Rebutting the critics 1
Accusations have come from various quarters and they may be summarised into 3 main themes; anti-Japanese , rightwing Chinese chauvinist and anti-American. These accusations will be rebutted in 3 seperate posts (rather than emails)
Anti-Japanese?
To be frank, the author has nothing against the Japanese people and likes Japanese anime, pop and food like most younger Asians. It is the Japanese government's persistence in ignoring historical facts and disrespecting its Asian neighbours that's disturbing. Some schoolmates will probably remember the relative disaster of the Japanese language exchange programme ; everything was fine till history class when WWII was the topic and the Japanese students were convinced that everyone was learning the wrong history and only they knew the historical truth- it was traumatising both for the Japanese and local students. Even more disturbing is that tinkering with history means this inaccurate view of history is propagated amongst the young and they will continue with the inaccuracies even as the last survivors of the war die and history becomes a mere record. The biggest question for the moment is if Japan is not even ready to come clean about its past 60 years after the end of WWII , is it really ready for greater responsibilities as a permanent member of the UN security council - is there a guarantee that if it screws up, it won't whitewash history again?
Anti-Japanese?
To be frank, the author has nothing against the Japanese people and likes Japanese anime, pop and food like most younger Asians. It is the Japanese government's persistence in ignoring historical facts and disrespecting its Asian neighbours that's disturbing. Some schoolmates will probably remember the relative disaster of the Japanese language exchange programme ; everything was fine till history class when WWII was the topic and the Japanese students were convinced that everyone was learning the wrong history and only they knew the historical truth- it was traumatising both for the Japanese and local students. Even more disturbing is that tinkering with history means this inaccurate view of history is propagated amongst the young and they will continue with the inaccuracies even as the last survivors of the war die and history becomes a mere record. The biggest question for the moment is if Japan is not even ready to come clean about its past 60 years after the end of WWII , is it really ready for greater responsibilities as a permanent member of the UN security council - is there a guarantee that if it screws up, it won't whitewash history again?
posted by jy at 9:26 PM
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