Posted October 05, 2009
soulgrindr: the censorship of school textbooks isn't really down to shame, it's mostly down to attempts by nationalists.
the whole political/cultural situation here is way too complex to fully understand. On the one hand there is some guilt from previous actions (where the japanese were much worse than the nazis), on the other hand they were the victims of the two nuclear bombs, which had a major impact on their psyches, but also they've done a pretty good job moving on from the war, but also they've done that in many ways by forgetting, but the massive upheaval in culture after the war has also left many young japanese rather without a place in the world. etc.. etc.. etc.. It all ends in a big mess i guess.
But other than the small groups of nutty nationalists, i don't see many young japanese being intrigued or corrupted by the works of hitler.
I also don't see them worrying about ethnic sensitivities in europe. Ethnic sensitivities aren't a big point in japan.
the whole political/cultural situation here is way too complex to fully understand. On the one hand there is some guilt from previous actions (where the japanese were much worse than the nazis), on the other hand they were the victims of the two nuclear bombs, which had a major impact on their psyches, but also they've done a pretty good job moving on from the war, but also they've done that in many ways by forgetting, but the massive upheaval in culture after the war has also left many young japanese rather without a place in the world. etc.. etc.. etc.. It all ends in a big mess i guess.
But other than the small groups of nutty nationalists, i don't see many young japanese being intrigued or corrupted by the works of hitler.
I also don't see them worrying about ethnic sensitivities in europe. Ethnic sensitivities aren't a big point in japan.
Right, can of worms. I don't mean to sound overly critical of Japan because it does have some wonderful policies and people. Basically, I think this book is tasteless and I am not interested in reading it. I would not make light of the destruction at Hiroshima and Nagasaki because that just doesn't seem right to me. Maybe some German publisher will.
Post edited October 05, 2009 by Darling_Jimmy