I like this Japanese Prime Minister Guy

sabadabada

You gotta see him on the front page of cnn.com with the gold rimmed Elvis trucker shades on.

Big_Chan

Koizumi is pure comedy. Now if he can just fix the economy in Japan he will be okay with me!

DOR

sabadabada

I bet he's one of those private profile buyers on ebay. I wonder what his ebay name is? Now you know who is buying up all the raers and why the Japanese economy is in bad shape. He's been spending the national budget on elvis raers.

SoulOnIce

Here he is entertaining world leaders at the Kyoto Summit:

Aser

not feeling his visits to the war shrine.

Big_Chan

not feeling his visits to the war shrine.

Oh boy! You had to bring that up? EVERY Japanese PM has to do that to keep the conservative members of government happy. I visited Yasukuni Jinja a few years ago. There is a war museum next to the shrine full of old Mitsubishi zeros and all kinds of stuff. Every year when the Japanese PM visits the shrine, the rest of Asia gets very upset. It is all just symbolic and political. I don't think the rest of Asia needs to worry about Japan starting some kind of Pacific war again. Japan does not even have an army. I am not endorsing the visits nor do I agree with them being a yearly media event, but I think other Asian countries use this as an opportunity to say "Hey look, the Japanese are still bad people and approve of what went on during the Pacific War."

Aser

the shrine does have memorials of convicted class A war criminals, ones that were executed post war.

I'll let others decide, they can read more about the Yasukuni shrine.

now I'm off to seu jorge, w00t.

Big_Chan

now I'm off to seu jorge, w00t.

Have a good time at the show! I know you will love it.

Swayze

not feeling his visits to the war shrine.

Japan does not even have an army.

Where did you get that idea from?

Calling an army a "Self Defense Force" doesn't NOT make it an army. I've even met some soldiers on their way to training for deployment in Iraq. I think once you have nuclear submarines, you can officially call yourself an army. They blow up North Korean spy ships disguised as fishing boats on the weekly out there.

Just some background:

Japan Defense Agency (B??eich??)
Japan Self-Defense Force

With nearly 240,000 military personnel and an annual budget of close to $50 billion, Japan's military outstrips Britain's in total spending and manpower [/b], while its navy in particular scores high among experts for its sophistication.


sayin...

Big_Chan

not feeling his visits to the war shrine.

Japan does not even have an army.

Where did you get that idea from?

Calling an army a "Self Defense Force" doesn't NOT make it an army. I've even met some soldiers on their way to training for deployment in Iraq. I think once you have nuclear submarines, you can officially call yourself an army. They blow up North Korean spy ships disguised as fishing boats on the weekly out there.

Just some background:

Japan Defense Agency (B??eich??)
Japan Self-Defense Force

With nearly 240,000 military personnel and an annual budget of close to $50 billion, Japan's military outstrips Britain's in total spending and manpower [/b], while its navy in particular scores high among experts for its sophistication.


sayin...

True and some good points, but Japan is not able to deploy troops anywhere outside of Japan as in accordance with the U.S. imposed constitution. The 500 Japanese troops that went to Iraq were in violation of the constitution, but Koizumi did it to keep relations good with the U.S. and England. The U.S. military in Japan is much more of a real army. Compared to the South Korean and Chinese army, Japan really does not have an "army." LOL.

counterpoint

elvis borrowed those shades from koizumi san

Strider79it

not feeling his visits to the war shrine.

There is a war museum next to the shrine full of old Mitsubishi zeros and all kinds of stuff. Every year when the Japanese PM visits the shrine, the rest of Asia gets very upset. It is all just symbolic and political. I don't think the rest of Asia needs to worry about Japan starting some kind of Pacific war again. Japan does not even have an army. I am not endorsing the visits nor do I agree with them being a yearly media event, but I think other Asian countries use this as an opportunity to say "Hey look, the Japanese are still bad people and approve of what went on during the Pacific War."

yeah when in China, I heard this many times....

......too bad that after so many years, still not very good feelings between the 2 countries.....

Swayze

not feeling his visits to the war shrine.

Japan does not even have an army.

Where did you get that idea from?

Calling an army a "Self Defense Force" doesn't NOT make it an army. I've even met some soldiers on their way to training for deployment in Iraq. I think once you have nuclear submarines, you can officially call yourself an army. They blow up North Korean spy ships disguised as fishing boats on the weekly out there.

