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China Voice: Japan should face up to past, present wrongdoing

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2012-10-29

By Ren Ke, Xinhua

Xinhuanet.com

BEIJING, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Japan's attitude toward its history and current situation cannot help it win its neighboring countries' trust, and it will not become a real power politically if it does not face up to its wrongdoing committed in the past and at present.

Currently Japan and China, the country it invaded during World War II, are experiencing tension that has been rare in past decades, over the sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands.

Last week, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun told reporters that the Diaoyu Islands issue involves China's core interests, so no external threat or pressure can weaken the resolve of the Chinese government and people to uphold its territorial rights.

Tension between the two neighboring countries is still high, one and a half months after the Japanese government announced the "purchase" of part of the Diaoyu Islands, as the Japanese side has not yet fully recognized its wrongdoing on the issue.

The Japanese government said the "nationalization" of the Islands is better than their "purchase" by right-wing activists, a prospect that had also been mooted. But in China's opinion, Japan's attitude is like asking China to choose from two doses of poison, according to Zhang.

Recognizing that disputes exist between the two sides over the Diaoyu Islands in the normalization process of bilateral relations, former leaders of the two countries decided to lay aside disputes for reaching consensus in the future.

However, Japan in recent years has taken significant steps backward on the issue through moves to strengthen its effective control of these islets. The "purchase" showed that the Japanese government has wholly abandoned the attitude of laying aside disputes and has fundamentally changed the situation.

Most of Japan's disputes with neighboring countries originated from the past. However, its wrong attitude toward its history paves no way for any proper solutions to those disputes.

The rise of Japan's militarism brought disastrous consequences for its neighboring countries, and its current attitude toward its neighbors' suffering in the dark years is far from acceptable.

Japan is always ambiguous on its war crimes, and sometimes denies or defend its illegal acts. More seriously, without any sense of shame and guilt, some politicians keep visiting Yasukuni Shrine that worships 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including 14 convicted Class-A war criminals.

Germany took a different attitude toward its wrongdoing in history. Not only did it take symbolic steps such as West German chancellor Willy Brandt kneeling down at the monument to victims of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1970, but also undertook concrete action to compensate for the suffering it brought to ordinary people, such as providing compensation to families of victims in the Holocaust.

Germany's deep confessions have been widely accepted by other countries, and has earned the country the image of a responsible power.

If Japan cannot face up to its wrongdoing, it will never reach proper solutions in its disputes with neighboring countries, and its dream of becoming a political power will remain nothing more than a dream.


Editor: Yang Lina
 
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Japanese officials visit controversial shrine
Chinese media criticises visit by head of Japan's opposition and others, saying it will "further poison bilateral ties".

18 Oct 2012

Aljazeera

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Japan's land minister (second from right) was among the visitors, as was Shinzo Abe, the opposition leader [Reuters]

Dozens of Japanese parliament members, including two cabinet ministers, have visited a controversial war shrine amid heightening tensions between Japan and its neighbours over territorial disputes.

Chinese media criticised the head of Japan's top opposition party for also going, calling his visit on Thursday a provocation.

The politicians were attending an autumn festival. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda did not join them, but opposition leader Shinzo Abe, seen as the front-runner to succeed Noda, paid his respects there the day before.

The Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo is controversial because, along with honouring two and a half million war dead, it honours 14 Japanese wartime leaders convicted of war crimes. It remains a focus of nationalist pride among Japanese conservatives and right-wingers.

China's Xinhua news agency criticised Abe's visit, saying in an editorial Wednesday that it was "the latest of a flurry of Japan's provocative moves against China, and would further poison bilateral ties".

'Invasion' and 'militarism'

Abe is a former prime minister who is well right of center and considered a hawk on China. But his party is believed to be in good position to defeat Noda's in upcoming elections, which could bring him back to the national helm.

Previous visits to the shrine by political leaders have been harshly criticised by China and North and South Korea, which bore the brunt of Japan's pre-1945 militarist march through Asia. The visits are regarded as evidence that Japan's leaders do not acknowledge their country's responsibility for its colonialist past.

"The Yasukuni Shrine issue is about whether Japan correctly acknowledges its history of invasion and of Japanese militarism, and about the feelings of the people in victims' countries, including China," China's state broadcaster CCTV quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei as saying.

