Teaching Japanese Children Not to Love the Bomb

[Mao]

On a side note, does anyone else think it sad that The Last Samurai is white? *sigh* They could've at least gotten Jet Li or Chow Young Fat to do it...he's Chinese, but who'd notice...a big white dude leading the musketeers? *sigh*

[Q Classic]

what? tom cruise is white ?

the movie looked like crap, honestly. seems like hollywood's going through one of its "ethnic" periods again... blaxploitation in the 70s, asian culture exploitation these days... at least we're not the bad guys anymore, like we were in the early 20th.

then again, for a lot of those great 70's flicks, they hired several different actors, not just hired the same ones from the same common pool...

besides, you can generally tell who's k/j/c. most of the time, anyway.

[Dis]

well it shows the Japanese young are as disinterested in history as american youngsters.

It is interesting to try to imagine what it was like to have lived and survived during that time as a Japanese person living in Japan. How would you feel if some huge powerful nation dropped a bomb on your little ole' island nation. I am often suprised how good the japanese attitudes towards americans have been. It shows how polite a people they are. They were humbled by their loss in ww2. I think other nationalities would have an unending hate towards the americans.

[Drake Tungsten]

MtG - Do you have a link that describes that landing in Satsuma by Spanish conquistadors? I thought I knew a thing or two about Japanese history, but that event is news to me. I'd like to learn a bit more about it.

[Frankychan]

Bah! My grandfather was from Hiroshima. He survived and moved here to Hawaii. He died from cancer alone and in pain. I only saw him twice because he divorced my grandmother on my mom's side....but from what I did see, I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

What's sick is that Japan "glazes" over their textbooks about the war and the events there. Japan and the U.S. is guilty in my eyes.

You got to remember that Japan was a warrior-nation...down to the last man and all. But the allies helped bring Japan back from the war and my theory is that Japan's mentality was gratitude.

I'm still pretty pissed that I had to see my gramps that way, albeit I didn't know him that well.

[muxec]

It's better, when new generation of Japnese people thinks that nothing serious happened in Hirosima, than people thinking on avenge and strikeback. Japanese dictature was destroyed by A-bomb and maybe these bombs prevented more civilian cassaulties, than these bombs inflicted.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Online references on Japanese history (other than in Japanese) are pretty limited, so I don't.

I'll try to remember the book it came from, and see if I can find the reference to it. I've got almost all of my Japanese history stuff here, although some of it is in Japanese.

[Drake Tungsten]

Don't go to too much trouble, MtG. I'm sure I can track down some information on my own; I just need to hit the library and track down some more detalied texts on early European contacts with Japan.

Unfortunately, the books I have at home seem to gloss over the early contacts and dive right into the later Jesuit-Franciscan rivalry and the attempts by the English and Dutch to portray the Spanish as a threat. That might explain why I've never heard of this event, although it's still disturbing to not know about Spanish conquistadors landing in Kyushu. Oh well, at least I'll have something to read once I finish this Welsh history.

[Cruddy]

This is a problem not confined to Japan.

Many children today grow up learning not through school, but through movies.

And the movies about war, with one or two exceptions, do not show it in all its horror.

One ritual I do genuinely love my country for is rememberance day. We remember - as best we can - those who have suffered and died, in all wars and on all sides.

Far more enlightening that watching "The sands of Iwo Jima".

[Q Classic]

that is one thing...

i haven't actually been to hiroshima on peace day, but from some of the things i've heard, it's started to take on a festival-type atmosphere... with very little of the somberness that should accompany what ought to be commemorated that day.

that's what i fear will happen to our new "patriot's day"... which is a godawful name anyway.

[Imran Siddiqui]

And the movies about war, with one or two exceptions, do not show it in all its horror.

Which is why I think it was good for people to see the first half-hour of Saving Private Ryan, for the horror of it... and even that was tamed down.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Frankychan
What's sick is that Japan "glazes" over their textbooks about the war and the events there. Japan and the U.S. is guilty in my eyes.

Yup. The high school textbooks are being constantly revised, each time with even more whitewashing.

This is one of the three events that anger its Asian neighbours the most.

[Frankychan]

I wouldn't be surprised if the people in Manchuria/Manchukuo are flaming mad. Although I do know that Korea is mighty angry. I've seen protests by the Korean "comfort women". Pretty messed up stuff right there...

[MichaeltheGreat]

The Omaha Beach Charlie/Dog sector landings weren't "typical" combat situations at all. Assault troops in the 116th Regiment and 2nd Rangers (plus 16th Regiment in Easy and Fox sectors) knew they were going into a world of ****, they just didn't know quite how much. Regular combat was a whole lot more unpredictable and variable in intensity, so over time, it tended to be worse.

No movie can ever give anything like the sense of drawn-out boredom, the sudden adrenalin/fear of unplanned contact, the smell and skin-crawling feel of your own funk, etc.

It's something that really can't be conveyed to those who aren't there, unless it's a mass experience and you encounter those people live, after the fact, on a regular basis.