Germany and Japan: different ways of remembering war crimes and playing politics

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Germany and Japan: different ways of remembering war crimes and playing politics

• Angela MERKEL: the first German Chancelor to visit Dachau. Expresses "deep sadness and shame".The controversy: in Germany, a nation that faces its past and where honoring war criminals, Nazism, or the swastika flag is a crime, that's normal. But you don't do that during a political campaign: that's playing politics.

• Shinzo ABE: Japan's most shameless, unrepentent revisionist Prime Minister since his grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, a war criminal who dedicated Mt Sangane to Hideki Tojo and Co. Regularly honors war criminals in Yasukuni.
  
  No controversy: in Japan, a nation that never recognized any war crime and where revisionists control the political system, honoring war criminals, Imperial Japan, or the Rising Sun Flag, that's normal. And you must do that to survive politically: that's playing politics as usual.

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A Radioactive Government

There is no debate whatsover about the Nazi flag in Germany: glorifying this symbol of abomination is a crime, as the "use of symbols of unconstitutional organisations".

Imperial Japan's Rising Sun flag is as infamous as the Nazi swastika, and yet there is no law to prevent its use. Worse: part of Japan's "Self-Defense Forces" - you know, the ones supposed to remain 'defensive' whatever happens - have been using a variant as their official flag for decades. Even worse: Imperial Japan's war crimes were never recognized by any Japanese institution and nowadays, praising Imperial Japan or denying its war crimes is not only tolerated, but the only way to succeed as a politician in Japan.

Of course, you cannot expect the fascist clique that controls this peaceful nation and tries very hard to reverse the constitution back to Imperial Japan's bellicose mode, the government that just unveiled a "destroyer" flying the dreaded colors, to ban this Rising Sun flag.

The parade followed a controversial South Korea - Japan soccer game where Japanese nationalists waved the Rising Sun and Korean nationalists the portrait of a resistant to Imperial Japan, and a banner stating in Korean "The nation that forgets history has no future", a direct reference to the incredible revisionist tsunami washing over the archipelago*. Infuriated, the Japanese extreme right confirmed its full support to the flag**.

So what the international community must do is to expose the abomination, and to ask the peaceful people of Japan to rise against the true enemies of their nation, to refuse Shinzo Abe's agenda (see "The main threat against Japan? Its own leader"), and to demand a ban of the Rising Sun flag.

The Rising Sun flag and the Nazi Swastika - These flags brought shame upon Japan and Germany, destruction across the World - Ban them

What could be worse than Shinzo Abe taking care of Japan? Shinzo Abe taking care of Japan AND Fukushima, maybe.



twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/365371757760245760




The Prime Minister decided to step in and help TEPCO deal with the mess because he had no choice: the risks are too high for his government to lose support for his key constitutional reform, he must appear as a strong leader, with a strategic vision.

And you cannot at the same time push as hard as you can in favor of militarism against dubious threats from overseas, and do nothing against massive radioactive leaks at home.

How much time does Shinzo Abe have before the mud hits the fan at the economic or at the environmental level? Hard to tell. Both Abenomics and the handling of the nuclear incidents in Daiichi are more and more criticized as further disasters in the making.

#ShinzoAbe takes a leak (#Fukushima's).
Boy, this man is truly radioactive. #abeignomics
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/365355493465669632

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Also on blogules: "The Rising Sun Flag Brought Shame Upon Japan - Ban It "

* see previous episodes, particularly those featuring Shinzo Abe
** "世界に嘘つきまくる韓国の“奇妙”、横断幕事件でも稚拙な嘘、嘘…身のほどわきまえない“欲深さ”が理由" (Sankei Shimbun 20130808)

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.


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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)

For Line 1, take the Seoul Museum of History

Over 4,000 representations of the rock musical "Line 1" were given between 1994 and 2008 in Daehangno's Hakchon Theater.

The play was adapted from "Linie 1" (GRIPS-Theater in Berlin) by Kim Min-gi, a liberal icon whose songs became anthems for democracy movements thirty years ago. The collection of artifacts from the musical was donated to the Seoul Museum of History, where they're on display until October 5.

The exhibition is as usual the pretext to recreate a particular atmosphere of Seoul - here, the mid nineties, and a ride between Seoul Station and Cheongnyangni Station (Seoul subway line 1) as the alibi to meet fictional as well as real fellow Seoulites.

This museum is headed by a man who loves his city and mankind, and I like the way the permanent collections for recent history (1970s-1990s) have been rearranged. That's on the second floor, next to the 3D map of Seoul : there's more room for photography, and in one corner, a genuine shanty workshop to remind all visitors that the Miracle on the Han River was not a walk in the park. My heart sank because I saw exactly the same installation two years ago in real life, behind Seoul Station, not far from Kim Gi-chan's favorite neighborhoods, in an area about to be redevelopped, and where illegal migrant workers remained until the end in dire conditions...

Donated Collection of Rock Musical 'Line 1'
2011-09-08 to 2011-10-05
Seoul Museum of History : museum.seoul.kr
50 Saemunan-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea 110-062 (Tel : Dasan 120)

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Berlin Wall, Seoul Section(s)

If you've passed by the Eastern / Wangsimni section of Cheonggyecheon, you've probably seen the ruins of three concrete pilars, a reminder of the ugly overpass that used to cover the stream before its restoration. But did you know that further Westwards, the remains of three sections of the Berlin Wall have been also installed outdoors a couple of years ago ?



About 2.5 m tall, the structure and its graffitis, guarded by a colorful bear sculpture, lie next to Samilgyo, the bridge where Samil-ro passes over Cheonggyecheon (Janggyo-dong, Jung-gu).

Don't start looking for a Haechi guarding Seoul fortress sections in Berlin : that's a one-way operation, and sections of the doomed wall can be found in many other cities worldwide, though seldom in the region (ie Taipei, Singapore).

Don't start looking for rich symbols either, even if somehow the installation celebrates the reconciliation of Korea's capital with itself. More trivially, the spot is now known as Berlin Plaza.

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