a shrine to honour those that died to serve the Emperor, not that died to protect the country. And putting in people who did not die in war but later in prison or were executed is a bit much too.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Is it? Those who died like that, without a fair trial, to be used as scapegoat to focus the anti-japanese post-war hate did serve the country in their own way.
What is too much, is that such hate still exists despite those deaths.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Because a secular state shouldn’t mingle with religion. Usually war memorials aren’t temples, aren’t they?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
It’s no different than any other war memorial. I’m sure, say, the Vietnam Memorial in the US is controversial for the Vietnamese, but that doesn’t make it less significant for Americans (though maybe it should).
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I, too, apologize for my ancestors in Gaul that sacked Rome in 387 BC. On behalf of our people, I express deep remorse and humble condolences for all of the Romans who fell victim.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
You’re right Rip. I also feel the need to apologize for my Roman ancestors that sacked Gaul villages around the same period… I feel deeply ashamed and express my condolences to the sons of the sonsof the sons of the sons of the sons….
Luckily for you, you had Asterix and Obelix…
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I don’t think you really meant it with your apologies.
You must show sincerity by paying the victim MORE money, repeatedly making apologetic statements from the head of state which will never be acknowledged, and further humbling yourself by making your head of state bow down enough to rub his or her forehead on the ground! Preferably nine times in sets of threes. /sarcasm
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Exactly.
I don’t take the documentary as the verb of Our Lord.
It just shows there are ultraright wing nationalists also in Japan like all the other countries, no exception.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
What’s to apologize for? (@ youtube, journeymanpictures “japan’s dirty secret” 10:20) unit731 geezer says if he could, he’d do it all over again; why would he be remorseful? Good to see him living large for the rest of his days…
Rate this comment:
0 
0
>>Opposition leader Yukio Hatoyama, who supports a plan to replace Yasukuni with a new war memorial
It’s plans like Yukio Hatoyama’s that really shows what a sorry bunch of bleeding-heart liberals these Democrats are.
But hey, Japan too can have its own Kevin Rudd. Selling out to whatever the feel-good cause of the day is and bending over for communist China.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Isn’t strange that the few consevatives that worship the war criminals in japan are always the ones that talks on behalf of the rest of Japanese people, that “condem” the war crimes committed during the war?
Where are those “good” japanese?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Honoring the deceased has nothing to do with being conservative or liberal. Your ignorance is well shown by your choice of wording “Worshipping war criminals”, please, get a grip of reality. Will you?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Easy. What’s your problem?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
“Honoring the deceased has nothing to do with being conservative or liberal.”
Where and how you honour them does….
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Abriael,
It’s an interesting facet of human psychology that when people criticize others, they are often in fact criticizing themselves.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Fair trail should have granted, I agree.
However slaughtering the population of Nanking, conducting medical experiments about freezing effects on living prisoners, using Korean women as comfort women, sacrifing Okinawa island to the war because different, well, yes the trail will set the just punishment, but those people are already in the category of criminals among Japanese soldiers.
Yes maybe I should study more some history but in the meantime you should stop watching too many anime and manga
Rate this comment:
0 
0
And what does whatching too many anime and manga have to do with the study of history, my friend? Maybe you should stop judging over stereotypes. It doesn’t make you look good.
Criminals among Japanese soldiers? Are you trying to say that all Japanese soldiers were criminals and as such those received a just punishment despite not being granted a fair trial? Despite being condemned over hearsay and often (as was demonstrated later) proof forged by the chinese government?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Yasukuni is fairly new, but from ancient times many shinto shrines were built to commemorate and honor dead warriors, to pacify their souls. It doesn’t matter if the enshrined is allie or foe, evil or good. The purpose is to pacify their souls. Japanese folks for the most part are shamanistic/animistic people, maybe similar to native tribal people. All are born equal and die equal. After death you pass on to the other world. Who are we humans to judge the dead. They were already judged when alive.
I have no problem putting my hands together and praying for dead American soldiers in Arlington, or for those in Yasukuni, a dead toad, a buddha, mickey mouse doll, whatever. If I happened to be in a Islamic country I would follow their protocol.
