April 11, 2005

• Ah, good old Shintarou ISHIHARA. What an absolute fuckhead.
• I'm TAing in a Chinese history course now, and one of the other TAs (a Phd in Japanese history) helpfully sent around material on Japanese reactions to the events of the war. In his book, The Pacific War 1931–1945 (first published 1968), the Tokyo University historian Ienaga Sabura certainly does not deny or downplay atrocities like the Rape of Nanjing or the biologic warfare experiments in Manchuria - his description was even more graphic than the frank documents we read in the class. He understandably does say he finds some comfort in the stories of men who refused their orders, but finishes by describing the period as a "long, brutal record of violence and death". (It's a long and graphic passage that was passed to us; email me if you want to read the whole.) But the same TA also shared with us an excerpt from a 1997 Japanese textbook that he had translated, which described the Rape of Nanjing as "the Nanjing incident" - all it said about the thousands of women raped and even more people killed was that "At this time the Japanese army killed and wounded many Chinese, including non–combatants, and received a great deal of criticism internationally (The Nanking Incident)". I actually understand the current movement in Japan - it is hard for any country to admit that their soldiers committed crimes in war, In Canada, there was a huge outcry a few years ago about a documentary (The valour and the horror?) which depicted Canadian soldiers in their worst moments - there were boycotts or something. (I never actually got to see it, or find out what all the controversy was about). But it isn't good for any people, Canadian or Japanese, to try to deny the truth of the past. It just makes your history, and all it means to your country, into a lie. As for the professor's remarks - actually, no. Good countries use history to teach history, and leave the instilling of pride to the actual actions of their country. I can't think of any country on the entire planet which has not committed terrible crimes in war or peace, at some points in their history. North Americans have to answer for the systematic dislocation and attempted cultural genocide of native peoples, Britain for the destruction of colonialism, most of the eighteenth century slave trade, etc. It does none of us good to deny or whitewash any of these - we must confront them head on, see that they are done, cannot be undone, and see how we can try not to do them again. I feel prouder of my country when we admit our mistakes and how we intend to change than I ever would of a country that lied to itself.
• Sorry - is prouder a word? Probably not - more proud, then.
• So what do the Chinese textbooks say about Tibet?
• I should be your man on the spot here but have to admit couldn't be arsed to go and see the fun - there have been demonstrations up and down the country and on Saturday several thousand students marched down for the university district in the north-west and held a protest outside the embassy. There's some links to photos etc. at Danwei. Although one thinks of interesting parallels with the May 4th movement and of course there's a lot to be said for facing up to history properly (this could apply to more than just the Japanese government here) so far the biggest impact I've seen in on the quality of life of a Japanese friend of mine who is now the target of snide abuse from some of her colleagues. Typically with dumb nationalism she actually grew up outside Japan and gets similar treatment when she goes home too.
• Had a Japanese student in my small upper-year seminar on international law (in law school) and we were lucky to have a Canadian rapporteur to the UN teaching the class. When talking about war crimes, he was very keen to question our foreign exchange student on what he knew of these events, what he thought of them, what other young Japanese knew and thought, and we were all a little surprised by the response. It doesn't appear, from his account, that young Japanese are that interested in their own history -- late or ancient . This accords with what I've heard from several friends who have taught there. There's this impression that the country is perpetually living in the present. The most interesting thing we heard on the subject came from the professor himself, who said that we can't possibly understand the confusion of a people who believe, under the Shinto religion, that their leader was actually a god, and the first time they hear his voice he is telling them that Japan is surrendering. My impression is that the country was wounded by the events of the war -- and its conclusion -- in ways we can't begin to understand. The whole pacifism/nationalism elements in conflict right now, the slightly twisted relationship with America (Vietnam is another sharp example of this), and absence of history in the minds of its people. I wouldn't be quick to lump Japan into the same kind of history-amending behaviours found elsewhere. There is something profoundly wounded in the psyche of that culture. I haven't seen anything like it -- except, come to think of it -- in the attitudes of many Germans I've met.
• Good for the Chinese, although they're hands are also soaked with blood. Like I was saying to a Taiwanese friend of mine, "Jewish people don't buy German cars, you guys should buy Kia or something".
• Rorschach thats just the culture. In Japan embaressing facts are Forgotten (remember the good forget the bad, we should be so luckey here. Here's the key to understanding japanese culture in war conflict. There were a few soildiers questioning their leaders orders during WWII "and then out of no where, some Americans appeared, and shot them.". ?!#@$$@%?
