WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

[nexus]

Slightly off topic, but (having taught in several Japanese High Schools and one Japanese junior college) they're taught very little in school about the reasons for the war, and almost nothing about the Japanese atrocities. Pop culture's take is mainly "War is terrible, look what the Gaijin did to us", with some undercurrents of "Asia would have been better off under us". Just my take on it of course, but based on five years of direct experience and ten years total of involvement with the Japanese education system.

She'd know Japan was at war at that time, and she'd know Hiroshima and Nagasaki were coming. She might know about the American internment camps, and she'd probably have a patriotic-pacifist point of view. If she had fairly well educated parents, chances are she'd have a negative view of the Japanese war time government, but that isn't certain.

I recall reading that awhile back that it wasn't an uncommon misconception among Japanese high school students that Pearl harbor was bombed in retaliation for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The chronology in their text books was just that muddy. They focused almost inclusively on the "atrocities" commited against the Japanese with no mention of any performed by the Japanese.

[OddHat]

I recall reading that awhile back that it wasn't an uncommon misconception among Japanese high school students that Pearl harbor was bombed in retaliation for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The chronology in their text books was just that muddy. They focused almost inclusively on the "atrocities" commited against the Japanese with no mention of any performed by the Japanese.

I never ran into that one, but then I was teaching English, not history. The teachers and students I spoke to and worked with had a fair idea that America had been attacked first, but the explanation for the attack was retaliation for our "interference" in the Japanese war effort. Those I spoke to tended to dismiss Chinese and Korean claims of war-time atrocities committed by the Japanese against civilians. However, it is important to note that there are Japanese that do know their history, and the majority of educated Japanese are very much pacifists.

Slightly back on topic, if my new Monkey King character were to be brought back into the WWII era, he would head for Shanghai or Nanjing and try to help push the Japanese out. Protecting the people of China is what he is all about.

[S7Michelle]

Slightly off topic, but (having taught in several Japanese High Schools and one Japanese junior college) they're taught very little in school about the reasons for the war, and almost nothing about the Japanese atrocities. Pop culture's take is mainly "War is terrible, look what the Gaijin did to us", with some undercurrents of "Asia would have been better off under us". Just my take on it of course, but based on five years of direct experience and ten years total of involvement with the Japanese education system.

She'd know Japan was at war at that time, and she'd know Hiroshima and Nagasaki were coming. She might know about the American internment camps, and she'd probably have a patriotic-pacifist point of view. If she had fairly well educated parents, chances are she'd have a negative view of the Japanese war time government, but that isn't certain.

Sounds as if Sailor Io and Mask of Justice are going to have an interesting week.

Of course, since she will think she's in an alternate dimension, she could easily come out of it thinking that her view of history was still accurate and that this dimension was just different. This isn't the first dimension she's been to where things were backwards after all.

[nexus]

I never ran into that one, but then I was teaching English, not history. The teachers and students I spoke to and worked with had a fair idea that America had been attacked first, but the explanation for the attack was retaliation for our "interference" in the Japanese war effort. Those I spoke to tended to dismiss Chinese and Korean claims of war-time atrocities committed by the Japanese against civilians. However, it is important to note that there are Japanese that do know their history, and the majority of educated Japanese are very much pacifists.

Well, your information is first hand and mine is second hand at best.

[OddHat]

Well, your information is first hand and mine is second hand at best.

Well, to be fair, my info is probably slightly biased. There's a difference between what a person will say to a teacher or co-worker and what that person really thinks. I am however willing my observation-based theories on the Japanese mind over a beer.

Again slightly bak on topic, it's interesting that no-one has really bought into the whole "this is how history was meant to be" argument, not even most of those who would only minimally interfere. Maybe because dimension travel is built into the question? Would our characters be so cavalier about this if they knew it was there own time lines that they would be changing?