What if your beloved son became a murderer and was hung? Maybe I would have him enshrined at a local shrine if they are willing, which I as a native here firmly believe would be the usual case if a true shinto priest resides there. It seems like a lot of you educated in the west who come here have your own “Modern and civil” world view that you think can be applied anywhere in the world, even by force or stealth and believe it to be the righteous thing to do. I’m sorry but it’s not defacto standard on earth just yet and I don’t think it needs to be.
If enough Japanese want another place to commemorate the war dead, it’s fine with me. It’s also up to Yasukuni shrine. It’s a purely domestic issue, inside the home. The bereaved families of ethnic koreans and taiwanese who fought on the Japanese side have a free choice now. If you’re not Japanese or have no family ties to those enshrined in Yasukuni, you’re not welcome in this issue.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
“If you’re not Japanese or have no family ties to those enshrined in Yasukuni, you’re not welcome in this issue.”
And your authority for claiming this is?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Feel free to criticize what Americans did in Vietnam. Feel free to condemn our enslavement of thousands of Africans, our wholesale slaughter of Native Americans, our often racist legal system. I am not ashamed of being an American; I’m proud of America’s many good achievements, but I regret all of my country’s mistakes, and the world is welcome to join in: crimes against humanity are crimes against humanity. I study American history, good and bad, and I teach my children to do the same.
I’m not Japanese and I have no family ties I know of to those enshrined in Yasukuni. But I have an opinion on Yasukuni after living many years in Japan, and I can’t see why I’m not welcome as long as my views are thoughtfully expressed. How about saying knee-jerk anti-Japanese sentiment isn’t welcome instead?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
“How about saying knee-jerk anti-Japanese sentiment isn’t welcome instead?”
Yes, I understand what you mean, and I think anyone’s opinion is welcome with decency. I’m merely stating an opinion also.
But you see, people are usually born into a value system, or faith and brought up in it. I’m afraid the average person is not so tolerant as to be questioned their very core of identity, especially by someone from a different cultural background and it can easily be taken as an insult.
What worries me is that many Japanese are getting more and more defensive about everything, which could turn into aggression at its worst, and that’s not a good sign. History tells us that people could easily fall into such political traps.
The issue is already complicated enough within the Japanese. So I wish people would leave these sensitive issues where it belongs, which is really in the hearts of the ordinary Japanese people.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
“If you’re not Japanese or have no family ties to those enshrined in Yasukuni, you’re not welcome in this issue”
May I ask doctor? What kind of family ties are allowed by your rules? 1st generation, 2nd generation?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
The funny thing is that the issue is an absolutely nonsensical show of double standards.
I don’t think that the ones that get bent over Yasukuni, when they visit a graveyard, go to the town hall to check all the names of the ones buried there, and if there are any criminals between them, do they refuse to go pray for the deceased there? Or do they demand such people to be dug out and dumped somewhere elese (thing that is nonsensical anyway, because enshrinement is eternal and irreversible for the shinto)?
You people don’t even understand that you’re simply falling for the political scheming of countries that stir an anachronistic hate as much as possible to try and gain political advantages from pressuring Japan.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
And your analogy is exceptionally weak. For it to hold, there would have to be no connection whatsoever between the war criminals and the common soldiers at Yasukuni.
And Shinto, like any religion, can do whatever its leaders say it can do.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
“You people don’t even understand that you’re simply falling for the political scheming of countries that stir an anachronistic hate as much as possible to try and gain political advantages from pressuring Japan.”
It’s not an anachronistic hate. It’s a hate going on because of some Japanese politicians honoring the Imperialism of the past. The Yasukuni Shrine is the symbol of Japanese Imperialism after the WWII. In South Korea, people don’t honor the Korean royal family members who sold the country to Japan.
I’m happy that Hatoyama will make a secular facility for the WWII criminals. Why would you honor the war-era Japanese military and political leaders that were essentially subscribed to secular Western ideas of colonialism? It doesn’t make sense that they were enshrined to a religious facility in the first place.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
“You people don’t even understand that you’re simply falling for the political scheming of countries that stir an anachronistic hate as much as possible to try and gain political advantages from pressuring Japan”
True. Even after the enshrinement of Class A became public knowledge, the PM’s went on their usual visits (20+ times). All that changed in the summer of 1985…
It just took six years for China to figure out an “excuse” with a help from a certain media company.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Sometimes “being wrong” is not an exclusive privilege to one side. Yasukuni and the Japanese right are pretty creepy, Chinese/Korean Nationalists too. Its that easy.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Japan’s neighbors rightly view it with suspicion, as they were horribly victimized by Japanese aggression.
