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Leon
Joined: 31 May 2010
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 Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2016 6:05 am Post subject: |
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| Fox wrote: |
I see what you are saying. But are you really the sort of person who concerns himself with the cold, legal technicalities of international law rather than the ethical character of man's conduct? "The Confederacy was a vicious institution whose sina qua non was something we consider damnably cruel and unjust, but international law was less developed back then, and slavery was still "legal and recognized," so it's fine to pay it tribute?" Putting aside the fact that secession was unconstitutional, throwing into question the Confederacy's standing regarding "legal and recognized" behavior, consider two points:
1) The "war crimes" of which the Japanese are accused include "forced labor" and the use of "comfort women." Both of those categories of behavior obviously apply to the Confederate cause as well: forced labor was the very cause for which they fought, and the use of forced laborers as "comfort women" can be demonstrated well enough by the European component in modern African-American genetics. Likewise, while you, if not excuse, at least explain Henry Wirz' actions in terms of economic breakdown, there was likewise an element of economic breakdown at work behind certain Japanese crimes as well.
2) Beyond that, unlike Confederate monuments, the Yasukuni War Shrine isn't exclusively for the dead of World War 2: it's for those who died in service to the Emperor between 1867 and 1951 (I had to look up the dates), and has a religious (rather than "heritage") basis. Expecting the Japanese to modify their religious practices based upon the technicalities of international law seems like an extreme demand. You suggest that a Japanese Prime Minister visiting the shrine is comparable to, "The Governor of Tennessee apologizing for slavery, and then going to Bedford Forrest's grave and throwing a big ceremony," yet there are nearly 2.5 million people honored at the shrine, only a tiny fraction of whom are war criminals, and many of whom were convicted under the "Best Evidence Rule."
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| The main problems arose from how the IMTFE used a method of information collection called "Best Evidence Rule" that allowed simple hearsay with no secondary support to be entered against the accused. The Indian Justice Radha Binod Pal found that due to the significant procedural flaws of the proceedings, that the court was an invalid form of victor's justice. As these problems with the tribunals left much to be argued about convicting the accused, and that the living convicted criminals were all released from prison by 1958 gave many Japanese people a reason to believe that they were not war criminals. Furthermore, Justice Pal's position was that he found all the defendants not guilty of Class A war crimes, even though he condemned the Japanese war-time conduct as "devilish and fiendish". While he fully acknowledged Japan's war atrocities – including the Nanjing massacre – he said they were covered in the Class B and Class C trials. No judge on the court disagreed as to the scale and horrifying nature of the atrocities of the war. |
In other words, the Shrine is the exact opposite of a single criminal's grave: it's a monument to citizens who met certain criteria over the course of nearly a century, interned by religious authorities in accordance with particular criteria.
Beyond that, the government itself doesn't necessarily have authority over whose names are included in the shrine:
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According to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the government had no say in who is enshrined.
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In June 2005, a senior LDP member proposed moving the 14 Class A war criminals to a separate site. Shinto priests refused this proposal, quoting Japan's freedom of religion laws under the Japanese Constitution. |
If anything, the behavior of the Japanese here seems more understandable to me than that of Americans honoring the Confederacy: the Japanese are honoring people who died service to the country, in accordance with their religious beliefs, while the Confederates are honoring rebels who rebelled specifically for the sake of preserving and expanding slavery. Strictly speaking, I'm not "defending" the Japanese here, but rather, am suggesting that if you can find it in yourself to understand and empathize with the descendants of Confederates here, it's confusing that you can't do the same with the Japanese. |
Just a quick comment on why many find Yasakuni offensive. Many find the nearby museum more offensive than the shrine itself due to the museums exercise in revisionist history regarding Japan's wartime acts. I will let Professor Lee explain what I mean.
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On the surface, the Yasukuni compound offers a typical vignette of Japan, with its meticulously maintained gardens and the graceful movements of its Shinto priests. But just a short stroll from the main shrine, the visitor finds a consecration of lies and half-truths that tarnishes Japan’s post-1945 ascendancy: the Yasukuni War Museum.
Here are historical narratives that glorify Japan’s brutal colonization of Korea from 1910 to 1945 and the 1937 invasion of China, which involved the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians. The attack on Pearl Harbor is even presented as contributing to “world peace.”
The museum also houses a memorial to the Indian jurist Radhabinod Pal, who was the sole judge on the postwar International Military Tribunal for the Far East to argue that all the Japanese defendants were not guilty. The message is clear: Japan fought for peace, fell victim to the more powerful Allies, and was served victor’s justice. |
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/07/opinion/abes-profane-pilgrimage.html?_r=0 |
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Neil
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Location: Tokyo
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| Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2016 8:59 pm Post subject: |
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| I wonder if their hasty kiss and make up session was prompted by their intelligence agencies telling them that the fat man in Pyeongyang was planning a big new years surprise. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 6:52 am Post subject: |
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| Neil wrote: |
| I wonder if their hasty kiss and make up session was prompted by their intelligence agencies telling them that the fat man in Pyeongyang was planning a big new years surprise. |
Overall, I don't get the impression that the South Koreans are much concerned about strengthening their friendship with Japan as a bulwark against the North. And, in any case, provocative actions by the DPRK are not exactly a rarity, so, I doubt that this alleged H-Bomb test would be any sort of game-changer, especially on an unrelated issue like the comfort-women. |
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maximmm
Joined: 01 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 12:52 pm Post subject: |
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This is why anytime I see in the news how US is once again accusing some nation of committing a war crime - I laugh.
Not just because US is the biggest 'war criminal' there is, but also because the idea that in all the bombing/murdering/raping that occurs during war, there is a law stating how all of that bombing/murdering/raping should be conducted is ridiculous at best. |
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