Japan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

thunderchief said:

Japanese are smarter then Germans in this regard - they didn't fall in that guilt trip trap . In reality , human history is full of so called "wars of aggression" . You always have nations that want to keep something (conservative powers) and nations that want to get something (revisionist powers). Sometimes one side wins , and sometimes other . It is dynamics of human history .

Japanese error in this particular moment of time is that they want to be revisionist power , to get something they lost in WW2 . In reality , not only they cannot achieve that , they will have tough time to keep their current position in East Asia . Both economics and demographics are not on their side , so they made head for catastrophic defeat .

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plawolf said:

No no no! There is no such thing as a 'guilt trap'. No one tricked Germany into feeling guilty about the crimes of the nazis, and to suggest so is pretty insulting to both Germans and the victims of the nazis. Germany's deep shame and remorse for WWII is largely due to the holocaust, which set Nazi Germany's crimes apart from most of your average run of the mill wars of aggression in modern times. And the German people's genuine displays of remorse and determination to remember what was once done in their name so that it is never repeated is an example to as all.

What Japan did to the peoples and territories they captured was much worse in both the level of barbarism and the sheer scale of it since pretty much every Japanese soldier participated rather than just a small number of hardcore fanatics like the SS with Germany. That alone would have made it much harder to forgive their crimes, and their total lack of believable remorse and contrition has only made things a hundred times worse.

Japan's total lack of remorse for their crimes of WWII is not a sign of them being 'smarter', quite the opposite, it shows a great deal of arrogance and base stupidity to keep such horrific crimes from so long ago an active and ongoing issue. Germany's behaviour and attitude is enlightened, whereas Japan's only shame themselves.

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

Germany was healed to account because the Holocaust was a crime a deliberate act it may not be striking in its numbers but, the horror of its engineering. It was a factory of death meant to hide the act. Designed to create the illusion of humanity painted over a inhuman act and impose a artificial disconnect between those doing the act those living in and around it and the victims.
In the history of mass murder the Holocaust numbers wise just barely makes the top twenty. In the history of the twentieth century maybe fourth place. But in the deliberate nature the engineering efficientcy of the action even going so far as to process the remains for any valuables. It was a factory of death. The actions of Germany brought a whole new level of horror. This was the actions of someone fully aware of what they were doing not troops in the field fighting for their lives not bombers levelling city blocks because of a aircraft factory. It demanded remembering. It still does. The guilt trip as you call it was simply breaking down the wall and showing them exactly what they had done. Taking them no tours of the camps making them help the victims of their acts or making them busy those who were beyond help. Most of the worst acts of history Andersonville, The Great Leap forward, population of Siberia, for example are good ideas that fail reality. The Holocaust was pure evil made reality. And those who forget it dismiss it or refute it leave the possibility of repeating it.
That said you also should eventually move on. The majority of those who took part in such action are already dead any who still live are counting down till death. You cannot hold the children responsible for the acts of their parents.

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plawolf said:

No no no! There is no such thing as a 'guilt trap'. No one tricked Germany into feeling guilty about the crimes of the nazis, and to suggest so is pretty insulting to both Germans and the victims of the nazis. Germany's deep shame and remorse for WWII is largely due to the holocaust, which set Nazi Germany's crimes apart from most of your average run of the mill wars of aggression in modern times. And the German people's genuine displays of remorse and determination to remember what was once done in their name so that it is never repeated is an example to as all.

What Japan did to the peoples and territories they captured was much worse in both the level of barbarism and the sheer scale of it since pretty much every Japanese soldier participated rather than just a small number of hardcore fanatics like the SS with Germany. That alone would have made it much harder to forgive their crimes, and their total lack of believable remorse and contrition has only made things a hundred times worse.

Japan's total lack of remorse for their crimes of WWII is not a sign of them being 'smarter', quite the opposite, it shows a great deal of arrogance and base stupidity to keep such horrific crimes from so long ago an active and ongoing issue. Germany's behaviour and attitude is enlightened, whereas Japan's only shame themselves.

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advill said:

The title of this thread is changed to "Build-Up" which is much better than "Militarism" which is a misnomer connoting that the Japanese are PRESENTLY the Villains. We know that China has extensively built-up their Armed Forces for whatever political, security or military reasons during the past decades. Of course there have been commentaries inc. "Vigorously stepping-up its Economic & Military Power". However, if China's Armed Forces, including its PLA-N DOES NOT start serious hostilities in sea territorial disputes, it would be fair to comment that PRC's Navy is a benign force for the moment. Same reasoning applies with the Japanese Armed Forces which have taken steps to boost the defenses of their country and territories, and not invade other territories. All these rhetorics by nations have to be examined clearly and objectively, and hopefully be settled by diplomatic means where possible. But if there is NO headway, military analysts including the Chinese Seasoned Warrior of Old "Sun Tzu" expounded : "Never Underestimate your Opposition (Enemy)" - do it at your peril when the shooting starts.

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thunderchief said:

Germany's remorse is a product of false belief they did something that was far worse than anything that happened in history before or after . In reality , that is not the truth : Jewish tragedy was not only tragedy in WW2 , neither was the biggest . And if look at whole bloody 20th century there is even less evidence to support that claim . In fact Chinese people suffered most casualties and Russians and Ukrainians lost biggest percentage of the population . Only difference is that those people didn't have enough influence in media and academia to promote their suffering .

As for Japan , they are far wiser in this regard . They know that they waged cruel and barbaric war of conquest , but they also know that they were not only ones who created empires in this matter ( for example , look what did British do to create their own empire , or what Qin and Han dynasties did to unify China ) . They also understand that their enemies used similar methods against them (firebombings , nuclear weapons .... ) and were not morally superior in this regard . So , Japanese remorse is mainly because of human nature to wage war and create suffering , not because they believe they are more guilty then others .

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