Japan's chief cabinet spokesman said the two ministers attended the festival in a private capacity, and played down its significance.

But the visits come as Japan is increasingly at odds with China over a group of small islands in the East China Sea that both countries claim, and with South Korea over another disputed island that has been controlled by Seoul since the 1950s.

Anger over a decision last month by Japan to nationalise the disputed islands, called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, led to mass demonstrations across China and has soured diplomatic and economic relations between the two.
 
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Japan ministers in controversial shrine visit
Visit to Yasukuni site which honours country's war dead threatens to raise tensions with South Korea and China.
Last Modified: 15 Aug 2012 12:29

Video clip from Aljazeera.com

In a move sure to raise regional tensions, two Japanese cabinet members have visited the Yasukuni shrine to mark the anniversary of the country's World War II surrender.

They ignored calls to avoid visiting the shrine, which was built to honour Japanese soldiers who lost their lives in armed conflicts.

Jin Matsubara, who handles the issue of Japanese kidnapped by North Korea, and Yuichiro Hata, land minister, made separate visits to the Yasukuni shrine.

The site, built in 1869, includes 14 leading war criminals, including General Hideki Tojo, the Japanese prime minister who ordered the attack on Pearl Harbour and was hanged by a US-led tribunal.


In a statement Matsubara said he had gone to the shrine "in a personal capacity" and had used his visit to "remember ancestors who established the foundations of the prosperity of present-day Japan".

The visit follows a row with South Korea over disputed islands that lie halfway between the two nations.

Lee Myung-bak, South Korea's president, travelled to Dokdo island last week, ignoring Japan's calls to restraint.

Comfort women

The islands, known as Takeshima in Japan, have been under South Korean control since 1954. Yet for the past eight years, Japan has annually submitted a defence white paper in its bid to renew claims over the peninsula.

In a speech on Wednesday to mark South Korea's Liberation day, Lee called on Japan to face up to its responsibility, particularly in regard to the women who were forced into sex slavery for Japanese soldiers during the war.

"It was a breach of women's rights committed during wartime as well as a violation of universal human rights and historic justice. We urge the Japanese government to take responsible measures in this regard," he said.


The row comes at a time when both the Japanese and South Korean heads of state are under immense pressure.

Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett, who has been covering events in the region, said the heightened tension was due to political struggles that the two leaders currently find themselves in.

With fresh elections in December looming, Lee is facing a corruption scandal involving his brother.

On the other hand, Japan's prime minister, Yoshiko Noda, lost more than 50 members of his party just a few weeks ago.

Weakened position

Both leaders are in a weakened position and have historical and political disputes to wade through.

Japan is locked in dispute with China too over islands in an area of the East China Sea believed to be rich in mineral deposits.

Many in China and South Korea feel that Japan has failed to atone for what they call its "expansionist adventurism".

At a memorial ceremony in Tokyo 6,000 Japanese, led by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko as well as Noda, offered silent prayers at noon for the war victims.

"During the war, [Japan] inflicted significant damage and pain on many countries, especially on people in Asian countries," Noda told the annual ceremony. "We deeply regret that."

Akihito said: "Recalling history, I profoundly hope that the suffering of war will never be repeated. I sincerely express mourning for those who lost their lives on the battlefields, and wish world peace and our country's further development."
 
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二战 甲级战犯 东条英机 WWII Class A war criminal: Hideki Tōjō


220px-Hideki_Tojo.jpg


Hideki Tōjō (Kyūjitai: 東條 英機; Shinjitai: 东条英机; Tōjō Hideki (help·info)) (30 December 1884 – 23 December 1948) was a general of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA), the leader of the Taisei Yokusankai, and the 40th Prime Minister of Japan during most of World War II, from 17 October 1941 to 22 July 1944. As Prime Minister, he was directly responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor, which led to the war between Japan and the United States, although planning for it had begun before he entered office. After the end of the war, Tōjō was arrested, sentenced to death for Japanese war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, and was hanged on 23 December 1948.

....

