Comments on: Triumph of the Will? Japan After 1853 http://www.historynet.com/triumph-of-the-will-japan-after-1853.htm From the World's Largest History Magazine Publisher Sat, 18 May 2013 15:30:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Dom http://www.historynet.com/triumph-of-the-will-japan-after-1853.htm#comment-828645 Dom Mon, 24 Dec 2012 09:20:48 +0000 http://www.historynet.com/?p=13684970#comment-828645 Japanese wife? Of course. It is typical of Japanophiles like yourself to apologise for Japan's aggression. Tell me where the Army's expansionist beliefs and ideology fake? Japanese wife? Of course. It is typical of Japanophiles like yourself to apologise for Japan's aggression. Tell me where the Army's expansionist beliefs and ideology fake?

]]> By: Mike H. http://www.historynet.com/triumph-of-the-will-japan-after-1853.htm#comment-796900 Mike H. Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:05:10 +0000 http://www.historynet.com/?p=13684970#comment-796900 The principles of Bushido go back a much longer way...all the way back to Musashi, the prototypical Samurai...a name that I he heard translated as "to serve". Their religion was primarily Shinto, though Buddhism had made major inroads, particularly Zen. The Shinto faith holds Japan to be a gift from the Gods, and the Emperor was directly descended from those Gods. Everything in Japan is holy, in this interpretation. The smallest rock has a kami or godlike spirit. Fallen warriors go to a special shrine, where they, too, become kami; their reward for dying for the emperor. "Duty is heavy as a mountain; Death is light as a feather." was a common saying as far back as the 14th century. The truest thing I ever heard or read about the Japanese was,"anyone claiming to understand the Japanese is one of two things: a. Japanese, themselves b. A fool, who doesn't have a clue. I'm not Japanese, so I don't know... The principles of Bushido go back a much longer way…all the way back to Musashi, the prototypical Samurai…a name that I he heard translated as "to serve". Their religion was primarily Shinto, though Buddhism had made major inroads, particularly Zen. The Shinto faith holds Japan to be a gift from the Gods, and the Emperor was directly descended from those Gods. Everything in Japan is holy, in this interpretation. The smallest rock has a kami or godlike spirit. Fallen warriors go to a special shrine, where they, too, become kami; their reward for dying for the emperor. "Duty is heavy as a mountain; Death is light as a feather." was a common saying as far back as the 14th century. The truest thing I ever heard or read about the Japanese was,"anyone claiming to understand the Japanese is one of two things:
a. Japanese, themselves
b. A fool, who doesn't have a clue.
I'm not Japanese, so I don't know…

