why is Japan the lack of nationalism

[caster51]

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20080730a1.html
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=5450


Nationalism isn't an issue in Japan

By ROBERT DUJARRIC
Special to The Japan Times

As Japan renews its claim on Takeshima (Dokdo to Koreans) and prepares to mark the Aug. 15 anniversary of the end of the Great East Asia War, we can expect more Asians — and some Americans — to warn against the dangers of rising Japanese nationalism. What is striking, however, is the absence of nationalism in Japan compared to its Chinese and Korean neighbors and its American ally.

Regardless of the metric used, Japan scores very low on nationalism. Its investment in its armed forces as a percentage of national income is small, especially for a country living in close range of two potential war zones (the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan).

Moreover, in the past two decades the offensive capabilities of North Korea against Japan, namely its ballistic missiles and nuclear program, have grown significantly.

China, another potential adversary for Japan, clearly has a much stronger military than 20 years ago. But Japan continues to keep its military investment at around 1 percent of national income (perhaps a little more if other expenses are included).

The phenomenal waste in Japanese procurement programs also shows that the military budget is as much a funding mechanism for Japanese businesses as a tool to build up a strong military.

Moreover, when it comes to dealing with the outside world, Japanese diplomats are as unlikely as those of the Holy See to resort to threats of force. There are no John Boltons in the Japanese Foreign Ministry. This peaceful, low profile reflects a basic fact often ignored by outsiders: Japanese voters favor candidates who care about bread and butter issues over those whose concern is Japan's greatness and military might.

The origins of this phenomenon are that Japan, unlike other players in the region, tests negative on risk factors for aggressive nationalism.

Nationalism often arises out of a sense of national victimization. A major cause of Chinese and Korean nationalism is a belief that foreigners preyed upon and humiliated their countries. As a result, many Chinese and Koreans want to see no insult to their national dignity go unpunished, however insignificant.

A case in point is South Korea's quixotic campaign to rename the Sea of Japan the East Sea. In Japan's case, however, there is no sense of victimhood. Yes, Japanese either experienced or know about U.S. terror bombings during the war. But, with a few exceptions, this pushes them toward pacifism. It fuels their contempt for the Japanese militarists who led the nation on a war that destroyed the country. It may also make them dislike the alliance with America, but it does not make Japanese long for a new Imperial Japan armed to the teeth ready to conquer lost territories.

Another foundation of nationalism is a belief that one's country has a destiny to lead the world, or at least its region. This helps explain the support of Americans for military intervention and the conquests of Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. Though Chinese nationalism lacks the universalistic ambitions of America's, many Chinese think that history gave China a right to regional primacy.

In Japan, however, there is none of the messianic urge found in Western cultures. Nor do Japanese have the same sense of civilizational and historical greatness that is common in China.

There are also domestic factors that energize nationalism. One is fear for the country's territorial integrity and/or a belief that there are still unredeemed provinces. In the Chinese case, anxiety about Tibet, Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan), and Inner Mongolia fuel Han nationalism. Moreover, for most Chinese, Taiwan is a Chinese island that must be brought back into the motherland.

In the Korean case, national division can only encourage nationalism, even though South Koreans are lukewarm toward actual unification. Memories of Japanese aggression in both nations also generate a nationalist reaction in China and Korea. In Japan, however, there is no domestic separatism to be afraid of. And, despite the pro forma Japanese claims on the Northern Territories and Takeshima, few Japanese care about them.

A second domestic issue is nationalism as an alternative tool to confront the government. In autocratic China, nationalism is an indirect way to oppose the ruling party. When demonstrators throw rocks at the U.S. embassy or attack Japanese diplomats, they are also criticizing their rulers for being weak-kneed. Moreover, simply by marching through the streets, or gathering virtually on the Internet, they demonstrate to the Communist Party that the people can mobilize on their own.

Though South Korea is now a liberal democracy, many of its leftwing nationalists came of age when anti-American (or anti-Japanese) nationalism was fused with the fight against the military regime. Japan, however, has been a free society for well half a century, if its citizens are unhappy they simply go to a voting booth rather than seek alternative forms of mobilization.

Japanese society may have problems but nationalism is not one of them.

why are Japan getting the lack of nationalism?

Btw
石平 became a Japanese citizen
http://chomon-ryojiro.iza.ne.jp/blog/entry/487242/
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7...96%E5%AE%B6%29

He complained about the procedure of that.