Whatever “crimes” the Americans committed against the Japanese were in response to the Japanese crimes that started the Pacific War. It wasn’t America that sneaked up to Japanese territory like a thief in the night and attacked without warning, just like it wasn’t China that occupied Japan with the view to creating a colony based on racism and naked exploitation.
When Japan accepts its historical role as the instigator of imperialist war on its neighbors and murderer of millions of innocent people, then perhaps those neighbors will be less inclined to view the fate of the “Class A’s” as anything more than vastly insufficient punishment for the crimes of the entire Japanese nation.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
This.
It’s interesting how most of those who chose to comment on the earlier post on Hiroshima to criticize American “war crimes” are so conspicuously silent when it comes to this issue.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
John, did not Japan unconditionally surrender?
Did not all neighbors sign peace treaty with Japan?
This is enough. A peace treaty is an agreement of reconciliation.
You cannot punish a criminal twice for the same offence.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I don’t see why it must be complicated for Japanese to admit their faults and get over fanaticism like for instance, Germany did.
Too much pride?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Faults are admitted for a long time now. Havent you read the statement by the PM and the Emperor?
But if some Japanese try to mourn their war dead at Yasukuni, then it becomes “controversial”( I admit that en-shrine of war criminals are controversial, but a shrine is not a grave.)
Like when Germans tried to mourn and remember the “vertriebenen” from the former East Prussia, it becomes “controversial” for Pols and Checks.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
It’s really not all that complicated at all, they’re just thinking that “if we give an inch, they’ll take a mile.” It’s not an entirely baseless viewpoint, considering that in Far Eastern cultures apologies tend to have greater implications and more “strings attached” than in Western cultures.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
zooch is correct.
Japan apologized when it unconditionally surrendered.
It apologized again when it signed peace treaty with its neighbors.
It apologized again when it gave financial aids to its neighbors.
Still, Korea and China are asking for more apologies.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Criminals among Japanese soldiers, in English, should mean that not all soldiers were criminals. Those criminals deserved a fair trail, just punishment and not to be honored at Yasukuni shrine, which is not happening nowadays.
Hearsay? Nanking massacre? Are you a kind negationist who says Nazis were good, concentration camps never existed and so on?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Good point, the meaning of a verbal apologie in Far Eastern Culture.
I was not clear: to get over fanatacism means not to apologize again, means to stop going and honoring fallen souls at a shrine which is the symbol of the regime who caused all of that. A war memorial would be more appropriate and a concrete sign of good will rather than plenty of verbal apologies.
It is just like if Germans nowadays went to honor fallen souls of WWII at a nazi sanctuary or something.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I now know where you get things wrong.
Yasukuni is not “a shrine which is the symbol of the regime who caused all of that”.
By the way, what do you mean by fanaticism?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Japan’s neighbors know that it has one face it presents to the world: that issues measured “apologies” for actions during the Pacific War, and another that it presents to itself: that concludes the war was foisted on Japan when it simply asserted its “right” to dominate East Asia.
When within Japan the architects of the Pacific War are revered as heroes, when their trials and punishments are dismissed as “victor’s justice”, when the wholesale massacres of Chinese and others by the Japanese Army are denied or dismissed with tu quoque arguments, when Japanese textbooks give the impression that Japan was not the instigator of the war but a victim of it, when various (often ludicrous) Nihonjinron are invoked to claim the inherent superiority of the Japanese people, it shouldn’t surprise that neighboring peoples are not convinced of Japan’s contrition and willingness to be one among equals.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
You really have no idea what you are talking about, do you? Everything you have said is just spouting various (usually Korean or Chinese) pundits who have political motivations. Most of what you have is about as relevant as claiming Korea has no right to be upset about being colonized because some Koreans were collaborators.
However you are right about the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal being Victor’s Justice. And there certainly is Nihonjinron, though it is merely tangential to what you think your main argument is.
1. …within Japan the architects of the Pacific War are revered as heroes
–About as relevant as claiming that “within the USA blacks are despised” by only looking at the KKK. I doubt your average Japanese could even name an “instigator” of the war aside from perhaps Tojo.
