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gaijinalways · Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 2279

We're splitting hairs guys here, sorry I don't have more time to clarify.

cafebleu · Joined: 10 Feb 2003 Posts: 404

I know you parade your ignorance as virtues here on the eslcafe Markle, but even you need to know when to stop doing it. If you can't back up assertions, then fall back.

One of the worst aspects of US policy in the world currently is the way in which it abandons those who live or lived under its rule or administration in conjunction with the powers it establishes or supports. Iraqi people wishing to flee Iraq have found the US doors locked and bolted for the most, there are numerous other instances I could cite.

Britain gave the right of residency to a significant number of its former colonial citizens for a start. As a white looking Brit with some Indian ancestry I know enough about the regulations governing Britain's attitude to residents of its former colonies.

Now, let's see if your equation with Japan's empire doesn't work again, the way it didn't with the Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia examples.

Japan has never allowed Koreans who served in its armies and Koreans who were forced to change their names and learn Japanese under its rule, the right to settle in Japan. Those who are there are the families of Koreans brought as slave labour to Japan. Their status is insecure, they are always reminded they are not Japanese - even those whose parents were born in Japan.

And if Japan had won the war, would it have embraced parliamentary democracy and fostered a system with opposition parties etc? I don't think even you are silly enough to assert that. It would have imposed a copy of its militaristic authoritarian heirarchies etc.

Britain's militarism was not the be all and end all of its empire. Again - the enduring revulsion of Asian peoples (not only in the countries I mentioned) tells you enough of their knowledge that you cannot equate Britain's and Japan's empires.

womblingfree · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 826

SeasonedVet · Joined: 28 Aug 2006 Posts: 236 Location: Japan

cafebleu wrote:

jotham · Joined: 05 Jul 2007 Posts: 77

markle · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 1316 Location: Out of Japan

bleu,
Well there are so many ways I could respond and on so many fronts that well it's boring. You have the blinkers on so tightly, your antipathy to Japanese society so ingrained that I really have to remind myself that there is little point arguing with you. I'll leave that to others.

markle · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 1316 Location: Out of Japan

cafebleu · Joined: 10 Feb 2003 Posts: 404

Thank you for opting out Markle! It's nice of you to acknowledge that you can't compete in the debate and discussion albeit with a veneer of an excuse.

Sorry, forget who wrote it, but your taking the issue with the word 'bestow' as some kind of conscious or unconcious colonialism misses the point.

I used that word deliberately because that is what empire building does - from its position of power that it has reached through militaristic means it 'bestows' favours as it sees fit upon the captive population. As an Anglo Indian with a few other things thrown in (though I look like an archetypal white Brit) I understand more about the former British Empire's colonial history in India.

Nevertheless, some exercising of authority in empire is far more palatable than others, Britain by contrast to Japan being a major example, including residency rights, etc.

markle · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 1316 Location: Out of Japan