Japan is lacked about the national focus.
It is a natural conclusion for me because
I have adored to wonderful of the Japanese culture and ppls

First of all, I went to Ise Jingu Shrine to report it to amaterasu
This was an important rite of passage.
There is another one reason why I visited to a shrine
I was never asked the meaning of becoming the Japanese citizen
It was only asked a steady income ,previous offense and zainichi years
An important question that they should ask those why do you want to become a Japanese or what do you think of imperial household and the traditional culture ...............There is no important question that they should ask those who apply for the foreigner naturalization at all.

There is not Kimigayo.
There is not the Japanese flag.
There was not the ceremony to promise the loyalty to Japan, too.
I felt it like joining the consumption association somewhere or the credit card

Where is dignity as the Japan nation?
Japan is lacked about the national focus.
Only Japan lacks though it is the most important one for a country
all over the world .
However, it doesn't seem to be good
How should Japan and the Japanese people regain an important soul as an important national focus and the race?

I of the new face person want also to think seriously as a Japanese.

Are there the ceremony to promise the loyalty to a nation in other country?

[Drew-san]

Are you saying you want the Japanese to become nationalists?

[caster51]

Are you saying you want the Japanese to become nationalists?
why not?:wave:
why are there lack of real nationalists?
however,I think neither excellent blood nor the race make a nation strong..
high morality and supreme mind make it.

[Drew-san]

Well Nationalism leads to wars and the thought of nationalistic superiority. Which I can't see why anyone would want. I am quite glad that Japan is lacking nationalists.

[Emoni]

Lack?! I would only hope so! I've seen nationalist sentiment in all facets of Japan today, politics (although it has improved a bit the last year), social systems, the news, and even comments by Japanese students. Nationalism is short sited, self-focused, and an aggressive belief in how great one's self is. It is about the last thing a global international society needs and Drew has already explained why.

Nothing wrong with taking care of your country and working towards becoming the best possible that you can. There is a problem when you base your belief that you ARE the best already, and that is the core of nationalism, and that is what leads to wars, racism, blind actions, and some of the worst actions possible; an almost religious fervor that throws your country at the top of the world with some sort of divine right. Sound familiar?

[Uncle Frank]

Astroboy took all of it to share with us on JREF!!

Uncle Frank

:blush:

[anomouse]

It's all relative. Compared with China, Korea, America, Japan's nationalism is less.

Now, how many times have I heard hilarious people say America is the greatest country in the world????

You choose to call your own nationalism patriotism, and someone else's is nationalism... Whatever.

[KirinMan]

Let's try to remember the difference between patriotism and nationalism Caster.

I dont think anyone has a problem with patriotism, but nationalism has a tendency to breed larger problems both within and outside the country.

History has many lessons that will testify to that fact. Including Japan's own history as well.

[Uncle Frank]

It seems the ability to do evil things to or to hate others is made easier if you believe you(or your country) are so much more superior to them.

Uncle Frank

:evil: :(

[Nall-ohki]

Now, how many times have I heard hilarious people say America is the greatest country in the world????


Just because someone has the biggest megaphone, doesn't mean more people believe in what they say.

America has a big voice, but always temper what you think people believe with an availability bias.

[Emoni]

Let's try to remember the difference between patriotism and nationalism Caster.

Good point... but I've seen a lot of damage from both.

[anomouse]

Just because someone has the biggest megaphone, doesn't mean more people believe in what they say.
America has a big voice, but always temper what you think people believe with an availability bias.
I'm not saying everyone, but it's not just SOMEONE, this view is common enough that it is almost like a cliche. Just Google "America is the greatest country in the world."


Yes, many Japanese love Japan, but how many Japanese say Japan is the greatest country in the world? Very few.

[noyhauser]

why not?:wave:
why are there lack of real nationalists?
however,I think neither excellent blood nor the race make a nation strong..
high morality and supreme mind make it.

Why not? Because for some reason Japanese nationalists have a hard time being anything close to professing a healthy pride in their country. One of the core issues for nationalists seems to be intent on erasing any culpability whatsoever for past transgressions; Nanking, the Co-Prosperity Sphere and Comfort women being some of the most outstanding examples. More worryingly, nationalists don't attempt to engage in reasonable debate; they have been known to use coercion to silence opponents. The Following is an a Washington Post article by Steve Clemons (http://www.newamerica.net/publications/articles/2006/the_rise_of_japan_s_thought_police) that describes the rise of this disturbing behavior.

