Some ppl mistake me as someone who loves Japan given that i have been learning Japanese since Form 1/Yr 7, been on exchange in Tokyo for 4 months, love Tokyo life and would like to return to Tokyo to work....however , i am soooo NOT Japan-crazy.....i admire modern Japanese urban life, admire the efficiency and technological advancement of Japan and the Japanese people alot and love the beauty of Japanese language.......BUT i cannot forget nor forgive what the Japanese did 61 yrs ago....it has left a scar so deep that it refuses to heal....ironic indeed given that i did not experience that tragic war...i have already posted before on why i feel so passionately about the issue, examples being: http://chinesechic.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_chinesechic_archive.html
http://chinesechic.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_chinesechic_archive.html
I have heard arguements that the issue is long past and that it doesn't matter anymore what the Japanese did or did not do...i, however, would respectfully disagree...i just don't think it is acceptable that u can go out and kill millions of people, rape millions of women, torture thousands more,and then refuse to properly acknowledge or apologise for it....if that were so, it would be scary to think that a nation could now go invade another nation and kill and rape its civilians knowing full well that,like Japan, it can just ignore calls for apology and reparation and that decades down the road, all will be forgotten...this would simply encourage nations to just kill and rape as much as they want.....my anger at Japan is that it has never officially apologised...they do not want to even acknowledge the pain and suffering they caused as there has been no official apology passed by the cabinet with the sole exception of one in 1995 which did not specifically address individual countries....not a single cent has also been paid as official compensation to any of the Asian countries although they are to blame as well for willingly absolving Japan of any obligation to pay....(China and South Korea , as well as most other Asian countries have officially signed documents giving up their right for official compensation in exchange for unofficial aid)....
Of cos, i am not that angry at Japan for occupying and colonising neighbouring Asian countries...although very clearly colonisation and invasion is wrong, many other White Empires had already colonised large parts of the world at the time, and so its wrong to ask only Japan to apologise and compensate for its wartime colonisation of much of Asia....however, what differentiates Japan from the West was its conduct during the occupation and colonisation which warrant the call for Japan alone to apologise and make efforts to atone for its crimes....Unlike the West, Japan was exceptionally brutal and inhumane. The Western Nations did not massacre millions of people nor did they torture hundreds of thousands or engage in slave labour (ok they did do this and they should apologise with regards to the african slave trade) and they most certainly did not rape millions of Asian women to anywhere near the same extent as the barbaric Japanese soldiers. That is the reason why so many Asians, particularly Chinese and South Koreans, and me, are angry and demand justice...
And i have come to realise that its not only the Japanese who have alot to do in terms of commemorating and preserving the truth on the brutality and horror of the Japanese Imperial Forces before and during WW2, other Asian countries have alot of room for improvement as well....for example, as far as i know (pls correct me if i am wrong anyone) the issue of the comfort women (the thousands of Asian women and girls forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese forces during WW2) and wartime rape by Japanese soldiers is not mentioned at all in textbooks in Taiwan,Singapore and Hong Kong. This is not acceptable. I do not see why it is omitted when it is fact that many women were raped during the Japanese occupation (Hong Kong saw the rape of approx. 10,000 women within the first weeks of Japanese occupation according to esteemed historian Phillip Snow) ....it is as if these countries are helping Japan cover up its crimes by not teaching their children about this....which is obviously not the case.....i suspect it is cos there is shame associated with the sensitive topic of women of your own nation being raped by enemy soldiers. I would strongly advocate the teaching of wartime rape to secondary students as essential for any comprehensive and real understanding of the horrors of war...
