Japan's last imperial soldier dies

MPH said:
War crime is a ridiculous concept

War itself is a crime against humanity , the idea that there is a just way to go about it is absurd
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Truth. It's just another way to sugarcoat the harsh realities of human nature as if following some protocol to kill others is nobler than just killing in general during war. Mental gymnastics like a motherfucker.
 
Dochter said:
His story is amazing in the sense that it is a testament to him being utterly insane.
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You just cant see the forest for the trees.

If YOU went out into the jungle for 30 years with no assistance, alone and were being hunted by people and survived it would be an amazing story.
 
kidnic said:
That's whats so interesting about this story. You really don't know what your capable of until put in the situation. We all think we would do this or that but when reality strikes you dont really know. When your survival instincts take over you would be amazed at what you can do. Makes me laugh when people say I wouldnt do that, I wouldnt eat this, I wouldnt live there, I couldnt kill that...buncha ignorant drones. You do what you have to to survive. Gals like roninjin might curl up in a ball and whimper until they die but not most people. Shit, you get hungry enough, you'd eat me...
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I get what you are saying and although it is more than likely true, I just based what I thought of myself off my current being, I mean I panic when the wifi goes off!

I camp and go fishing about three times a year with basics of food so if I do not catch anything I can eat a meager meal for three days (has happened) and although I would be annoyed, it doesn't compare to what this guy did.

True I may survive, but put me up against that guy and the chances of one of us surviving would lean heavily towards him!

That said, I have a job with the internet indoors in a tall building, this guy was trained as a solider. Stark differences in being ready for something like this ;)
 
RoninJin said:
I'm visiting Japan in the summer. First chance I get, I will paid your boy a visit. He has a nice urine shower coming to him. My dedication to you
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haha... Take that from 'Murica!

LxrkI.jpg
 
RoninJin said:
Fuck that and fuck him. He probably enslave, torture, raped, and killed a good numbers of people under his control. Giving him credit is like giving credit to a SS solider that just passed away. May he burn in hell
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Allied forces have also committed atrocities (Rape of Berlin by Soviets, Americans mutilating Japanese POWs and rape of Okinawan women). You just never hear about it because "the good guys won." And the winner of the war gets to tell the stories.

Don't get me wrong, the Axis were the greater of the two evils. But pretending our own forces were stand-up guys is just plain ignorance and denial.
 
KnightTemplar said:
So in thirty years he and his team only managed to kill 30 people? That's only one a year.

Meh. Proves what I've always believed:

Waffen SS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Imperial Japanese Army.:icon_twis
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Hahaha.
 
Tama said:
Allied forces have also committed atrocities (Rape of Berlin by Soviets, Americans mutilating Japanese POWs and rape of Okinawan women). You just never hear about it because "the good guys won." And the winner of the war gets to tell the stories.

Don't get me wrong, the Axis were the greater of the two evils. But pretending our own forces were stand-up guys is just plain ignorance and denial.
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I think everyone is well aware that the Allied forces weren't much better with the rape/murders that they committed (definitely the lesser of the two evils).

Most Okinawans still seem to have a problem with Americans/US bases on Okinawa (not that I blame them) from what I see in the news public opinion seems to be anti-US - don't know if this extends past the bases but to the soldiers stationed there as well - my guess is yes.
 
Tama said:
Allied forces have also committed atrocities (Rape of Berlin by Soviets, Americans mutilating Japanese POWs and rape of Okinawan women). You just never hear about it because "the good guys won." And the winner of the war gets to tell the stories.

Don't get me wrong, the Axis were the greater of the two evils. But pretending our own forces were stand-up guys is just plain ignorance and denial.
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While your point is true, ask yourself whether during WWII you would rather have your town (a non-combatant) occupied by (a) the Nazis; (b) Imperial Japan; (c) Soviet Russia; (d) the United States; or (e) Great Britain. Likewise, which nation would you rather be a POW of?

