100,000 protest over Japan textbook

[EvilRB]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070930/...xtbook_protest

TOKYO - More than 100,000 people protested Saturday in southern Japan against the central government's order to modify school textbooks which say the country's army forced civilians to commit mass suicide at the end of World War II.
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Publishers of history textbooks were ordered in December to modify sections that said the Japanese army — faced with an impending U.S. invasion in 1945 — handed out grenades to residents in Okinawa and ordered them to kill themselves rather than surrender to the Americans.

The amendment order came amid moves by Tokyo to soften brutal accounts of Japanese wartime conduct, but triggered immediate condemnation from residents and academics.

About 110,000 residents and politicians attended Saturday's rallies in the prefecture (state) of Okinawa, said Yoshino Uetsu, one of the organizers.

"We cannot bury the fact that the Japanese military was involved in the mass suicide, taking into account of the general background and testimonies that hand grenades were delivered," Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima told a crowd gathered at a park in Ginowan City.

Accounts of forced group suicides on Okinawa are backed by historical research, as well as testimonies from victims' relatives. Historians also say civilians were induced by government propaganda to believe U.S. soldiers would commit horrible atrocities and therefore killed themselves and their families to avoid capture.

About 500 people committed suicide, according to civic group and media reports.

In recent years, some academics have questioned whether the suicides were forced — part of a general push by Japanese conservatives to soften criticism of Tokyo's wartime conduct.

The bloody battle in Okinawa raged from late March through June 1945, leaving more than 200,000 civilians and soldiers dead, and speeding the collapse of Japan's defenses. The U.S. occupied Okinawa from the end of World War II until 1972.

New textbooks for use in Japanese schools must be screened and approved by a government-appointed panel, which can order corrections of perceived historical inaccuracies. The publishers of seven textbooks slated for use in high schools next year had been asked to make relevant changes and submit them for approval.

An official of the Education Ministry said Saturday that the ministry has no immediate plans concerning the amendment. She spoke on condition of anonymity, citing policy.

Saturday's rally was the largest in Okinawa since the island was returned to Japan by the United States in 1972, Kyodo News agency said. In 1995, 85,000 people took part in a rally following the 1995 rape of a schoolgirl there by three American servicemen, according to the agency.





typical Japanese approach. this is not the first time. they also rewrote their history books to soften up their reputation in regards to the rape of Nanjing where they pretty much raped and killed tens of thousands of girls under a 6 week interval. the lowest conservative figure for the amount killed is 100,000; highest is 300,000. not only are they still in denial but they're asking china to remove negative memorabilia at the war museums... if you messed up you messed up, don't deny it or else history will repeat it's self.

[mrmephistopheles]

Yeah, Japan def. has a hard time admitting it's faults.

Books about the Rape of Nanking (Nanjing) are banned here.

Dunno if they actually handed 'nades out to civvies on Okinawa, but something like 90-95% of the military forces (and their loved ones) hugged grenades by the end of the battle.

[drift freaq]

The fierce battles on Saipan and Iwo Jima followed by what happened in Okinawa was some of the primary reasons for dropping the bomb. Estimates of total causalties had we invaded the Japanese main Islands were in the millions.

The the dropping of the bomb was horrific, it was most likely the most sane answer to saving lives. The total number dead from the two bomb drops was around half a million. Its unfortunate the Japanese military had such sway over the goverment and the public.

You have to remember Japan was on the side of the facists so human rights was out and censorship and propaganda was in. The Japanese people were unwittingly duped. It was a little different than Germany where the people knew exactly what was going on.

Though its sad (and quite wrong I might add) to see the ultra nationalists in Japan aka modern day facists trying to rewrite Japanese history and hide the atrocities of the Japanese military.

[illvialuver]

i didn't even see this, i know its a late post, but damn , I never knew that. thats sad.

[Koopa Troopa]

Originally Posted by mrmephistopheles

Yeah, Japan def. has a hard time admitting it's faults.

Books about the Rape of Nanking (Nanjing) are banned here.

Dunno if they actually handed 'nades out to civvies on Okinawa, but something like 90-95% of the military forces (and their loved ones) hugged grenades by the end of the battle.

The obachan stories I've heard state that yes, they did hand out handgrenades. They also told them to sharpen bamboo so paratroopers would land on them.

[Andrew Bohan]

you guys might be surprised what is left out of american textbooks.

[ayuaddict]

i'm Japanese and American and it bugs me about how both countries in which i have citizenship hide parts of their histories.

makes sense why though...

[Koopa Troopa]

I can't believe they still talk about that rape in 1995....Why not talk about the rape where a group of Japanese kept a highschool girl locked in a love motel and raped her nonstop for a week? Oh wait an American didn't do that so it never happened.

[illvialuver]

damn, well every country hides their atrocities.

i mean if you have ever done anything wrong you don't go around tellin everyone about it.
I don't believe half of the shit I read about u.s history. It used to be my favorite subject in school, till I had a good teacher and read books that had information that wasn't published in our history books.

there is more truth in comic books.

[Farzam]

The south never really lost the civil war.

They just gave up after they found out the north wasn't after their women, booze, or guns.