The Rise of Japan’s Thought Police
By Steven Clemons, New America Foundation
The Washington Post | August 27, 2006

Anywhere else, it might have played out as just another low-stakes battle between policy wonks. But in Japan, a country struggling to find a brand of nationalism that it can embrace, a recent war of words between a flamboyant newspaper editorialist and an editor at a premier foreign-policy think tank was something far more alarming: the latest assault in a campaign of right-wing intimidation of public figures that is squelching free speech and threatening to roll back civil society.

On Aug. 12, Yoshihisa Komori -- a Washington-based editorialist for the ultra-conservative Sankei Shimbun newspaper -- attacked an article by Masaru Tamamoto, the editor of Commentary, an online journal run by the Japan Institute of International Affairs. The article expressed concern about the emergence of Japan’s strident, new "hawkish nationalism," exemplified by anti-China fear-mongering and official visits to a shrine honoring Japan’s war dead. Komori branded the piece "anti-Japanese," and assailed the mainstream author as an "extreme leftist intellectual."

But he didn’t stop there. Komori demanded that the institute’s president, Yukio Satoh, apologize for using taxpayer money to support a writer who dared to question Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s annual visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, in defiance of Chinese protests that it honors war criminals from World War II.

Remarkably, Satoh complied. Within 24 hours, he had shut down Commentary and withdrawn all of the past content on the site -- including his own statement that it should be a place for candid discourse on Japan’s foreign-policy and national-identity challenges. Satoh also sent a letter last week to the Sankei editorial board asking for forgiveness and promising a complete overhaul of Commentary’s editorial management.
The capitulation was breathtaking. But in the political atmosphere that has overtaken Japan, it’s not surprising. Emboldened by the recent rise in nationalism, an increasingly militant group of extreme right-wing activists who yearn for a return to 1930s-style militarism, emperor-worship and "thought control" have begun to move into more mainstream circles -- and to attack those who don’t see things their way.

Just last week, one of those extremists burned down the parental home of onetime prime ministerial candidate Koichi Kato, who had criticized Koizumi’s decision to visit Yasukuni this year. Several years ago, the home of Fuji Xerox chief executive and Chairman Yotaro "Tony" Kobayashi was targeted by handmade firebombs after he, too, voiced the opinion that Koizumi should stop visiting Yasukuni. The bombs were dismantled, but Kobayashi continued to receive death threats. The pressure had its effect. The large business federation that he helps lead has withdrawn its criticism of Koizumi’s hawkishness toward China and his visits to Yasukuni, and Kobayashi now travels with bodyguards.In 2003, then-Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Hitoshi Tanaka discovered a time bomb in his home. He was targeted for allegedly being soft on North Korea. Afterward, conservative Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara contended in a speech that Tanaka "had it coming."

Another instance of free-thinking-meets-intimidation involved Sumiko Iwao, an internationally respected professor emeritus at Keio University. Right-wing activists threatened her last February after she published an article suggesting that much of Japan is ready to endorse female succession in the imperial line; she issued a retraction and is now reportedly lying low.
Such extremism raises disturbing echoes of the past. In May 1932, Japanese Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai was assassinated by a group of right-wing activists who opposed his recognition of Chinese sovereignty over Manchuria and his staunch defense of parliamentary democracy. In the post-World War II era, right-wing fanatics have largely lurked in the shadows, but have occasionally threatened those who veer too close to or speak too openly about sensitive topics concerning Japan’s national identity, war responsibility or imperial system.

What’s alarming and significant about today’s intimidation by the right is that it’s working -- and that it has found some mutualism in the media. Sankei’s Komori has no direct connection to those guilty of the most recent acts, but he’s not unaware that his words frequently animate them -- and that their actions in turn lend fear-fueled power to his pronouncements, helping them silence debate. What’s worse, neither Japan’s current prime minister nor Shinzo Abe, the man likely to succeed him in next month’s elections, has said anything to denounce those trying to stifle the free speech of Japan’s leading moderates.

There are many more cases of intimidation. I have spoken to dozens of Japan’s top academics, journalists and government civil servants in the past few days; many of them pleaded with me not to disclose this or that incident because they feared violence and harassment from the right. One top political commentator in Japan wrote to me: "I know the right-wingers are monitoring what I write and waiting to give me further trouble. I simply don’t want to waste my time or energy for these people."
Japan needs nationalism. But it needs a healthy nationalism -- not the hawkish, strident variety that is lately forcing many of the country’s best lights to dim their views.

