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Nanjing massacre memorial stirs strong emotions in China

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Some ultra-conservative Japanese politicians dispute that the atrocities occurred. But the Japanese government points to 1995 and 2005 statements by the then-prime ministers, both of which used the phrase "heartfelt apology".

and that's the whole problem right there... Although his predecessors understood the extreme wrongs that had been committed, Abe just keeps denying the facts, trying to change history and making himself and his country hated not only by his Asian neighbours but even by some of the residents of his own country (who are not necessarily Japanese...)

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Nanjing massacre memorial stirs strong emotions in China

Yes, emotions of hatred towards the Japanese. As if they didn't have enough to stir anti-Japanese sentiment.

The skulls, bones, and names of thousands of dead at the Nanjing massacre memorial stand as a stark demonstration of China and Japan’s inability to move beyond history

Well, when China keeps bringing up the past at every opportunity, and right-wing Japanese crackpots behave as, well, right-wing crackpots, it's no wonder that these two countries are incapable of moving beyond history. Both governments, it seems, can be described using the following Japanese phrase: Baka no pareedo (馬鹿のパレード).

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Strange, but when I visited Nanjing as part of a guided tour around 1982, the massacre was only mentioned in passing. Mostly we were taken to the city's other attractions, like the tomb of Sun Yat-sen in the suburbs. The original cultural attractions were badly damaged during the Taiping Rebellion around 1860.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Well according to my opinion, Japan has to have an Official Statement of apology honoured by both the ruling and the opposition in their National Diet. Otherwise the flip flop position of Japan is really racking up fire in the region which may go out of control. In the era of information technology unlike the past, it may snowball into inextinguishable wild fire engulfing the whole region. Darkness is appearing to be descending unless otherwise Japan is tactful in dealing its past history. Japan has nothing to lose in owning up the moral responsibilities which the younger generations have no control of their own, they only own the past legacies. Japanese credibility, security and stability will increase dramatically once official position is taken and settle once and for all so that its neighbour will have little excuse to provoke their own citizen against Japan.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

You know, there is something very disrespectful about displaying the bones of the dead where everyone can see. Can you imagine the Jews displaying the bones of those killed in the camps as a 'memorial'? No, neither can I. Why didn't the authorities bury their dead? Surely if they wanted a fitting memorial they could have had one made?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

“She’s a little young, but she needs to understand this history,” she said of her child.

Uh? I doubt she can forget something about Japanese occupation when Chinese people watch this kind of dramas on a daily basis.

http://www.chinasmack.com/2013/videos/sino-japanese-war-tv-dramas-becoming-increasingly-ridiculous.html

I pity those poor Chinese kids...

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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