honourable Japanese

[Tony Wheeler]

Interesting lack of commentary on Tony Abbott's speech in Parliament last week where he claimed that Australians in WWII "admired" the Japanese "sense of honour". It's a rather outlandish claim which I would have expected to draw plenty of flak, but it seems only the RSL and the Chinese are offended:

http://www.news.com.au/national/tony...-1226984686363

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2...ns-wwii-skills

Any thoughts here on MLU...? I guess it's difficult to comment without being seen to vilify the Japanese. Perhaps Abbott was banking on that.

[jack neville]

The important thing is not to forget the history. How long the rage is maintained is another thing. Small steps have been made by the Japanese over the years but I don't think a proper apology will ever be made. Perhaps the silence from the masses says a lot in itself these days.

[motto]

As a baby boomer (1948 model) I grew up surrounded by the generation who had fought WW2. I can say unequivocally that hatred of and contempt for the Japanese was at that time universal amongst the veterans of the Pacific war. One side affect of this that was quite noticeable in later years was the shortage of Japanese war souvenirs as most people wanted nothing to do with this despicable enemy or their equipment.
The one exception to this was the Samurai sword, huge numbers of which were brought back to Australia. So many of them ended up here that for many years at least one Japanese entrepreneur made an annual sword buying visit to Melbourne and no doubt other Australian cities. He would set himself up in a hotel along with his retinue and advertise in the papers presenting himself as some sort of quasi official representative of the Japanese people who had the task of returning the swords to their original owners. It was not the military swords he was after, it was the priceless family heirlooms. With his knowledge of these items he would have done very nicely. I had a workmate who collected Japanese swords and he took one in for valuation just to see this fellow in action.
Honourable enemy? Bah humbug! When it comes to history methinks Mr Rabbit wouldn't know his arse from his elbow.

David

[Private_collector]

More than once I saw my father give a disapproving glance towards japanese men of roughly the same age as him. He had fought in New Guinea for 4 years, and had no love for the 'japs' whatsoever. In the hunt for souvenirs, Dad lost 2 mates, thanks to booby traps which were believed to have been set AFTER cease fire was requested. Dad brought nothing but bad memories and malaria home with him.

There was a time Dad would never have owned a japanese vehicle, but in the 1980s things started to change. The burning stares either stopped or got more covert, and the verbalised justification of hatred slowed and eventually stopped over a number of years. The most obvious sign and the one that prompted me to ask what was going on, was when Dad bought a Nissan. That nearly floored me! When I enquired why, Dad said he had hated the japs for what they did in WWII, but in the years since, he had arrived at the conclusion that it was the japan of 1940s and the men of his own age that he held those ill feelings towards. Apparently Dad had made a conscious seperation between then and now. Without that decision, he might have been one of a number of returned servicemen who kept a very unhealthy hatred towards not only japan, but sometimes all asians and asian races. The Vietnam 'war' seems to have increased the dislike of asian pepoles.

Our prime minister has always given me the impression of a bumbling fool, stumbling from one guff to another, with little understanding of whatever situation he found himself in. He is no wordsmith. He is, to me, an embarrasment on the world stage. Not quite in the league of george bush (dubya), but could be on par if he tries hard enough.

Modern japan has always amazed me. The density of their population, their priorities in life, and their set of 'values'. They speak of honor, while slaughtering whales for 'research' and bash dolphins to death after corraling them to a terrified huddle. Historically speaking, you could say we were no better, but then we changed over time. I dont think there is any other country where you can find vending machines which dispense used womens underwear. Don't believe me? Look here then http://www.oddee.com/item_96684.aspx
I hold no ill feelings against the japanese people as individuals, its just that I find their culture and society really, really, odd! Much as they view western culture, I guess. If ever there was a good example of healthy seperation of the old VS new generation, look closely at Hawaii. The site of the most infamous piece of treachery in peacetime, now embraces the japanese tourists with arms outstretched (and open cash registers).

The world's a-changin! For better or worse, time marches on. When you think about it, saying sorry for something minor can be very difficult at times. Imagine the level of difficulty required to apologise for a four year period of murderous atrocities and sadism. That could be a little tricky. Look how long it took for Australian Govt. to officially apologise to the Aboriginal people for crimes perpetrated. I think the recent hint of regret on behalf of japan is about all we're gonna get.

[Allan L]

My late father had one of those Samurai swords for many years, smuggled here after WWII. There wasn't a family discussion about it, but Mum & Dad decided to send the sword back many years later (the family name was on a scroll inside the handle). It went back via a Catholic priest (who got into some trouble over the whole thing) but that's a different story!

Whilst the sword must have had some sentimental value to Dad, they obviously decided that it had more value to another family who had lost a son, albeit a combatant of my father.

(Dad was pretty private to us young uns about WWII, but enjoyed the camaraderie of the annual reunions and was President of the Battalion Association, and was involved in commissioning the book "A Young Man's War" a history of the Aust. 37/52.)

Edit: PS. He too finished up owning 'Jap' vehicles!

[Max Hedges]

Sometime in the 1990's a 20 year old Japanese girl came to the Yass for work experience, she came to learn about wool and was misdirected to a goat farm and was told they were sheep. We can't remember how but she came to stay with us for 10 days, and it so happened to coincide with our shearing (the same happened to Swiss Chris later on). During her stay my father wanted to meet her, so we took her to visit, and dad being his suttle self asked her if she had any relatives in the war (by this time dad had mellowed a little towards the Japanese) once she realised my father was in the war as a front line soldier, she became very upset and begged to go home. Then there was a very touching moment when dad went and picked a flower from the garden and gave it to her, she settled down and really treasured that flower for the rest of her stay, and she showed a lot of repect towards dad afterwards. This girl took a fleece of wool home with her as it happens it wasn't work experience she came for it was to learn about the process of wool as she was doing textiles and design at university and planned to spin and weave the wool into fabric and then make a garment from this.

This shows how time does heal a little with old soldiers as during the 1950's at wool sales in Sydney when dad first saw a Japanese, since the war he had a very bad reaction and had to be taken away into a different area.