Why do some Westerners (usually American) complain about Japan not including war atrocities in text books?

Question

What's better?

A society that is peaceful, that has made ammends for its past problems, that lives in the present moment and just happens to not want to dwell on what bad things a very few people in its past may have done during war to some other people?

or

A society which brings up the past at all times, forgets that its own soldiers have raped, pillaged, and tortured, and that is currently waging a "war" against an unspecified enemy, meanwhile killing hundreds of innocent people, depleting its budget, destroying the environment, and devalueing it's currency?

Answer 1

sometimes people complain too much becuase they have nothing else to do. (or because they are so guilty the want to take the attention off of themselves.) it's really sad people cant just get along and be happy. And stop raping native women in war-torn countries

Answer 2

I think the people complain is not westerners. More Chinese and Koreans do that.
I think "Not including" is not proper. Japan doesn't describe the past event as a defeated country, but just one country in the world like the Great Powers of Europe from late 19th century.
eg. Nanking massacre is written as Nanking Operation. Because Japan was the attacker side.
Defeated doesn't mean all the past events were wrong and the "guilt" was judged at the Tokyo Tribunal.

Even US won't write about the bad attitude of the US troops and the attack/murder to innocent people in Iraq and Afgan.
It will take a while like the description of slavery in their history.

Answer 3

Actually many Americans on the Left feel guilty over Hiroshima and Nagasaki and some of them aren't aware of or overlook Japanese war atrocities.

As many above stated - the majority of the complaints come from the countries that suffered from those atrocities. Even Okinawa complains about the atrocities being left out.

You're just trying to use current events to water down the evil deeds of the past. As bad as the US has been in Iraq, they'd would have to stoop extremely low to reach the levels of Nanking, comfort women, death marches, POW beheadings, cannibalism.

Anyway, don't worry about criticism from the States which is a mere sliver compared to that of Japan's neighbors.

Answer 4

America defined itself through war. Independence from Britain was achieved through war. Slavery was ended through war. The last sixty years of good behavior by the Japanese was defined through war. Every enemy of America has been defeated. Of course it is not true that our support of others has resulted in victory. Viet Nam, Somalia. If Iraq was our enemy, they would be a US colony by now. The answer to your question is this... and it's ugly...Japan lost the war in a horrific fashion and it is a source of national disgrace. They were destroyed for reasons that they themselves can not justify. Destroyed in the blink of an eye. All national hubris decayed instantly into a plea for aid. Nothing to be proud of. Nazis feel the same way. Text books do not tend to illuminate the failures of the nation in which they are published.

Answer 5

if you don't know history you're doomed to repeat it....we don't dwell on the negatives we just teach our society about history and learn from the mistakes (at least that's the plan) that we've made in the past. by learning about the past you can hopefully help to prevent something like the Holocaust...or in Japan's case...Hiroshima happening again. America isn't so eager to drop the A-bomb b/c of the devastation it caused in Japan and not to mention still is (radiation and what not) If you bury the past you'll just repeat it b/c it's just human nature to be cruel and to totally dominate and spread your "seed" in the new terroritory. *shrug* unless if you want to completely make humans void of ALL emotions cruelty and want to command and conquere will always be there. Again, by knowing the past and about the good and bad things of history you can hopefully prevent and eventually mature as a worldwide human race. But only if everyone is on the same. Of course, it's easy for me to say....Me being an American and being the product of my enviornment "Top Dog". I suppose if i came from a nation that hasn't had the priviledge of being on top (B/C lets face it Japan has never in ALL of history been a world conquereing nation....it's unfeasable it's an island country...although they were able to defeat the Mongols which is impressive considering they conquered the Arab, Russia and Chinese nations at the time when those 3 nation were very powerful. (See how studying history can help..it helps in debating logically....something that the Japanese seem to pride themselves on.....don't get me wrong I LOVE the Japanese culture....i took 2 yrs of it in HS.....just showing you how knowing about history can help you.)

Answer 6

If you don't know your history, you can't make a better future. Hopefully we Americans won't ever forget what is going on now, and learn from the mistakes that are currently being made and do better in the future. Lets not forget the Japanese tortured Americans, killing most whom they tortured! The Philippians during WWII. Yeah, not a great time for the American soldiers at the hands of Japan.

Answer 7

Most people who are younger are not bitter about the Japanese. Those who are older are upset they were attacked at Pearl Harbour and eventually drug into WW2. Try to imagine your country being attacked unexpectedly. I agree people need to let it go however if you don't remember the past then you are doomed to repeat it. Seems like those who bombed the World Trade Center didn't learn anything from the Japanese.

Answer 8

i agree with you
japan did what it did under foreign pressure
(who told commodore matthew perry to show up in 1853 scaring the japanese and probably causing them to change their politics for centuries to come)
this is akin to asking Americans in theirv textbooks to mention the mass killing of native americans and the mass murderer christopher columbus.... atleast the japanese don't have a set specific day to celebrate their atrocities (we do....surprise surprise and it's called columbus day)

Answer 9

No beating around the bush ( no pun intended ) .
History is doomed to repeat itself , so study it - If your " Society " is honestly going to teach its citizens history then it would include everything , including war atrocities .

Well , America's not perfect , but our 300 million souls can and will whoopass on anything or anyone that is foolish enough to harm us in anyway . If bad guys blew up a huge building in japan would not you seek out the responsible group ? Or would your so called peaceful society just turn the other cheek ? I think not ...

Answer 10

I hate to burst your bubble there Tojo but if you look Korea, China and a host of other Asian countries have issues with Japan not being open about it's recent history on war crimes.

Answer 11

Hmm. Maybe you should not ask the question 'What's better?' but rather a broader question so it's not so biased. Both countries have done wrong so neither is better.