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20 June 2006

Fierce debate on the history

Heated Discussions Start between Chinese and Japanese Netizens as China Unveils its First BBS in Japanese

China’s First BBS in Japanese

The person in charge of the BBS hopes that more Chinese netizens proficient in Japanese join the BBS to refute the erroneous historical views held by some Japanese netizens.

By Li Meng from World News Journal

Many Japanese netizens have been attracted by China’s first BBS in Japanese on jp.chinabroadcast.cn, the Japanese website opened by China Radio International (CRI) on May 10. More than 1,400 messages concerning Sino-Japanese relations have been posted on this BBS by June 10. The number of hits for those messages on Yasukuni Shrine reached 50,000, making it the hottest topic on the BBS.

Eye-witness the debates on Yasukuni shrine visits

In the afternoon of June 10 2005, our correspondent visited the BBS webmaster’s office and witnessed the heated debates on Koizoumi’s visits to Yasukuni shrine among Chinese, Japanese and South Korean netizens.

Kentaro Ofuji (Japanese netizen): “Visit to Yasukuni shrine is simply a way for us to honor the dead. It will amount to interference in our internal affairs if you make things difficult for us on the pretext of this issue.”

PARK (South Korean netizen): “The Japanese common sense is: Neither China nor South Korea is right. Only Japan is always right.”

XIAO (Chinese netizen): “You said that only three Asian countries (China, South Korea, North Korea) are opposed to Yasukuni visits. How come one country is criticized by its three neighbors at the same time? Could it be that only you are right while the other three countries are in the wrong?”

The unreasonable Japanese netizens

According to Mr. Wang Wei, who manages the BBS and works at the Japanese section of CRI, there are quite a number of Japanese who hold anti-China views although some Japanese netizens do hope that China and Japan enjoy friendly relationships.

The webmaster Mr. Hu Desheng related an incident in which a Chinese netizen argued with a Japanese netizen over Nanjing Massacre. While the Chinese netizen accused Japan of killing many Chinese, the Japanese netizen, who was oblivious to reason, challenged him to produce the evidence. When pictures of Nanjing Massacre were posted on the BBS, the Japanese netizen not only dismissed them as fake but also demanded to know who took the pictures, what the source was and where they found them. “It seems to us that they have numerous irrational beliefs and claims, some of which are purely false arguments.”

In accordance with the BBS’s regulations, the messages posted by Japanese cannot be changed at will. Mrs. Liao Li, deputy director at the Japanese section at CRI, noted that right now over 90% of the users of this BBS are Japanese and the rest of the users are from China, South Korea and the US. She also expressed hope that more experts in Japanese studies and youth who know Japanese will visit this BBS to effectively refute the erroneous historical views held by Japan.

Incorrigible Japanese

Japanese and Chinese have completely different historical views, said Jin Xide, who is a researcher at Institute of Japanese Research under China’s Academy of Social Sciences.

The history education of postwar Japan is characterized by two features. First, the education system teaches a distorted history, which claims that International Military Tribunal for the Far East issued unfair verdicts and Nanjing Massacre did not happen at all. Second, this part of history is simply neglected. The history textbooks of postwar Japan generally introduces Meiji Reform, the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese war and then skips to the end of the Second World War. The modern history is almost never tested, not to say the invasion of China. The history teachers never teach students this part, although it is included in the syllabus.

Jin Dexi is quite pessimistic about any possible change of attitude on the Japanese part since Japan’s postwar generations grow up in such an environment.

21:55 Posted in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0)

23 May 2006

What is "The Crysanthemum and the sword?"

A Classic Analysis of the Japanese People - The Crysanthemum and the Sword  

 The Crysanthemum and the Sword is a comparative analysis written by cultural anthropologist Ruth Benedict during the Second World War.
  Professor Ruth Benedict, a reknowed cultural anthropologist in the United States at the time, wrote this book as a study for the eventual American occupation government of Japan.  The rationale behind the book title The Crysanthemum and the Sword is a contrast between “crysanthemum,” referring to the culture represented by ikebana that holds flowers into an arrangement position by pins, and “sword” envisioning the aggressive/war-waging popular characteristic evidenced during the Second World War.  That the ordinarily calm Japanese people could become so aggression-oriented must have been incomprehensible to Westerners.
  Not everything written in the book can be easily accepted.  That the author was not able to conduct actual field research is a major factor, but now over 60 years has passed since its writing, and it reflects an analysis of an old Japan that has since changed.  However, there are some points that are valid in this era, and are still representative of Japanese society.

The Shame Culture
 The Japanese people are group oriented.  Rather than simply assessing the right/wrong of a situation, this orientation derives the influence for its actions and morality based on concerns on how outsiders perceive them.  The author analyzes and postulates that this is what controls the Japanese moral character.
 Internal spontaneous feelings such as religious faith or philosophy do not carry much leverage.  In other words, beliefs or a sense of righteousness/justice are not shaped by the individual.  During the war, the Japanese soldier with his “animal-like” loud war cry turned an abrupt reversal when he was captured and made into a prisoner of war.  According to the book’s analysis, the foundation and basis for this and other instances of a dual character can found in this cultural background.  
 This characteristic of dependence on the group has also been confirmed through genetic evidence.  It has been found that the serotonin receptor functions in the brain necessary for self assertion or expression are weaker in the Japanese.  The problem is that with this characteristic, there also comes a predisposition to usually restrain self expression and thus bear this emotional emptiness or burden; this holds the danger of potentially extreme reactions/outbursts to even innocuous things.
 Professor Benedict postulates that this “shame culture” is one of the reasons for Japan’s reckless entry into war after its isolation from the world, and that it is a major issue that postwar Japan needs to overcome.

21:25 Posted in Books, Culture | Permalink | Comments (0) | Tags: Japanese

13 May 2006

American Architectual Heritage remained in Japan

Last week I went to famous theme park called "Museum Meiji Mura" that exhibites old time buildings in Japan including western style ones which Japan accepted for modernising its society.

It is located in Inuyama, Aichi Japan (Prefecture in the middle region of Japan, 2 hour SuperExpress train ride from Japan).  Please look at http://www.meijimura.com/english/index-e.html

There were beautiful buildings that were transported from where it was. One of the most famous ones is the former Imperial Hotel building which was built in Tokyo, 1923. Only Entrance Hall and the Lobby were exhibited. It was designed by famous American architect named Frank Lloyd Wright. This building experienced a very big earthquake occurred in the year its contruction was completed but it survived.

 

The inside is below.

 

It was like a Retro trip.

22:55 Posted in Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | Tags: frank lloyd wright

20 April 2006

Are you Patriot?

What is the definition of Patriotism for you?

Is "Patriot Act" really patriot?

What do you think about pledging allegiance and singing anthem at school?

I do not like my country. I always pledge allegiance to myself, not my country.

But I think that's Ok. The individual always needs public services to benefit him or herself. People believe their country can protect them when they are in trouble. That is why an individual does contribute to their country. They do not want to serve the country that gives them troubles.

Patriotism itself is aritificial, and in fact just illusion. It is often misused by clever elites to manipulate the whole society.  

22:25 Posted in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0)