It's not even in the same stratosphere. The first two are incomparably worse, the third somewhat better but still terrible, and the last two are (by the standards of the day and the conflict) incomparably better. So yeah, I would call them stand-up guys on *average*, relative to the rest of the world at the time. The Allies did not fight with innocent motives, and they fought with extraordinary ferocity, but holy hell it's almost impossible to overstate how terrible the enemy was. An American or British POW camp was practically paradise -- overall -- compared to the unspeakable horrors that awaited you in an Imperial Japanese, Nazi, or Soviet internment.

But the worst of them? By FAR Imperial Japan. It should never be forgotten how horrific their POW camps were. Even the Nazi POW camps were far, far better. Absolute number one for unrelenting horror. And yet you will still find people who are tempted to make moral equivocations, as if one was somewhat worse, but hey they were both pretty bad. That's outrageous. People should never forget the reality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner_of_war#Empire_of_Japan

"The Empire of Japan, which had signed but never ratified the 1929 Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War,[35] did not treat prisoners of war in accordance with international agreements, including provisions of the Hague Conventions, either during the Second Sino-Japanese War or during the Pacific War because the Japanese viewed surrender as dishonorable. Moreover, according to a directive ratified on 5 August 1937 by Hirohito, the constraints of the Hague Conventions were explicitly removed on Chinese prisoners.[36]

Prisoners of war from China, the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the Philippines held by the Japanese armed forces were subject to murder, beatings, summary punishment, brutal treatment, forced labour, medical experimentation, starvation rations, poor medical treatment and cannibalism.[37] The most notorious use of forced labour was in the construction of the Burma–Thailand Death Railway. After 20 March 1943, the Imperial Navy was under orders to execute all prisoners taken at sea.[38]

According to the findings of the Tokyo Tribunal, the death rate of Western prisoners was 27.1%, seven times that of POWs under the Germans and Italians.[39] The death rate of Chinese was much larger. Thus, while 37,583 prisoners from the United Kingdom, Commonwealth, and Dominions, 28,500 from the Netherlands, and 14,473 from the United States were released after the surrender of Japan, the number for the Chinese was only 56.[40] Of the 27,465 United States Army and United States Army Air Forces POWs in the Pacific Theater, they had a 40.4% death rate.[41] After the war, it became clear that there existed a high command order – issued from the War Ministry in Tokyo – to kill all remaining POWs.[42]"

So yeah, we should acknowledge that Americans did abuse their POWs on occasion. But it was like night and day compared to the horrors of Imperial Japan. Why? In large part because the American forces were "stand up guys" compared to their Japanese counterparts. This in large part is what bothers me, the tendency to make excuses and moral equivocations for the Imperial Japanese, to forget that they were in many contexts (such as their unspeakably savage treatment of POWs) far worse than even the Nazis.
 
Zankou. Why lump in the Soviets with the Allies? They were allied out of convenience not out of commonality.
 
kidnic said:
If YOU went out into the jungle for 30 years with no assistance, alone and were being hunted by people and survived it would be an amazing story.
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If I went to a foreign country and for thirty years hid in the jungle except to kill locals and steal their food it would be amazing. Amazingly insane.
 
Dochter said:
If I went to a foreign country and for thirty years hid in the jungle except to kill locals and steal their food it would be amazing. Amazingly insane.
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It doesn't grammatter.
 
On topic- I've always thought the Niihau Incident would make for a great novel/screenplay.
I've been trying to convince my writer friend to consider it for a story but he doesn't do historic fiction.
 
Because of the nukes, Japan still sees herself as victims to this day. Their version of WW2= Japan tried to liberate their Asian brothers but the evil Western imperialists intervened. We nearly beat them but they dropped two nukes on us so we had no choice but to surrender. However, we should be commended for our efforts in liberating our Asian neighbors which is why it is absurd that anyone can ask us for an apology.

Germany was able to come clean with her dark past. Japan? Not so much.
 
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