• It's too bad Iris Chang commited suicide ... or DID SHE ? ( dum - dum - dum ! )
• So what do the Chinese textbooks say about Tibet? Probably what the Chinese now say -- that Tibet's been part of China from time immemorial, which is patently untrue, but that's the justification for invading it and sending in hordes of Chinese to overwhelm the remaining Tibetans.
• What do American texts say about American atrocities? Twenty years ago when I was in elementary school, they described Manifest Destiny as a good thing. Every era of American history was spun into a glorious time where America did only good things. There is a movement to correct our texts, but I'm unsure of how successful they've been. Education is about instilling national pride. Get 'em while they're young. I wish it was otherwise, it should be otherwise, but it's not. The math and language skills are bonus, they main goal is creating blind patriotism.
• That's why I kept my children in a cupboard for twelve years and taught them that they were GERMAN. You shoulda seen their little faces when I let them out - and actually they were living in Papua New Guinea! HA HA! They were all like "spreken ze deutsch?" or whatever, running around dressed in their lederhosen, and basically the rest of the Huli tribe turned up their nose quills at them. Stupid little fuckers.
• Mr K: I thought the main goal was to make them good, obedient little workers and the patriotism was part of that. But seriously, the politicization of history is no surprise. Think about the arguments we get into in the US about the presentation of capitalism, the role of women and minorities in history, and other really active debates in the history textbook arena. If you're not familiar with the arguments, I suggest you start by googling Mel and Norma Gabler and reading about their influence over Texas (hence national) textbooks. They say they're fixing facts when a lot of people believe they're promoting opinions. So-called correcting of textbooks to promote capitalism and gender norms (the ones you like, anyway) not as big of an issue as war crimes, but it is all about socializing the young with certain norms and expectations.
• The math and language skills are bonus, they main goal is creating blind patriotism. I wouldn't say it's the main goal as patriotism is just another means to get people to obey, but I agree that "citizenship training" does top real education. This is manifested in voluntary military enlistment; in a more cynical mood I'd say that if public schools really educated kids then the Feds would have to institute a permanent "peacetime" draft.
• Damnit. When I was a little worm-smeet I thought Japan was cool. Then I started learning about how common it is for some random asshole to grope some chick on the subway (not to mention all varieties of other depressing stuffs), and now this. For a country with such a renowned system of education they certainly don't seem to be "educating" much. And I also thought of school textbooks as a pretty good authority on their subject(s)... but I suppose that some people are psychos who don't have the brains (or gamete-sacs) to face their prejudices and acknowledge the facts... and thus we get a democracy of the few, those small groups of imbeciles who don't have anything better to do than talk about whatever their stupid agenda is.
• Is there another underlying story here? I.e. the amount of rage simmering in China these days? It's true the Chinese have a lot to protest about regarding Japanese behaviour in WWII. But one gets the impression that it's more than just a cry for justice.
• More on this today on the CBC http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_yu/20050411.html
• Dude. Saw it coming from light-years away. I've been wallowing in hate since the Beijing protest started. Wish the Chinese nationalists would just challenge their Japanese counterparts to a group fight and KILL EACH OTHER already. Read Japan Unbound by John Nathan for an overview of rising nationalism/xenophobia in Japan. Shintarou Ishihara and his ilk have pretty much destroyed my dream of living in Tokyo one day. Oh well, it's too expensive anyway. I can't begin to articulate how fucking stupid it is to complain about foreign governments when you live under Chinese Communist rule. Or how disgusting it is to hear some Chinese crow about their peaceful ways (ask, say, the Vietnamese about China and peace). Korea has never been the big aggressor througout history, so its victim act is much easier to take. China? STFU already.
• StoryBored: Beyond justice, there is always struggle over power and resources. China wants to remain the sole Asian nation in the UN security council, while Japan wants in. China and Japan compete to secure oil supplies from around the world, most notably Russia (the latest round went to Japan iirc). Both claim sovereignty over the oil-rich Diaoyu islands. A great number of Chinese fear that Japan may invade its neighbors again one day (I know, ain't people stupid?); many Japanese fear the rising of a fascist superpower. So on and so forth.
• you people are mistaking patriotism for nationalism.
• Actually, kenshin is being quite sensible. As a (lapsed) Japanese, I agree with him on essentially every point. Where I disagree with him is where he says that Americans shouldn't worry that the Chinese are propping up the dollar because China's economy is in worse shape. Yes, it is in China's short-term best interest to keep buying dollars like an addict undergoing relapse, but eventually China will realise that they're both taking on too much risk and losing value on their assets anyway. This is game theory 101 -- yes, co-operation is the right strategy in the iterated prisoner's dilemma, except when the number of iterations is (probabilistically) known in advance, in which case the first to defect wins. Sorry for crossing threads.
