Comments on: History and Memory: Japan, China, and "Comfort Women"

By: lirelou

lirelou — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 00:23:00 +0000

“but when was the last time americans honestly discussed their behavior in, say, korea, vietnam or the current occupation of iraq?”

From my perspective, all are a near constant topic of discussion, however politics are forever coloring what any side considers “honest”. And many prefer polemical works supporting their convictions to the drudgery of plowing through first hand sources or official records. And if that’s the way we are in the west, why should the east be any different?

By: 無名 - wu ming

無名 - wu ming — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 08:35:00 +0000

well, native americans and slavery, sure, but when was the last time americans honestly discussed their behavior in, say, korea, vietnam or the current occupation of iraq? while there are a fair number of historians who do actually research such stuff, and a healthy oral 野史 in society at large, the public and political discussions of such things are tamped down as intensely as japanese right-wing denials of their country’s atrocities. always a “few bad apples.”

i’m, not sure america really has much of a leg to stand on in our own defense, apparently only those who lose wars have to fess up about the nasty stuff they did. not that any of that lets the japanese off the hook, mind you.

By: 花崗齋之愚公

花崗齋之愚公 — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 23:59:00 +0000

CLB,

My point was just the opposite: that the US does discuss those shameful incidents (like slavery, Native Americans) and we are better off for doing so.

By: ChinaLawBlog

ChinaLawBlog — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 15:38:00 +0000

Great post on a great post. But are you implying that the United States hides slavery and its treatment of Native Americans in the same way Japan essentially lies about its WWII history? If so, I see no equivalency. If not, why did you even bring it up?

By: Froog

Froog — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 18:17:00 +0000

It’s interesting that the official Chinese response is so restrained at present: but I wouldn’t necessarily take that as any sign of a fundamental shift in attitudes. The general trend of anti-Japanese sentiment still seems pretty strong. 2 years ago it was calculatedly unleashed precisely because of the lobbying for the UN Security Council seat by Japan.

I was teaching at a University here when those protests kicked off in ’05, and they were entirely orchestrated by central government. All students were whipped into an anti-Japanese frenzy by the media propaganda, but the CCP apparatus dictated which Universities – or which year groups, which classes within Universities – would participate in the demonstrations. A lot of my students were frustrated that they “weren’t allowed” to join in.

I hear it was much the same with the mobbing of the US Embassy after the Sarajevo bombing. I’ve heard numerous stories of policemen then – supposedly there for crowd control – bringing in wheelbarrows full of masonry and inviting students to take one brick each and give it their best shot.

While China’s attitude is often bellicose, I do find it very disturbing that the Japanese are lagging so far behind the Germans in acknowledgement of their war guilt (and the Germans weren’t exactly a shining example in this), that their current leaders are still talking about preserving “Japanese honour” as a reason for disputing what happened. Is it really the concept of “saving face” that prompts this continuing denial of history? That might be a factor in the Chinese failure to fully recognise their history as well.

Have you been to the ‘Unit 731′ Museum outside Harbin? I know it’s not “your period”, but it is a fascinating, terrifying place, and it does bring a number of issues about the denial of history and the use of history to serve political agendas very sharply in focus.