Regarding Paul de Vries’ March 6 letter, “The crimes of an imperial power“: De Vries’ attempt to dissociate Japan and Germany during World War II is based on a less-than-complete understanding of Adolf Hitler’s war, which was a unified, flagrantly imperialist-expansionist push, exactly as ...
Regarding the March 16 letters by Barry Andrew Ward (“U.S. actions much less egregious“) and by James Hughes (“Japan wouldn’t even save its own”): Maybe we are talking about atrocities of different kinds and on different levels. Ward states, as if he were following ...
Regarding Barry Andrew Ward’s March 6 letter, “U.S. actions much less egregious“: I’d like to add my two pence worth. First, I disagree with his comment that “the Americans bombed Japanese cities to eliminate Japan’s ability to continue its war of aggression.” While that ...
I would like to mention something that the Hong Kong media never puts out when it comes to problems regarding Japan: Youths such as myself have no problem with Japan. As for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Yasukuni Shrine in December, most Hong ...
Regarding Charles Muller’s March 6 letter, “Dissenting review was welcome” (in which Muller welcomes reviewer Anthony Fensom’s criticism of “Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan,” a volume that I edited): Muller misunderstands my earlier objection, which focuses solely on Fensom’s suggestion that Japanese contributors could ...
When I read Philip Brasor’s Feb. 23 Media Mix article, “Japan takes baby steps toward a proper debate about animal rights,” I again felt regret that the gap of understanding between the two sides doesn’t seem to be getting any narrower. I agree that ...
Regarding the March 8 AFP-JIJI article “Russia stands firm on Crimea standoff despite sanctions“: The illegal breakup of Yugoslavia occurred under similar conditions. Yugoslavia’s constitution, [for which revisions] had to have majority approval by all six of Yugoslavia’s republics, was disrespected. Yet, the West ...
Recently no day seems to pass without our having to put up with double talk from a Japanese leader or a director of NHK (the national broadcaster). It wasn’t even a year ago that then Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose made a spectacle of himself ...
Regarding Yoshio Shimoji’s Feb. 27 letter, “Just say the U.S. wasn’t innocent“: Shimoji’s view that the United States should admit it “committed atrocities comparable to, or even exceeding” those committed by the Japanese misses an extremely significant point: that the Americans bombed Japanese cities ...
I truly wonder at the logic in Yoshio Shimoji’s Feb. 27 letter, which states in effect that the United States should admit to committing atrocities comparable to or worse than those by Japan. Does this mean that the deaths of up to 500,000 Japanese ...
It is clear from the front-page Feb. 25 article “Xi seeks WWII focus on German trip” that China has adopted a policy of drawing comparisons between German and Japanese contrition for World War II. This comparison is commonly made, but is characteristic of those ...
What more compelling condemnation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s craziness can there be than the unprecedented, bipartisan outcries of three former prime ministers (Morihiro Hosokawa, Junichiro Koizumi and now Tomiichi Murayama). You would be hard pressed to find as serious an example of multidirectional ...
