Our Neighbors

     North Korea has repeated state crimes such as kidnapping of a few hundred Japanese citizens, making fake bills, production of narcotic drugs, terror and so on.
     China made up the Nanjing Massacre out of the total history of the war and hasn't paid any attitude of appreciation for the Japanese ODA of up to 6,000,000,000,000 (6 trillion) yen.
     South Korea has adopted an anti-Japanese policy and has implanted anti-Japanese feelings in people's minds in spite of the fact that the recovery from the Korean War and development wouldn't have been accomplished without the aid of Japan. The South Korean development was really wonderful and it is also called "The miracle of Han River".
     Russia violated the mutual non-aggression treaty unilaterally and took many Japanese people into custody on the frigid ground of Siberia for a long time and consequently killed lots of them. Moreover, Russia has been illegally occupying the northern islands and Sakhalin since the end of the Greater East Asian War until now.
     The U.S. even has no notion of original sin about the atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
     In this context, Japan is supposed to stand in a position that is far superior to others both morally and ethically. However, the Japanese Government issues no messages about them. Are they aware that their policies are based on Japanese chivalry; "bushido"?
     Every country has a dark side of its history. There's no country except Japan that has been apologizing for something that happend more than a half century ago. Japan must be a goodwill country.
     There's a report from CSIS (Center for Strategic & International Studies). This is the noted think tank of the U.S. The report was about people's opinions 10 years later in Asia. You can read it at this URL: www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/090217_gill_stratviews_web.pdf
     A questionnaire was done among 313 intelligent people. Of the total 313 participants , 51 were from the U.S., 21 Singapore, 19 Australia, 30 Thailand, 35 China, 74 Japan, 31 India, 17 Korea and 35 Indonesia. 65.5% of people pointed China out as the most powerful country and 38% as the most dangerous threat 10 years later. On the contrary, the rate of people who think of Japan as the threat was remarkably low. The people who thought like that were a few Chinese and Indians only. No Koreans thought like that.
     The problem is, the Japanese mass media hasn't spread the kind of news that encourages Japanese people. I feel a huge disgust against most of the Japanese media.

(Vocabulary)
state crime  国家犯罪
make up   ～をでっちあげる
Nanjing Massacre  南京大虐殺
implant ~ in the people's mind   人々の心に～を植え付ける
mutual nonaggression treaty  不可侵条約
unilaterally  一方的に
Japanese chivalry // bushido〈日〉 // the spirit of the samurai // way of bushido  武士道
masochistically  自虐的に

凄いぞ日本

大量の日本人拉致という国家犯罪を重ねた北朝鮮、「南京３０万人大虐殺」をでっち上げる一方で６兆円にのぼる日本のＯＤＡに謝意も示さない中国、漢江の奇跡といわれる復興は日本の支援抜きにはあり得なかったのに反日に走る韓国、不可侵条約を一方的に破棄しシベリア抑留の悲劇を招き北方４島を不法占拠しているロシア、さらに、広島・長崎への原爆投下に原罪意識すら持たないアメリカ・・・。

そう考えていくと、日本および日本人は、道徳的・倫理的・人間的に、はるかに優位に立っているはずなのだ。だが、日本側は、そのことをあえて口にはしない。それを「武士道の国の矜持」として意識しているのかどうかが問題だ。

どの国だってその歴史には暗い面もある。だいたいが半世紀以上も前のことをいまだに自虐的に謝罪し続けている国など、どこにもない。「日本はいい国」であるはずなのだ。

Comments

[KUMO]

To Kurahashi101

Thanks for the comment.
I've thought that we, Japanese should insist our own opinions in English. Or, other countries's people wouldn't understand us. That's why I'm sometimes writing about current affairs.

To Klaus
Thanks for the comment.
Firstly check out the link from this entry: http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2006/06/i-hate-china-1.html
If you can't open the link from this entry, please cut and paste the url into your browser.

Your topic is interesting, and I'm going to take it as material of my blog. Japan's rule over the occupied territory was completely different from that of the U.S. and European superpowers such as Great Britain, France, Spain and so on. I'd like to insist this point in the entry.

[Klaus]

Doc - hi there and guten Tag!

Yes, I agree with you on most of the points you made. But since I am known for direct talk (I hate "gomazuri"!!!!!) - Japan is not the only country appologizing for something that happened a long time ago. Germany did and still has to do this on a couple of occassions, the (Jewish) genozide, the war atrocities commited in Poland, Russia and so on, and much more. Lots of money has been paid and is still being paid to those victims. Actually, if I am not wrong, no Japanese politician has so far officially apologized for what happend during World War II in occupied territories. Nevertheless - YES, North Korea is a very special topic and I hope that sooner or later they, the people in North Korea, will get rid of that system (and there are other countries that can be blamed for wrong-doings, too). I hope I don't offend anyone with this way of thinking. Looking forward to hearing from you again!!!

[kurahashi101]

Kumo-san, I find this article very interesting, educational and thought-provoking. Thank you. By the way, your English is perfect.