Reply #15 hunter's post
What is unusual in this is that the Japanese were devastated by the war and occupied by a foreign power, and yet never apologized to anyone. It doesn't surprise me that the Japanese have never apologized to any Asian country, given Japanese feelings of superiority towards their neighbors, but neither have they apologized to the US for Pearl Harbor. Losers are expected to show a little contrition.
However, it's not at all unusual for the winners of conflicts, or countries that emerged from conflict relatively unharmed, to never admit they did anything wrong. America hasn't apologized to the Vietnamese, the Turks to the Armenians, the French to the Algerians, England for the Opium War and countless other colonial atrocities; Russia has never apologized to anyone for centuries of oppression in East Europe and Asia. Has Spain ever apologized to Native Americans for it's crimes? Only recently have the governments of the US and Australia apologized to the native inhabitants of those countries for the slaughter and dispossession. The examples are endless. And knowing the Chinese as I do, it's hard to imagine any Chinese government ever apologizing to anyone for anything.
But perhaps it would be better if Japanese men apologized to the Chinese people, American men to the Vietnamese, etc. Because it's only men who do this kind of thing. All the serial killers, genocidal dictators, military killers, architects of war - these are almost always men. Just guys doing guy things. | |
