THE WAR HAS ENDED...[OR HAS IT?]

AUGUST 15 marks the end of the last WORLD WAR. JAPAN surrendered 60 years ago after the devastation that was HIROSHIMA and NAGASAKI. TOKYO was reduced to rubbles as a result of continuous bombings by American forces. KYOTO was spared, along with the IMPERIAL GROUNDS where Emperor SHOWA and his family lived. At least, thousand of year-old castles and shrines were saved: these were true relics of the past. All the rest were bombarded, the ground flat,...smoke bellowing from all over, the residents walking as if they were zombies looking for relatives, and dead bodies lay piled after one another. The air smelt of death! EMPEROR SHOWA, in a radio broadcast, asked the people to accept defeat.The Japanese knelt as they listened to the his voice, crying and vowing to the ground. AFTER the war, the OCCUPIED FORCES established their presence in Japan.This was known as the GHQ where MacArthur spent his days as the Over-all Commander. THEY took the best place in the country. This didn't go as peaceful as some quarters would want to put it. As in all other wars, to the victors comes the loot. There were various reports to support this, but because Japan was the loser, it cannot say anything against the winner. These went on until finally, Japan was left alone [ 0r were they?]. THE JAPANESE vowed to work, and work they did! They have just lost the war...and people had nothing ot eat...nor anything left to make the next winter bearable. My LOLO wore tattered shirts with no shoes, and had to till the land for some tubers [sweet potatoes]. Almost all learned to eat anything that can be cooked. No one dared complain they feel the freezing cold, lest their parents hear them. They were made to feel that making do of whatever is on hand is part of growing up. DECADES LATER, the Japanese economy rose. They became the economic giant in Asia. This was the result of the onslaught of Japanese way of thinking: work till you drop,live frugally, save what you can, never complain. GOVERNMENT LEADERS were able to transform Japan into what it has become now. Roads were constructed, bridges opened, buildings rose, security tightened, laws dutifully enforced. THE WAR left marks these people will never ever forget. It made them realize that WARS MAKE BEASTS OF MEN. They work desperately for PEACE, elusive it may be. ALAS, sixty years hence....Japan still, receive flak from its Asian neighbors, particularly China and the Koreas. In the past, Japan has repeatedly apologized for the war crimes its forefathers have committed. This was followed so many times, with AID PACKAGES of all sorts to these countries and all other Japanese colonies before WWII. The issue of the YASUKUNI JINJA [YASUKUNI SHRINE] visit of Japanese leaders, particularly that of exPM Murayama, and now PM Junichiro Koizumi has been blown out of proportion by some die-hard Chinese and Korean protesters. This has also led to the critique of Japanese textbooks currently used in High Schools.The Chinese insists that the NANKING affair and other issues be included in all Japanese texts. ALL THESE have led to numerous protests, violent, mind you!, in BEIJING ang other places. I BELIEVE this is an INTERNAL AFFAIR of Japan, and as such, must be left alone to do as they wish. DON'T GET ME WRONG.....my father was a meztizo: his mother was a Taiwanese, and his father a Japanese. And I try to look at things from an "outsider's" eyes. The Chinese & Koreans WANT JAPAN TO 'SHOW REMORSE.' SOME Japanese translate this as "MONEY...AND MORE MONEY!" They say that in the past, the Chinese were so silent because money in the form of war package kept on coming. Nowadays, these money has stopped. And all of a sudden, the booming voice of protester all over China has reverberated in the air. TO QUOTE ONE [posted in JT forum]: "Chinese translation for "Action" = "Give us Money"ching chang chong (Aug 16 2005 - 07:40) Because money is the only thing that the dirty Chinese society cares about. Such a corrupt, hypocritical society. No wonder they have no respect for copyright law, ethics, cheating, etc. They only care about getting money no matter how dishonest or unethical the means. Fine, the J government should just toss them a handful of bills and tell them to just shut the f up. Besides, a handful of 1000 yen bills would probably feed a family of 10 for a year in China."/eoq/ PEACE? I BELIEVE WE HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO IF WE WANT TO ESTABLISH TRUE PEACE IN THIS REGION..........not yet...not in the near future.