I'm not saying that Nationalism in other countries is a good thing. However most countries nationalisms have a healthy balance between moderates and those extremes. Nationalism in Japan seems qualitatively different. You have a body politic which seems fairly proud and self assured about the government, but rather not assert it in a major way. Then there are the "nationalists" which may represent 10 to 30% of the population which hold these extremist views. Thats why Japanese nationalism is a problematic issue today.

[Goldiegirl]

I ran into Japanese nationalism....in front of the little dog statue in Tokyo. They were screaming and ranting about us "evil" gaijin and to keep Japan for the Japanese. I had a screaming fanatic in my face and I was truly scared. My husband saw that I was cornered and he rescued me. It was really frightening and I just couldn't believe that could happen. My husband doesn't like to remember that incident and says it's best not to talk of it as it hurt my feelings. I tell him that if he and his fellow country men don't stand up to that nonsense they are basically agreeing with it. Of course he looks at me and says it shouldn't bother me because I am not gaijin, I am his wife! DOH!

[Emoni]

Noyhauser and Goldiegirl's posts are what I think of when I hear the word nationalism and Japan. That and Pre-WWII Japan. Nationalism is a dangerous and extreme focus of self-centered behavior and statements with total disregard to international factors. I have seen no good from the form of "nationalism" I have seen in Japan. If anything extreme nationalism, especially in government in the sense that exists now, needs to be removed entirely if Japan has any hope of remaining on the world stage in East Asia in 20 years against neighbors like China.

[caster51]

if Japan has any hope of remaining on the world stage in East Asia in 20 years against neighbors like China
I think it is not needed an enemy for the Japanese nationalism.
US always needs and looks for an enemy　to unite.
so do china and korea...
at least, Japan should have a nationalism that the country of Japan defends by the Japanese.
it is called an extremist?
Then there are the "nationalists" which may represent 10 to 30% of the population which hold these extremist views. Thats why Japanese nationalism is a problematic issue today.
I dont know what these extremist views are..
please explain it?

[AroundTheWorld]

I think that the nationalistic sentiment in Japan is very strong at times, but too many young Japanese are becoming westernized or at least less active in promoting and encouraging the positive aspects of their culture.

[Emoni]

Japan should have a nationalism that the country of Japan defends by the Japanese.


... against what? What does nationalism have to do with defense? I've often found nationalists shouting all sorts of claims about how Japan and the Japanese are under attack from just about any exaggerated minor news report.

[caster51]

... against what?
:blush:

it is not needed an enemy for the Japanese nationalism.

it may happen suddenly..
so are every countries

how Japan and the Japanese are under attack from just about any exaggerated minor news report

to prepare at all times is important ..
is not it common sence?

[noyhauser]

to prepare is important..
is not it common sence?

No the way you are going about it is not common sense. Here are some of the key aspects of unhealthy japanese nationalism. I would say that a person who holds a combination of several of these points would be considered a Japanese nationalist;


Downplaying the brutality of Japan's role in the Occupation of China from 1937 to 1945.
Ignoring the culpability of Japan in launching the 1941~1945 Pacific War.
Ignoring the inhumane treatment of prisoners of war and captured civilians between 1941 and 1945.
Promoting the revision of textbooks to ignore these massacres.
Promoting visits to the Yasukuni Shrine
Openly calling for remilitarization of the Japanese military.
Repeal of Article 9, without any new clauses added.
Openly calling for Japan to arm itself with Nuclear Weapons
Calling on the government to adopt a more forceful policy vs South Korea and China.
Overt racism towards any non-Japanese individual.


:blush:
it may happen suddenly..


Against who? Seriously, answer the question.

[Emoni]

... against what?

it is not needed an enemy for the Japanese nationalism.


Bull

Um, you want to back this statement up? Picking enemies and declaring your nation superior is almost the very foundation of nationalist behavior and every time Japan took a nationalist stance they did this with Korea, China, the US even minorities in their own country such as the burakumin and Ainu. Did you miss those years in history class or did you get the "modified versions" of the books that tend to gloss over those parts. You know... the more nationalistic versions?

I highly recommend you check any history book before making claims and imply that Japan is somehow special that it can be nationalistic without enemies. Every nationalist rant is bitching about some other country's vile effect on the constructed and racist idea of purity of Japan. Go to Shibuya, go to Yasukuni, or any nationalistic location that has raving lunatics outside shouting about something as if they are in the know and have done actual study.

