tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11109306.post111309850783031843..comments2024-03-28T19:10:00.002+08:00Comments on KTemoc Konsiders ........: Rich, Powerful but Unrepentant - A Vexing JapanKTemochttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09951253039042572381noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11109306.post-1114068484457486842005-04-21T15:28:00.000+08:002005-04-21T15:28:00.000+08:00Thanks for the insightful reply.Thanks for the insightful reply.Milanihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09867753072486217492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11109306.post-1113964418844363072005-04-20T10:33:00.000+08:002005-04-20T10:33:00.000+08:00I believe Japan has been using the argument that t...I believe Japan has been using the argument that the issue of compensation was settled in The Treaty of San Francisco in 1952. Furthermore, her courts refused to entertain individual claims asserting that the State of individuals should make the claim, knowing full well that the Treaty of San Francisco exempted Japan from the issue of compensation for wartime atrocities and losses.<BR/><BR/>The Treaty, which exempted Japan from most compensation claims, was ironically a creation of John Foster Dulles, US Secretary of State who was most condemning of Japan at the outbreak of war.<BR/><BR/>Dulles witnessing how the unfair and unequal Treaty of Versailles crippled Germany economically after WW I, was worried that a post WWII Japan would be also similarly crippled economically through such claims.<BR/><BR/>Japan was vital to the US strategic plan to contain the Communist Bloc in the then emerging Cold War. A crippled Japan was disastrous to US plans.<BR/><BR/>5 countries refused to sign - Korea, China, India, USSR and Holland, the last because of her enormous losses in Indonesia and to some extent the sufferings of her citizens there. Fearful that the Dutch example might lead the other European countries not to sign the Treaty the US organized a secret deal between Holland and Japan, exempting Holland from any barring to future compensation claims if she signed up. She eventally did.<BR/><BR/>So it was the Cold War and the consequential US need for her that had allowed Jaopan to escape her responsibility for her wartime brutalities and savage atrocities largely unscathed.<BR/><BR/>I don't believe that today countries like Korea and China are so much interested in compensation per se as the need for Japan to acknowledge her past evil deeds so that she would never again recommit them. They want formal closure with an apology from Japan, who has until now refused to extend an official apology, hiding behind the "personal" apologies by certain Japanese leaders as being adequate.<BR/><BR/>Extreme rightwing parties continue to exist in Japan, demonstrated by the PM being politically 'forced' to visit the Yakusuni shrine where war criminals are revered. This sort of stuff, worshipping evil military men who perpetrated atrocities on Koreans, Chinese and other Asians, would not be allowed to happen in Germany, where even denial of the Holocaust is a crime. naziism is illegal in Germany while in Japan, war criminals are worshipped.<BR/><BR/>The activities and emergence of these Japanese rightwing factions are very worrying to many of her Asian neighbours who had suffered tremendously from her wartime atrocities.<BR/><BR/>As for the Emperor, he has already been de-mythologised by MacArthur, so there won't and can't be any further deterioration in his status. In fact, if the Japanese Emperor were to make a formal apology tomorrow to Korea and China, his status would immediately be elevated to amazing level of respect by the Asian countries. The only drawback would be he could be assassinated by Japanese right wing elements.KTemochttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09951253039042572381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11109306.post-1113928165240586672005-04-20T00:29:00.000+08:002005-04-20T00:29:00.000+08:00Indeed, an apology is owed to the victims. But a f...Indeed, an apology is owed to the victims. But a full apology would mean billions of dollars to the victims, investigations into the imperial family and full accountability of officers now either dead or in their prime... an overhaul of social system in which the emperor and his family will no longer be seen significant in the eyes of Japan, a loss of prestige within the region amongst the asian tigers. Can u think of other repercussions?Milanihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09867753072486217492noreply@blogger.com