Below are some films about Japan and WW2 which give a more interesting and in-depth knowledge on what happened and the roots of current resentment by many in Asia towards Japan and its utmost refusal to apologise nor teach its future generations what really happened in that tragic war, 61 yrs ago...( (anyone remember the S.Korean demonstrations last yr about the Dokdo Island dispute with Japan? It was actually just another small incident which exploded due to lingering resentment towards Japan as were the April 2005 anti-Japanese riots in Shanghai,Beijing, Shenzhen,etc in China where Japanese restaurants and billboards were smashed and there was a boycott called against Japanese brands like toyota and mitsubishi )
I myself, would encourage people to boycott certain Japanese corporations too....i myself try to boycott them although sometimes it can be difficult...now u may say i am a radical but if u spend time and really look into the history of these corporations, they were indeed despicable and horrendous in their usage of slave labour...unlike German corporations who have made compensation towards Jewish slave labour used during the war, Japanese ones have constantly stonewalled Asian slave labourer's claims for compensation with the assistance of their ever supportive Japanese government whom have refused to enact any laws guaranteeing state compensation for Asian victims of Japanese wartime atrocities...contrast this with Germany which has one....companies to boycott who used slave labour (2 million Koreans and 40,000 Chinese) : Mitsui and Mitsubishi...there are many more but these are the recognisable big ones which i am sure anyone would recognise....they do not produce much now except for cars i guess but i think mitsubishi does stationery also which i refuse to buy...of cos i wouldn't buy their cars too...of cos the employees now are not responsible for what the company did in the past but this is the small price they have to pay as employees of a wartime slave machine....for many of the labourers did not survive the horrid conditions and died without ever seeing their families...
I recommend films cos they are a more interesting way to learn about history instead of history books which may seem abit dry to some ppl....however please be warned that none of these films are for the faint hearted given that the Imperial Japanese Forces were absolute beast , no, WORST..and the films are not propaganda which some have labelled under the reason that they show the Japanese as one-dimensional wicked monsters.....i get VERY angry when some ppl label films 'propaganda' or 'anti-Japanese' just cos they show Japanese soldiers as evil beasts....i mean they were evil and cruel beyond belief, how else do u want the films to portray them? Showing some as kind and simply not showing some cruel scenes to be 'objective'?!! That would be called 'whitewashing' 'denial' and not 'objectivity'....which is one reason i hate japanese films about WW2 cos they inevitably show kind hearted young bright courageous japanese men off to fight for their country and how they must endure the tough conditions to survive the war...where in the world are the scenes of them slaughtering civilians like cattle?!! Or the scenes of them pack-raping Chinese and Filipino women?!! This all certainly occured and very frequently too....japanese ppl who grow up watching the japanese films about brave young courageous men are in for a BIG shock when they see the films below and realise their forefathers weren't exactly the heroes they are made out to be...
There are many films touching on the WW2 issue but surprisingly few which focus solely on the Japanese Occupation period....most Chinese films simply use it as a bckdrop or as one small part of the movie and so i shall not mention them...
Brief Mention: English and Korean Films ( i am not familiar)
(Eng)Women of the Courtyard -2003 ( the ending where the japanese invade the small town and kills the foreign teacher whom purposely took their attention away from a group of women and children hiding inside a room)
(Kor) Women Voluntary Corps-1980s movie (about the women voluntary corps which is the women's military brigade whereby during the later end of the war, many young unmarried korean women were forced by the Japanese military to volunteer for its war effort and a few were tricked into prostitution instead)
(Kor) Comfort Woman-1992/93 (A film about korean comfort women in south east asia)
(Kor) Comfort Women Trilogy-1999 (There is a fantastic and interesting three part documentary about the comfort women (sex slaves of the Japanese military during WW2) where the filmmaker spent 1 yr living with the now elderly women at a govt sponsored home for comfort women on the outskirts of Seoul)
(China) May and August五 月 ﹐ 八 月 -2004 (About 2 children and how they survive the Nanking Massacre in 1937)
The 2 photos are scenes from Black Sun (Nanking Massacre)
Black Sun (Nanking Massacre)南 京 大 屠 殺 : (1995)A docu-drama focusing on two extended families as they attempt to survive the horrendous Nanking Massacre committed by the Japanese army in the winter of 1937. The Nanking Massacre or 'Rape of Nanking' refers to the 8 week massacre of up to 300,000 Chinese civilians and surrendered soldiers and rape of up to 80,000 Chinese women and girls in the then-capital city of China, Nanking. Real footages included and extremely gruesome including one scene of a pregnant woman being bayonetted and her foetus taken out....this is the second film of the Black Sun series, the first being 'Black Sun: men behind the sun' produced in 1987 and now a classic in terms of gore...NOT recommended for faint hearted...i haven't seen both films...
