In a Reuters article a few weeks back, I got a history lesson on four disputed islands north of Hokkaido. The article discusses these sparsely populated islands and their history. A few tidbits:
17,000 Japanese fled or were forced from the islands after the invasion in August, 1945 — just after Russia declared war on Japan and just […]
Remember the story of the U.S. Marine in Okinawa who was accused of raping a 14-year old girl that we reported on here, here, and here?
The Marine claimed he merely forced a kiss on the girl and charges were later dismissed by Japanese authorities when the girl dropped charges against him.
Though it looked […]
The story of the murder of a Japanese taxi driver has been in the news since the March 19th crime. This Washington Post article has more information on the murder and its alleged perpetrator who is a U.S. serviceman and intriguingly a Nigerian citizen. The article also discusses the backstory about the U.S. military presence […]
The New York Times has a quartet of articles related to Japan.
One article deals with a lawsuit regarding WWII forced suicides. I have not heard much about this issue before and it is quite interesting. The topic of revisionist history is a universal one. In this particular case an author wrote about […]
Slate.com, one of my favorite websites, has an article on Hiroshima which I found disappointing. It’s long (very long — whatever happened to being concise?), unfocused, and somewhat pointless. Despite that, it does raise a few thought-provoking questions and makes a couple of interesting observations even while rehashing a lot of old material. Points […]
After weeks of Japanese indignation, editorials condemning out of control U.S. soldiers, images off U.S. military commanders bowing deeply in contrition before the governor of Okinawa, and even an apology by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice over the alleged rape of a 14-year-old Okinawa schoolgirl by a U.S. Marine. . . the girl has […]
Andy Young who runs Siberian Light - The Russian Blog, writes in to point us to his post about a long forgotten battle fought between Japan and the Soviet Union in the opening days of World War II. Forgotten, but so significant that it literall altered the course of history.
In August 1939, just weeks before […]
A new movie out of Japan named The Truth About Nanjing attempts to claim that the Nanjing Massacre never happened.
According to Satoru Mizushima, the film’s director, “There is one indisputable fact: there was no massacre at Nanjing. We don’t want our children to grow up thinking Japan is a barbarian country.”
A preview of […]
It’s been revealed pressure from the United States got then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to relent on his contentious claim before a Diet committee in March that there was no proof Japan Imperial forces were directly involved in forcing women into sexual slavery during World War II.
After Abe’s remarks, U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer told […]
The guns-for-hire at Blackwater don’t just roam the streets of Baghdad and New Orleans. Turns out, they’re in Japan, too — protecting the country’s controversial ballistic missile defense systems.
In Shariki, a tiny village near the Sea of Japan, about 100 government contractors work with AN/TPY-2 radar, “which points high-powered radio waves westward toward […]
Don’t know if there is any relation to the Japan surrender anniversary or not, but I just noticed that tonight’s nine o’clock TV movie on Tokyo’s chanel 12 is Bridge on the River Kwai.
Check out the THE JAPAN TIMES for a gripping account of the War experiences of Masamichi Shida, a man who was accepted into the Japanese Naval Academy at the age of 15 back in 1942, and eventually was slated for a one-way ride as a kamikaze pilot.
In March 1945, Shida himself graduated […]
The Japanese Ministry of Defense has announced plans to build a stealth fighter, with plans for the first test flight within five years. The reason Japan wants to build new jet fighter is the fact that the U.S. does not want to sell it the latest supersonic F-22 Raptors.
I wonder whether Japan really intends to […]
The Japanese government is getting close to agreement that members of its Self-Defense Forces (SDF) on U.N. peacekeeping missions overseas should be allowed to use weapons to guard troops from other countries on the same missions.
Under the current rules of engagement, Japanese SDF personnel are not allowed to use their weapons to rescue foreign […]
Female members of the Chinese Army
Via Asian Sirens
The U.S. House of Representative has passed its resolution demanding that Japan issue a formal apology for forcing women into service as comfort women during World War II.
Though largely symbolic, the nonbinding resolution has caused unease in Japan and added tension to an otherwise strong alliance. Officials in Tokyo say their country’s leaders, including […]
I saw the Japanese trailer for akamikaze survivor documentary movie titled Wings of Defeat. The Japanese title is 特攻 (tokko) which literally translates to “special attack”, but in Japan, when speaking about tokko in the context of WWII, most people will imagine the Kamikaze pilots.
The Japanese on the front of the flier translates roughly […]
The Daily Yomiuri ran an editorial Thursday morning stating that though outgoing Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma’s remarks about the U.S. atomic bombings of Japan at the end of WWII were ill-timed and inconsiderate, they are historically accurate.
[O]ne of the major factors in bringing the tragedy of the atomic bombings to Japan was the failure of […]
Bruce Wright, the commander of U.S. forces in Japan, said at a news conference in Tokyo earlier this month that “the leak of data on the [Aegis] missile defense system Japan shares with Washington is a “serious problem,” and both nations must work together to improve security”.
And by golly Japan is going to take action. […]
How many times have you been in a position of asking a public servant to provide some service for you only to receive the reply “Ah chotto muzukashii desu ne…” (”Uh, it’s a little difficult…”)
Meaning, “No.”
Well it seems the general public are not the only ones. Last week, Kyodo reported, “The United States and […]
