tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post2678506013475294531..comments2023-10-21T11:44:45.588+01:00Comments on ResidentAlien: Out of the AirMary Witzlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458299046574564155noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-50308993330547954462007-05-17T19:41:00.000+01:002007-05-17T19:41:00.000+01:00It is a painful subject.Oddly enough, my kids don'...It is a painful subject.<BR/><BR/>Oddly enough, my kids don't want to hear about Japan's role in WWII. During our first month in Scotland, we happened to meet an elderly man while we were out walking one day and mentioned to him that we had lived in Japan. He held forth on what a cruel race the Japanese were, and to this day my kids refer to him as 'that man who doesn't like us.' He liked us just fine, but my kids see themselves as Japanese and think it was us that he was upset with.Mary Witzlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06458299046574564155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-36834833272152719132007-05-17T04:32:00.000+01:002007-05-17T04:32:00.000+01:00Your daughter sounds delightful. Painful subject ...Your daughter sounds delightful. Painful subject though, which seems to evoke strong emotions in all who read it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03828426520214270655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-29346127526391011392007-05-16T18:08:00.000+01:002007-05-16T18:08:00.000+01:00I have not read this, though I have read about the...I have not read this, though I have read about the Manhattan Project. I know that a lot of people who were working on the science behind the bomb didn't want it to be used. Einstein and Szilard in particular made appeals against using the bomb. <BR/><BR/>What a lot of people don't realize is that the Japanese had their own atomic program and were working on producing an A-bomb themselves. Although it is disputed just how close they got to achieving their goal, one of their leading nuclear scientists, Dr Nishina, was a close associate of Einstein's. <BR/><BR/>Another thing I remember hearing is that a third nuclear attack on Japan was actually discussed. Thank God they stopped after two cities.Mary Witzlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06458299046574564155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-83559646906243724762007-05-16T15:56:00.000+01:002007-05-16T15:56:00.000+01:00Have you ever read the books by Richard Feynmann a...Have you ever read the books by Richard Feynmann about the Manhattan Project? They're sobering, and while he doesn't get into the politics behind it, the orchestrated efforts of scientists and politicians and ivy league schools (who supplied the scientists and the expertise). He was very much aware of what he had helped create. And I don't think he ever forgot it. I seem to recall that many of them died of weird cancers.<BR/><BR/>It's a really shitty thing when my kids realized that we come from a nation whose politics warmongering, and that ultimately, the deficit, the lack of good will shall fall on them when they are trying to grapple with the results of today's Wolfowitz schemes.<BR/><BR/>Now Wolfowitz --he's the only person I'd advocate the death penalty for.Kananihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08317494343177263398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-25822315427240500822007-05-16T14:17:00.000+01:002007-05-16T14:17:00.000+01:00Kim -- Sometimes I think that once they've got the...Kim -- Sometimes I think that once they've got the bombs, politicians are just itching to use them. Why have them, after all, if you can't drop them on people? And now Iran can enrich uranium. Great. <BR/><BR/>Eryl -- While I am glad that Japan lost the war -- they truly had an evil empire -- I cannot agree with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By the summer of 1945, over one-hundred Japanese cities had been reduced to ashes by fire-bombing, resulting in thousands of civilian casualties. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were overkill; even Eisenhower, hardly a dove himself, wasn't in favor of a nuclear attack on Japan, reasoning that Japan had already been defeated. <BR/><BR/>That said, the Japanese Ministry of Education chooses history textbooks that cover the American fire-bombing and nuclear attacks on Japan, but tend to leave out material on Japanese aggression and war crimes. I have had students who had to learn all about these events as adults. One woman came back from a family holiday in China so upset and shaken that it took her months to get over it. Until she'd visited Nanking, she'd had no idea of what had happened there during the war; she also was unaware of Japan's colonization of Korea. <BR/><BR/>I suppose the moral of the story here is to try and keep an open mind and not blindly accept what we are taught -- and to approach the study of history without an agenda.Mary Witzlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06458299046574564155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-89583538391303739952007-05-16T13:18:00.000+01:002007-05-16T13:18:00.000+01:00I sometimes think that if we all thought a bit mor...I sometimes think that if we all thought a bit more like children the world would be a much better place: two wrongs don't make a right. My husband says things like 'if America hadn't nuked Japan we would all be speaking Japanese by now' and I wonder would that really be such a bad thing.Eryl Shieldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01818102006775827503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-5386904530393560872007-05-15T12:37:00.000+01:002007-05-15T12:37:00.000+01:00I'd be really mad at anyone who dropped a bomb on ...I'd be really mad at anyone who dropped a bomb on anyone close to me too. Shame our politicians don't seem to share the sentiments of the rest of us.Kim Ayreshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02656677501116622953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-83207619487034420552007-05-15T09:58:00.000+01:002007-05-15T09:58:00.000+01:00Sorry, Brian -- I'll go and put in a time referenc...Sorry, Brian -- I'll go and put in a time reference. I meant to do this last night but forgot.<BR/><BR/>Japanese war brides in Australia must have had a tough time of it. I can imagine they had their work cut out for them as informal cultural and goodwill ambassadors. Have you ever heard of the writer Lois Battle? Her mother was an Australian war bride in the U.S., and Ms Battle sees herself as both American and Australian. I love her writing...<BR/><BR/>Okay -- off to make that change.Mary Witzlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06458299046574564155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-16377279036064604462007-05-15T06:23:00.000+01:002007-05-15T06:23:00.000+01:00I am a little foxed by exactly where and wh...I am a little foxed by exactly where and when this conversation took place -- my maths is not good . <BR/><BR/>But I will be curious to know what the situation is at the present moment . What has developed from it ?<BR/><BR/>And last night I watched a programme about Japanese war brides in Australia -- now mostly widows -- a very nice lot of ladies .<BR/><BR/>patterjackbrianf@ozonline.com.auhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17365273528988879923noreply@blogger.com