President Obama Visits Hiroshima

[Scrambler]

First American President to ever visit Hiroshima, over 70 years after the first of two of the only ever nuclear bomb attacks in history. Pretty big news over here.

Obama made the quick trip to Hiroshima after the G7 summit in Mie Prefecture came to a close today.

Links:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/28/wo...smtyp=cur&_r=0
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20160527_32/
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20160527_29/

[CroFlames]

What is the feeling over there?

Are people angry that he's there? Or do they feel it's about time a US president came to the site?

[Looch City]

Too bad Nobama is banned. Would have loved his input.

[PsYcNeT]

I can be his analogue.

"Something something grandstanding opportunist something dogwhistle something Obongo"

[Coach]

Kind of embarrassing that it took this long for a President to go there IMO. Why?

[Looch City]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Kind of embarrassing that it took this long for a President to go there IMO. Why?

Because it would mean apologizing to the enemy!! God Bless America (and their ego).

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Kind of embarrassing that it took this long for a President to go there IMO. Why?

Awkward shame?

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Iggy City

Because it would mean apologizing to the enemy!! God Bless America (and their ego).

Actually they said on the news that he didn't apologize. Nor do I think he should. There is a serious debate about how many lives that may have saved by ending the war earlier.

[Zarley]

I don't think an apology is necessary nor appropriate, but it's good of him to visit the site.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Kind of embarrassing that it took this long for a President to go there IMO. Why?

Originally Posted by Iggy City

Because it would mean apologizing to the enemy!! God Bless America (and their ego).

How many Japanese prime ministers have visited Pearl Harbour? Or Nanking?

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

How many Japanese prime ministers have visited Pearl Harbour? Or Nanking?

Emperor Visits Site Near Pearl Harbor
By CATHERINE MANEGOLD,
Published: June 25, 1994

HONOLULU, June 24— In a ceremony of silence broken only by the sound of birds and the barking of cannons and rifles fired in three successive 21-gun salutes, the Emperor of Japan today laid a wreath at a monument for war dead at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

The somber and sparsely attended gesture of sorrow for the losses incurred in war was an oblique gesture to the 2,395 servicemen killed the day Japanese warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor just after dawn on Dec. 7, 1941. Of the 21 ships sunk or damaged in the attack, the worst losses occurred on the battleship Arizona, which lost 1,177 men, most of whom were buried alive in the ship's sunken hull.

Initial plans for Emperor Akihito's two-week tour of the United States had included a stop at the Arizona memorial, an arching white structure built atop the ship's remains that seems to float above the harbor itself. But objections from Japan's nationalist right wing, which has long argued that the attack was a justifiable response to an American war embargo, made the government shy away from that hugely symbolic site.

Instead, Emperor Akihito and his wife, Empress Michiko, accompanied by the former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, the Japanese Ambassador to Washington and a handful of other prominent Japanese political figures visited the volcanic crater known here as the "Punch Bowl" because of its geological shape. Heavy Price of War

The Punch Bowl Cemetery, just a few miles away from Pearl Harbor, commemorates 38,000 war dead from World War II, Korea and Vietnam. It includes the names of 18,093 soldiers who were missing in action or lost at sea during the protracted fighting of World War II. Japanese officials have been saying for weeks that the site better represents the total cost of the World War II and the price of war in general. They have tried to depict the Emperor's visit to the cemetery as a broad gesture of shared sadness over that conflict.

But at several stops throughout the Emperor's 16-day tour of 11 American cities, groups of protesters have demanded a formal statement of apology from the Emperor for atrocities committed by Japanese troops in World War II. Several hundred protesters met the Emperor's motorcade in Washington. And at other stops, including Atlanta, New York City and San Francisco, well-organized groups of Chinese-Americans have met the Imperial entourage calling for formal apologies for World War II and shouting reminders about atrocities in China.

No such protests marred the quiet homage to war dead this morning. After radio stations spent days warning Hawaiians that the site would be difficult to enter and allowed for only minimal parking, only about 100 people showed up to observe the Emperor and Empress as they walked along a red carpet toward a stone memorial inscribed, "In these graves are recorded the names of Americans who gave their lives in the service of their country and whose earthly resting place is known only to God."

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/25/us...rl-harbor.html

[Coach]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

How many Japanese prime ministers have visited Pearl Harbour? Or Nanking?

No clue. Do you know?

Pearl Harbour was, at least, a military target. Nanking was obviously an atrocity (not that PH wasn't).

[CliffFletcher]

The Emperor visited Peal Harbour. But no serving PM has (or visited Nanking), and Abe has turned down suggestions he visit Pearl Harbour as a reciprocal gestures for Obama visiting Hiroshima.

Japan PM has no plans to go to Pearl Harbor

There's more war guilt in the U.S. over WWII in the Pacific than there is in the aggressor nation. A shockingly large number of Japanese regard themselves as the victims in WWII, and vigorously oppose any gestures of regret or apology on the part of modern politicians.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

The Emperor visited Peal Harbour. But no serving PM has (or visited Nanking), and Abe has turned down suggestions he visit Pearl Harbour as a reciprocal gestures for Obama visiting Hiroshima.

Japan PM has no plans to go to Pearl Harbor

There's more war guilt in the U.S. over WWII in the Pacific than there is in the aggressor nation. A shockingly large number of Japanese regard themselves as the victims in WWII, and vigorously oppose any gestures of regret or apology on the part of modern politicians.

Pretty black and white to refer to the japanese as the aggressor nation. I thought you liked your history a little more nuanced than good guy/bad guy simpleton narratives.

Propagandic pablum from 75 years ago.

[wontondestruction]

I'm pretty sure the Chinese gov't would be just as happy if Japanese gov't officials stopped their annual visits to Yasukuni Shrine, where the names of 14 A-class war criminals are listed.

I'm of the belief that unless a war crime was committed, no apology is required. Although, it was a very nice gesture from Obama to visit Hiroshima.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by wontondestruction

I'm pretty sure the Chinese gov't would be just as happy if Japanese gov't officials stopped their annual visits to Yasukuni Shrine, where the names of 14 A-class war criminals are listed.

I'm of the belief that unless a war crime was committed, no apology is required. Although, it was a very nice gesture from Obama to visit Hiroshima.

War crimes aren't black and white though. Some would argue dropping a bomb like that on a city instead of a direct military target is a war crime. I'm not saying it is or it isn't, but it's definitely up for debate.

War is a crime in and of itself, in my opinion.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Pretty black and white to refer to the japanese as the aggressor nation. I thought you liked your history a little more nuanced than good guy/bad guy simpleton narratives.

Propagandic pablum from 75 years ago.

No doubt the U.S. was putting the economic screws to Japan prior to the war. But that doesn't invalidate the facts that:

A) In 1931, Japan invaded China without any provocation and waged a brutal war of domination to secure resources.
B) IN 1941, Japan attacked American and European forces in the Pacific without any declaration of war.

That makes them the aggressor. It doesn't make one a racist or jingoist to recognize that sometimes the other guys really were the bad guys.

[Northendzone]

personally, I don't think that any one in this generation, should apologize for the decisions made by the previous generations - it does not really change anything and it is windown dressing at best

it is like me apologizing to all women for the fact that some men are abusive

[Russic]

via @davelevinthal

This is, perhaps, not the best headline

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Russic

via @davelevinthal


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjaqN-sWkAEeWOG.jpg

I laughed so hard at that