NationStates Jolt Archive

Yesterday marked the seventieth anniversary of the Fall of Nanking, and the beginning of what, in my opinion, was one of the worst atrocities to befall the world; the Rape of Nanking. Well, since it is such a significant anniversary, I felt that it would be appropriate to have a discussion about it, and more importantly, how it has been treated in the years since.

One thing that highly annoys me to this day is that the Japanese refuse to acknowledge what happened, and refuse to apologise to the people that suffered as a result of this occupation gone wrong. Let us compare them with the Germans who have had the decency to apologise to the Jews for the Holocaust, and who fully acknowledged what they did.

Indeed, the Japanese occupation of Asia was much worse than World War II in Europe; six million Jews died in the Holocaust, with another seven to twelve million Poles, Gypsies, Russians, et cetera also dying. In Asia, thirty million people were slaughtered. In spite of this, the Holocaust and Nazism has gotten far greater attention than the Japanese and their, arguably just as bad if not worse atrocities.

What do you guys all think? I also apologise if I offended anybody in my little rant.

A tragic piece of history that's often forgotten in the West, simply because it was so far away (and amongst people to whom most of us aren't closely related).

*snip*

Without detracting from the tremendous tragedies of Japanese colonialism, it's not true to say that they have neither acknowledged nor apologised for it.

List of Japanese apologies. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan)

They have also made reparations

List of reparations. (http://www.jiyuu-shikan.org/e/reparations.html)

Japan could possibly do more in showing real remorse in terms of the war but other parties could also do more in terms of not stirring nationalism based on these events.

It has great resonance in Asia, people still have strong feelings about Japan - it's not so talked about in the West but for obvious reasons.

What do you guys all think? I also apologise if I offended anybody in my little rant.

I am not sure about the numbers, but here's a hypothesis as to why. I won't talk about the Japanese reasons, because it's essentially a more complicated variant of saving face. But as to the western lack of attention, it can be divided as follows. Mind you this is a hypothesis, so feel free to ignore any/all of it if you have countering evidence.

1: Japan fell under sole American occupation and was used as an Eastern containment to the Soviet Union. This means less demonising of what Japan did because hey, they're allies now.

2: China under Mao. Given how much red scare ballyhooing was going on in the western nations, giving as much attention to Japan's atrocities as Germany's would have mitigated the "evil communists" appearance of China and made them look like legitimate victims.

3: Jews actually got a state. Unlike the roma, the gypsies and other groups that ended up in the furnaces, the Jewish people managed to get a state, and could make a case as to how their lack of statehood before was the partially reason they were persecuted. China on the other hand, had a pre-existing state, and atrocities like this are more easily shrugged off because its somehow seen as less sympathetic.

4: Racial views. Let's be honest. The big players pre and post WWII were from an era that more or less had viewed East Asia and its inhabitants as somewhat lesser in scales of importance than the typical Caucasian. That meant lower expectations of civilized behavior as well. Racism does play an active role in how much importance is given to many issues, especially if it's done by what is perceived as an outside ethnicity.