Why don't the Japanese hate Americans after WWII?

[Auric]

Originally posted by: Genx87

That isnt hard to do. Honestly plot the amount of people killed each year from war starting from 1900. You will note for the most part is was growing exponetially. More people died in the first 45 years from war than died in the last 55. Over that time the earths population has grown quite a bit. Atomic weapons have actually stopped major wars since their inception.

Gee, I dunno. The first half of the twentieth century was aboot industrial empires peaking in competition and having a big blow out which lead to the destruction of all but two, naturally in opposition. Wars carried on, just settling back to normal scale and not directly betwixt those two new blocs as they consolidated power. So, it is too early to declare atomic weapons other than a correlational development. The dramatic population increase has certainly not been caused by suppos-ed lack war but rather advancement in sanitation, medicine, and agriculture.

 

[Chiller2]

The only thing I am ashamed of that the America did to the Japanese during WWII was the way they treated Japanese Americans by stripping them of their property and putting them in Internment Camps.The Firebombing and the Nuclear weapons I think were justified.You are judging past wars by todays standards there was no such thing as precision weapons to destroy a target you dropped massive amount of bombs and hoped that a few hit.To win the war with Japan we had to destroy the will of the people and their leaders and that was what the firebombing and nuclear weapons were designed to do. Based on documentaries I have seen about the preparations the Japanese had in place to defend Japan I am convinced that more people would have perished in an invasion then the Nuclear weapons killed.And more Americans defiantly would have think Okinawa X 10.

PS: I have an uncle that served in the Navy during WWII and while I wouldn't say he hates the Japanese he sure doesn't like them very much and will never drive a Japanese car.

 

[jpeyton]

They actually do hate us, but they decided to use the weapon of economics against us.

Their first targets: GM, Ford, and Chrysler.

I don't know how many more quarters of record losses they can take before the well runs dry.

 

[BoomerD]

One other thing to consider...when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they didn't show any concern for the lives or safety of "civilian non-combatants." They did their best to kill anything that moved.
There may have been some "chest-bumpin" before Dec. 7th, but they opened the ball with the attack on Pearl Harbor and the rest of Hawaii...They deserved anything they got after that.

I for one wear my American hat proudly on Aug. 6th and 9th.

They (the atomic bombs) were horrendous things to do to a people, but they served to end the war that the Japanese started. I'm sure that if they hadn't surrendered when they did, more of the same would have followed...perhaps on Tokyo and/or Kyoto...

 

[Soundmanred]

Originally posted by: puffff
It happened over a generation ago. Everyone learn from it and move on.

I wish it would happen within America.
If you know what I mean.

 

[Alyx]

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: puffff
It happened over a generation ago. Everyone learn from it and move on.

Plus not mentioning it in history class helps.

This is true. I've got a friend that spent all last year in japan and had quite a few discussions with college students about the war. Their knowledge of war history is completely different from what we learn. Which is true, who knows. *shrug*

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: Alyx

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: puffff
It happened over a generation ago. Everyone learn from it and move on.

Plus not mentioning it in history class helps.

This is true. I've got a friend that spent all last year in japan and had quite a few discussions with college students about the war. Their knowledge of war history is completely different from what we learn. Which is true, who knows. *shrug*

are you able to expand on that at all? i'm pretty interested to see what the differences are.

also, does anyone find it funny that people who bombed the crap out of each other a generation ago don't hold grudges, but someone, somewhere, will bitch about christianity/the crusades, etc. which happened hundreds/thousand+ years ago?

 

[Jeff7]

Like the OP says, it is a beautiful thing.
Relations between the US and England are decent as well.

Far too many people seem to have a habit of holding grudges that last for hundreds of years, and getting revenge for revenge, which was revenge for another act of revenge, and so on.


Hopefully there'll be a time when the only mention of wars are in very old historic data files, when an act of aggression against one's own species is no longer a regular threat. Maybe a thousand years from now. Maybe.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
One other thing to consider...when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they didn't show any concern for the lives or safety of "civilian non-combatants." They did their best to kill anything that moved.
There may have been some "chest-bumpin" before Dec. 7th, but they opened the ball with the attack on Pearl Harbor and the rest of Hawaii...They deserved anything they got after that.

I for one wear my American hat proudly on Aug. 6th and 9th.

They (the atomic bombs) were horrendous things to do to a people, but they served to end the war that the Japanese started. I'm sure that if they hadn't surrendered when they did, more of the same would have followed...perhaps on Tokyo and/or Kyoto...

you sure? i don't think they were blatantly attacking civilian targets in hawaii, just the naval base. i do seem to remember eye witness civilians saying they saw the planes fly by or a japanese pilot waving them off in past documentaries. they clearly weren't just straffing eveyrone.