Extensive pictures and commentary of 'Hong Kong on Fire 1941' at: http://chinesechic.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_chinesechic_archive.html (scroll down)
Hong Kong on Fire 1941 香 港 淪 陷 : (1994) My favourite film given its focus on women's suffering during the Japanese Occupation...a film by Wong Jing so obviously very commercialised film, in fact i think the whole focus on women was so that he could save alot on budget and not have to shoot battle scenes and cash in on the lust of some (sick disgusting) men who would want to see the main characters and women being raped by the Japanese...still touching film nevertheless on the story of two sisters whose lives are changed forever with the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong...recommended as not as real and horrifying as the other two films...well..except for the scene where one actress is gang raped and another scene where the elder sister sacrifices herself and is raped right on top of the underground shelter where her younger sister is hiding and witnesses the process...
Don't Cry Nanking 南 京 1937: (1995) film on Nanking massacre about a Chinese doctor, his pregnant Japanese wife and their two children and how they survive the Nanking Massacre....quite heart-wrenching as well...producer is John Woo (Face Off) and music by Tan Dum (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)....one of the most memorable scenes and which will forever haunt me is the last scene in the film which will make anyone and i mean literally ANYONE hate the evil japanese....i will not reveal it suffice to say that it involved a group of women and children and a pack of Japanese soldiers barging into the refugee camp ..the film was actually screened at the ACMI in Melbourne a few yrs ago and The Age reviewer also mentioned this final scene showing how much it affects people....gosh after the scene, i told myself i shall not eat japanese food for one week (anyone would feel extremely uncomfortable after seeing this scene...expecially women......BIG HINT)...but i ended up eating delicious sushi a few days after, haha, well..sushi didn't kill chinese ppl...so never mind...
A long post to make up for the long time i haven't posted about this issue and in commemoration of the 61st Anniversary of the end of WW2. One of my goals in life is to promote the education and remembrance of WW2 in Asia as well as for the campaign to obtain a long delayed official Japanese apology, compensation, as well as atonement for the atrocities committed on the Asian people during WW2....i shall NOT forget NOR forgive...for the Japanese have not and have never asked for forgiveness...how then can i, and others, forgive a nation which is not remorseful and does not seek forgiveness?
6 comments:
The japanese have apologised several times, and they gave ( and continue to give ) billions in aid to China.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_War_Apology_Statements_Issued_by_Japan
Wasn't Taiwan part of Japan when all those things happened ? Has taiwan ever apologised ?
I feel REALLY sad for how the Japanese government is increasingly more right-wing.
THe Japanese massacre began in 1895 when Japan annexed Taiwan, 1910 Korea, and 1937 CHina!
This is a VERY GOOD article. You did a great job in bringing to attention the darkest part of Asian history.
the searcher: Thanks for ur comments..so knowledgeable about history as usual.
anon: Only one has been official...by official i mean passed by cabinet...an individual PM saying sorry and then having other ministers denying historical facts is not an official apology. Further, SPECIFIC apologies are needed...not general ones which do not address specific countries eg china or korea or vietnam...an apology needs to be BOTH verbal AND in written form for each and every country that were ever brutalised and occupied by the japanese....further, specific ones for slave labourers, nanking massacre victims and comfort women should be issued...currently NONE of the above has been done.
As with regards to Taiwan, it was a colony and did not have a say in whatever Japan wanted it to do..furthermore, most of the atrocities were committed by JApanese and not taiwanese given that the forced military draft of taiwanese only began in late 1944 when the war was ending and even then still limited...apology is for the acts of violence not simply for being part of the war.
You should learn to forgive. How many people have forgiven you in your life???
job: Forgiveness is only for the worthy....for those who truly seek it...not for those whom don't.
Post a Comment