Jello wrote:
] ] TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- A Japanese publisher will
] ] suspend a comic series in its popular weekly magazine
] ] after receiving angry protests over its characterization
] ] of the 1937 "Rape of Nanjing," in which Japanese soldiers
] ] brutally massacred Chinese civilians.

This has been an area that just slipped by the history books. I had never heard of the Rape of Nanjing in high school history classes. It didn't come up in college during my World History 1500-Present class, either. I first learned about this issue when an idiotic hotel manager and tour company owner booked 200-300 Japanese men on a trip to Nanjing for a weekend of prostitution... on the anniversary weekend of the Rape of Nanjing. The organizers were sentenced to life in prison for pandering and promotion of prostitution. This is in China, where prostitution laws are never enforced - hence the popularity of Karaoke bars. I then read several books on the subject and the photographs printed from Japanese newspapers are compelling enough to convince one that it happened. Two Japanese officers had a beheading competition during the week of siege on Nanjing (the former capitol city of China, for those who don't know the significance) that the Japanese newspapers kept running numbers on, along with pictures of the beheadings.

Anyway, I think it's good that a comic/manga publisher IN JAPAN finally wanted to educate people about their past. It's ridiculous that the local politicians still want to keep it under the rug and claim that it never happened.

Dolemite

] Anyway, I think it's good that a comic/manga publisher IN
] JAPAN finally wanted to educate people about their past. It's
] ridiculous that the local politicians still want to keep it
] under the rug and claim that it never happened.

Japan has a huge disconnect. There was a big fuss a few years back because Japan refused to change their history curriculum, which basically justified the invansion of Manchuria, round-eyes are devils cut off our oil and forced us, blah blah blah.

No one likes to have skeletons brought out, and counries tend to down-play their mistakes. Ask your average American about Internment camps in WWII, and they have no idea what you mean.

Its not about shame. Its not about making you feel bad. Its about understanding how far desperate people can fall when pushed.

Dolemite wrote:
] Jello wrote:
] ] ] TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- A Japanese publisher will
] ] ] suspend a comic series in its popular weekly magazine
] ] ] after receiving angry protests over its characterization
] ] ] of the 1937 "Rape of Nanjing," in which Japanese soldiers
] ] ] brutally massacred Chinese civilians.
]

so this is the first I've heard about this, so I went and read more about it...this seems to me every bit as bad as the US covering up indian massacres (though they don't do that nearly as much anymore), or the germans trying to convense people that the hollacost never happened...it sickens me to see a national leader turn his back on history, pretending this sort of thing never happened is the best way to insure it happens again...

--Abaddon

Dolemite wrote:
] Jello wrote:
] ] ] TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- A Japanese publisher will
] ] ] suspend a comic series in its popular weekly magazine
] ] ] after receiving angry protests over its characterization
] ] ] of the 1937 "Rape of Nanjing," in which Japanese soldiers
] ] ] brutally massacred Chinese civilians.
]
] This has been an area that just slipped by the history books.
] I had never heard of the Rape of Nanjing in high school
] history classes. It didn't come up in college during my World
] History 1500-Present class, either. I first learned about
] this issue when an idiotic hotel manager and tour company
] owner booked 200-300 Japanese men on a trip to Nanjing for a
] weekend of prostitution... on the anniversary weekend of the
] Rape of Nanjing. The organizers were sentenced to life in
] prison for pandering and promotion of prostitution. This is
] in China, where prostitution laws are never enforced - hence
] the popularity of Karaoke bars. I then read several books on
] the subject and the photographs printed from Japanese
] newspapers are compelling enough to convince one that it
] happened. Two Japanese officers had a beheading competition
] during the week of siege on Nanjing (the former capitol city
] of China, for those who don't know the significance) that the
] Japanese newspapers kept running numbers on, along with
] pictures of the beheadings.
]
] Anyway, I think it's good that a comic/manga publisher IN
] JAPAN finally wanted to educate people about their past. It's
] ridiculous that the local politicians still want to keep it
] under the rug and claim that it never happened.
]
] Dolemite

I didn't know anything about this until some "bullshit" (although it turned out great) class on international affairs freshman year of college put "The Rape of Nanking" on the required reading list. I saw a documentary the other day about this on the History Channel, and it said that even the Nazis were horrified at the violence. They offered to send officers to mediate. Sheesh.