 

[m1ldslide1]

Originally posted by: Chiller2
The only thing I am ashamed of that the America did to the Japanese during WWII was the way they treated Japanese Americans by stripping them of their property and putting them in Internment Camps.The Firebombing and the Nuclear weapons I think were justified.You are judging past wars by todays standards there was no such thing as precision weapons to destroy a target you dropped massive amount of bombs and hoped that a few hit.To win the war with Japan we had to destroy the will of the people and their leaders and that was what the firebombing and nuclear weapons were designed to do. Based on documentaries I have seen about the preparations the Japanese had in place to defend Japan I am convinced that more people would have perished in an invasion then the Nuclear weapons killed.And more Americans defiantly would have think Okinawa X 10.

PS: I have an uncle that served in the Navy during WWII and while I wouldn't say he hates the Japanese he sure doesn't like them very much and will never drive a Japanese car.

It appears that a few people could stand to review their history. Japan was willing to surrender prior to them being nuked - so long as their emperor were to be allowed to keep his post. The US refused and instead demanded unconditional surrender, and the Japanese were unwilling to budge on that one point, but all others it was willing to accept. The US dropped the two bombs, Japan surrendered unconditionally, and the US left the emperor in power anyway.

Changing moral standards my ass - these civilians were deemed expendable in order to demonstrate US military superiority. Not to the Japanese mind you - mostly to the Russians and others. I'm alright with the MAD justification, but don't sugarcoat this shit as the victims at least deserve to have the truth known. Its also highly ironic that some proponents of the MAD argument are also saying that we can't judge the past by present day values.

 

[Kaieye]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
One other thing to consider...when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they didn't show any concern for the lives or safety of "civilian non-combatants." They did their best to kill anything that moved.
There may have been some "chest-bumpin" before Dec. 7th, but they opened the ball with the attack on Pearl Harbor and the rest of Hawaii...They deserved anything they got after that.

I for one wear my American hat proudly on Aug. 6th and 9th.

They (the atomic bombs) were horrendous things to do to a people, but they served to end the war that the Japanese started. I'm sure that if they hadn't surrendered when they did, more of the same would have followed...perhaps on Tokyo and/or Kyoto...

Kyoto would never have been touched. It was considered off limits to aerial bombing at the time.

 

[Rudee]

If the US would of occupied Japan after WWII there would of been nobody left to grow those delicious Japanese mandarin oranges at Christmas time.

 

[Alyx]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

Originally posted by: Alyx

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: puffff
It happened over a generation ago. Everyone learn from it and move on.

Plus not mentioning it in history class helps.

This is true. I've got a friend that spent all last year in japan and had quite a few discussions with college students about the war. Their knowledge of war history is completely different from what we learn. Which is true, who knows. *shrug*

are you able to expand on that at all? i'm pretty interested to see what the differences are.

also, does anyone find it funny that people who bombed the crap out of each other a generation ago don't hold grudges, but someone, somewhere, will bitch about christianity/the crusades, etc. which happened hundreds/thousand+ years ago?

I searched through her blog and sadly she didn't post about it, and its been 9 months since I talked to her about it so my memory is foggy. The main differences were on what we would think were key parts of the war and what they thought were key parts, mainly to paint Japan in a more positive light. In a lot of cases we do the same, so can't really blame the Japanese, for example US education really quickly brushes over the US internment camps for Japanese US citizens (from my experiences).

Here's a quote from an article I just googled up:

One recurring problem in history instruction in Japan is the way textbooks often depict Japanese actions during World War II. Japanese atrocities tend to be minimized or ignored in school history textbooks. All Japanese texts are written and produced in the private sector; however, the texts must be approved by the Ministry of Education. The latest controversy occurred in 2001 when the Ministry of Education approved a new junior high school textbook written and edited by a group of nationalist academics. The book omitted topics such as the Japanese Army's mistreatment of women in battle zones and areas under Japanese rule and the Japanese Army's actions in China. After strong protests from the South Korean and Chinese governments, the Japanese government had the book reviewed and revised. The book was then published in summer 2001. Although less than 10 percent of all junior high schools in Japan is expected to actually use the book, the Chinese and South Korean governments were still not satisfied with the published version.

http://www.ericdigests.org/2002-2/japanese.htm
Edit: also note this is a 2001 article, so slightly out of date, but would hold true for the current generation of college students.

