Controversial Memorial

The Japanese were responsible for some of the most hideous war crimes of the 20th century. They killed and tortured routinely for fun. The same as a whole cannot be said for the western Allies. Read about the Rape of Nanking as a good starting point.

That is a good reason why memorials for Japanese "Heroism" should be tempered by an aknowledgement of the other side of the co-prosperity sphere.

German school children are, or at least were, taught the dark side of their country's past. Japan fails to acknowledge WWII as a whole, let alone their country's brutality in it.

No nation's soldiery were entirely innocent of war crimes, however some (Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union) excelled at them more than others.

I would suggest that in the Philipines if a memorial to sacrifice was warranted (and it probably is) a US soldier of the Bataan Death March would probably be a more appropriate statue than a Kamikaze Pilot, unless you are wishing to avoid offending Tourist's sensibilities, and wishing to cash in on tourist's Yen.

 

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AL AMIN, no screaming please, and stop the silly attitude.

 

ok but i think its silly to freak out about a kamikaze staue yes the japanese did a lot of war crimes but what do you want
if the gov of the phillis dont like it they can remove it but as long as they have no problem with it why should we have

or second did you think that all memorials for axis forces should be removed on forgein soil
look at the germans the russians looterd and raped and murderd were they appeard when they came to germany and also befor but there are many memorials for the red army in germany
and as i said it werent the kamikaze pilots who comit all these crimes in the phillis so the germans also killed millons but should we remove the battle of the bulge memrial or the memrials for the africa korps in libya or the fallschirmjäger statue in crete

fact is the kamikaze were brave young man stupid defenetly too but for me everybody is stupid who kills other people just because some tie monkey or generals say so but thats not the point these few brave men wrote military history and that should be remeberd were it took place

 

I think the crucial difference is that the monuments to Soviet dead in Germany and German dead in former Soviet territory are that these are not blatant tourist traps.

This monument was really just about attracting Japanese Yen, not commemorating the war's dead. It's in moral terms no more a war memorial than Euro-Disney.

 

oh come on do you know what a big money tourist machine the anual
d day ceremony is or pearharbour or bob day
my god let the japs have their kamikaze at least it is a certificat of their defeat or why else would they be that desperate to use such formations

 

It's close to being the moral equivalent of the Germans putting a staute up of an SD death camp guard in the middle of Tel Aviv, but mitigating it with the inscription "he might have done bad things, but he followed orders like a true soldier"

A lot of what the Russians did in Germany was tit-for-tat - (different argument coming up on, that one I think :lol: ). But aren't the memorials to the Red Army in (ex-)RUSSIAN-HELD Germany?? It was conquered territory considered to be part of Russia by the Russians.

As far as I'm aware kamikaze has one international meaning - a volunteer suicide for a cause, not someone who undertakes "a daring action". (Yes I know the original kamikaze was a "divine wind" that saved Japan from a Korean(?) invasion fleet)

 

oli one question is it a kempei tai memorial or a kamikaze memorial
dont come up with such sd stuff

did the kamaikaze attack the allied fleet or the fillipine houses

but if you think like this no japanese soldier should be honored
oh my god not to talk about the germans

 

What I wrote was

Japanese troops, in general, behaved far worse toward conquered populations than did any other troops (Russia/ Germany argument excepted). It's a STATUE of a kamikaze pilot, it's a SYMBOL of occupation.
I have no objection to any nation honouring their own soldiers. I do object to one nation placing its memorials in the middle of a country that it made suffer.
Or maybe we Brits should stick a couple of statues of our troops in India/ Egypt/ Boston (hey there's an idea :lol: sorry Danyel) or 1001 other places. I'm sure there are stautues in a good number of places that we "owned", but we wouldn't presume to put one there now and offend the populace.

 

You are aware that for example the Ardennes offensive memorials for the German soldiers who fell on Belgian soil do not make any political statement, do not glorify the role of the German soldier in war, do not make heroes out of suicide volunteers for the Nazi cause? That they in fact soberly remind their visitors that men died on both sides, regardless of the personal views and beliefs of the soldiers, and that no one had wished it to happen that way?