Noyhauser has listed a good set of examples already. Now it is time to back up the statements you are making and answer Caster.

[GodEmperorLeto]

This is getting on my nerves.

Firstly:
Nationalism often arises out of a sense of national victimization. A major cause of Chinese and Korean nationalism is a belief that foreigners preyed upon and humiliated their countries.

I'm in South Korea right now and I'll tell you this: individual Koreans can be (and often are) pretty nice, but the society as a whole hates everybody else. The Japanese and Americans are believed to be more of a threat to the Koreans than the North. And this abject stupidity over Dokdo/Takeshima, a pile of rocks that doesn't even constitute as an island, is just fueling the fires.

I encountered Koreans in the United States, and swiftly realized that they were, as a whole, less friendly than the Japanese visitors, and less interested in meeting Americans. Whereas Japanese students wanted to meet American students, hang out, and enjoy some of American culture, the Korean students all hung out together and basically isolated themselves away from every other nationality. Historically speaking, they seem to have the sentiment that they're a dog that's been kicked one too many times by one too many different people, and now the U.S. is the latest foreign power that's come to rule their lands. I've actually met students that believe the Korean War was fought between Korea and the U.S., and that Korea lost and was conquered by America, and have no idea that the country had been divided beforehand.

Compared to them, the Japanese are calm and serene when it comes to nationalism, even with such wonderful phenomena as Nihonjinron.

Nationalism and patriotism are two markedly different things, this is true. Patriotism is the desire to lay your life down for your country. Nationalism is the desire to lay down your life for your government. There's a difference--subtle but important.

Downplaying the brutality of Japan's role in the Occupation of China from 1937 to 1945.
Ignoring the culpability of Japan in launching the 1941~1945 Pacific War.
Ignoring the inhumane treatment of prisoners of war and captured civilians between 1941 and 1945.
Promoting the revision of textbooks to ignore these massacres.
Promoting visits to the Yasukuni Shrine
Openly calling for remilitarization of the Japanese military.
Repeal of Article 9, without any new clauses added.
Openly calling for Japan to arm itself with Nuclear Weapons
Calling on the government to adopt a more forceful policy vs South Korea and China.
Overt racism towards any non-Japanese individual.
Alright, a lot of this is not Japan, but the Japanese government and uyoku that do this. I've met plenty of people from Japan who could have cared less about some of these issues, and were more worried about making it to work on time. And yeah, the Yasukuni Shrine has war criminals. Well, so does every single military semitary on earth. Every monument to war enshrines war criminals. Anyone naive to believe that a war can be fought without at least some instances of military atrocities being committed by members of both sides needs their head examined.

This is like blaming every American for the Patriot Act, or behaving like everyone in the U.S. voted for Bush. It's asinine. Yeah, there are people in Japan who do this. The shame culture there is powerful, and that generates a lot of this mentality. This is something that many western cultures don't have. Instead we have guilt, which is internally motivated, not socially. Hence, the Japanese who deny these aspects of their culture do so not out of guilt, but shame from what the rest of the world thinks. The shame of the government leads them to rewrite their textbooks and omit things or skew facts. In contrast, guilt has led many U.S. states to include chapters on anti-Native American atrocities perpetrated by European settlers and the American government. The difference is noteworthy as an indicator of what motivates these textbook curricula.

Anyway, I'm not surprised that Japan exhibits less nationalism than many of their neighbors. They renounced war back in 1945-6. Many Japanese intend to stick to that renunciation, despite those who would pressure to remilitarize. The Japanese people run the gamut. The one thing that would be surprising to Americans is the tendency to "not rock the boat;" hence Goldiegirl's disappointment at how her husband and other Japanese refuse to stand up and shout down the bigots and ultra-right-wingers. Western society doesn't have a concept of wa like Confucian cultures do, for good or for ill.

[noyhauser]

Alright, a lot of this is not Japan, but the Japanese government and uyoku that do this.

Please point out in my posts where I claimed that is representative of all Japanese? Actually I've been fairly careful NOT to say that by prefacing with the list by describing them "key aspects of unhealthy japanese nationalism" which I had earlier stated constitutes somewhere between 10% to 30% of the population, depending on what you poll for.


I've met plenty of people from Japan who could have cared less about some of these issues, and were more worried about making it to work on time. And yeah, the Yasukuni Shrine has war criminals. Well, so does every single military semitary on earth. Every monument to war enshrines war criminals. Anyone naive to believe that a war can be fought without at least some instances of military atrocities being committed by members of both sides needs their head examined.

