Japan conducted experiments on Filipinos during WW2

[oldblue]

Treasures of Asia?

That's just a drop in the pond compared to the billions of dollars that the Americans pumped into Japan's economy after the war.

Not to mention the Japanese's inherent discipline and nationalism that spurred their economic miracle.

hehehe ... i like to believe otherwise. after all, in those times naman, the world based their wealth/economy on gold.

it's like west berlin, east berlin. both conquerors became instant superpowers after the war. the germans must have collected a lot. i believe they reached as far as Africa, Egypt in particular.

[explorer]

I do agree for the most part. But, it does bother me that Japanese schools are omitting a lot of WW2 atrocities by Japan, making it look like they were merely victims during that war.

i've been to WW2 museum in hiroshima and the japanese presentation in that museum didn't admit any mistake made by their leaders. all the blames were pointed to the americans and they projected themselves as victims.

[explorer]

At least in Japan, it could still be a big deal. IIRC, educational materials used in Japanese schools omit any mention of atrocities committed by the Empire during the war, that's why Japan's current generation denies that they ever happened.

it's one of the reasons why the chinese are still mad about it....because the japanese people are not that sincere and apologetic about their astrocities.

[KoKoNAT]

The Chinese vs Koreans vs Japanese animosity predates WW2. It is just a chapter in the saga of rivalry between those peoples. Apologising for single event like WW2 would not clear up centuries of distrust. You can say that their rivalries are set in their DNA, even if they came from the same racial stock.

I wouldn't even want to try to comprehend the reason for their rivalry, nor do I delude myself that an apology, even a sincere one by every single Japanese living right now, would heal that rift.

Keep that in mind when you try to arm-chair analyse the situation.

[Jun aka Pekto]

The Chinese vs Koreans vs Japanese animosity predates WW2. It is just a chapter in the saga of rivalry between those peoples. Apologising for single event like WW2 would not clear up centuries of distrust. You can say that their rivalries are set in their DNA, even if they came from the same racial stock.

I wouldn't even want to try to comprehend the reason for their rivalry, nor do I delude myself that an apology, even a sincere one by every single Japanese living right now, would heal that rift.

Keep that in mind when you try to arm-chair analyse the situation.

From a historical context, I'm trying to remember historical events that may have indicated clues of this rivalry. I can't remember the Japanese being expansionist before the Meiji era. In fact, they were isolationists, prefering to be a closed society isolated from the rest of the world. All the wars were among themselves.

There seems to be no record of Koreans invading Japan and vice versa until the early 1900's when Japan invaded Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War. From that point on, Korea was under Japanese rule.

China did invade Japan under Kublai Khan. But, he was a Mongol and history records the invaders as Mongol troops, not Chinese. Much later on, Japan invaded China in the early 30's with much bloodshed.

Looking back, I'd have to say the animosity among the three (well, Korea and China against Japan), dates back to the last hundred or so years.

[oliver1013]

Romans,mongols,spanish conquistadores,germans,japanese,british,french even americans in Iraq all are guilty of atrocities one way or another. But the mongols stand out as the most barbarous of them all!!