]]> By: John Koster http://www.historynet.com/triumph-of-the-will-japan-after-1853.htm#comment-789210 John Koster Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:45:21 +0000 http://www.historynet.com/?p=13684970#comment-789210 Japanese foreign policy by Frank Capra? Take over America with Hitler -- while sheltering 40,000 Jewish refugees in Shanghai? I don't think so. Japan's resolute anti-colonialism won the admiration of people of color all over the world -- the Japanese tried to insert a clause stating that all races were considered equal in the charter of the League of Nations, but the British and Woodrow Wilson squelched it. Japan controlled the Russia expansion into the Pacific Rim (1904-1905) and rounded up and deported the Wilhelmine Germans in Shantung (1914) as an ally of Britain. The colonialists scrapped the British-Japanese alliance in 1922 and the U.S. stuck both Japan and China with an immigration quote of 100 immigrants each in 1924. The Smoot-Hawley Traffic wrecked Japan's overseas economy and FDR's recognition of the Soviet Union pushed them into an "anti-comintern pact" which was originally supposed to include Britain, France, and Poland, but didn't work out that way. The ultimate name was the Axis. American disruption of a feudal economy led to industrialization that Japan didn't have the resources to handle, and this and apprehension of Russia led to the annexation of Korea (approved by Theodore Roosevelt) and the seizure of Manchuria. The 1937 China incident was mutual-fault, even according to Eric Severeid and most modern Chinese historians. (Chiang was a dunce and couldn't defeat the Commuists) Pearl Harbor was instigated by a Soviet mole in the White House. Conversely, most of the Japanese atrocities against prisoners and civilians were genuine -- yet as Judge Rabinahod Pal from India said when he voted for acquittal at the 1948 Tokyo Trials, some Japanese soldiers were "fiendish and devilish" but Monaco or Luxembourg would have bombed Pearl Harbor if Monaco or Luxembourg had received the Hull Note from the U.S. State Department. Judge Pal's book has never been released in the United States or Britain, and the Soviet documents about how they instigated the U.S. - Japanese War in 1941 have only been briefly paraphrased until my own translator had a go at it. Also translated -- Mitsuo Fuchida's account of delighted the "pacifist" Hirohito was by the photographs of Pearl Harbor. and rhe cabinet meeting at which the Japanese agreed they would have to fight the U.S. or face a domestic revolution in Japan like the one that almost toppled Hirhito and killed half his cabinet in 1936, and another revolut in Korea which would have Chinese support. The book comes out later this year. You can't do this stuff monolingually or without an impartial perspective. The Japanese did a lot of truly awful stuff -- but Peral Harbor started on our side and Admiral James Richardson said so. John Koster Japanese foreign policy by Frank Capra? Take over America with Hitler — while sheltering 40,000 Jewish refugees in Shanghai? I don't think so. Japan's resolute anti-colonialism won the admiration of people of color all over the world — the Japanese tried to insert a clause stating that all races were considered equal in the charter of the League of Nations, but the British and Woodrow Wilson squelched it. Japan controlled the Russia expansion into the Pacific Rim (1904-1905) and rounded up and deported the Wilhelmine Germans in Shantung (1914) as an ally of Britain. The colonialists scrapped the British-Japanese alliance in 1922 and the U.S. stuck both Japan and China with an immigration quote of 100 immigrants each in 1924. The Smoot-Hawley Traffic wrecked Japan's overseas economy and FDR's recognition of the Soviet Union pushed them into an "anti-comintern pact" which was originally supposed to include Britain, France, and Poland, but didn't work out that way. The ultimate name was the Axis. American disruption of a feudal economy led to industrialization that Japan didn't have the resources to handle, and this and apprehension of Russia led to the annexation of Korea (approved by Theodore Roosevelt) and the seizure of Manchuria. The 1937 China incident was mutual-fault, even according to Eric Severeid and most modern Chinese historians. (Chiang was a dunce and couldn't defeat the Commuists) Pearl Harbor was instigated by a Soviet mole in the White House. Conversely, most of the Japanese atrocities against prisoners and civilians were genuine — yet as Judge Rabinahod Pal from India said when he voted for acquittal at the 1948 Tokyo Trials, some Japanese soldiers were "fiendish and devilish" but Monaco or Luxembourg would have bombed Pearl Harbor if Monaco or Luxembourg had received the Hull Note from the U.S. State Department. Judge Pal's book has never been released in the United States or Britain, and the Soviet documents about how they instigated the U.S. – Japanese War in 1941 have only been briefly paraphrased until my own translator had a go at it. Also translated — Mitsuo Fuchida's account of delighted the "pacifist" Hirohito was by the photographs of Pearl Harbor. and rhe cabinet meeting at which the Japanese agreed they would have to fight the U.S. or face a domestic revolution in Japan like the one that almost toppled Hirhito and killed half his cabinet in 1936, and another revolut in Korea which would have Chinese support. The book comes out later this year. You can't do this stuff monolingually or without an impartial perspective. The Japanese did a lot of truly awful stuff — but Peral Harbor started on our side and Admiral James Richardson said so.

John Koster

]]> By: Rob Citino http://www.historynet.com/triumph-of-the-will-japan-after-1853.htm#comment-787553 Rob Citino Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:35:12 +0000 http://www.historynet.com/?p=13684970#comment-787553 Great, Dave. Didn't know that issue was out yet! Great, Dave. Didn't know that issue was out yet!

]]> By: Dave T http://www.historynet.com/triumph-of-the-will-japan-after-1853.htm#comment-787546 Dave T Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:14:59 +0000 http://www.historynet.com/?p=13684970#comment-787546 Dr. C. Saw your book list highlighted in World War II magazine. Guadalcanal Diary was one of the first WWII books that I read as well. It too started me on a journey of learning about this most interesting of conflicts. Dave Dr. C.
Saw your book list highlighted in World War II magazine. Guadalcanal Diary was one of the first WWII books that I read as well. It too started me on a journey of learning about this most interesting of conflicts.
Dave

]]> By: Rob Citino http://www.historynet.com/triumph-of-the-will-japan-after-1853.htm#comment-787080 Rob Citino Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:03:56 +0000 http://www.historynet.com/?p=13684970#comment-787080 Thanks, Gerald. I'll check it out. --RC Thanks, Gerald. I'll check it out. –RC

]]> By: Gerald Swick http://www.historynet.com/triumph-of-the-will-japan-after-1853.htm#comment-787077 Gerald Swick Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:50:33 +0000 http://www.historynet.com/?p=13684970#comment-787077 The folks at the National Museum of the Pacific War, in Fredericksburg, Texas, are in agreement with you, Rob. Their displays begin with "Seeds of Conflict," going back to at least the First Opium War, 1838–1842. There's a picture of the display that mentions the year 1853; it's image 3 of a slideshow about the museum, http://www.armchairgeneral.com/national-museum-of-the-pacific-war-a-photo-essay.htm The folks at the National Museum of the Pacific War, in Fredericksburg, Texas, are in agreement with you, Rob. Their displays begin with "Seeds of Conflict," going back to at least the First Opium War, 1838–1842. There's a picture of the display that mentions the year 1853; it's image 3 of a slideshow about the museum, http://www.armchairgeneral.com/national-museum-of-the-pacific-war-a-photo-essay.htm

]]>