When I lived in Asia back in the 70's and 80's, I had a lot of time spent with Japanese friends. WWII being one of my favorite subjects, I tried to converse with people my own age about it. They seemed to know almost nothing at all. Their schoolbooks seemed to only have a half page that mentioned Pearl Harbor and the Japanese victory then fast forwarded to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese "retirement" from the war. No mention of the atrocities, the alliance with Hitler the madman or the fact that they had really been fighting the war since 1894, stirring up trouble in China. When they defeated the Russians in 1905, attacking before they declaired war (Hmmm), they annexed Korea shortly thereafter. They just kept gnawing away at China & building up island bastions until we began to notice in 33. They drummed up reasons for an out-and-out war by 37 and were absolutely merciless about it until we finally stopped them cold in 1945. Yet a modern Japanese seems to know nothing. Why?
2006-12-07
20:05:18
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10 answers
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asked by
Don S
2
in
Military