Latest 15 of 22 Total Comments Show All

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  pathat at 05:15 PM JST - 23rd May

  In 1945, the Allied occupation forces, which took command after Japan’s surrender in World War II, banned the Japanese government from forcing citizens to practice any state-sponsored variety of Shintoism and also prohibited it from promoting militarism.

  As long as no one is forced to go, then I have no problem with this. I think JRHS/HS student trips to Yasukuni Shrine AND the Yushukan Museum could be very beneficial to the education of young people in this country. Give them a chance to see and DISCUSS things.

  You know, look at things from various angles. So, since some government money was used in the production of the recent controversial movie, "Yasukuni," perhaps the government should give the green light to public schools to show the movie, too. Why is there any need to treat the Yasukuni movie any differently from other movies based on history?

  A Yasukuni Shrine visit, a Yushukan Museum tour, a screening of the Yasukuni movie. Sounds like a useful way to teach kids about the WWII era and get them to THINK about what happened and why.

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  smithinjapan at 05:24 PM JST - 23rd May

  There's no harm in the kids going to visit the shrine, so long as they are taught about it OBJECTIVELY! I doubt that'll happen, knowing this government and the fact that most of the daddies or granddaddies of the people in office were involved in the various slaughter.

  'Slaughter' being said, I notice the ban on trips to Nanjing is still in place.

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  NeoJamal at 06:04 PM JST - 23rd May

  I don't mind the visits as long as they also teach the kids what un-tried foreign aggressions and war crimes were committed by nations whose judges supported the conviction of Japanese leaders for such offenses at the Tokyo Tribunal. I just love teaching teenagers about hypocrisy, double-standards, and the uselessness and the lack of minimum standards of justice in customary international law. That way they they'd leave behind their childish antics sooner and grow up with a healthy dose of scepticism when they see their world, with an attitude just short of benign cynicism.

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  borscht at 06:40 PM JST - 23rd May

  Pathat,

  Give them a chance to see and DISCUSS things.

  That's the trouble. First, the teachers won't prepare the students except to say, next we we're going to a shrine. Second, after they see it, the teachers will ask them to draw pictures or write a simple report on what they did. Then, on to learning the words to the national anthem. No reflection, me thinks.

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  spotehun at 07:35 PM JST - 23rd May

  I have been to the shrine and the museum next to it. Go there, check it out, and stop crying about nothing...

  Start speaking about something only when you really know about it...

  ps.: the Yasukuni movie is very good as well!

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  Pukey2 at 08:22 PM JST - 23rd May

  Yes, the museum! The perfect place to hold seminars on Japanese history and how the Japanese army tried to liberate Asia.

  Oh, I've been to the museum and the only thing I can say is that China and Japan sure have a lot of things in common when it comes to rewriting history.

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  usaexpat at 11:22 PM JST - 23rd May

  Nothing wrong with this except in the eyes of fanatics who think Japan hasn't shown sufficient shame for its history. NeoJamal you are spot on, Japan lost the war and that's why everyone beats up on their military abuses. Had they won the USA would probably be in that same position now being asked for appologies etc.. double standards indeed.

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  rjd_jr at 11:37 PM JST - 23rd May

  This is a good idea, banning anything is not good in a 'free' society. Now I find it interesting how people here see fit to dictate how the students should view this shrine, that they should be "taught" other aspects of war, etc. etc. All good and fine, but when's the last time these people visited a war memorial or shrine, and were "taught" about the consequences of war? For example, does the Vietnam War memorial go into politics of war, atrocities, etc. etc.? No, it is simply there to respect the war dead. Same with Yasukuni, it's to remember the war dead. I understand there's class A war criminals in there, so to highlight what they did is fine. But this 'teach them the whole war thing' is rather hokey and unnecessary when many other nations don't do the same. Or is this as I suspect a "Japanese thing."

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  1keiron at 12:09 AM JST - 24th May

  I have been to the shrine and the museum next to it. Go there, check it out, and stop crying about nothing...

  Start speaking about something only when you really know about it...

  +1 Well said my friend. Because after all a big form of ignorance is when one rejects something they know nothing about. Which is what alot of posters on here do time and time again. Another example set by some posters above..

