[quote]
[B]The Japanese military's forced prostitution of Asian women before and during World War II was necessary to "maintain discipline" in the ranks and provide rest for soldiers, an outspoken nationalist mayor has said.[/B]
The comments made on Monday are already raising anger in neighbouring countries that bore the brunt of Japan's wartime aggression, and that have long complained that Japan has failed to make amends for wartime atrocities.
Toru Hashimoto, the young, brash mayor of Osaka who is also co-leader of an emerging conservative political party, also told reporters that there was not clear evidence that the Japanese military coerced women to become what are euphemistically called "comfort women".
[B]"To maintain discipline in the military, it must have been necessary at that time," said Hashimoto. "For soldiers who risked their lives in circumstances where bullets are flying around like rain and wind, if you want them to get some rest, a comfort women system was necessary. That's clear to anyone."[/B]
Historians say up to 200,000 women, mainly from the Korean Peninsula and China, were forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers in military brothels.
In South Korea's capital Seoul, the foreign ministry expressed disappointment over what it called a senior Japanese official's serious lack of historical understanding and respect for women's rights.
It asked Japan's leadership figures to look back on their country's imperial past, including grave human rights violations that were committed, and correct their anachronistic historical views.[/quote]
[URL="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/05/2013514103943104645.html"]Full article/source[/URL]
Fucking disgusting, not really surprised this is coming from Japan though.
I cannot believe Japanese politicians are so ignorant of their wartime atrocities, almost convinced they say these things just to annoy China and the Koreas.
Oh ho ho, a nationalist. No wonder.
Japanese nationalists are largely incapable of admitting that Japan committed any wartime atrocities at all.
[QUOTE=Zezibesh;40640866]Oh ho ho, a nationalist. No wonder.
Japanese nationalists are largely incapable of admitting that Japan committed any wartime atrocities at all.[/QUOTE]
It is always hard to admit doing something horribly wrong, especially when you're caught up in a lot of stuff. Everyone has committed horrible atrocities, the point is you learn as a country and try to never let it happen again. But sometimes the powers that are making these decisions don't learn.
[quote]Fucking disgusting, not really surprised this is coming from Japan though. [/quote]
Nationalists are a very small part of Japan, it's like hearing from Westboro and thinking that's what Americans think.
This is disgusting. This "well meaning" patriarchal cunt shouldn't be allowed to "represent" anyone in the first place.
The Japanese must get sick of having to apologise for things another generation did. The Germans were paying compensation to Israel for years over the holocaust. There has to be a point where you put things to rest as recorded history everybody can learn from.
If having sex slaves was necessary, why not just use Japanese women? It's just as wrong, but the Nazis essentially did it in the form of the breeding programs.
Urgh, the thought of suggesting that, even ironically, disgusted me.
[QUOTE=jewdozer;40640915]The Japanese must get sick of having to apologise for things another generation did. The Germans were paying compensation to Israel for years over the holocaust. There has to be a point where you put things to rest as recorded history everybody can learn from.[/QUOTE]
Reminds me how some people are still asking the French Government for reparation over slavery.
It was three centuries ago, [I]get over it[/I]
[QUOTE=Novangel;40640902]Nationalists are a very small part of Japan, it's like hearing from Westboro and thinking that's what Americans think.[/QUOTE]
except he's a fucking [I]elected official[/I]
[QUOTE=Zezibesh;40640866]Oh ho ho, a nationalist. No wonder.
Japanese nationalists are largely incapable of admitting that Japan committed any wartime atrocities at all.[/QUOTE]
While most Japanese are grateful of the positive effects of the post-war military occupation of Japan by the US and the subsequent economic recovery of the country, a good number of Japanese still look down upon S. Korea and China and corresponding immigrants much like any country that hates poorer immigrants because Japan in its very nature is a fairly homogenous country. Nationalists just take it to an extreme.
God, I hate my country's politics, although here in the US things aren't too much better. Damn nationalists.
This Hashimoto guy's co-president of Japan Restoration Party, a lot of the stuff that comes out that group is just filled to the brim with shit. Ironically enough, Hashimoto himself claimed that there was "no evidence that the Japanese military used force or threats to recruit the South Korean comfort women who served as sex workers for the military", but now he's saying it was necessary. Which could it be? Even then [I]his position directly contradicts the official position of the Japanese government.[/I]
Unfortunately the JRP won a ton of seats in the last election which made them the 3rd largest party in the Diet, though the Democrats still have more seats than they do. The other co-president, Shintaro Ishihara, has said some pretty heinous stuff on his own:
[quote]”People say that the Japanese made a holocaust but that is not true. It is a story made up by the Chinese. It has tarnished the image of Japan, but it is a lie.”[/quote]
[quote]"Old women who live after they have lost their reproductive function are useless and are committing a sin, [...] I couldn't say this as a politician."[/quote]
[QUOTE=Novangel;40640902]Nationalists are a very small part of Japan, it's like hearing from Westboro and thinking that's what Americans think.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]In 1996, the National Police Agency estimated that there are over 1,000 right-wing groups in Japan, with about 100,000 members in total. These groups are known in Japanese as Uyoku dantai. While there are political differences among the groups, they generally carry a philosophy of anti-leftism, hostility towards People's Republic of China and North Korea and justification of Japan's role in World War II. [/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Novangel;40640902]Nationalists are a very small part of Japan, it's like hearing from Westboro and thinking that's what Americans think.[/QUOTE]
The smallest (and sometimes dumbest) are generally the loudest.
