Germany and Japan.

 Today I had to write again about Japan. In March Japan has a moral obligation to settle all issues under the various treaties in Geneva.The United Nations condemns Japan's war time record on human rights and other atrocities committed by Japanese military.Another eight days to go and it will be March.I also like to write about the difference between Germany and Japan.I read some articles lately about the bombings on both continents, which ended this dreadful war.

There is obvious contrast here between Germany and Japan. While Germany already bound together by the NATO alliance and the European Community, they also celebrate 50 years of the Franco-German Friendship Treaty on January 22, 2013. These two countries had defined themselves by their enmity to each other, having fought three savage wars in a hundred years, vowed to never declare war on each other for all time and to establish mutual friendship as part of the permanent policy of both states.This alliance has held very firmly for fifty years, and formed the basis for the ideal European unification.

Why is it that on the other side of the world it has not been possible to replicate this European accord? Why is it  not possible to replicate this agreement for relations between  China and Japan? The histories are similar; a long period of rivalry and war  between these two, from the late 19th century until 1945, resulting in the defeat of the aggressor. Japan, like Germany, accepted a constitutional commitment to nonaggression and the imposition of a democratic constitution, which has been wholeheartedly adopted and has lasted the course of time. So why has friendship been so slow to develop between the two East Asian rivals?

Why is it that Japan has made no progress in internalizing the lessons of the Second World War? The vast majority of Germans have dissociated themselves entirely from the mindset of the Nazis and from aggressive nationalism in general. There is no longer a sense that democracy has been imposed on them from outside, although that was certainly the case after 1945. How come Japan doesn't understand the concept of repentance and forgiveness for wartime misdeeds and this is well understood by all Germans.Japan still supports nationalism their diplomats are still visiting and honoring their War criminals at the Shrine in Tokyo. The Kempetai was like the Nazi in Germany, during World War 2.

The cities in Germany like Hamburg, Dresden, Nurnberg were just like Japan's cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki largely destroyed by bombs. Hamburg was fire bombed by the British, and the Allies in 1943, almost as badly as Hiroshima was in 1945, by the Americans.Most people from Hamburg accept the bombings were sadly necessary to rid the country of the Nazi regime which had started the war in the first place.
Japan however does not accept that the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary to rid this country of the Kempetai  regime which had started the war as well.Hiroshima and Nagasaki were cities full of Japanese military and factories for war time purposes.The attitude in Japan is totally different on this concept than those of Germany.The idea of genuine apology and repentance, which is necessary to make a fresh start in the relationship, appears to be synonymous in the minds of the Japanese with a loss of face.The Japanese are not able to accept the shame in admitting their wrong doings. Apologizing and making amends is not in their books.

Japan don't you think it is time to accept the facts of history, the atrocities you committed in China and the rest of East Asia as well as the consequences of your defeat in 1945. Stop playing the martyr. It's time to make the right gestures in the direction of peace and friendship.

We the Dutch from the former Dutch East Indies and Asia, would like to see a similar Friendship Treaty and we will accept it not in a tone of triumphalism but in a tone of reconciliation.

Hamburg Allied Aerial destruction during World War 2.

In May 1943, the architect of that destruction was Air Chief Sir Arthur 'Bomber Harris, head of British Bomber Command. Harris had enormous determination and an unyielding hatred of Germany. His aim was to destroy Germany's cities.
The U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) flew daylight missions and made precision attacks on German factories. Round the clock bombing was becoming a reality.
 On July 25, 1943, Harris picked Hamburg, the city was Germany's second largest city, producing warships and U-boats during the war.Bomber Command dispatched 792 planes loaded with high-explosive bombs that looked like giant dustbins.The New Zealand Squadron took off from RAF Mepal in Cambridge. The last bombers took off at 11 p.m. The stream of air crafts was 203 miles long.
Hamburg was going up in flames.Incendiary bombs started fires across the city. The Hamburg citizens heard a shrill howling in the streets. The howling was something that had never before been recorded. The Germans named it ' Feuersturm' of firestorm. The high temperatures reached 1,400 degrees as the blaze actually began to suck all the air out of the city. The firestorm hit the city many people died either from heat or from asphyxiation. All across Hamburg, the firestorm sucked air to feed itself. The intense heat set many people on fire.More than 40,000 people perished in the three-hour firestorm. Everywhere were large heaps of rubble where there had been houses, and many burned corpses were laying around.
Hamburg could no longer function. The last Hamburg strike was August 2, 1943, with 737 bombers. Casualties were estimated at 45,0000, most of those during firestorm.
Kaufmann begged Hitler to visit Hamburg to boost the morale. The Fuhrer refused. Instead, Reichmarshall Herman Goring, visited the ruins. He was greeted with taunts of Well, Herman Meier, what have you got to say now?