A poor attempt at moral relativity. Yasukuni isn't just another shrine and many Japanese are well aware of its symbolic nature. In December 2002 a special government panel recommended a new shrine be built, that would hopefully get away from the legacy of Yasukuni. It was rejected. Some ultranationalists visit the site purely because they see it as a symbol of what was right with Japan in the past. Its part and parcel of the ideology they hold. Many come just to revere the 14 Class-A criminals, and in particular Hideki Tojo. Its precisely because Yasukuni is a symbol of this kind, that it is a problem for Japan.

Oh also note that Germany has been very careful to avoid having any memorial linking it to its War criminals. Former Nazi party sites like the eagles nest in Bavaria were torn down, and the Furher Bunker in Berlin was not marked for fear people might make it a place of worship.


This is like blaming every American for the Patriot Act, or behaving like everyone in the U.S. voted for Bush. It's asinine.

Yeah, its kinda like misreading two posts and then making a strawman out of that person.

[GodEmperorLeto]

Please point out in my posts where I claimed that is representative of all Japanese?

Actually, you misunderstood me. I was actually supporting your point by clarifying and adding my two cents on this:
I would say that a person who holds a combination of several of these points would be considered a Japanese nationalist

Uyoku are definitely nationalists, and the government still does things that smack of nationalism on occasion. Sorry if you thought I was bashing you, per se.

As for the strawman, however, well, perhaps it is. It doesn't change the fact that Japan committed atrocities. But personally, I'm sick and tired of hearing about it. Japanese prime minster after prime minister has issued apology after apology to S. Korea and China for all kinds of things done.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan

Aside from the tampering with textbooks, honestly, the Chinese and S. Koreans want the proverbial "pound of flesh" and won't be happy until Japan bends over and kisses its own collective tush.

That statement about war crimes isn't morally relativistic. It is a dose of reality. Read, sometime, about what Sherman did to South Carolina (worse than the March of the Sea), or how the citizens of the Shenandoah Valley were left with "nothing but their eyes to weep with" by Union forces. Or about how the English massacred French towns during the Hundred Years War. You've most likely never had to live through a siege, as a defender or attacker. It isn't about moral relativity, it's about reality. These things happen, are incredibly difficult to prevent sometimes, and do occasionally contribute to wars being won. And yes, if you win, what you did to win all-of-a-sudden isn't quite as important as what the other guy did while he was losing.

[noyhauser]

As for the strawman, however, well, perhaps it is. It doesn't change the fact that Japan committed atrocities. But personally, I'm sick and tired of hearing about it. Japanese prime minster after prime minister has issued apology after apology to S. Korea and China for all kinds of things done.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan

Aside from the tampering with textbooks, honestly, the Chinese and S. Koreans want the proverbial "pound of flesh" and won't be happy until Japan bends over and kisses its own collective tush.

I might take such a claim with credibility if it wasn't for the consistent policy of the Japanese government and a significant body of the populace to redact its ugly role in history. Tampering of textbooks isn't also a "minor problem." It ensures that the future generations will also perpetrate this false history, which will only further inflame the animosity between these countries. This doesn't happen in Germany, there is understanding of the brutality of the country's role. Maybe even too much. However there is a disturbing lack of knowledge about Japan's culpability in history, which can lead to some dangerous outcomes. While today a large segment of the population supports the pacifist constitution, it is unhinged from a deeper understanding of Japan's role in prior conflict. Change these fundamentals, and later generations will not be as vehement in their opposition the use of force to achieve issues in national interest.

This is not to say that I don't think some of the changes to the Japanese perspectives on the use of force are bad. I think Japan's reemergence as a "normal power" is a good thing, as are tempered and based on a balanced understanding on the use of force. I think some of the reforms pursued between 2000 and 2004 were very good steps in that direction. However what some ultra nationalists want go far beyond that, including the rearmament of nuclear weapons.

That statement about war crimes isn't morally relativistic. It is a dose of reality. Read, sometime, about what Sherman did to South Carolina (worse than the March of the Sea), or how the citizens of the Shenandoah Valley were left with "nothing but their eyes to weep with" by Union forces. Or about how the English massacred French towns during the Hundred Years War. You've most likely never had to live through a siege, as a defender or attacker.

First, don't be so sure I don't understand the cost of war. I think you'd rather me not go down that path.

