Japanese Students Search for Remains on Guadalcanal

A good article about Japanese students returning to Guadalcanal to recover remains of their fallen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/world/japanese-unearth-remains-and-their-nations-past-on-guadalcanal.html?_r=1

 

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-Guadalcanal/USA-P-Guadalcanal-9.html

On Guadacanal, "...stealing of food was common. As the few supplies which were brought in were usually landed near Cape Esperance and carried by hand to the front, rear-area troops fared best. Front-line troops were often reduced to eating coconuts, grass, roots, ferns, bamboo sprouts, and what wild potatoes they could find. There are even a few apparent instances of cannibalism on Mount Austen.

But hunger was not the only serious problem. If malaria decimated the American ranks, it caused havoc among the enemy. Among the Japanese probably every man was a victim. They had no systematic malaria control, few mosquito nets, and inadequate field hospitals. While American troops operated and bivouacked on high open ground whenever possible, the enemy's need for security from air attack made him travel, bivouac, and fight in the jungles, where the Anopheles mosquito breeds in the sluggish streams and swamps. According to enemy figures, of 21,500 casualties, 9,000 died of disease--malaria, malnutrition, beri-beri, and dysentery."





I'm of the opinion they should be left there. The IJA did horrible, vicious deeds in their ambition to create a Greater Prosperity Sphere, in war which they knew they couldn't win in the long term. They bayoneted prisoners for practice, chopped livers from live prisoners for laughs, raped, and condemned their own men to starvation and disease. This was not honourable, by any sense of the word. The nation of Japan needs to admit its misdeeds, and raise awareness of these crimes, before they should be allowed to recover their dead.

The entire world is still horrified when the atrocities committed by the IJA are described.

Modern Germany does not deny the criminality of it's past.

 

How about be happy that some students are doing something good, instead of making it about other agendas?

 

I can completely understand your point here. The idea that young students are connecting in some way to their past is encouraging. However, it is hard for the rest of the world, especially those with historical knowledge, to not be bitter. It's time that the Japanese people own up to their past and try to help the healing process.

 

Then complain to the Japanese government. What these students are doing has nothing to do with their Government, and for many of them, it's their first real exposure to the war.

 

LOL!!

That's a completely naïve attitude to take, when almost the entire country is in denial.

http://www.ibtimes.com/japanese-nhk-board-member-naoki-hyakuta-denies-nanjing-massacre-happened-1553257

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/robert-fisk-sinister-efforts-to-minimise-japanese-war-crimes-and-portray-the-empire-as-a-victim-must-be-exposed-9242156.html

http://www.news.com.au/world/japans-rising-worrisome-rhetoric-denying-its-world-war-ii-crimes-has-china-and-the-west-worried-about-its-new-ultranationalism/story-fndir2ev-1226822379758

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/18/opinion/la-oe-guttentag-japan-nanking-20130118

http://time.com/5546/japanese-nhk-officials-world-war-ii/

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21226068

It's not like their government is unaware of the stance of foreign governments!!!

The only thing that is going to affect a change, is making the entire population aware; these students should be told in no uncertain terms, of the atrocities committed in the Emperor's name, and with the Emperor's approval.

The students have everything to do with their government: Japan, last time I looked, was a democracy.

 

So do you hold Russian students accountable for the sins of Stalin?

 

It has nothing to do with accountability. It has everything to do with recognition, and awareness.

 

This thread was about recovering WWII remains. Not a platform for anyone's political agendas.

 

It is a phenomenon that crosses political lines, encompassing progressives who preach the futility of war as well as conservatives who question the historical record of Japan’s wartime atrocities.

Mr. Sakitsu said most of the 36,000 Japanese soldiers dispatched here were unaware of the strategic objectives for their country’s aggression in the South Pacific. “They just saw themselves as answering the call of their nation,”







Nothing like a spot of bayonet practice to keep the men lively and sharp on their toes in the morning.






