On Sat, 29 May 2004 21:52:37 -0700, "Tom Sixkiller"
wrote:


"Duck Dog" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 29 May 2004 09:48:43 -0700, "Tom Sixkiller"
wrote:


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news3Ntc.6254$4A6.731@attbi_s52...
Amazing, if true, although it isn't the first time I've heard of the
Japanese style of blindered teaching of this period of their history.

I don't necessarily blame the Japanese for glossing over their own
sordid
history. They have to shave every morning, too.

I think the psychologists call that "evasion".

Nope, the word is "denial".

Yup...that's the one.

I knew my psych degree would come in handy some day. ;-)

To be fair, the post-war generations of
Japanese have never been TOLD of the sins of their nation. And
ironically, it may have been at least partly our doing.

How would that be?

The American occupation authorities made a concerted effort to
revitalize Japan after the war (non-militarily, of course) in an
effort to create an ally in the region that would oppose communist
expansion. One aspect of this effort was instilling a sense of pride
in Japanese culture, and one of the ways that the U.S. accomplished
this was to de-emphasize the war guilt teachings that would otherwise
have been imposed on Japanese teachers and schools. There may have
been a certain logic to it then (indeed, it may have been the right
move), but the cost was 60 years of ignorance by the Japanese of their
own history of atrocities.