Japan is not Always Fun and Games

Japan’s Imperial times during the late 19th and early 20th centuries were incredibly turbulent. Japan sought power, conquest and self-sufficiency. To the people, the emperor was Kami, or God.  However, what ”God” made them do was anything but divine.

As Imperialist forces paved the way through the Asian continent, thereby putting major parts of China under Japanese control, hideous scenes were taking place. Torture, unjustified executions and rape was part of the everyday horror.

Nowadays, Japan is on speaking terms with every country in East Asia, perhaps apart from North Korea. Though, the relations between Japan and China are still quite tense. Few years ago, Chinese criticism raged as Japan’s bureau of education acknowledged history books in which the impact of Japanese forces in China had been out-slated. It stirred global debate, not in the least on the Internet.

My blogger friend Carl Pei noticed something interesting a while ago, though I felt I had to mention it someday. He saw an article on Digg.com about the Japanese Prime Minister denying atrocities comitted against the Chinese during the early 1900’s.

In the comments section on Digg.com, one could see that people reacted deeply against the content of the article but also against foolish and intolerable comments from other people. This is opinion being born, in a natural and democratic way on the internet. This shows that it is highly important with Web 2.0 (compare YouTube)! Without user-generated content and comment features, the voice of the people subsides on the net. That is why blogging is so important and this is also why people have always been writing, throughout history.

”The pen is mightier than the sword”

Read Carl’s post here: http://www.carlpei.com/where-justice-is-served/
Vi svenskar kan läsa lite om debatten här: http://harinne.wordpress.com/2007/06/30/massakern-i-nanjing-och-japans-stolthet/trackback/