The Japanese statue for the Kamikaze pilots subscribes to no such moral restrictions which the defeated should respect if they were indeed atrocious and murderous to the local population.

 

well oli obviosluy you dont answer my question
should the bulge memorial and the fallschirmjäger memorial in crete and the afrika korps memeorial in libya also removed and many other more or are you just freaking out because of the kamikaze
its so ridiculus the war is over a long time and historical events and persons should be remembered where it took place it doesent matter know
and the i say again if any body should have a problem with that than the philli gov and not you or any one else and if it is so i am sure they can remove it

 

Yes, of course and it´s good, however none of my teachers ever mention(ed)
the war crimes in east prussia, no one talked about 2,5 miilionen murderd civilians, I can´t understand that most people in germany keep silence about the german victims. :cry:

 

These are memorials to the fallen as a whole. This is a monument purely to attract Japanese interests and money to the area, it is not a genuine memorial to the dead of the war, but by one of those curious twists of Japanese double standards it is a memorial to the heroism of the Kamikaze who died fighting a war Japan as a whole will not acknowledge happened!

I actually think that in this specific case the US members of the forum have a perfect right to object, US soldiers fought alongside Phillipine soldiers to defend their country, US POWs were tortured and murdered by the Japanese for defending the Phillipines, any American has a perfect right to be outraged that this memorial has been erected to the memory of the occupying powers that abused Phillipine civilians and US soldiers.

I have no objection to memorials to the dead of wars, even of occupying powers but this is an insult to the memory of the Americans and Phillipinos who died under the occupation of the Phillipines.

 

Uhh, damn, if I hate somethin´ really, then to rape and/or hit women. Sry, but women are the most beautiful creatures of the world and I can´t understand how men can torture them.

Fuck them, they should burn in hell :angry: :angry: :bang:

Fortuntately there were brave men like the B-24 Libs pilots to end tenno´s terror, they should build them a monument.

Regards,
Che.

 

Maybe a little reading into this subject is required, Che.
The "Rape" of Nanking is a metaphorical term since Nanking is actually a city in China. When the Japanese captured the city, they proceeded to loot, burn, rape and pillage; I believe about 150,000 people were massacred in the cruelest ways imaginable. Thus the city was "raped", as in, its dignity, life, and future was taken away.

 

I understood the figure to be around 300,000 killed. Including Chinese POWs civilians, men, women and children being used as bayonet practice.

Ironically the savior of many people at Nanking was a Nazi ambassador.

 

oh man what should i say
why is the fallschirmjäger memorial in crete not also an insultation to the greek brits and kiwis who fought and died there or the thousands of civilians executet for retaliation of partisan attacks

 

Al Amin, why don't you realize that what matters is the tone of the memorial and its purpose? If the purpose is to remember the fallen in a neutral fashion then there's nothing wrong with it; if, however, the monument wishes to make heroes out of criminals and if its purpose is purely the money, then it is loathable indeed.

 

Ah, ok, thx man.

Nevertheless, 20.000-80.000 women and children were raped and I can´t imagine how man can do somethin´like that. :cry:

They should build John Rabe a monument for the rescue of 200.000 chinese people. I wouldn´t say that he was a nazi, because he spend his whole life in china and don´t know so much about the NSDAP, the only thing he knew, was that the NSDAP wanted a greater and stronger germany and the only thing he wanted is that germany become a strong nation again. He showed films and photographs of Japanese atrocities in lecture presentations in Berlin and wrote to Adolf Hitler to use his influence to persuade the Japanese to stop any more inhumane violence. However, Rabe was detained and interrogated by the Gestapo. Due to the intervention of Siemens AG, he was released. He was not a nazi, just a patriot and human being

 

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Yes, he was a nazi.
He has been member of NSDAP since 1933, and also was head of the local Nanking party branch.

His actions in favour of the population of Nanking were remarkable tough....