horrifying dark history---ignored???

This is about the horrifying history in japanese occupation area in Korea,China and South asia countries during WWII.


People know what Nazi has done to Europe,but I wonder if anyone knows what Japan has done to Asia.(except occupation)


Take a glimpse of the book 'Rape of Nanking'----

The japs were sick RAPISTS.( An estimated 20,000 women were raped by the Japanese soldiers during the six weeks of the Nanking Massacre, most were brutally killed afterwards. The Japanese soldiers even raped girls less than ten years old, women over seventy years old, pregnant women, and nuns. Rampant raping took place in the streets or at religious worshiping places during the day. Many women were gang raped. Some Japanese even forced fathers to rape their daughters, sons to rape their mothers, etc. Those who resisted were killed immediately.)
http://prion.bchs.uh.edu/%7Ezzhang/...e/gallery6.html

They killed civilians as PLAYING GAMES (Two Japanese officers, Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda competing to see who could kill (with a sword) one hundred people first.)
http://prion.bchs.uh.edu/%7Ezzhang/...e/gallery4.html

Special Japanese military units conducted experiments on civilians and POWs in China. One of the most infamous was Unit 731. Victims were subjected to vivisection without anesthesia, amputations, and were used to test biological weapons, among other experiments. Anesthesia was not used because it was considered to affect results. In some victims, animal blood was injected into their bodies.

http://prion.bchs.uh.edu/%7Ezzhang/...e/gallery3.html
http://prion.bchs.uh.edu/%7Ezzhang/...re/history.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes


The fact that these darkest pages of history seem to be ignored by people
really upsets me.

 

We have never been at war with Eastasia.

;-)

 

everyone knows the Japs were sick bastards

 

Eastasia has always been our friend.

 

These atrocities were well known to most Americans at the time of World War II. They were well aware what would happen to Australia, Hawaii or even California if the Japanese prevailed. Darwin, Australia was subjected to a terror bombing of civilians by the Japanese, killing hundreds.

Japanese troop landing vessels destroyed on the beach at Guadalcanal had been named Canberra Maru, Brisbane Maru and Adelaide Maru.

Everywhere they went, from Korea to Hong Kong, the Phillippines and the south Pacific, the Japanese military acted like savage beasts. A typical tactic would be to wipe out a village in response to a guerilla raid. They have to take the blame if America eventually responded with nuclear weapons and the mass murder of Japanese civilians.

Now that we've mentioned civilians, we shouldn't forget the 90,000 U.S. servicemen who were drowned, shot, bayoneted, burned alive or eaten by sharks fighting the Japanese fascists. Nor should we forget the 210,000 U.S. servicemen killed fighting the Germans and Italians, or the British and Russians killed in yet larger numbers in the same conflict.

 

It really is a shame, because the Germans take most of the flak for WWII, but they weren't as bad, really...or at least, they were no worse than the Japanese.

 

I think if you go by the body count alone, what Stalin did (before, during and after the war, to his own country) was worse then Germany or Japan.

 

Agreed. For me, this shows how no war, even WWII, is black and white, because one of the Allies was just as bad as the Axis.

 

Only the dead have seen the end of war.
(If someone can give me the author of that quote, I'd appreciate it. Santayana? Gandhi? Remarque?)

 

It was the Greek philospher Plato.

 

contrary to what most people believe, there are no 'good guys', just different levels of 'bad guys'. most of our heros we've come to think of as barbarians (in the united states at least).

Japan reinvented itself after the war. Because of the horrors they basically broke a very strong link to their past, and became (basically) pascifists. Before you had a nation of ancestor-worshiping militarists, and after you had a shell shocked nation struggling for a sense of self.

in order to put this past behind them, they're ignoring a lot of it. this isn't healthy, but not uncommon.

 

Eugene is right. I love Japan and Japanese people and can't wait to return. My step dads mother had a go at me for going to Japan and said she could never do it because she can never forgive the Japanese for what they did during the war. Interesting how she didn't have a problem visiting Germany and Russia however. People learn from the horrors of the past, Japan included.

 

The U.S. actually reinvented Japan during a 15 year long post war occupation, lead by Gen. Douglas MacArthur. He/U.S. pretty much decreed an end to their militarism! The US made Japan what it is today, as we also did with Germany, but much more so with Japan, as we had sole occupation of that country. We wanted them both to be good, well behaved, world citizins, who we would not have to fight again in 20 years like we did with Germany after WWI.
The US occupation of Japan is an interesting subject in Nation rebuilding if you're into history. Google it.

