tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32776756.post3854018396249791119..comments2023-10-20T18:03:01.821+09:00Comments on GlobalTalk 21: A Few More Words regarding Prime Minister Abe’s Bandung SpeechJun Okumurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00291478225274759649noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32776756.post-68958221897096952762015-04-25T10:53:05.826+09:002015-04-25T10:53:05.826+09:00I think my esteemed friend Okumura-san confuses et...I think my esteemed friend Okumura-san confuses ethics with politics. There is no doubt that the genocide of native peoples in the New World, as well as massacres in the colonies, are as bad, and in several cases far worse, than anything the Imperial Japanese Army did in 1931-45.<br /><br />But the apology business is not about morals, it's about politics. Thus, it deals not with ethical absolutes but with the relativism of politics. Having slaughtered the indigenous inhabitants, and stolen 99% of their land, has very little impact on the international position of the United States. Nor is the killing of over half of the Hereros of German Southwest Africa a burden on contemporary German diplomacy. <br /><br />There are, however, cases where misdeeds, ranging from genocide (Nazi Germany) to old-fashioned massacres (Nanjing) have grave consequences for the national interest of the successor states (Federal Germany, today's Japan). Some countries totally fail to handle it. Turkey being the prime example (Armenian genocide). Others managed it extremely well (Germany). Japan has done a better job than Turkey (not a very high standard) but not as good as Germany.<br /><br />Japan suffers from the unfortunate marriage of Mr. Showa with Mr. Hitler (or if you prefer General Tojo with Mr. Hitler, Mr. Showa being the symbolic father of the groom). Therefore, when comparisons are made, no one thinks of the fate of the native Americans, the Africans enslaved and murdered by Europeans, or the Aboriginal Australians. Rather, everyone asks about how Japan performed in the realm of apologies compared with Germany.<br /><br />This is unfair. But (a) life is not fair. Additionally (b) neither the Japanese Civil Code nor its German counterpart (which influenced the Japanese version) recognize posthumous divorce. When Mr. Hitler blew his brains in April 1945 he was still married to Mr. Showa, with whom he, had had a child known as the Axis. Had Japan, like Italy after it overthrew the Duce, ended the matrimony prior to the German leader's death, it might have been possible to separate Imperial Japan from Nazi Germany in the minds of observers. But after the death of the Fuehrer, it became impossible. <br /><br />There is, therefore, no way for Japan to escape the ghosts of its association with the Third Reich. It places unique burdens on today's Japanese premier, something he may not fully realize.Robert Dujarrichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14646968650516351466noreply@blogger.com