Quote:
Originally Posted by dogsbody70
I wish I could tell you but it is in the JAPAN times.
I believe the prime minister Hatoyama resigned because he could not do much about the American Base in the Okinawa Prefecture. I feel sorry for those who have the burden of the base in their part of the country.
Now you have KAN as Prime Minister so will he make any difference I wonder.
It is a good thing to remember what happened in the past, hopefully to prevent it happening all over again.
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Do you happen to remember why there is an American base on Okinawa? If the base is a burden on the people, it was a burden they earned by Japan starting a war which killed millions of human beings.
Your signature says you are from England. Are you aware of the fact that hundreds of thousands of English soldiers were killed, injured, or imprisoned in appalling conditions? That those who were not killed outright by the Japanese were used like slaves on the railroads and airfields, or were used for target practice or even medical research? Did you know that the Thailand/Burma railroad built by the Japanese during the war cost one human life for every wooden railroad tie along it's distance (numbering more than 100,000)?
Do you remember that at the end of the war Japan surrendered "unconditionally", and that the base in Okinawa was built at this time? If the local people are burdened by the presence of a base which was built before most of them were born, how much of a burden did their ancestors place on the families of your countrymen?
When Japan surrendered, America could simply have fully occupied the country and turned it into a permanent American territory. The surrender the Japanese Emperor agreed to gave America that right.
I think America acted quite generously in the matter, and as one who's grandfather and other relatives suffered during the war at the hands of the Japanese, I have no sympathy for the "inconveniences" caused to the locals by the American base in Okinawa.
The Japan of those days is different from the Japan of today, but the base reminds them of the acts which their country committed, and perhaps this is the greatest nuisance. Were I them, I would find the shame more unendurable than the noise of American airplanes and servicemen.
Perhaps you are just a anime/manga fan who knows nothing of history. If you are an anime fan, you should watch this one, which was one of Japan's first animated features. There are 9 parts, you should watch all of them, here is the first one:
YouTube - 桃太郎 海の神兵 1/9