My dad was in the Army and fought in the Pacific. He arrived on Guadalcanal 2 weeks after the fighting there had stopped. He then fought under Gen. Mac Arthur, who he hated as a commander more concerned about his ego and victory, than his troops lives. He saw front line, hand to hand, combat all through the Marshall and Solomon Island chains, on New Guinea, and then, on Mindanao, Leyte, Luzon, Corregador, and Bataan, in the Philippines. He was on the beach when MacArthur came ashore to fulfill his promise to return. He also invaded Manila, the Phillippine Capitol, where the US took 50% casualties in a 1 month long house to house, room to room, door to door, battle. He was waiting on the beach with is gear packed, ready to board ship to go invade Japan proper when he heard the war was over.

He had little good to say about the Japs. And, remained too traumatized by his combat experiences all his life to ever talk about them. Other than to say that he was there!

He said the Japs were aggressive, savage, fanatics, and deserved everything they got -- including being nuked.

I knew an Army buddy who was through it with him. All his life he suffered from night mares about combat, and had attacks of malaria. He said all the same things my dad did.

One of my Mom's cousins was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. He was in the Navy, and was wounded. His stories about it were gut wrenching. No surprise, he had little good to say about them either.

How different the US-Japan relationship is today.

 

Mohave Green:
One of the wiser decisions MacArthur made was to not allow posting of American combat vets in post-war Japan. Additionally, he conspicuously posted signs in both languages saying that rape of a Japanese woman by an American soldier would be dealt with by full court martial as a capital offence.
(Looking at internet entries, there seems to be some disagreement as to whether he was a 'Mc' or a 'Mac', but 'Mac' seems to be more generally used.)

The Japanese also opened several brothels close to American occupying bases, the idea being that if a few hundred Japanese women who were already prostitutes were made available to the Western Barbarians, the safety of respectable Japanese ladies would be increased. This is not the type of argument that a modern feminist would support, but it apparently worked.

I don't know what his troops thought of him during the American advance period, but he is considered by his biographer (W. Manchester) to be very economical in terms of casualities, when you compare body counts of fallen Americans in the Pacific under his command to body counts in Europe. His retreat personally from the Philippines was in response to an order by Roosevelt.

 

dirtydog:
MacArthur was often a near genius strategically, i.e. the landing at Inchon during the Korean War. But the man did have an ego, i.e. it is a well known fact that he died his hair black to hide the gray. Also, on more than one occasion he considered his judgment more important than his orders, or the authority of his Commander in Chief.

The first example of this was when he attacked the WWI Veterans Benefit Marchers encampment in Washington DC in the mid-late 30s. His orders were to only clear them from the Capitol Mall. And, he was specifically ordered not to attack their encampment. But he did any way, even using tanks against unarmed, destitute, US Vets. Interestingly, Eisenhower was his aide at the time.

The second example was during the Korean War, where he was supreme allied commander. He PUBLICLY [media] insisted that the US should bomb military staging, and supply points, and also industrial targets inside Red China. After president Truman had already rejected this tactic, and had ordered him to be quiet about it. It was then that Truman relieved he of command for insubordination.

My dad and his buddy Chuck were both on the beach when MacArthur made his famous return to the Philippines.
This is the story they BOTH told me, independently of each other: -- The event actually happened 2 weeks after the fighting had ended at that location, and not during combat only minutes or hours after the first troops hit the beach, as is officially portrayed to this day.
The first thing that happened was a landing craft came ashore with cameras, publicity personnel, and reporters. They spent about 1 hour setting up the movie cameras, etc.
Then MacArthur's landing craft came ashore and dropped its landing gate right up on the dry beach. This angered MacArthur, who yelled and swore at everyone and made them take the craft back out, come in again, and this time drop the gate off shore aways, so he could be filmed wading ashore in knee deep water. Then he shook a few hands, posed for a few photos, and got back on his ship and left.

As far as what his troops though of him? I've personally met 2 types. The ones who think he was God, and the ones who think he was Satan. Dad and Chuck thought he was Satan.

