tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21795015.post114213492180374616..comments2023-12-17T05:14:11.042-08:00Comments on ZERO: On the issue of Yasukuni Shrinezerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14384809541337623511noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21795015.post-77971944598202163202008-11-16T01:44:00.000-08:002008-11-16T01:44:00.000-08:00People are making fuss when PM visit Yasukuni.Koiz...People are making fuss when PM visit Yasukuni.<BR/>Koizumi's visit was criticized while he was PM.<BR/>But his visit caused no fuss while he he quited PM but he was still a diet member.<BR/><BR/>But the fact is that Koizumi visited Yasukuni as a private citizen so that it does not violate the principle of the separation of state and religion.<BR/><BR/>You can criticize Yasukuni, revisionists, rightwinger, or whatever.<BR/><BR/>But the right to prayer as a private citizen, whether he is PM or not, should be protected.<BR/><BR/>When people make it secondary, that's the end of rule of law, consitutuional democracy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21795015.post-8598892056424487972008-11-15T21:02:00.000-08:002008-11-15T21:02:00.000-08:00You can criticize Yasukuni or Arlington, but the v...<B>You can criticize Yasukuni or Arlington, but the visiter's right to the prayer in peace should be respected.</B><BR/><BR/>I don't disagree with you there. Private individuals who have lost family members who are enshrined there certainly should be able to pray. <BR/><BR/>But that is not the issue. People are not upset because private individuals pray, but because politicians are (1) going there as a nod to the right wing which supports dangerous revisionist sentiments, and (2) the right wing has tainted Yasukuni's message of peace by enshrining war criminals who did not die in the war.<BR/><BR/><B>The media has been misdirecting its target.<BR/>If you don't like the museum, good, criticize the museum.</B><BR/><BR/>I do criticize the museum. But the museum is part of the Yasukuni shrine. It's part of the right-wing war apologist effort to distort Imperial Japan's wrongdoing in the past. It was the shrinekeepers who enshrined the Class-A war criminals who have caused the problem. From that time on, Yasukuni has become a radioactive symbol.<BR/><BR/><B>If you don't like shinto's idea of consoling the dead because they fear the revenge from the ghosts, good, criticize it.</B><BR/><BR/>What I criticize is the revisionists' enshrinement of the <A HREF="http://kushibo.blogspot.com/2005/11/who-are-fourteen-class-war-criminals.html" REL="nofollow">fourteen Class-A war criminals</A> <I>who did not die in war or in the service of the Emperor</I> because they wanted to give legitimacy to the bogus idea that Japan was a victim and not an aggressor before 1945. <BR/><BR/>Since that time even the Emperor stopped visiting Yasukuni, as have most prime ministers. The shrine keeper's cynical act made it radioactive. It is no longer merely a shrine to peace but a monument to historical revisionism and war apologism. <BR/><BR/><B>Nevertheless, the visitor's right to prayer at any place they like should be protected.</B><BR/><BR/>Sadly, that has become secondary, thanks to the cynical acts of those who enshrined war criminals for political reasons.kushibohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10306033998028548550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21795015.post-19468094762223576012008-11-15T20:08:00.000-08:002008-11-15T20:08:00.000-08:00You can criticize Yasukuni or Arlington, but the v...You can criticize Yasukuni or Arlington, but the visiter's right to the prayer in peace should be respected. <BR/><BR/>The media has been misdirecting its target.<BR/>If you don't like the museum, good, criticize the museum.<BR/>If you don't like shinto's idea of consoling the dead because they fear the revenge from the ghosts, good, criticize it.<BR/>Nevertheless, the visitor's right to prayer at any place they like should be protected.zerohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14384809541337623511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21795015.post-5708223358052675882008-11-15T18:36:00.000-08:002008-11-15T18:36:00.000-08:00I have visited Yasukuni (but not Arlington). The o...I <I>have</I> visited Yasukuni (but not Arlington). The original intent of Yasukuni is peaceful, but the right-wing revisionists have ruined that message by enshrining Class-A war criminals. (And those who are simply going in order pay respects to their own relatives are probably doing so for different reasons from that of the right-wing politicians.)<BR/><BR/>It's obvious that the right wingers have taken over Yasukuni and its message, as you can see in the Yushukan Museum on the Yasukuni grounds. It's historical revisionism and lies that dishonors the dead who are enshrined at Yasukuni. If I had a relative enshrined at Yasukuni, I would be angry about how it has been dishonored. <BR/><BR/>Yasukuni should be depoliticized, but that has to start with reversing the way it was politicized in the late 1970s by the right-wing historical revisionists and war apologists.kushibohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10306033998028548550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21795015.post-75077228670505987042008-11-15T17:21:00.000-08:002008-11-15T17:21:00.000-08:00Thanks.You can criticize how Yasukuni or Arlington...Thanks.<BR/><BR/>You can criticize how Yasukuni or Arlington, but visiting them is another story and for the visitors, it does not mean worshiping the massacre nor colonization. It just means consoling the souls. And it is justfied as a freedom to prayer.That's is the point.zerohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14384809541337623511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21795015.post-44799148991426671282008-11-15T15:27:00.000-08:002008-11-15T15:27:00.000-08:00You make an interesting point about Frank Akeley B...You make an interesting point about <A HREF="http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/armycrew-061268.htm" REL="nofollow">Frank Akeley Barker</A>, the guy behind the My Lai massacre being buried in Arlington. Perhaps he shouldn't be. I would support a drive to have his body disinterred and moved to a different location that does not honor national heroes. <BR/><BR/>However, it should be noted that he was buried at Arlington BEFORE the My Lai massacre came to the public's attention. Had he been alive when it occurred, it's doubtful he would have been buried there. <BR/><BR/>By the way, you mischaracterized the "<A HREF="http://kushibo.blogspot.com/2006/03/insensitive.html" REL="nofollow">Insensitive</A>" link I had to Yasukuni as my own words. They were actually the words of two American veterans.kushibohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10306033998028548550noreply@blogger.com