He was tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East for war crimes and found guilty of the following:

Count 1 (waging wars of aggression, and war or wars in violation of international law)
Count 27 (waging unprovoked war against the Republic of China)
Count 29 (waging aggressive war against the United States of America)
Count 31 (waging aggressive war against the British Commonwealth of Nations)
Count 32 (waging aggressive war against the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
Count 33 (waging aggressive war against the French Republic)
Count 54 (ordering, authorizing, and permitting inhumane treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs) and others)


Tōjō before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East Hideki Tōjō accepted full responsibility in the end for his actions during the war, stating:

'It is natural that I should bear entire responsibility for the war in general, and, needless to say, I am prepared to do so. Consequently, now that the war has been lost, it is presumably necessary that I be judged so that the circumstances of the time can be clarified and the future peace of the world be assured. Therefore, with respect to my trial, it is my intention to speak frankly, according to my recollection, even though when the vanquished stands before the victor, who has over him the power of life and death, he may be apt to toady and flatter. I mean to pay considerable attention to this in my actions, and say to the end that what is true is true and what is false is false. To shade one's words in flattery to the point of untruthfulness would falsify the trial and do incalculable harm to the nation, and great care must be taken to avoid this."

He was sentenced to death on 12 November 1948 and executed by hanging on 23 December 1948.

In his final statements, he apologized for the atrocities committed by the Japanese military and urged the American military to show compassion toward the Japanese people, who had suffered devastating air attacks and the two atomic bombings.

Many historians criticize the work done by General Douglas MacArthur and his staff to exonerate Emperor Hirohito and all members of the imperial family from criminal prosecutions.

According to them, MacArthur and Brigadier General Bonner Fellers worked to protect the Emperor and shift ultimate responsibility to Tōjō.

According to the written report of Mizota Shūichi, interpreter for Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai, Fellers met the two men at his office on 6 March 1946 and told Yonai that "it would be most convenient if the Japanese side could prove to us that the Emperor is completely blameless. I think the forthcoming trials offer the best opportunity to do that. Tōjō, in particular, should be made to bear all responsibility at this trial."

The sustained intensity of this campaign to protect the Emperor was revealed when, in testifying before the tribunal on 31 December 1947, Tōjō momentarily strayed from the agreed-upon line concerning imperial innocence and referred to the Emperor's ultimate authority. The American-led prosecution immediately arranged that he be secretly coached to recant this testimony. Ryūkichi Tanaka, a former general who testified at the trial and had close connections with chief prosecutor Joseph B. Keenan, was used as an intermediary to persuade Tōjō to revise his testimony

Tōjō's commemorating tomb is located in a shrine in Hazu, Aichi, and he is one of those enshrined at the controversial Yasukuni Shrine. His ashes are divided between Yasukuni Shrine and Zōshigaya Cemetery in Toshima ward, Tokyo.

He was survived by a number of his descendants, including his granddaughter, Yūko Tōjō, a right-wing nationalist and political hopeful who claims Japan's war was one of self-defense and that it was unfair that her grandfather was judged a Class-A war criminal. Tōjō's second son, Teruo Tōjō, who designed fighter and passenger aircraft during and after the war, eventually served as an executive at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

wikipedia
 
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1,000th 'Comfort Women' Protest Heightens Tension with Japan
October 30, 2012
Video, Foto and News @ Chosun.com

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Former comfort women pose with a statue set up in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Wednesday to mark their 1,000th weekly protest against atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers during the World War II


A statue of a "comfort woman" forced into sexual slavery during World War II that was set up in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Wednesday is heightening diplomatic tensions between Korea and Japan.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters Wednesday it was "very regrettable" that the statue was unveiled to mark the 1,000th weekly protest by former "comfort women" and their supporters.

Fujimura said the Japanese government would call on Korea to remove the monument, and Japanese Ambassador to Korea Masatoshi Muto met with Vice Foreign Minister Park Suk-hwan on Wednesday to inform him of Tokyo's position.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asia chief Shinsuke Sugiyama apparently conveyed the same message when he visited Seoul to discuss arrangements for President Lee Myung-bak's upcoming visit to Japan.

But the Korean Foreign Ministry in a statement said the statue "reflects the genuine desire of the victims to urge the Japanese government to take responsibility and to restore their honor as they mark their 1,000th protest rally." The government says it cannot meddle in what a civilian group does.

Comfort women demand a sincere apology and compensation from the Japanese government, which continues to deny any official involvement in the atrocities of Japanese soldiers during the war.

Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday said Lee will visit Kyoto on Saturday to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. But there are concerns that the two leaders may not be able to achieve major agreements if the tensions continue.
 