2. …when their trials and punishments are dismissed as “victor’s justice”
–This criticism is far from extreme, and certainly not limited to Japan. You will find it in Allied histories as well. The key issue is that Class A, crimes against peace, was not a crime when the war was begun.
3. …when the wholesale massacres of Chinese and others by the Japanese Army are denied or dismissed with tu quoque arguments
–See point 1. You are obviously unaware of the large amount of work done on Japanese war atrocities by Japanese historians, for a start.
4. …when Japanese textbooks give the impression that Japan was not the instigator of the war but a victim of it
–And you know this from actually having read these textbooks?
5. …when various (often ludicrous) Nihonjinron are invoked to claim the inherent superiority of the Japanese people
–See point 1 again.
6. …it shouldn’t surprise that neighboring peoples are not convinced of Japan’s contrition
–Certainly not when there is much political capital to be gained by bashing Japan, no.
Incidentally, let’s compare and contrast:
“Gov. Bob Riley signed a resolution Thursday expressing “profound regret” for Alabama’s role in slavery and apologizing for slavery’s wrongs and lingering effects.”
The Prime Minister of Japan, Nakasone: “Japan has profoundly regretted the unleashing of rampant ultra nationalism and militarism”
What an interesting similarity of words there. So does that mean that Alabama isn’t really sincere? Look, just go and read this list and then state in precise terms why you feel that none of them are sincere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan
Rate this comment:
0 
0
When you start with a personal insult, that speaks for itself.
I’m neither Chinese nor Korean, nor am I influenced by the politicians of either when forming my perspectives.
I’m certain, based on the history and personalities of the time, that had Japan been victorious, there would have been no pretense of a trial for those considered enemies – they’d have simply been slaughtered.
As for your specific points:
1) Class A’s are included in Yakuzuni. If Japanese youth are ignorant as to who they are and what they did, it doesn’t matter. KKK talk is another form of tu quoque. We aren’t talking about America; we’re talking about Japan.
2) Assault, theft and murder were crimes when Japan started the Pacific War. They don’t lose that quality when committed by the Japanese government on an international level.
3) I am aware, yes. I’m also aware that within Japan a different narrative is favored, one in which Japan is a victim and its military actions are sanitized.
4)I know this from the controversies that attend to this topic inside and outside of Japan. I do not claim to have read every Japanese textbook. Have you?
5)Nonsense. Nihonjinron are routinely invoked to justify everything from racism to restrictive trade tariffs, as well as to whitewash Japanese actions in the war.
6)Sure Asian politicians make hay by bashing Japan, just as Japanese politicians do so by bashing the neighbors. That doesn’t change the fact Japan is very reluctant to admit the truth to itself, and that this reluctance makes statements made for foreign consumption suspect.
As an white American southerner myself, I look at white Republican politicians in the South with a very jaded eye. They are the spiritual heirs to the racist policies of the old South, and what they say in public and what they say among themselves are very different.
Sort of like Japanese politicians.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
”When you start with a personal insult, that speaks for itself.””
It’s not a personal insult, merely an observation.
1. That was an example of how silly your argument was, NOT an attempt at justification. And how can the Class A crims be “revered as heroes” if “Japanese youth [your term] are ignorant as to who they are and what they did”?
“Yakuzuni” is a typo, right? You’re not implying the Yakuza run Yasukuni or anything?
2. You missed my point entirely. The Class A crims were not tried for petty things like murder. That was for the other classes, and no one gets upset about them, ironically enough.
3. “I’m also aware that within Japan a different narrative is favored” Really? Favoured? Are you attempting to imply that this is the majority view, or are you merely referring to a very specific subset who might favour this? Are you claiming that most Japanese deny these, or that the Japanese government denies these, or that the LDP denies these, or who?
4. I am pretty sure that I have read more than you have. Again, do you claim to have actually read *any*?
5. My rebuttal stands until you can demonstrate that this is not just a minority position. You can find minority positions to support any view. Have you read 戦争論? Do you consider that a majority view? It certainly is a view, a pretty extreme one, but no one would never claim it represents the standard discourse.
“Nihonjinron are routinely invoked to justify everything from racism to restrictive trade tariffs” – but we are not talking about racism or restrictive trade tariffs. I am not denying Nihonjinron as such exists, I am denying that it is used “routinely” to whitewash the war. I can think of a few examples of it off-hand – about Japanese intestine lengths or the quality of Japanese snow vis-a-vis ‘foreign’ snow, but while these are exclusionist, they are not about superiority, but uniqueness.