Yes, our casualties in the Pacific were far less than the enemies, or possibly of those of US forces in Europe. But, Dad and Chuck were both of the opinion that MacArthur was often responsible for higher US casualties than were necessary. Because he was impatient and wanted immediate results, and often set unrealistic goals considering the circumstances -- expecting too much of his men, and exposing them to far higher risks than were called for on far too many occasions.
I.E., during the in vasion of Manila he ordered American forces to take the city against a dug in fanatical enemy, without bombing the city from the air, or the use artillary on it. He want it taken intact! [Dad said it was becasue his family owned a lot of the downtown real esatate there] This proved militarily impossible, and the forces in the field eventually disregarded his orders and leveled the place. Only then were they able to advance into the city. How man hundreds, or thousands of GIs would have died if his orders had been followed as issued?

I have heard many others say similar things about him as well. Is it the truth? It was THEIR truth! They were there, they went through it. This what they had to say. Obviously other opinions exist.

Did Teddy Roosevelt actually charge up San Juan Hill brandishing his saber on horse back during the Spanish-American War? No, they advanced up the hill crawling and crouching, and it wasn't even San Juan Hill. But, another hill next to it -- I forget it's name.

The American legends about our "Heroes" are often far grander than the actual events which inspired them.

 

I would imagine all of this is exceeding well known to the Koreans, Chinese, Philipines, etc.

Occasionally, there would be a news report of the Chinese Gov. (in Beijing) protesting a History textbook being introduced in the Japanese schools not sufficiently accounting the atrocities commited by the Japanese during the war. Also Beijing had officially protested against the Japanese Prime Minister visiting a Japanese cemetary to honor its war dead.

I heard of reports of anti-Japanese protest marches in Shanghai. These marches were noteworthy in that they were organized by the citizens of that city and did not have the offical government sactions.

Recently Japan has been making payoffs to the Korean women forced to work in Brothels.

If I remember correctly, in 1946-47, executions of the wartime Government and Military leaders, including Gen. Hediki Tojo (the Prime Minister of Japan during Pearl Harbor) were done.

What may seem to be quashing Historical information maybe more a urgent need of that time. It was in 1949, the Communists took over Mainland China. A year later, the Korean War had begun. We needed the Military bases in Japan to fight that war.

Sometimes some things must let things go in order to attend a more pressing, urgent need today.

 

there is a lot of political bias in what we do and don't get told about what in history. different things in different places. the detail varies. but probably everywhere there is a great deal of it.

a fine example is the way in america children are taught about ancient greece and rome, but the ten thousand years people have been living, inventing and making their own history in the western hemisphere, before someone came from somewhere else and 'discouvered' them, is only mentioned as a side bar, if at all.

there is no such thing as conquests without very dark, horrifying things happining and being done. remember that whenever you are told about how glorious anyone ever was or is as a 'concorer'!

even so called 'saints'.

=^^=
.../\...

 

Yeah, my eyes were opened to the bias in the public education when it comes to history. I took a year of African history, from the earliest beginnings of humans to the Rwanda genocide of 1994. I was shocked to learn that Africans were selling each other to the Europeans during the centuries of slavery. I had the common misconception that Europeans were "hunting" Africans and capturing them. Nope, certain African "nations" were profiting off of their neighbors, and these warring people captured the slaves and sold them. The slave trade had been going on for centuries before the Europeans arrived, but the slave trade escalated soon after.

The main thing I learned in college is that history is often darker than one can imagine, and you can't believe everything they told you in high school. If you're interested in history, take a college course and you will be amazed at how little you actually know.

Peace and love

 

Fashioning News/History more palatable to the local, or regional, consumer is a very natural things to occur. Some years back, I remember someone, who was visiting relatives in Italy had visited a local High School. In one classroom, there was hanging on a wall, a large oversized World map. My friend couldn't get over the fact that Italy was pictured at the center of this map and the United States was placed considerably on the left, very much off-centered.

Also consider geographical distance. The further away something happens, the less likely its going to effect us, directly. At the same instance, a tieup-gridlock on the local freeway isn't national news, but if I plan on driving on that freeway on my way to work, I probably will be pay more attention to that moreso than anything else that morning.

These days with the Internet, finding foreign News sources, such as Deutsche Welle, BBC and many others are much easier than in the old days. They can also have an English translation to their sites, Deutsche Welle, Der Spiegel does.

 

Back to topic.
The Japanese particularly enjoyed raping and bayoneting the British and Canadian nurses at St. Stephen's Hospital, Hong Kong, December 1942. The wounded Canadian soldiers there were also murdered. What would the Japs have done had they won the war and had their way in California? It wouldn't have been a MacArthur style occupation.