[QUOTE=Swebonny;40640991]*[/QUOTE]
I meant as a whole sorry. To be fair there's a lot of parties like this around the world.
[QUOTE=Swebonny;40640991][/QUOTE]
Well, the 1995 census showed Japan had a population of 125,570,246, meaning that only about 1% of the population was nationalist.
From what I've read most Japanese are pretty ignorant of their past war crimes and don't even know that things like [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731"]Unit 731[/URL] existed.
Maybe I'm wrong and ignorant myself though.
[QUOTE=Novangel;40641016]I meant as a whole sorry. To be fair there's a lot of parties like this around the world.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I understand. I have no credibility when I say this, since it's only what I've perceived from the stuff I read on the web. But it feels like it's so much more widespread in Japan and accepted in Japan. From high status politicians denying things like the rape of Nanking to foreigners denied entry to Japanese bars. I know that these doesn't represent the whole country at all, but they do exist.
[QUOTE=artacuno53;40641035]Well, the 1995 census showed Japan had a population of 125,570,246, meaning that only about 1% of the population was nationalist.[/QUOTE]
That's a misleading figure to go by considering kids would not be in a nationalist group, and that number of 100,000 counts only those in organized right-wing groups, not people who adhere to right-wing ideologies.
[editline]14th May 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=Swebonny;40641059]Yeah I understand. I have no credibility when I say this, since it's only what I've perceived from the stuff I read on the web. But it feels like it's so much more widespread in Japan and accepted in Japan. From high status politicians denying things like the rape of Nanking to foreigners denied entry to Japanese bars. I know that these doesn't represent the whole country at all, but they do exist.[/QUOTE]
Well, compare it to whenever some European politician makes a comment about gypsies ruining communities, or whenever some American politician makes a comment about 'forcible rape'. It may have more cultural precedent in Japan but it's not all that different.
[QUOTE=SnakeHead;40641049]From what I've read most Japanese are pretty ignorant of their past war crimes and don't even know that things like [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731"]Unit 731[/URL] existed.
Maybe I'm wrong and ignorant myself though.[/QUOTE]
That, thats disgusting, tied to posts and used to test grenades?
I mean, im sure its just like Germany, I once asked my dad why they are so closed about world war II, and he told me "when you not only do terrible things to people, and get your asses kicked, you dont like to talk about it
[QUOTE=SnakeHead;40641049]From what I've read most Japanese are pretty ignorant of their past war crimes and don't even know that things like [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731"]Unit 731[/URL] existed.
Maybe I'm wrong and ignorant myself though.[/QUOTE]
I think you'd be wrong to say that Japanese people are in general unaware of the fact that the Japanese military committed war crimes, but it's not that surprising that some wouldn't be aware of specifics like a particular unit.
Can Germans name a particular unit of the Wermacht that was especially atrocious? Perhaps, but you wouldn't call them ignorant if they just had a general idea that the German military committed atrocities. It's no different in Western countries.
You realize alot of governments do this as well, maybe not to such an extent but still. In Vietnam there were hundreds of brothels that were operated by the US, they were completely legal for American soldiers and the girls were even tested periodicity by US medics.
[QUOTE=ma21212;40641115]You realize alot of governments do this as well, maybe not to such an extent but still. In Vietnam there were hundreds of brothels that were operated by the US, they were completely legal for American soldiers and the girls were even tested periodicity by US medics.[/QUOTE]
Napoleon did the same for his men.
Can't blame him though, he lost his virginity to a prostitute.
[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;40640954]except he's a fucking [I]elected official[/I][/QUOTE]
To be fair, a lot of American elected officials (i.e. primarily Republican) also say outraging and despicable shit too.
I'm not sure why anyone thinks these kinds of comments are exclusive to Japan.
In the midst of all this denunciation of his statement, do we have any actual evidence pertaining to how well comfort-women contribute to soldier discipline? It is possible to argue for it on utilitarian grounds, given sufficient causal reduction in wartime atrocities. Perhaps we should compare which army units had access to sex slaves, and which ones did war crimes, and see if there is any significant overlap?
[editline]14th May 2013[/editline]
It's a grim choice but between the rape of a few anonymous peasant girls and the Rape of Nanking, we ought to choose the first, no?
[QUOTE=Megafan;40641303]I'm not sure why anyone thinks these kinds of comments are exclusive to Japan.[/QUOTE]
I sure hope people dont think that, I dont think there is a country on earth where a politician or official has not or will not fuck up big time. To think such a thing to be true is just dumb.
[QUOTE=Megafan;40641303]I'm not sure why anyone thinks these kinds of comments are exclusive to Japan.[/QUOTE]
I can't think of any first world country where the person making them wouldn't be immediately decried by practically the entire population and forced into political exile.
well except here apparently
Dude's pretty batshit
[quote][b]Toru Hashimoto: Japan's would-be dictator[/b]
He admires cockroaches, once allegedly offered on air to impregnate a TV personality and openly admits to a lust for power.
Oh, and the mayor of Osaka thinks Japan needs a dictatorship.[/quote]
[url]http://sg.news.yahoo.com/toru-hashimoto-japans-dictator-184011258.html[/url]
Some of those mainstream dictators tend to result in having their countries bombed-the-shit-out-of
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