Regarding Paul de Vries' May 26 article, "Expat life in Japan: the good, the bad and the meaningful": It's rather interesting that de Vries, instead of realizing the errors of his ways, continues to defend his ideal of "group accountability."
That being the case, I am pretty sure he has no problem with the Japanese internment camps created in the United States during World War II. After all, wasn't it Japanese people who bombed Pearl Harbor? The U.S. government used group accountability in deciding to round up Japanese individuals.
To keep the nation safe is the same type of reasoning de Vries uses to describe Japan's attitude. The internment camps did their job, since America was never attacked on its homeland by a Japanese individual again during the war.
Yet, the internment of Japanese people is widely considered one of the most horrific acts committed by America. I wonder why? Could it be because America blamed an entire group of people even though 98 percent had nothing to do with the Pearl Harbor attack? So, if it's now OK for Japan to act according to similar logic and walk away clean, then either de Vries and those who back the notion of group accountability agree with the steps America took to keep itself safe, or they are hypocrites.