This article was from an issue of 'World War 2' magazine 1998, written by David H. Lippman.

Dresden in Germany, 1943.

War is death, there are no Winners only Sinners.

The cities of Hamburg, Dresden, Nurnberg in Germany accepted with sadness in their hearts that the bombings were necessary  to rid the cities of their Nazi regime.

War brings sadness, destruction, and hatred. This was Hitlers war. A man who thought he could conquer the world. A tyrant who ordered millions to their death. This man was the Furhrer of Germany.How is it possible that one such man can bring so much destruction and sadness to Europe.

Such man lived in Japan. The Emperor Hirohito.

The Hiroshima A-Bomb.

The Emperor 'Hirohito' of Japan. Looked upon by the Japanese as a God. He was nothing but a killer, a murderer and a looter.Spurred his own people to suicide missions.A murderer who lived a pampered life in his beautiful palace.A killer who escaped for some political reason the death penalty, he should have been hanged for all the atrocities he inflicted on human beings.He signed the papers for mass liquidation of all human beings who were not Asian.We were but 10 days away from being murdered, if the A-Bombs had not been dropped on your cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Instead Mr. Hirohito escaped the death penalty, which I  never be able to understand. He lived the rest of his life in luxury, while my mother lived the rest of her life with the loss of her husband and  horrible nightmares of the beatings she received while in these horrible concentration camps, all in the name of 'Hirohito' the emperor of Japan.As of today we the children are still trying to cope with what Japan did to our mothers, fathers, grandparents and our young brothers.There are things in ones life which you will never forget, how hard you try to stow it away. It's always there, in the shadow of your mind.
Japan stop playing the martyr, about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Hiroshima, August 1945.Sacrifices made so the rest of the world can live in peace.

It was necessary, these cities were riddled of war factories etc.Millions and millions of people were saved due to these bombings.Japan has to realize that these bombs would never been dropped,if you had accepted defeat. Your emperor ordered to fight to the last man.Even school children were trained to fight. What kind of nation were you, and what kind of nation are you now? What do you teach your future generation? You teach them to honor war criminals, you teach them lies about your war times misdeed. You teach them never to apologize and make amends, you teach them never to take the blame, because that's causing shame.The word Denial is the number one in your dictionary. It's time to take responsibility. Don't let history repeat it self. Because those who forget their past, will repeat it. So start teaching the young generation about the history of Japan and that this nation will never follow in the footsteps of their for fathers.You have to teach the children of Japan to accept blame which will remove the shame.
I really hope that I will see it in my lifetime, so I can stop writing about these horrible crimes Japan inflicted during World War 2.
March is around the corner and you have to come forward with suggestions which might bridge the gap between the comments made diplomatically by the UN delegates and the initial responses by the Japanese delegation. The working group on the Universal Periodic Review by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, condemns Japan's war time record on human rights, in particular the enforced sexual slavery and other atrocities committed by the Japanese military. Japan you have a moral obligation to settle all issues under the various treaties. Your time is running out, there are eight days left and it will be March.Acknowledge and moral redress these issues.Please let the events of the past not burden Japan's youth, nor the children who were in these concentration camps, as the trauma's caused by the Japanese military continue to trouble them severely.
Japan you must realize that the passage of time does not offer you an escape from your responsibilities.