6. “That doesn’t change the fact Japan is very reluctant to admit the truth to itself”
This sort of statement is precisely why I said you have no idea what you are talking about. First, your use of “Japan” as some form of anthropomorphic entity is problematic: are you referring to the people or the government? If the former, you are way off base; if the latter, are you referring to a small vocal minority or official government policy? Second, what are you basing this claim on? You seem to imply some sort of vast conspiracy whereby the Japanese government admits fault and apologises to the outside world, while all the time the Japanese are secretly denying to each other it was their fault at all. Well, if this is true, it must be very secret indeed, well hidden behind the works on 戦争責任 and Japan’s guilt and so on written in Japanese for Japanese audiences. But what really annoys me about your stance is that it ignores and/or belittles the massive volume of work and discourse in Japan among Japanese that deals with these issues in a very frank and detailed manner.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
1. A mistake yes. Japan is as democratic state as exists in the modern world. OTOH Japan has deficiencies that make it difficult for it to assume its “rightful” position as a world leader. Since Japan is a prosperous, progressive democracy, those deficiencies are to the world’s disadvantage,as well as Japan’s.
2. The Class A’s were tried for conspiracy, basically. Conspiracy to wage aggressive war – war being the means by which a state commits assault, robbery and murder.
3. I’m saying that within the Japanese government, from top to the local level, there is a tendency to minimize Japan’s war guilt for domestic audiences. This is at variance with the way history is acknowledged by Japanese government representatives outside Japan.
4. Yes, I’ve read some. Are we having a discussion/debate, or a contest about who’s read the most of which types of books?
5. Nihonjinron seem to be used to justify all manner of double standards, including Japanese imperialism, which is recast as “liberation”, even when it resulted in worse oppression and exploitation.
If you say that as a form of exceptionalism it is similar to American notions of “Manifest Destiny” and the “White Man’s Burden”, I agree. But again, we’re talking about Japan, not America.
6. Fine. I was using a common shorthand. Allow me to elaborate – The Japanese government seems institutionally reluctant to address certain historical facts. That seems to me to be in part due to political pressures, but also to an ingrained social tendency to regard Japanese exceptionalism (nihonjinron) as exculpatory as well as explanatory.
Obviously a nation of 100 million educated and sophisticated people will have 100 million perspectives, no two of which will be identical.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
It is unfair to taint an entire population for the facism and manipulations of a powerful few. Many soldiers who were drafted into service were not necessarily supporters for the war.
What happened in places like Nanking were unforgivable but it was war and there were Chinese soldiers masquerading as civilians there and urban combat is often brutal and ugly.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Stereo,
Isn’t the shrine a Shinto shrine? Wasn’t the State Shinto the main force of militarism that led to WWII?
Fanaticism is to state that a man is a living God on earth, and do any kind of thing in the name of this man.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
“Wasn’t the State Shinto the main force of militarism that led to WWII?”
No, it was not. Shintoism had almost nothing to do with militarism, much less “main force”.
I really do not understand what you are trying to say. Do you want to say that Japanese soldiers during WW2 were fanatic because of Shintoism? Get real. They fought for their country. Suicide attacks were desperate measures to protect their own country, and were rational thing to do under extreme conditions. No religious fanaticism is involved there.
People go there to pray for the fallen soldiers. There is nothing fanatic about it.
Why, do you think, Japanese politicians visit that shrine? Every Japanese knows it is because they want the vote from WW2 veterans and surviving families. When they visit, veterans groups allot some vote for them. Their visits have no more meaning than that.
If you do not like Yasukuni, just leave it, for time will solve the problem. Yasukuni shrine is run by donations from veterans and surviving families of soldiers killed in the war. They are getting very old and rapidly decreasing in number. In 20 years or so, Yasukuni will run out of money. By the time, Japanese politicians will lose interest because their visit will bring no vote.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
State Shinto had a massive role in Japanese militarism. It provided the entire structure on which the power of the Emperor was based. Everything was done in the Emperor’s name, and the Emperor was inviolable. So those who spoke in his name spoke with the power of religion just as much as with the power of patriotism. Its influence was indirect – channeled through the Emperor and thus the state – but nevertheless very real.
Rate this comment:
0 
0