We, by grace of heaven, Emperor of Japan, seated on the Throne of a line unbroken for ages eternal, enjoin upon ye, Our loyal and brave subjects:
We hereby declare War on the United States of America and the British Empire. The men and officers of Our Army and Navy shall do their utmost in prosecuting the war. Our public servants of various departments shall perform faithfully and diligently their respective duties; the entire nation with a united will shall mobilize their total strength so that nothing will miscarry in the attainment of Our war aims.

To insure the stability of East Asia and to contribute to world peace is the far-sighted policy which was formulated by Our Great Illustrious Imperial Grandsire and Our Great Imperial Sire succeeding Him, and which We lay constantly to heart. To cultivate friendship among nations and to enjoy prosperity in common with all nations, has always been the guiding principle of Our Empire’s foreign policy. It has been truly unavoidable and far from Our wishes that Our Empire has been brought to cross swords with America and Britain. More than four years have passed since China, failing to comprehend the true intentions of Our Empire, and recklessly courting trouble, disturbed the peace of East Asia and compelled Our Empire to take up arms.

The hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors guarding Us from above, We rely upon the loyalty and courage of Our subjects in Our confident expectation that the task bequeathed by Our forefathers will be carried forward and that the sources of evil will be speedily eradicated and an enduring peace immutably established in East Asia.

 

It would have been very nice, but this is the way they deal with foreigners:

 

I am as cynical as they come re. Japan's wartime record, but cannot condemn anyone who does this sort of work, or second-guess their motives based on a single newspaper article.
eg. The SS did grim things as a organisation, and yet I will never judge a friend who patiently & solemnly recovers German soldiers' remains, no matter what the unit, and gives them decent burial. (Other nations' participants are also returned to wherever is deemed appropriate by that nation's standards), Her work is moving, respectful, and never judgemental.
The culpability of the nation in that period is undoubted; but the individual, their relatives & other interested parties, 70 years later, is a far more complex business.

As for the capitalised LOL... some of us could hear the whooshing sound of Gromit's wider point going over your head, GS.
If the entire country is in denial or not, from what I know of serious body recovery people (rather than nighthawk graverobbers), the recovery process itself generates deep thought & reflection. Deep thought can go in so many different directions. To consider an atrocity, whether at the level of your own state, or right down to the willing or unwilling participants at the human end, looking hard at some bones in the mud and attempting to piece together a person from them seems a reasonable start to me. The individual is not necessarily the state.


In short, I agree with Biak in that "We learned too little about the war" is the most intriguing personal quote from that article. Impossible to second-guess where that thought might lead the individual. Not enough there for me to smell a more general victim culture.


Sakitsu & the 'All Japan Solomon Association' look like an intriguing mob. Appears to be a neutral enough, though it's so hard to see through bad web translation and something of a culture gap.

The on-site cremations are interesting, as is the participation of JSDF chaps:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K1Ua8y2TJU

(Is the New York Times upping it's WW2 content recently? Seem to have read a few decent articles from there of late.)

 

That's a fine and mighty assumption you've made there. Care to make any more?

 

No offense .. but why exactly should we give a shit about American remains? You were our enemies, remember? Maybe if you guys would have minded your own business and not frozen our assets there wouldn't be any of your remains here.

 

Now, there is an flat "F" in History. The whole thing did not turn on Japan's frozen assets alone. That was just one domino in a long line.

And with tongue firmly planted in cheek, if Japan had minded it's own business in respect to China, neither US or Japanese remains would be on Guadalcanal.

 

Eg. My Granny was a blackshirt, feel free to complain to Sir Oswald Moseley about that, but maybe don't blame someone nodding to her grave in 2014.
Two statements there. One slightly facetious.

:lol:
Trolling level 0.5.
Try harder, mate.
Or maybe pop off back to the other sites you doubtless frequent.

 

Uh oh. What do we have here? Hmmm. I think China would have loved it if Japan would have minded their own business.