What is the Yasukuni Shrine?
Yasukuni Shrine (靖国神社 or 靖國神社, Yasukuni Jinja, lit. Peaceful Country) is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Emperor Meiji in June 1869 and commemorates those who died in service of Japan from the Boshin War of 1868–1869 through the First Indochina War of 1946–1954. The shrine's purpose has been expanded over the years to include those who died in the wars involving Japan spanning from the entire Meiji and Taishō periods, and the earlier part of the Shōwa period.
The shrine lists the names, origins, birthdates, and places of death of 2,466,532 men, women, children, and various pet animals. Among those are 1,068 convicted war criminals, 14 of whom are A-Class (convicted of having been involved in the planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of the war)....
1945 —
August 15: Emperor Hirohito gave a recorded radio address across the Empire on August 15. In the radio address, called the Gyokuon-hōsō ("Jewel Voice Broadcast"), he announced the surrender of Japan to the Allies.
October: The General Headquarters (GHQ)[the US-led Occupation Authorities] planned to burn down the Yasukuni Shrine and build a dog race course in its place. However, Father Bruno Bitter of the Roman Curia and Father Patrick Byrne of Maryknoll insisted to GHQ that honoring their war dead is the right and duty of citizens everywhere, and GHQ decided not to destroy the Yasukuni shrine.
The urge to burn down the shrine is not unlike the desire to eliminate pop-culture celebrities. One can understand how government might prefer to monopolize the people's idolatry. But wasn't it the better idea to leave the shrine in place and preserve individual worship? The Chinese government is afraid of that, but even many Americans answer that question "no." Here's a photograph I took not far from where I live:
Explained here.
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18 comments:
"The Communist Party of China may be eliminating all other sources of power and influence in civil society"
What are they saying, a totalitarian party wants total power?
By the way, do our Western progressives want anything different?
"The Communist Party of China may be eliminating all other sources of power and influence in civil society – wealth, technology, media and fame – other than its own."
This is what Communists do. This is why our Big Tech/Corporate Media/Hollywood/Academia Collective looks and smells like intermediate level communism to so many of us. Censoring those thoughts and words that might conflict with the collective's driving goals cannot be tolerated. More than that, they are to be eliminated entirely, forgotten, buried.
China has been walking a tightrope for some time now. Capitalism has created immense wealth in that country. Millions have gathered so much. And with it, they have also been exposed to so much more than previous generations ever had. And there is a natural clamoring for more: more things, more knowledge, more looking at the rest of the world, more showing off to the rest of the world. This is all new for China. So while the populace wants it, the Communists want only two things: to retain power and to retain it forever. And they will do, in steps, whatever they have to do to achieve those two goals.
With regard to the Yasukuni Shrine, this quote from the priests who wanted to save the shrine from being burned down and replaced by a dog track (were they trying to turn Japan into Florida?), "...that honoring their war dead is the right and duty of citizens everywhere." shows a view of civilization missing today. We here show no honor to the past or the present day. At least not on the progressive Left. No honor, no thought, no remorse. We judge the past by this very moment and by nothing else. If it does not meet the standards of this moment, we burn it down, tear it off it's pedestal, or cover it with graffiti.
We inch closer to mimicking the Communist Chinese every day. They won't have to so much invade and conquer us as simply promise to take care of us and that might be enough for the incoming generational leaders and inhabitants of our country. They won't have it in themselves to do much more than whine for things anyway. I wonder how Communists take to mass whining?
The Chinese Communist Censorship of freedom of speech reminds us of something...
hmmm - whatever could it be?
A problem created by following the Bread & Circus model of the late Roman Empire is that the entertainment always becomes or is suspected of being subversive to the tyrannical powers that be. Having made Hollywood and Silicon Valley completely subservient they face a more dispersed and ephemeral danger in homegrown celebrity. If we had a CIA externally focused instead of hellbent on controlling domestic politics and state department PR then this would be a fissure in Chinese society we could exploit to great effect.
This should have a sub-title: American democrats look to China for inspiration. Left-leaning Americans are the baddies.
Another star, Zhang Zhehan who is accused of hurting Chinese feelings after posing for photos at Tokyo’s notorious Yasukuni Shrine
Our vp for something similar but perhaps worse last week.
She not only visited but laid a wreath at the monument to the Vietnamese who shot down John McCains plane in Hanoi.
Will she lose social credit for that? She should be fired but not even a prep from the media.
John Henry
Wars reliably produce war criminals. In the way that pastry chefs are at risk of becoming fat, warriors are at risk of becoming war criminals....All the warriors of WWII should thank God for Adolf Hitler. Whatever their crimes, those crimes were not so bad as those committed by Hitler and, therefore, those crimes were in some way justified. I guess the Japanese don't qualify for the Hitler exception what with the fact that Japan was allied with Hitler. Still, the Japanese get off relatively lightly compared to the Germans, but they were just as brutal in the lands they occupied. I don't blame the Chinese for holding a grudge.
Coming to a democrat partnered social media near you soon.
I first became aware of the Taliban (before 9-11) when I learned they were destroying ancient art work.
I note the flowers are also gone. It is summer. There should be flowers.
Purity dictates you must hack all the noses off in the cathedral (or cemetery) of the infidel.
And who are we as Americans to criticize the Chinese on this? We no longer hold the high ground, not even on reeducation camps and indefinite detentions.
A part of the city I did not visit often...lots of office buildings...kind of boring.
But the Chinese are always going on about this shrine...
People who know more about it than I do say it is what it is...a war memorial. If the Chinese (and Koreans) don't like it...whatever.
Aaaaaand...
Kamala says "hold my beer. You think the wreath was something? Watch this!"
As she poses in front of a statue of hi chi Minh yesterday
John Henry
2014
April: Canadian singer Justin Bieber paid a visit to the war shrine. After coming under heavy criticism from Chinese and South Korean fans, he apologized for posting a photo of his visit, claiming to have not known about the background surrounding the shrine
The Chinese government is afraid of that, but even many Americans answer that question "no."
That would be "many on the American Left say 'no'"
But that's because they are nasty totalitarian monster, just like the Communist Chinese Government
William wrote, “I don't blame the Chinese for holding a grudge.”
It’s CCP mythology and propaganda, much more anything organic. Indeed, the CCP has done much worse things to its own people, and continues to do about as reprehensible things to the Uighur today, without the excuse of being at war.
Without excusing what the Japanese did, wars even into the 20th century were generally pretty brutal, wars in Asia notably so, even when the Mongols weren’t involved. This includes intra-China wars as well.
WWII was the victory of good racists over bad ones. That's what I told my history students, anyway.
There are (or were until recently) people in countries where many German soldiers died who find their remains and give them proper burials, even if they had been enemies.
The periodic and predictable outrage about Yasukuni is of a piece with Reagan's supposed gaffe at Bitburg.
Commie governments employ clever people to blow these things out of proportion; Western media in their ignorance of context are usually eager to lap it up.
As for Japanese war criminals, in a century that was notably hard on monarchs, Hirohito must rank as the luckiest--and he may have been smart enough to realize it too. It helps to be a living god, I guess.
The parallels between the CCP and the current Democratic party (which has been taken over by DCP - democratic communist party) are legion.
The inherit flaw in communism of every flavor, is that it sets up conditions where those who have totalitarian tendencies rise to the top. Once there, they do all they can to stay at the top. Marxian communism, in particular, is one built on resentment of others and those that want to rise to the top amplify these resentments as means to garner power.
What you see today in China is coming here if the Democrats aren't checked.
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