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Former 'Comfort Women' Hold 1,000th Protest at Japanese Embassy

October 30, 2012

The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea - Former 'Comfort Women' Hold 1,000th Protest at Japanese Embassy

Kim Hak-sun, a former "comfort woman" forced to work in brothels serving the Japanese military during World War II, said in a press conference in August 1991 that the sight of the Japanese imperial flag "still makes me shudder. Until now, I did not have the courage to speak, even though there are so many thing I want to say." She recalled the painful memories of being dragged away to China by Japanese soldiers when she was just 17 and forced to have sex with four to five soldiers a day.

In the early 1990s, the Japanese government flatly denied the existence of comfort women, but Kim's accounts cast light on the atrocities, which could have been buried forever in the past.

A memoir was published later containing the chilling accounts of 15 former comfort women. "After I was raped, I was in so much pain that I could not even walk," one recalled. "Soldiers formed long lines in front of brothels even during air raids," said another. "They beheaded my friend simply because she spoke Korean," said another. The women said they would not be able to find peace until they received an apology from Japan and were compensated for the atrocities.

On a bitterly cold day on Jan. 8, 1992, former comfort women gathered in front of the Japanese Embassy in downtown Seoul ahead of state visit by then Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa to Korea. The women demanded the Japanese government make an official apology and pay compensation for their war-time atrocities. But all they received was a verbal apology from Miyazawa. That prompted the women to continue their protests in front of the Japanese Embassy every Wednesday.

The Wednesday protests have continued for 19 years and 11 months, and this Wednesday marks the 1,000th protest. The angry voices of the former comfort women have gained the attention of Koreans and become a forum revealing the atrocities committed by Japan during World War II. Kim Bok-dong joined the demonstrations on the seventh protest and is now 87. "I never thought it would take this long," she said.

The former comfort women skipped a protest only once, during the Kobe earthquake in 1995. During the disaster that hit eastern Japan this spring, they held their protest in silence. In the beginning, 234 former comfort women took part in the protests, but 170 have since died and only 64 are left. Their average age is 86 and their time is running out. Is this what Japan is waiting for?

By Chosun Ilbo columnist Kim Tae-ick
 
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Oldest comfort woman in China dies

Sina.com

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2012-10-12 10
By Mei Jingya, Sina English


The oldest comfort woman in China died on Oct.6 in north China's Shanxi province, according to Chinese media reports. She was 90.

A funeral was held on Friday for Yin Yulin in her hometown village in suburban Taiyuan city, capital of Shanxi province.

Her son Yang Guirong said Yin began to lodge complaints to the Japanese government in 1992, seeking compensation and an apology.

During the last 2 decades, she went to Japan twice, trying in vain to file a lawsuit and testify for the crimes of Japanese soldiers during WWII. Her efforts ended fruitlessly, her son added.
 
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A Japanese monument to honor its dead soldiers was supposed to erect in a hill top Hong Kong's Victoria Island. The monument was half finished when then war ended.


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日治建的忠靈塔 督眼督鼻 1945 an eyesore indeed!

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20081204_a0a9e0122856862b8a68YzKQ0dPCW1H9.jpg


20081204_5ab515c7e05ad1c4fffd4EjURnq273NA.jpg


Bomb that son of a ****** down, NOW!

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Planned Height

20081208_5b6a1827af016516f207IYSTbcTXA1s8.jpg


Finished Height

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The site today, beautiful!

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Japan refuses to apologize properly after the war has ended a long time ago and doesn't want to admit the wrongdoing to Dutch and Asian women. These women wanted justice and compensation but Japan simply has no shame.
 
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JAPANESE WAR CRIMES

Japanese war crimes occurred in China, Korea, the Philippines, and other Asian countries during the period of Japanese imperialism, primarily during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. Some of the incidents have also been described as an Asian Holocaust and Japanese war atrocities. Some war crimes were committed by military personnel from the Empire of Japan in the late 19th century, although most took place during the first part of the Shōwa Era, the name given to the reign of Emperor Hirohito, until the military defeat of the Empire of Japan, in 1945.

Historians and governments of some countries hold Japanese military forces, namely the Imperial Japanese Army, the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Imperial Japanese family, especially Emperor Hirohito, responsible for killings and other crimes committed against millions of civilians and prisoners of war.Some Japanese soldiers have admitted to committing these crimes.

..........
 
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