Instead, I should say that I can appreciate how proper place of war and the treatment of civilians has changed over the past 2000 years. The Second World War was qualitative different. First off, atrocities and total war wasn't really the problem. Bombing of civilians was seen as acceptable since they were part of the war effort; they were considered legitimate targets by the moral standards of the day. The same could be said of Sherman's scorched earth policy in the second Valley Campaign. Though deplorable and criticized, it was not exceptional in the times either. Parallels can be drawn to Bismarck's bombardment of Paris in December 1870. Though the Prussian army frowned upon Sherman's methods, they ultimately felt forced to carry them out in order to end the war. There were no sanctions on these activities because they were seen as acceptable. There were real limitations on certain aspects of war, the St. Petersberg, Hague and Geneva Conventions which prohibited some activities. But total war strategies was not prohibited or seen as unacceptable.

However the policies followed by the Japanese and German government during World War II were on a level unparalleled and unacceptable; The wonton extermination of a whole group of individuals, Chinese and Jews. It was clear these policies were unacceptable; The 1915 Declaration on the Armenian genocide made it patently clear that such acts were considered illegal and the 1928 Geneva convention outlawed the use of chemical and biological weapons. Yet the axis powers practiced these acts between 1937 to 45. This the reason why in 1947 the Genocide convention was signed, and a whole class of individuals were brought to trial for "crimes against humanity."

The problematic aspect of this issue and how it relates with modern Japan is that none of this really matters. What you have is a significant part of the populace which seeks to whitewash this issue, to achieve a decisive political end; increase support for remilitarization. We can argue the semantics of what is lawful and just, but thats the hard underlying truth in this situation, and its effects are critical for how Japanese security policy will be shaped in the future.

Moreover as I pointed out in my first post, there are dangerous tendencies in the Japanese culture that make this a worrying trend. Steve Clemons' article should give pause to any reader. He's by no means a "Japan basher" but raises an important point: coercion is practiced to brow beat people into achieving cultural harmony. Its a worrying trend, and letting it go unnoticed because "you're tired of hearing of it" seems crass.

[pipokun]

...

Overt racism towards any non-Japanese individual



So please enlighten me on the reason(s) why no hate crime is in Japan.

Oath of citizenship (Canada)
I swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_citizenship_(Canada)

It is just ridiculous to say Canada is a super nationalistic county where you have to state the oath when you want to be a citizen.
But when Japan will require the similar immigration scheme in the future (near future, hopefully, for fairer and more transparent procedures), I bet tons of another noyhauser will come here to say "Japan, super nationalism again".

What you have is a significant part of the populace which seeks to whitewash this issue, to achieve a decisive political end; increase support for remilitarization.

You surely think I am crazy if if I'd something like "Canada is an ultra-militaristic country because they joined a lot of UN-led peace keeping operations in the past/present".
I don't know why Japan could be militaristic or nationalistic (in terms of this thread) if we exercise the same craziness as your country.

*snip
(I don't support certain craziness of some Japanese activists saying "UN is the super great organization".)

[Goldiegirl]

I think this has been touched on before in other threads...it's ok to have pride in one's country, it's another thing to think you are superior to any other human because they aren't from your country, that they are less, less human, less valuable etc. I get/got the feeling that when I was being shouted at, to keep Japan for the Japanese that I was distinctly less and not being seen as a real person or for that matter an equal human being. THAT was what was truly terrifying. If that is what Japan calls nationalism then they are traveling down a treacherous path....

[pipokun]

...
If that is what Japan calls nationalism then they are traveling down a treacherous path....

No, it was just your personal experience, not nationalism. (of course, I feel sorry for your terrifying experience)

[noyhauser]

So please enlighten me on the reason(s) why no hate crime is in Japan.

If you think racism doesn't exist in Japan you must be kidding. Just because there are no "hate crimes" doesn't mean racism doesn't exist. Violence against foreigners does exist, as does institutional biases. In 2005 the UN rapporteur for human rights directly stated that Racism is endemic within Japanese society, particularly towards people of Chinese and Korean descent. I've seen it with my own eyes in even among my own family.

It is just ridiculous to say Canada is a super nationalistic county where you have to state the oath when you want to be a citizen.
But when Japan will require the similar immigration scheme in the future (near future, hopefully, for fairer and more transparent procedures), I bet tons of another noyhauser will come here to say "Japan, super nationalism again".

