Should Japan apologize for its crimes in world war II?

Question

I'm just taking a survey, and please give me all of your opinions. Just saying, but the Japanese not only killed a lot of U.S. soldiers, but they killed a lot of South Korean civilians as well.

In one record, a woman was taken in as a comfort woman and was repeatedly raped by two hundred Japanese soldiers in one day. When she died from all that.. you know..., she was repeatedly raped again, even though the Japanese soldiers knew that she was dead. (THIS IS A TRUE STORY)
This all sounds a lot like the Nazis, except with comfort women.

Oh, and for the people who say, "but didn't Japan apologize already?" or "there is no proof of all those crimes," you are sadly mistaken. No, Japan did not apologize properly ("I feel bad" - what kind of an apology is that?), and over 200,000 women were taken as comfort women.
I know that some Japanese are good and not all are bad, but I think South Koreans deserve an apology.

What about you?

Answer 1

The atrocities committed by the Japanese are indeed tragic. I recall reading about the so-called "Rape of Nanking" in college, and also about the harsh punishment meted to Allied POWs in Southeast Asia- some of it at the hands of Korean officers (Korea was a colony of Japan at the time).

Your mention of the horrendous treatment of Korean women is also another example of what might be considered a war crime.

Some will argue that crimes committed in war should live simply in the vacuum of war; they should be relegated to the farthest reaches of one's memory, if not forgotten. Yet we can never forget Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Buchenwald, Auschwitz, Dachau, Dresden, Stalingrad, St. Petersburg, Nanking and so many horrors that are now so familiar that they are known merely by the names of their locations.

In this day and age, it would be fitting for countries to at least formally recognize the extent of the horrors that were committed by national leaders that represented them. Some nations will clearly feel uneasy offering a formal "apology"; there might be some justification in the claim that the crimes of the NAZIs are not to be stamped upon the souls of all Germans. Yet to sweep crimes under the rug is to do an injustice as well. Nations must in the very least acknowledge the extent of the brutality that the actions of their leaders caused during WWII.

Offering a formal apology would be even better. I don't think that by doing that, a nation would embarass itself. On the contrary, it would show that the past can never be forgotten, but a better future may still lie ahead.

Answer 2

Apologies for Korea. Apologies for slavery. Apologies and reparations to Native Americans. Apologies in South Africa. No doubt about it; they are due.

But apologies are the top of the slippery slope. Think back. How many countries would this involve? Every one. How many cultures would this involve? Every one. After the apology, has there been any significant change on either side?

Instead of apologies, wouldn't some form of economic assistance be of more use? In this instance, the Japanese could provide schooling for low-income J girls. Compare the after-effects of WWI to WWII. The Marshall plan re-built Europe after WWII which provided jobs, housing, infrastructure and stability.

An economic investment would be an acknowledgment of the wrong AND a positive step in the right direction.

Answer 3

It is amazing how little Japanese people in their teens and twenties actually know about WWII. Most of the population was killed in the war and those that weren't moved on by burying the past and either denying it or trying to cover it up. There are those who still deny--or downplay--the Rape of Nanjing (in China, I would look it up if you don't know what it is, it's very gruesome) and I think this is unacceptable. The Germans accept what happened in WWII and have publicly apologized for it so there should be no reason why the Japanese don't do the same thing.

Answer 4

In war atrocities happen.....by every nation who has ever fought in one including the U.S. and Japan is no different. They committed all sorts of'em and they ended up losing the war in which they began. Japan today is light years ahead of where they were in WWII socially and economically. Todays generation is ashamed of the things that happened back then and it's hard to swallow. Thus, when people want a straight out apology it's hard for them to do. Yes, I think they should because I think it'd give the Koreans some closure. But can understand why they don't and I don't think making them do it will have the desired effect that everyone is wanting. They'll do it when they're ready.

Answer 5

Well this is just my opinion, but almost every war has war crimes. It seems like when we used the atomic bomb on them that was probably a big war crime. Killing many men woman and children.

Even the Civil War had war crimes.

They probably have apologized but some people will still think that wasn't good enough. That's why if there was no wars there wouldn't have to be apologies no matter what country.

Answer 6

Every war has it's "crimes" committed by all sides. If you want truly horrible Japanese atrocities read Iris Chang's book "The Rape of Nanking".
These acts were committed in China before WWII even started.
These make anything in Iraq pale by comparison.
Apologies arent going to help anything anyway.

Answer 7

The atrocities happened over 60 years ago. Most of the individuals involved are very elderly or dead. Its time to move on and make this world a better place to live in instead of dwelling in a past we can not change.

Answer 8

Let us not forget the families on the Batan death march. My mom's cousin was caught over there with his family.
So with a wife and two little girls got to see things no one should see.
They got out alive and came back to the states. He refused to deal with anyone from Japan. His daughters had a whole host of emtional issues.

Yet we are to get all weepy about the dropping of the atomic bombs.

Not me after talking to him.

Answer 9

It's over, it was settled, everyone moved on and so lets not go back now. It is not like the Armenian Massacre where the Turks won't even admit it even happened....

Answer 10

sorry but that will never happen

Look at them do they look sorry...

Are they gonna say yes we raped thousands of teenagers, we burned babies alive, we tested humans alive in labs...i don't thinks so