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[May16]

I just got done teaching Japanese middle schoolers about the rape of Nanking.

It was uncomfortable.

 

[Amalthea]

Man, Japan is such a stark contrast to Germany in accepting the actions of World War 2.

I think Germany is actually the only country that ever really did this. I mean there are so many countries that commited extreme atrocities in the last 200 years that are completely brushed over or played down extremely.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

"That is not our custom" is a worthless rebuttal.

What do you mean? It's 100% flawless rhetoric. See, murder is against the law in my country. This effectively proves that we have no murderers.

Wait...

 

[Ratrat]

What do you mean? It's 100% flawless rhetoric. See, murder is against the law in my country. This effectively proves that we have no murderers.

Wait...

Maybe just "ritual acts of cannablism" part? I have no idea.

 

[fritolay]

Now she has chickpox and can't make premiere.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/13/showbiz/angelina-jolie-chickenpox/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

 

[MMaRsu]

Now she has chickpox and can't make premiere.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/13/showbiz/angelina-jolie-chickenpox/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

Wow such nonsense (Probably)

 

[Gibbo]

No idea this was getting made..really enjoyed the book

 

[Savitar]

I just got done teaching Japanese middle schoolers about the rape of Nanking.

It was uncomfortable.

Don't they disallow such things?

 

[anaron]

I have to say, yes, it's new to me. Wow, like out of a horror story.

Same. Jesus christ...

 

[ViviOggi]

Back in secondary school I used to get annoyed by how many years we devoted to the Third Reich in history class, but seeing how most countries continue to refuse to own up to their past atrocities goes to show how important it really was.

 

[teruterubozu]

In many ways Japan has become way more nationalistic in recent years, especially among politicians. The problem is the younger generation doesn't give 2 fucks about any of this.

 

[DC R1D3R]

I'm not sure who I trust less to give us the facts of a story, Japanese right wingers or Hollywood.

hollywood tell the truth for shore.

 

[May16]

Don't they disallow such things?

Private school.

 

[Guru-Guru]

Private school.

...Your school let you teach that? No parents objected/complained?

 

[Cheesecakebobby]

I'm also doing my best to educate Japanese high school aged kids about their country's past because they won't learn anything about it in history classes. Maybe cannibalism will be the topic of next week's class...

 

[May16]

...Your school let you teach that? No parents objected/complained?

Not one.

I'm as surprised as you; I thought there'd be some blowback. In my own anecdotal experience, I'm finding that a lot of Japanese realize that the government is sweeping some things under the rug, even if they're not specifically sure what that thing is.

 

[Jag]

hollywood tell the truth for shore.

If they follow the book, they should get it pretty close. It really just tells Zampereni's story. The abuse he faced in the prison camps isn't even his entire story, just the end. While the things he faced were surely evil, it mostly stems from on one perpetrator who really had it in for Zampereni.

 

[BearFlexington]

nincompoop

Mom? Is that you?

If anyone is interested, King Rat is an awesome work of fiction on Japanese POW camps.

 

[xbhaskarx]

Since some of you have probably never heard of this incident: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichijima_incident

The book by James Bradley is also quite good. There are numerous recorded instances of acts of cannibalism by Japanese military personnel during the war.

Wow

 

[The Omega Man]

Japanese will think this takes place in a parallel universe where a thing called WWII happened

 

[Ermc_G6]

Louie (the actual person for whom this movie is about) actually came and spoke at some small event my high school hosted, so I got to meet him. He was something like 80 at the time, and super full of energy and life. He told the crowed that his son made him give up skateboarding ten years ago, and he still missed it.

He didn't mention anything about cannibalism, but he did still have some scars on his arms from his treatment while a POW.

All around amazing person, I'm glad to see his book did so well.

 

[Winterfang]

Japan did so much brain washing to the Asian people they conquered that when the American people got there, they feared them so much they took their own lives. I saw a world War two video of mothers jumping over cliffs with their kids out of fear of what the Americans would do to them.

 

[M3d10n]

Man, Japan is such a stark contrast to Germany in accepting the actions of World War 2.

The conservatives over there seem to have a terrible inability of separating the individual and the collective in their minds. It seems they base their denial on the idea that the Japanese people (specially those in leadership positions) are "too good" to have engaged into such acts, so the reports have to be lies.

 

[Toxi]

Japanese conservatives can get bent, that some holocaust denial level of bullshit, and should invoke significantly more outrage.

This.

 

[Rest]

The Japanese conservatives are going to be much less trustworthy. Hollywood will get facts wrong either out of ignorance or for dramatic film making. The Japanese conservatives will straight out lie. There are two lies right in the article: there are lots of records of Japanese torture and cannibalism in World War II.

There are records of cannibalism? I've never heard that before. Source?

 

[Booshka]

Own up to it Japan, seriously.

Louis Zamperini is a native of my city and local Hero, seeing some Japanese wanting to boycott this film because they can't cop to the history of their country is some Grade A Bullshit.

 

[4Tran]

The conservatives over there seem to have a terrible inability of separating the individual and the collective in their minds. It seems they base their denial on the idea that the Japanese people (specially those in leadership positions) are "too good" to have engaged into such acts, so the reports have to be lies.

Part of this is cultural, but a large part stems from MacArthur allowing the Japanese to bury most of their crimes. A lot of war criminals, perhaps the large majority, managed to avoid prosecution altogether. In Germany, the Allies made sure that everyone was exposed to the extent of their crimes, so that it would be impossible to deny.

There are records of cannibalism? I've never heard that before. Source?

The Chichijima Incident mentioned earlier is a good example, and this gives an idea of the extent of the cannibalism: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...e-flesh-of-enemies-and-civilians-1539816.html

 

[KillerMan91]

Man, Japan is such a stark contrast to Germany in accepting the actions of World War 2.

Germany was forced to accept and teach about Nazi atrocities after the war by allies but Japan was not. That makes a huge difference. Also lets not pretend that Japan is alone in this. British, french, russians and chinese are just as bad about teaching their history and while I must give props to US about teaching slavery so thoroughly even you guys skip a lot of 20 th century stuff as far as I know (the shit you guys have pulled in Middle East and South America). Pretty much every country tries so sweep bad things under the rug if it's just possible. Allies should have treated Japan like they treated Germany and we would not have this problem at least.

 

[Jag]

Own up to it Japan, seriously.

Louis Zamperini is a native of my city and local Hero, seeing some Japanese wanting to boycott this film because they can't cop to the history of their country is some Grade A Bullshit.

I never heard of him before I read the book. But once I was done, he's a hero to me. I'm glad more people will hear his story through the movie.