Japan: World War II

[Spec]

Hi guys......and others,

I'm a fan of WW2. The story line that is. I was wandering if any of you know a great site or book about Japan's WW2. Before 1942. Against China, the taking of Manchuria, Retro-spections on India. And, if possible, a deatailed story of the battle of midway, Japaneese thecnology and so on.

Oh, and I googled it but did not get enough info. Well, not as much as I would want.

Thanks!

Spec.

[pchang]

Didn't you get the memo?

Only the winners are allowed to write history

[Dis]

I've always wondered how Japan teaches it's history when it comes to ww2. Or Germany. Do they go into the atrocities? I doubt it, since the U.S. doesn't go into its atrocities in ww2.

[Tattila the Hun]

Hmm, this is for a game, but It seems pretty accurate wrt technology...

Just click on the flag.

http://www.trainworld.org/navy/nf2/English/index.html

(Fun game, BTW... Even though I'm horrible in it.)



Maybe you ough to visit public library?

[Admiral]

Originally posted by Dissident
I've always wondered how Japan teaches it's history when it comes to ww2. Or Germany. Do they go into the atrocities? I doubt it, since the U.S. doesn't go into its atrocities in ww2.

Germany is very conscious of the atrocities of the Reich. It is not just the government that upholds the harsh anti-nazi laws in Germany. It is through almost universal support of the populace.

Japan, from what I've read, is a different matter. Apparently, the Shinto temple Yasukuni in Tokyo, and its conjoined museum, is Japan's equivalent of the Smithsonian. And it is not the most impartial recorder of history. The invasion of China (referred to as "the China incident") was inevitable because China was being controlled by the US and Britain, and forcing them to become anti-Japanese. According to a brochure sold there, the Pacific War was "not a war of aggression but just the opposite: it was a holy war to liberate the world from communism." While Shintoism is no longer the state religion, the prime minister and various conservative members of the parliament have a habit of visiting Yasukuni, publicly. Worrysome, isn't it?

[Zkribbler]

Re: Didn't you get the memo?

Originally posted by pchang
Only the winners are allowed to write history

Not true. Somewhere at home I have a book written by the pilot who announced the famed "Tora, Tora, Tora!" at Pearl Harbor. I'll look around and see if I can find it.

[Patroklos]

What game is that BTW?

[Drake Tungsten]

I've always wondered how Japan teaches it's history when it comes to ww2. Or Germany. Do they go into the atrocities? I doubt it, since the U.S. doesn't go into its atrocities in ww2.

The Japanese hardly teach history. The textbooks are only around 300 pages long and there's hardly any text when compared to American textbooks. They're basically historical picture books.

Apparently, the Shinto temple Yasukuni in Tokyo, and its conjoined museum, is Japan's equivalent of the Smithsonian.

No.

The invasion of China (referred to as "the China incident") was inevitable because China was being controlled by the US and Britain, and forcing them to become anti-Japanese.

No.

According to a brochure sold there, the Pacific War was "not a war of aggression but just the opposite: it was a holy war to liberate the world from communism."

I seriously doubt that, but I've never seen a brochure from Yasukuni shrine, so I'll give it a big "maybe".

While Shintoism is no longer the state religion, the prime minister and various conservative members of the parliament have a habit of visiting Yasukuni, publicly. Worrysome, isn't it?

Not particularly. Then again, I know what Yasukuni Shrine actually is.

[Drake Tungsten]

Jesus, the Japanese world history textbook I'm looking at right now devotes three(!) pages to WWII. One page on the war in Europe, one on the war in the Pacific and one page on miscellaneous topics (atomic bomb, resistance movements, the war crimes trials in Nuremburg and Tokyo, etc.) All filled with pictures and captions, maybe a timeline or two. No text. Unbelievable...

[Dis]

pretty scary.

Though even the U.S. devotes little coverage on ww2 in history. I wanted to spend a lot of time on it during history class. but we only spent 1 week on it. There's too much other history to cover. But it did have it's own chapter in the history book.

Most of my knowledge of ww2 comes from other sources, not from school.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Dissident
I've always wondered how Japan teaches it's history when it comes to ww2. Or Germany. Do they go into the atrocities? I doubt it, since the U.S. doesn't go into its atrocities in ww2.

In Germany, yes.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Not particularly. Then again, I know what Yasukuni Shrine actually is.

I heard it was a traditional shrine dedicated to the warriors who fell in combat (not specific to any particular war) and nothing else. Is it true?

[Bosh]

Originally posted by Dissident
I've always wondered how Japan teaches it's history when it comes to ww2. Or Germany. Do they go into the atrocities? I doubt it, since the U.S. doesn't go into its atrocities in ww2.

Japanese textbooks are notorious for whitewashing everything bad Japan ever did, and this has caused a number of international incidents with China and Japan when such little unimportant things like the Rape of Nanjing someone don't find find their way into the history book. This is at least partially because, while in Germany there was a good deal of de-Nazification, in Japan HUGE numbers of high ranking people in the old regime maintained their power post WW II.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Jesus, the Japanese world history textbook I'm looking at right now devotes three(!) pages to WWII. One page on the war in Europe, one on the war in the Pacific and one page on miscellaneous topics (atomic bomb, resistance movements, the war crimes trials in Nuremburg and Tokyo, etc.) All filled with pictures and captions, maybe a timeline or two. No text. Unbelievable...

It's amazing to realise that Japanese HS kids have no idea what Japan did during WWII. When they watch docos of the war, mostly about IJA atrocities, they start weeping and shaking.

[Drake Tungsten]

I heard it was a traditional shrine dedicated to the warriors who fell in combat (not specific to any particular war) and nothing else. Is it true?

Sort of. It's not really traditional, as it was founded in 1869, after the Meiji Resoration. It does honor soldiers who have fallen in combat; it's the shrine for all of Japan's war dead. That's all it is. It became controversial when some conservative politicians enshrined the names of 14 war criminals in 1978. There have been a couple requests to remove the names of the war criminals from the list of honored dead, but the shrine authorities refused to do so. I'm not really sure why they refuse, maybe for religious reasons. Anyway, the presence of the war criminals puts Japanese prime ministers in a tough situation. If they visit Yasukuni, they provoke outrage in China and Korea, where such visits are viewed as an endorsement of Japan's militaristic past. If they don't visit Yasukuni, they look like they're bowing to foreign pressure and not paying proper respect to Japan's war dead (remember that the war criminals are a just handful of the 2.5 million people honored at Yasukuni). The shrine is also a drawing point for the small but vocal minority of Japanese right-wing nationalists, which only makes things worse.

It's a complicated issue...