Japan
Well, I was going to comment on an article about Shinzo Abe, but I thought, bugger it, I don't have the energy right now. But then this article provided a wee energy boost:
"A Japanese filmmakerhas announced plans to make a documentary saying that the "rape ofNanjing" in 1937, in which China says 300,000 civilians were killed byJapanese soldiers, never happened."
And then:
"Keeping silence to a film like this [Nanking] would allow anti-Japan propaganda to spread around the world as universal knowledge,"
Well, to put it as bluntly as possible: When it comes to World War 2, there's no need to make anti-Japan propaganda. History does a perfectly adequate job. No amount of denial or revisionism will change that.
And that Shinzo Abe article:
"The Japanese primeminister has pledged to create a "new national identity", saying Japanneeds to beef up its role in international security and shake off thelegacy of its defeat in the second world war. "
This all sounds perfectly fine, and Shinzo Abe may well be the man to improve Sino-Japanese ties, and there does seem to be a rather warmer, more positive, or at least less cold, less negative tone to Sino-Japanese communication these days,
BUT
he seems to be a bit of a pyromaniac.
He's known to be a bit of a nationalist, and nationalism is always a dangerous game to play. And revising the constitution to get rid of that irritating little pacifist clause? Talk of beefing up Japan's defences against the North Korean missile threat? Talk of taking a stronger more active role in the US-Japan alliance? Talk of expanding Japan's little experiments sending soldiers overseas?
Something tells me it won't be be Chinese or North Korean missile tests, or North Korea's fizzle of a nuclear test, or China's defence spending that spark off an East Asian arms race, but the idiotic, clumsy reactions of Japanese nationalists to such "threats".
I mean, I'm no expert, but it seems to me that Japan (and America, for that matter) already have all the tools, be they diplomatic, economic, cultural or military, to deal with any of the threats they perceive from China and North Korea. And playing this nationalist game is only going to cause problems for Japan. It'll encourage China and North Korea to see Japan as an actual threat instead of that irritating little lump just over the sea, and it'll certainly cause some discomfort in South Korea which could lead to serious difficulties for America, and therefore for Japan.
Well, if media reports about Japan are even remotely accurate (and I have more than enough reason to question the accuracy of anything in the media these days), then I'm starting to worry about the way Japanese society is developing.
But, as I pointed out to some students a couple of months ago, judging by Japan's birthrate (or lack thereof), it won't be too long before Japan is essentially empty, and China could send some of it's excess people over to repopulate the islands. And since global warming and rising sea levels, despite the fervent wishes of China's most ardent nationalists, will not see Japan sink beneath the waves (although Shanghai and Tianjin are pretty much goners), there'll be plenty of space to repopulate.
So if Shinzo Abe wants to see all his nationalist dreams come to fruition, he better start convincing his people to breed.
How's that for a rant fueled by a few jiaozi and some gin and Sprite (don't ask).
"A Japanese filmmakerhas announced plans to make a documentary saying that the "rape ofNanjing" in 1937, in which China says 300,000 civilians were killed byJapanese soldiers, never happened."
And then:
"Keeping silence to a film like this [Nanking] would allow anti-Japan propaganda to spread around the world as universal knowledge,"
Well, to put it as bluntly as possible: When it comes to World War 2, there's no need to make anti-Japan propaganda. History does a perfectly adequate job. No amount of denial or revisionism will change that.
And that Shinzo Abe article:
"The Japanese primeminister has pledged to create a "new national identity", saying Japanneeds to beef up its role in international security and shake off thelegacy of its defeat in the second world war.
Shinzo Abe said he would push through a bill on a national referendum by June to rewrite the country's pacifist constitution
This all sounds perfectly fine, and Shinzo Abe may well be the man to improve Sino-Japanese ties, and there does seem to be a rather warmer, more positive, or at least less cold, less negative tone to Sino-Japanese communication these days,
BUT
he seems to be a bit of a pyromaniac.
He's known to be a bit of a nationalist, and nationalism is always a dangerous game to play. And revising the constitution to get rid of that irritating little pacifist clause? Talk of beefing up Japan's defences against the North Korean missile threat? Talk of taking a stronger more active role in the US-Japan alliance? Talk of expanding Japan's little experiments sending soldiers overseas?
Something tells me it won't be be Chinese or North Korean missile tests, or North Korea's fizzle of a nuclear test, or China's defence spending that spark off an East Asian arms race, but the idiotic, clumsy reactions of Japanese nationalists to such "threats".
I mean, I'm no expert, but it seems to me that Japan (and America, for that matter) already have all the tools, be they diplomatic, economic, cultural or military, to deal with any of the threats they perceive from China and North Korea. And playing this nationalist game is only going to cause problems for Japan. It'll encourage China and North Korea to see Japan as an actual threat instead of that irritating little lump just over the sea, and it'll certainly cause some discomfort in South Korea which could lead to serious difficulties for America, and therefore for Japan.
Well, if media reports about Japan are even remotely accurate (and I have more than enough reason to question the accuracy of anything in the media these days), then I'm starting to worry about the way Japanese society is developing.
But, as I pointed out to some students a couple of months ago, judging by Japan's birthrate (or lack thereof), it won't be too long before Japan is essentially empty, and China could send some of it's excess people over to repopulate the islands. And since global warming and rising sea levels, despite the fervent wishes of China's most ardent nationalists, will not see Japan sink beneath the waves (although Shanghai and Tianjin are pretty much goners), there'll be plenty of space to repopulate.
So if Shinzo Abe wants to see all his nationalist dreams come to fruition, he better start convincing his people to breed.
How's that for a rant fueled by a few jiaozi and some gin and Sprite (don't ask).