E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Franck Robichon / EPA
Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko attend to a memorial service at Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan, on August 15. The annual ceremony marked the 66th anniversary of the end of World War II, remembering the death of some 2.3 million soldiers and 800,000 civilians.
Yuriko Nakao / Reuters
Relatives of people who died during World War II, left, receive chrysanthemums from officials to lay before an altar during a memorial ceremony marking the 66th anniversary of Japan's surrender, in Tokyo on August 15.
The AP reports from Tokyo:
Japan marked the 66th anniversary of its surrender in World War II on Monday with somber remembrances across the country and a memorial in Tokyo led by the emperor. The ceremonies come as the country struggles to recover from this year's devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Emperor Akihito, whose father made the unprecedented 1945 national radio address announcing the war could not be won, offered prayers for the dead and hopes for peace at Monday's memorial in Tokyo. Continue reading.
Leave a Comment:
This retired US Marine has no problem at all with a nation that honors its war dead. The vast majority of those dead were doing what they saw as their duty to their country. It has nothing to do with the politics or policies of the time.
Let's put it in terms we can relate to and say that some of the soldiers who participated in the Me Lai massacre by some chance ended up in Arlington National Cemetary. Would that mean that attendance at all ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknowns by public officials should stop?
A question of degree you say? What's a couple hundred Vietnamese villagers compared to a couple hundred thousand Chinese at Nanking? Hmmmm... Better stop and think about that for a long time.
At some point, it is time to move on. Forget? Never. Forgive? It depends on your nature and is purely optional. But all the aggression displayed in these postings by people who were not even alive at the time is pretty pointless. What do they hope to accomplish with all this? (I stopped being mad at the Normans years ago over their shameful invasion of England. Hurrah for King Harold! Boo William!)
I have long since stopped being amazed by the breath-taking lack of knowlege displayed by some people. It always seems that some of the most extreme statements are backed up by historical "facts" that are just plain fiction.
But to return to the point I made originally, I have no problem with a country that honors its war dead in such a manner. I saw no uniforms in the photos, no parades of soldiers and war machines, just quiet dignity.
We could learn from that.