 

[0roo0roo]

of course theres probably a degree of hypocrisy in the cries of the south koreans and chinese when it comes to "history" books

 

[Auric]

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1

It appears that a few people could stand to review their history. Japan was willing to surrender prior to them being nuked - so long as their emperor were to be allowed to keep his post. The US refused and instead demanded unconditional surrender, and the Japanese were unwilling to budge on that one point, but all others it was willing to accept. The US dropped the two bombs, Japan surrendered unconditionally, and the US left the emperor in power anyway.

Changing moral standards my ass - these civilians were deemed expendable in order to demonstrate US military superiority. Not to the Japanese mind you - mostly to the Russians and others. I'm alright with the MAD justification, but don't sugarcoat this shit as the victims at least deserve to have the truth known. Its also highly ironic that some proponents of the MAD argument are also saying that we can't judge the past by present day values.

Quoted for justice.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Mo0o
Because deep down the Japanese know they were the assholes that started it all

WTF?

no, in reality the Japanese were played by both sides.

We rebuilt their country to better than new. They are happy.

 

[ed21x]

Originally posted by: enwar3
Because we pay their defense expenses. Have you checked how much of our GDP is spent on defense? They don't have to pay any of theirs.....

(Of course I oversimplify)

they pay for 80% of the cost of all expenses for our base in Japan. The 20% left over is simply a rental fee for the land (and hardly worth the value of the land our base takes up).

 

[ed21x]

Originally posted by: EGGO
They're too busy hating and being hated by the other asian countries.

not true. the Japanese don't really hate the other nations, it is China and less so Korea that hate Japan because their government has encouraged that mindset to be used in their nationalistic agenda. Same reason North Korea hates the United States despite the war being long over and we sent them tons of aide every year.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Originally posted by: ed21x

Originally posted by: EGGO
They're too busy hating and being hated by the other asian countries.

not true. the Japanese don't really hate the other nations, it is China and less so Korea that hate Japan because their government has encouraged that mindset to be used in their nationalistic agenda. Same reason North Korea hates the United States despite the war being long over and we sent them tons of aide every year.

Have the Japanese apologized to China for their atrocities in WW2 and pre-WW2 yet? I think a lot of nearby Asian countries are annoyed at Japan because of the way they refuse to acknowledge the crimes imperial japan did in the early 20th century.

 

[uhohs]

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky

Originally posted by: ed21x

Originally posted by: EGGO
They're too busy hating and being hated by the other asian countries.

not true. the Japanese don't really hate the other nations, it is China and less so Korea that hate Japan because their government has encouraged that mindset to be used in their nationalistic agenda. Same reason North Korea hates the United States despite the war being long over and we sent them tons of aide every year.

Have the Japanese apologized to China for their atrocities in WW2 and pre-WW2 yet? I think a lot of nearby Asian countries are annoyed at Japan because of the way they refuse to acknowledge the crimes imperial japan did in the early 20th century.

they've apologized many times.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Short Answer. Its been 60 years. The new generation doesn't care

 

[thepd7]

See what happens when you have a P&N discussion without P&N members? Intelligent, calm disagreements. It's a beautiful thing.

 

[Auric]

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky
Have the Japanese apologized to China for their atrocities in WW2 and pre-WW2 yet? I think a lot of nearby Asian countries are annoyed at Japan because of the way they refuse to acknowledge the crimes imperial japan did in the early 20th century.

Verily, they pretty much got a free pass on that from their western conquerors. But it figgers 'cause of the distinct populations. Heck, to westerners they were all yellow monkeys anyway and there was little personal interest as with Europe.

 

[scttgrd]

I lived in Japan for a number of years, the older generations have a bit of a grudge. Not because of the bombs we dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, but because of the loss of pride that the end of the war brought. Most Japanese are happy with the presence of American military in Japan, it's a felling of comfort that there is no longer a need for self defense and that there is a lasting peace. Not most are upset with the stationing of any nuclear carriers or destroyers at thier ports. I have run many a gauntlet into Yokushka naval base. For the most part the Japanese people are a very proud and honest culture. I made it a point to travel and see as much as I could in the time I was there. Although I was always the Gaiging, I never felt I was anything less than a welcome guest.

 

[TehMac]

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1
but if I were a 1940's Japanese civilian I would be none too impressed with the morality of my enemies.

How about, hypothetically speaking, the morality of your own government and culture, dumbass.

Originally posted by: Auric

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky
Have the Japanese apologized to China for their atrocities in WW2 and pre-WW2 yet? I think a lot of nearby Asian countries are annoyed at Japan because of the way they refuse to acknowledge the crimes imperial japan did in the early 20th century.

Verily, they pretty much got a free pass on that from their western conquerors. But it figgers 'cause of the distinct populations. Heck, to westerners they were all yellow monkeys anyway and there was little personal interest as with Europe.

And you're fully in the know, right? Everything is an absolute, apparently.