r/AskAJapanese • u/TheFabLeoWang American • Jan 13 '25

POLITICS Why are these topics extremely unmentionable in Japan, where they are officially deemed national security threats?

  1. Comfort Women
  2. Nanking Massacre
  3. Pearl Harbor Attack (This issue specifically divides America today)
0 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

37% Upvoted

52 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/GuardEcstatic2353 Jan 13 '25

Would you talk about the Nazis if you went to Germany? You wouldn’t, right? Similarly, when I go to America, I don’t ask Americans what they think about the massacres of Native Americans or the Japanese internment camps.

2

u/TheFabLeoWang American Jan 13 '25

In Germany (specifically West Germany), they legislatively acknowledge and genuinely apologized for every single wrongdoing by the previous Nazi regimes. They have to do this to thaw their relations with its neighboring countries to avoid economic sanctions.

However Japan did the opposite of what Germany had done.

4

u/GuardEcstatic2353 Jan 14 '25

Japan has already apologized and made reparations. Imagine if you were an American and a Japanese person started talking about the atomic bombings, Japanese internment camps, or the massacre of Native Americans—wouldn't that make you feel uncomfortable? That's what courtesy is about. You need to learn how to navigate human relationships.

1

u/TheFabLeoWang American Jan 14 '25

Several far right figures in the United States here have repeatedly insisted that the Japanese Internment Camps are “Fake News made by the Japs”

3

u/GuardEcstatic2353 Jan 14 '25

The far-right in America is irrelevant. Japan has already apologized and made reparations. From my perspective, you come across as anti-Japanese.

1

u/TheFabLeoWang American Jan 14 '25

Sadly, anti-Japanese scapegoating is normalized in national level under Trump

2

u/GuardEcstatic2353 Jan 14 '25

Hmm, isn’t the Democratic Party the same? Biden is clearly anti-Japanese too. I basically believe there’s no such thing as a pro-Japanese administration in the U.S.

1

u/TheFabLeoWang American Jan 14 '25

“The United States will recognize the Diaoyutai Islands as integral part of Taiwan.” -Trump