You surely think I am crazy if if I'd something like "Canada is an ultra-militaristic country because they joined a lot of UN-led peace keeping operations in the past/present".
I don't know why Japan could be militaristic or nationalistic (in terms of this thread) if we exercise the same craziness as your country.

It might be some help if you actually read what I said, rather than just coming on here and posting the same reflexive pro-Japanese position. I have no problems with "Japanese nationalism," that lauds the achievements of the country, its past and its culture. I'm proud of my own Japanese heritage and my family. In this very thread I stated I think Koizumi's reforms were good and urgently required. I've come on here many times to fight against people who unfairly attack Japan. Here are just two threads of many showing that.

http://www.jref.com/forum/showpost.php?p=235468&postcount=65
http://www.jref.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18973

So you can't claim that I'm just an anti Japanese stooge. However there is nothing at all to be proud about what the "ultra nationalists" are doing. It is a disgusting stain on a proud society. Trying to defend it doesn't make Japan a better place, quite the contrary, it only makes the stain worse.

[pipokun]

If you think racism doesn't exist in Japan you must be kidding. Just because there are no "hate crimes" doesn't mean racism doesn't exist. Violence against foreigners does exist, as does institutional biases.
...

Be more specific and bring here the violence against foreigners out of nationalism.

...
So you can't claim that I'm just an anti Japanese stooge.

It does not mean much to me if you are pro/anti (something), but I just hope you should read the textbook when you start the debate.

*snip
Before the Korean government disclosed its diplomatic documents, the opinions, something like "Japan already paid what we did to Korea", had been assumed as a "ultra-nationalistic" view. But once they did, a great Korean poster here left here. So just keep posting.

[caster51]

China becomes a country that is superior and stronger than Japan, it means the end of the postwar period for Japanese..
Postwar Japan suppressed nationalism by oneself, and the making of public opinion and the education that sat on loathsomeness for the military expansion of the own country have been performed.
because it is not repeated like pre-war by using the strongest standpoint in Asia .
However, a Korean peninsula and nations of Southeast Asia become China the strongest country in Asia, and come to look for the complexion of not Japan but China.It has already entered the state that Japan might not invade Asia again. Japan need not control nationalism and an own militarization.

The situation of this " Datsu(脱） After war" has already started for about
ten years.
Japan may fuel people's nationalisms because , there is no possibility to not the strength to advance.
China and Korea have continued to fuel people's nationalisms enumerating
the country for a long time in postwar days.

I think China today doesn't have the anxiety in the nationalism uplift and the military

the cold war　was already ended
the pro-Beijing faction in the United States has become superior.
China is allowed to gain power...
China did not worry about Japan. Power that already starts controlling Japan from foreign countries doesn't exist.
Japan becomes a situation in which the national strategy is freely decided without hesitance or diffidence even to USA and China.

As for this situation, "Direction feeling to have to follow" is lost oppositely
for the Japanese.
The nationalism of Japan is autistic....





expansion of Japan so much.

[A ke bono kane kotto]

Nationalism is all relative. Here it means knowing the words of the national anthem or actually possessing a national flag (even if you only diplay it once a year at your window). Saying that you love you country is not nationalism in Belgium, it is fanaticism. lol And if you say you are ready to die for your country, people will call the nearest psychiatric hospital and lock you up. ;-)

So Japan is pretty normal by the local standards here.

[gaijinalways]

So Japan is pretty normal by the local standards here.

That's so scary it's almost funny. I think the scarier thing in Japan is the number of right wingers who are in the government. Their influence on the xenophobic policies for immigration (such as return of finger printing, including for permanent residents) over worries about terrorism, when the domestic crime problem is a much bigger one and it is given a blind eye (or not a very consistent look). The only terrorist acts carried out on Japanese soil were by Japanese. I fortunately missed the subway attacks by a couple of months.

Goldiegirl posted If that is what Japan calls nationalism then they are traveling down a treacherous path....

pipokun's response No, it was just your personal experience, not nationalism. (of course, I feel sorry for your terrifying experience)

You don't seem to understand that these demonstrations are fairly common in several areas of Tokyo every weekend. Many Japanese seem very embarassed to talk about them or simply wish these groups would disappear.
A poor economy just tends to encourage these kinds of people, even though the mess is one generated by the Japanese government itself (who is very 'liberal' when granting permission to these groups to go around and creat 'noise 'pollution. Then again, remember that the rural voters get 4 votes, and that the rural areas are the strongholds for a lot of the right wingers, especially in Beppu in Kyushu).