

The unquiet past - Turukawa
http://www.economist.com/news/essays/en/asia-second-world-war-ghosts

======
patio11
An ex-boss of mine once was on a business trip with me and asked if he could
stop at a shrine to pay his respects on the way home. I, naturally, had no
objection.

When we got there I said "Hmm, boss, I'm not sure I can read those characters.
Does that say 'Yasukuni'?" "Good show!" "Is this the same Yasukuni that... has
been recently mentioned on television?" "Yes. What of it?"

Thus began a very, very long day. Word to the wise: looking obviously American
in August at Yasukuni is a bad idea. It's not the death glares, per se, it is
the earnest nationalists who come up and try to teach you The True History of
WWII.

~~~
itbeho
Do they teach The True History of Pearl Harbor?

------
ersii
In a previous HN discussion, I believe it was the commentary on the changed
ownership of The Economist - several commenters said that they think The
Economist usually carries biased and badly nuanced pieces when it comes to
territories outside of the West.

I'm not holding this against anyone, but as far as I can see, this piece is
nuanced and well balanced. I can not find any particular bias towards any one
entity. But if anyone does see any, please bring it forward, as I'm genuinely
interested.

~~~
leoc
On a related matter, I don't think the subject and timing of this article is
at all a coincidence.

~~~
Turukawa
Well, of course not ;) It is: the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII, the
once-a-decade formal apology by the Japanese PM for their actions during the
war (a massively contentious issue where his every word is analysed by Japan's
neighbours, and which wasn't felt to be sufficiently contrite this time), as
well as falling within the usual politics of the region.

~~~
leoc
I was thinking of the _Economist_ 's change of ownership.

------
ersii
The actual title is "Asia's second-world-war ghosts". The first section is
called "The unquiet past".

~~~
Turukawa
I have the print edition, and it's called "The unquiet past". I think the
other 'title' may be for SEO purposes.

------
solveforall
If you're interested in this story, check out the drama "Daichi no Ko" from
NHK. A real tear jerker about a Japanese boy raised by Chinese parents during
the Cultural Revolution.