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  teck at 12:11 AM JST - 24th May

  If the National Defense Academy (being run by the Defence Ministry) counts as a public school... then visits by students from a public school has been ongoing for the past few decades, since academy students make annual visits to the shrine (usually in December). Guess they are just doing away with a law that has been flouted anyway.

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  ToughGuyBanker at 12:57 AM JST - 24th May

  Not allowing visits was a sick appeasement of the self-loathing left in Japan and groundless foreign pressure.

  I agree 100%. Japan needs to be proud of its strength and accomplishments. It rid Asia of colonialists and set the people of the region on a path toward literacy and economic well-being. Critics of Japan fail to recognize this - why?

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  smithinjapan at 04:01 AM JST - 24th May

  Again, there is nothing wrong with the kids visiting the shrine, per se. The thing is, like if they were visiting Auschwitz, they need to be told what happened; not merely told to honour the dead on a school trip in which their textbooks say they are honouring heroes.

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  BigHitHappyBody at 04:21 AM JST - 24th May

  Having visited the museum there a few years back, and being interested in world history in general,I must say it was very interesting to see the relics and read the explainations from Japan's perspective. Hardly self-blaming but none the less not overly insulting either. This will be a positive experience for children as war has been a taboo subject for many in Japan and will educate the younger generation about a nation changing period that many know little or nothing about. It may even stoke some interest to study further about the causes and provide better understanding of the animosity some still feel toward Japan as a nation.

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  sf2k at 04:14 PM JST - 24th May

  Secretly mixing in the kami in the 80's has rendered Yasukuni forever in the same brush as war criminals where before it was apparently a very old regular war shrine like any of ours in our cities. There is no way to unmix the spirits. So it's like visiting the old grave of the unknown soldier, but now with Hitler among them. Very sad and seemingly unreversable or unmentionable by Japanese.

  However, this precludes that somehow Japanese shrines can control spirits in the first place doesn't it? So make another shrine for war criminals, then you may no longer continually tarnish the spirit of fighting for one's country versus those who were hung.

  Why is it important to keep the criminal kami with the patriotic? Without this split, Japan will have to discuss this forever. With a split, Yasukuni can return to its former self and all this anomosity can come to an end.

  The effect may be that Japanese may then know the difference between death with dignity and death by dishonour are in fact different things. I think that would be a plus.

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  Zen_Builder at 04:50 PM JST - 24th May

  Aaah, Yasukuni again.

  Personally I think it is good for kids to visit yasukuni to get a different viewpoint(even if it is a right-wing one).

  Myself don't really worry that much about the "kami" of the war-criminals enshrined there. Which country can say that there are 0% of war-criminals in their national cemeteries/war memorials(prosecuted/convicted or not).

  Don't want to get political but recent one that comes to mind is My Lai/other villages, where will their remains be?

  So for me all that hype about war-criminals is political ONLY. People should see and respect the rest of the people that pay tribute to their fallen family members there. Yasukuni goes back way further than WWII.

  Personally, I think to understand history you need to Study ALL sides not just what is taught in your school and in the "official" history books. Listen to the people who lived through those times and you will get to the truth.

  Where I am coming from? I am Austrian we are not proud of our history but we accept it. I been on school-trips to mauthausen(worse than auschwitz imo), etc and also been to the holocaust museum run by the jews.

  What I am saying is that there is a LOT more to learn than the official school books, which tend to gloss over things and present a favourable viewpoint from the goverment. AND that counts for ALL countries.

  When we can accept history for what it is(both good and bad points for our countries)than we can move on. Europe and some asian nations have done that but I see a lot of countries still refusing to let the past go by.

  Example: Nan-king Japan NEVER denied but they still squabble over figures 100.000 vs 300.000. Who really cares? All sides say it happened and it was BAAAD. That should be enough.

  Example 2: The Holocaust I hear figures of 6 mill. jews but the actual total is closer to 11~12 mill. Many of which were non-jews, gays, political prisoners, etc.

  Example 3: The Firebombings of Tokyo, Kobe, etc did more damage(Casualties , etc) than the 2 atom bombs, but are they mentioned? Of course not because today they would be war-crimes.

  This is what I am talking about, most of the guys take the winners viewpoint and their version of history.

  Rant over.

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