Taro Aso, Japan's Constitution, and Godwin's Law

A couple of years ago, Taro Aso was lambasted for comparing the national opposition to Nazis. On Monday, this serial provocator made a more admirative reference to the Nazis, saying during a lecture that Japan should learn how they altered the Weimar Republic's constitution before anybody knew what was happening (and I spare you the usual promotion of Yasukuni shrine visits - see "S. Korea slams Japan's minister for Nazi remarks" - Yonhap News 20130730).

A former PM and now Shinzo Abe's Vice PM, Taro Aso naturally referred to the changes their neofascist government intends to make to the Japanese constitution*.

I'm using the no-nonsense adjective "neofascist" on purpose, just in case you still doubted in which direction the moral compass of these dangerous guys keeps pointing.

I'll keep pointing at these dangerous guys until someone in Japan decides to say enough is enough, our nation is a peaceful democracy, we must stop them before it's too late.

And everybody should keep pointing at these dangerous guys until Imperial Japan crimes are officially recognized by the Japanese government, and justice delivered.

By the way: today, Busan High Court followed a recent ruling by Seoul High Court ordering Mitsubishi Heavy to compensate Korean victims of  Imperial Japan's forced labor system (see "Another Korean Ruling Tied to Japan’s Wartime Actions" - WSJ's Korea Real Time 20130730).

A couple of years ago, Taro Aso eventually conceded that his own father's business, Aso Cement Company, used POWs in forced labor. But it took the confirmation by the Japanese authorities, and mediatic pressure from Australian or Scottish victims.

These days, justice can't expect much help from the Japanese authorities. It's time for powerful voices to resonate, and I'm glad that a figure like Hayao Miyazaki protested vehemently against Abe and his revisionist plans.

I'd like to see more of this kind of animation from Japan.


Seoul Village 2013
Welcome to our Korean Errlines! Follow Seoul Village on Facebook and Twitter

Add this page to your favorites

 

More #Abeignomics: #TaroAso, #Japan vice PM, inspired by #Nazi's discreet constitutional changes!!! bit.ly/12ZNiRh @YonhapNews (twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/362172234183360513)

* see previous episodes ("To better bridge the gap between Japan, Korea, and China, let's measure the gap within Japan", "Shinzo Abe: an offensive Defense White Paper ahead of the elections... and Constitutional Revolution" to name only the most recent), also on Twitter: #abeignomics

---
20130802 UPDATE

Yesterday, Taro Aso was forced to backpedal, but Abe-style (these guys have no reverse in their gearboxes): he said that he didn't "perceive Nazi Germany in a positive light"**. I wonder which euphemism he uses for Imperial Japan. Maybe he can't even see the light, blinded by the rising sun...
http://twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/363104468310564867
* see "Japan's Deputy PM Forced to Retract Nazi Comment" (Chosun Daily 20130802)