Just some background:

Japan Defense Agency (B??eich??)
Japan Self-Defense Force

With nearly 240,000 military personnel and an annual budget of close to $50 billion, Japan's military outstrips Britain's in total spending and manpower [/b], while its navy in particular scores high among experts for its sophistication.


sayin...

True and some good points, but Japan is not able to deploy troops anywhere outside of Japan as in accordance with the U.S. imposed constitution. The 500 Japanese troops that went to Iraq were in violation of the constitution, but Koizumi did it to keep relations good with the U.S. and England. The U.S. military in Japan is much more of a real army. Compared to the South Korean and Chinese army, Japan really does not have an "army." LOL.

Japan hasn't had a reason to deploy any troops since an Emporer was truly in power. As far as S. Korea goes, if the law in Japan where changed to mirror S. Korea's and every male over 18 were forced to join the army, then yeah, that would be some shit.

China... I mean, who's fucking with China's numbers.

Imperial_Mao

not feeling his visits to the war shrine.

Same here...

More importantly, Yasukuni Shrine operates a museum on the history of Japan (the Yūshūkan, 遊就館) which outside observers have criticized as presenting a revisionist interpretation. A documentary-style video shown to museum visitors portrays Japan's conquest of East Asia during the pre-World War II period as an effort to save the region from the imperial advances of Western powers. Displays deny that events such as the Nanking Massacre took place and systematically portray Japan as a victim of foreign influence, especially Western pressure.

A pamphlet published by the shrine says: "War is a really tragic thing to happen, but it was necessary in order for us to protect the independence of Japan and to prosper together with our Asian neighbors." It also says that Japanese POWs executed for war crimes were "cruelly and unjustly tried" by a "sham-like tribunal of the Allied forces".

The shrine's English language website defends Japanese occupation and aggression prior to and during World War II, by stating the following: "War is truly sorrowful. Yet to maintain the independence and peace of the nation and for the prosperity of all of Asia, Japan was forced into conflict."

Who says that it's just the victor that writes the history books ???

paulnice

Oh boy! You had to bring that up? EVERY Japanese PM has to do that to keep the conservative members of government happy. I visited Yasukuni Jinja a few years ago. There is a war museum next to the shrine full of old Mitsubishi zeros and all kinds of stuff. Every year when the Japanese PM visits the shrine, the rest of Asia gets very upset. It is all just symbolic and political. I don't think the rest of Asia needs to worry about Japan starting some kind of Pacific war again. Japan does not even have an army. I am not endorsing the visits nor do I agree with them being a yearly media event, but I think other Asian countries use this as an opportunity to say "Hey look, the Japanese are still bad people and approve of what went on during the Pacific War."

It doesn't help that many prominent politicians in Japan have continuosuly denied, let alone never taken responsibility for the many horrific war crimes commited by themselves as well as their counrtymen during WWII... particularly what went down in China.

lucero

unfortunately denial is a recurring feature of many global conflicts/tensions - at the risk of a 5 pager I won't list the ones that spring to mind just here

.. moral of the post, if you f*cked up say sorry & say that shit quick cause it don't get easier with time

paulnice

This is very true, but that doesn't excuse Japan. Not in the least.
In fact, it's particularly sticky in the case of Japan, since many of those who were in charge of calling the shots during the War which led directly to those atrocities in question went on to hold prominent positions in Japanese political life. And many of those are not only still alive, but are STILL in power.
And they're still in denial.

Check out the late Iris Chang's "Rape of Nanking" for more in the subject.

LordNO

Of course Japan has an army. They spent 44 billion on their military last year. They've got peoples in Iraq.. Look, I love Japan, but it's important that countries that have systematically committed atrocities exercise a little more self reflection/ criticism. Not for their neighbors but for themselves.

Strider79it

........but it's important that countries that have systematically committed atrocities exercise a little more self reflection/ criticism.

.......like Germany did after WWII........

Big_Chan

Of course Japan has an army. They spent 44 billion on their military last year. They've got peoples in Iraq.. Look, I love Japan, but it's important that countries that have systematically committed atrocities exercise a little more self reflection/ criticism. Not for their neighbors but for themselves.

Japan had 500 non-combat "humanitarian" troops in Iraq who have now been recalled by Koizumi. They were they to help distribute food and medical supplies, etc. Plaese to remeber that the 500 troops were sent to Iraq in violation of the U.S. imposed Japanese constitution and a LOT of people in Japan were very angry that koizumi sent the troops.