Post-traumatic stress disorder
Sorry for two replies. Or more.
My mum's dad (the same one who was told rather bluntly what would happen to him if he hit her) was captured by the Japanese in WW2 when his unit (the 2/2 Pioneers) were captured defending Java.

He was sent directly to the Burma-Thailand Railway as a prisoner of war. Have a look on Wikipedia for it.

What creeps me out is my mum telling me that when Bridge Over The River Kwai, while not being too accurate was released, no-one else in the house could sleep for a week from the screams of his nightmares that the movie recalled for him.
When mum, as any respectable child, refused to eat her brussels sprouts, he looked at her and in a deadpan voice said "My best friend would have survived on what you didn't want to eat."

What creeps me out is the inhumanity that caused him to react this way; anything that causes someone to not sleep for the nightmares caused by a movie depicting the events gives me the creeps.
(Sir Thomas Bent is performing unspeakable acts with the Mace, Sun 10 Apr 2011, 14:16, 7 replies)

I just feel sorry for the poor bastard
Having had the trauma of his own father threatening to burn him alive, he then finds someone who loves him only to be threatened by her that she'll kill him if he ever gets physical on what's supposed to be the happiest day of their lives. Before going to war and being threatened and treated so badly to the point that recalling memories make him unable to sleep!
( @><|= w0nu!) or cunt to my friends, Sun 10 Apr 2011, 16:38, closed)

Until
the Japanese make a PROPER apology to those still alive who suffered as POW's (including "Comfort girls"), make reparations and admit their guilt to themselves (like to their schoolkids who are ignorant of the fact they were a shower of cunts), they can dig themselves out of their own earthquake rubble and put out their own reactor fires as far as I'm concerned.
In fact, when I saw the pictures of the tsunami damage a few weeks ago, and heard all the bleating about "the unfolding humanitarian crisis", the very first thing I said was "No sympathy, remember the Burma Death Railway" (not to mention their cetacean hunting and tuna fishing policies). Fuck 'em.
(Rsoles, Sun 10 Apr 2011, 16:38, closed)

Hahahaha.
Oh wait. This isn't satire, is it? You really are that fucking dim.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Sun 10 Apr 2011, 17:22, closed)

Part 2 is when this really gets messed up - but it certainly gave me a different perspective on Japan
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoW2WYdOsvg&feature=related

Not that the English have exactly always been sweetness and light though
( @><|= w0nu!) or cunt to my friends, Sun 10 Apr 2011, 17:31, closed)

Rhawn Joseph is an infamous internet creationist nutcase.
The japanese may be fucking mental, but you won't learn anything about them from that fruitloop.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Sun 10 Apr 2011, 17:39, closed)

I think it did screw up a generation - and yes, an apology would be nice - but all it does if I sit there and go "The Japs were FUGGENCUNCE!!!@@!1" is make me as bad as the soldiers whose misinterpreted and twisted belief in bushido that caused them to view the PoW's as surrendering scum.

T'aint worth it. I'd like them to say "Yes, our forefathers did some bad shit," but it's not exactly a priority.

My grandfather, however, hated the 'little yeller cunts'.
(Sir Thomas Bent is performing unspeakable acts with the Mace, Sun 10 Apr 2011, 23:57, closed)

Not my grandad
because he was fighting the Wops, but other members of my family suffered terribly after the capitulation of Singapore. They were seen as "sub-humans" by the Japs...hmmm, now there's a familiar phrase, eh?

A few generations down the line, yes, it will be "our forefathers did some bad shit", the same as mine probably did in the name of the British Empire, but right now it's within living memory, they have a chance to show some humility and shame, and take the hands of those they tortured and ask for forgiveness. It's all that many of their victims want, I don't think many are after a 70 year back payment in damages.
I'll get over my dislike of them, even though I'll remember the hushed meals where a great-aunt, with no apparent trigger, recalled tales of extreme brutality and sadism. That keeps you on your toes as a kid, especially when all you want to do is play with Action Man, I can tell you. I'm not the one that needs to be apologised to though.

The Germans have acknowledged their past, and continue to do so, they won't be allowed to forget their "errors in judgement". The Japanese don't have a similar national sense of guilt - as far as they are concerned, they lost an honorable war to a superior foe who happened to get the upper hand with a new bomb. Hirohito and his chums should have danced on the end of a rope (a US-style short drop, rather than a nice clean Pierrepoint drop), and their schoolkids should be taught that they were the aggressors and given a thorough education of just how noble the Sons of Nippon were, something which is not done right now.

Otherwise, you know what? Not too far down the line, some Japanese soldiers will be harking back to their traditional Samurai values, which on the face of it are fair enough, and proudly hoisting the Rising Sun in battle. Would you be comfortable with that? With China's rise, and notably North Korea's recent spats, the USA don't want to be doing ALL the muscle-flexing in that neck of the woods, it might welcome some support from a country which ranks 7th in terms of military spending. Japan's Article 9 will soon be quietly forgotten, especially if they have no reason to feel guilty for their past. The Japanese Self Defence Force had troops on the ground in Iraq for a while...

Fuck it, I blame MacArthur, he let them off the hook.

"Those who don't know history's mistakes are doomed to repeat them"

As for their rapacious consumption of endangered species (ie Bluefin Tuna) and continued stripping of Sarawak for plywood (Japanese forests are "sacred", they are not allowed to harvest timber from them), well, I know we here in the West aren't much better, but at least we know we are a bunch of cunts. Once again, the Japanese are ignorant of the issues, they can't see a problem. No blue-fin tuna left? No problem, we eat yellowfin tuna! Yeah, how about some collective responsibility you fuckers!

Never mind, they make great tellies though, eh?
(Rsoles, Mon 11 Apr 2011, 11:38, closed)