• Kenshin, there's some considerable irony in the Chinese fearing Japan. It's the Japanese who really do have a worry about the rise of fascism in China. I can picture a scenario where there's an economic downturn, the frustrated masses already pumped with nationalist rhetoric, turn to a demogogue who promises restoration of national pride. Then it'd be time to punish enemies. If i was Japan, i'd really be working on the kowtowing and the apologies right quick. Modern China seems to have a bad history of catastrophic mass movements - Boxer and Taiping episodes, then Communism. Looks like all they need is fascism to complete the set.
• Also, the tensions between China and Japan (at least on the Chinese side) are even older than World War II - the May 4th Movement was instigated by anger over Japan being granted Germany's possessions in China at the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. There were also boycotts of Japanese goods in the 1930s. Even earlier, Japan made China sign a very humliating treaty in 1895, after defeating them in the Sino-Japanese War. There is over a century of anger and distrust, some very understandable (Japan's economic interfeerence and semi-colonialism in China before the war, the occupation and massacres during the war), some based on an older (ie nineteenth century and earlier) Chinese attitude of superiority towards the Japanese (which made 1895 so very humiliating). The CBC article is very good - though it did make me wonder just how much the Chinese government might be directing anger and protests against the Japanese in the hopes that would distract people from protesting its own current policies.
• China 'crushing Muslim Uighurs'
• fuyugare: When it comes to quitting addictive bad policies, the Chinese government is rarely up to the task. See: coal. StoryBored: Modern China has actually been the least dangerous as a neighbor during the self-inflicted catastrophes you mentioned. When the Chinese were too busy starving and killing each other, they did't bother anyone else. There is over a century of anger and distrust True. The anti-Japan racist vitriol in Chinese writings go back centuries.
• Kenshin, that is quite true. There's some kinda masochistic element going on there...

• kenshin: When it comes to quitting addictive bad policies, the Chinese government is rarely up to the task. See: coal.

  I don't quite get your point. I assume you're not saying that Americans should count on China's self-defeating behaviour continuing indefinitely, because that is not a rational gamble. You must have some deeper point, which I hope you'll clarify.
• As China won't stop using coal until the environmental damage and human death toll pass the breaking point, so it won't stop lending to America until either economy crashes. Risk, however great, does not propel the Chinese government to take effective action that will result in significant short-term pains. Japan doesn't seem much different. They still haven't gotten around to deal with the bad loans in their banking sector after... how many years? And they have arguably the worst population-aging crisis among developed countries, with the biggest baby-boomer group entering retirement during 2007-9. Domestic cosumer spending will drop, and China's not a market Japan can rely on (hi, topic). They need American consumers. I don't think anyone should count on anything indefinitely; all I'm saying is that America's creditors will end up worse off than itself whatever happens.
• HK voices join Japan protests Hong Kong's demonstrators were peaceful in contrast to their often raucous, rock- and paint-throwing counterparts on the mainland. And there were explicit calls here for China also to reassess its history by revisiting the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen massacre. Demonstrating once again the fundamental difference between China and Hong Kong. But that's no cause for joy, because... While the protesters were asking the Japanese government to respect history, the majority were not happy when it was suggested that the Chinese government do the same. Oh the brain-dead hypocrisy. Apparently reunification hasn't done Hong Kong much good.
• Various bits of good commentary and background on this at EastSouthWestNorth. Also some amazing photos of the aftermath of an unrelated riot in Zhejiang.
• Nice linkage from Abiezer_Coppe - our man in China! - from which I read: To stop shipments from the plants, villagers threw up road blocks Well I usually throw up beer (and carrots), but road blocks? Fuck me!
• You know quidders, what with the red hair Ronald MacDonald-a-like confession and these booze and upchuck revelations I'm beginning to doubt your suitability for the Holy See.
• Have faith, my son!
• Koizumi Apologizes for Japan's Actions During War
• Good news for a change. One can only hope Hu Jintao returns the gesture of goodwill. I've lost all hope for the nationalist mobs. May calmer heads in government prevail. And wow, I'm counting on the CCP to be calm. How low my confidence in the people has fallen...
• Monkeyfilter: I'd really be working on the kowtowing and the apologies right quick. Thanks for this thread, guys. I know nothing about Japanese/Chinese history or current events, and find all this new information absolutely fascinating.