From: davidg@aegis.or.jp (Dave McLane)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: An open letter to the Emperor Akihito of Japa
Date: 21 Aug 92 12:04:26 GMT
Organization: Aegis Society, Kyoto Japan

yunson@lpf.umd.edu (Yunson Du) writes:

>I have followed this topic for a long time until
>I posted. I was especially suprised at what Mr. Dave 
>McLane (davidg@aegis.or.jp) said. Since he posted 
>numerous postings, it is hard to use his exact
>quatation. 

I would have thought it easy as I have posted so many! (Sorry,
but I'm on summer break and just got carried away.)

> But I should point out that he does not
>know one most important foundation that peace can really
>rest on: That is respect of ALL human being. It is 
>wrong to "enter" other nation and kill all people there. It
>is, in any sense, WRONG!!!. 

How do you know what I don't know? In particular, what
have I said that you think means that?

> You said you talked with
>a lot of Japanese and they think the war is justified
>and they keep silient just to be polite. 

Yes, I said that I have talk to be people here who think that 
(I don't think that way, but they do). 

> You compared
>the rape of Nanking with what the White did to indian
>centuries ago. Then you argued that, since American 
>government does not apology, why should Japan?  

If I remember right my point was the who owes who an apology depends
on how far back you go. After all, according to what I have read,
American Indians came over the Bering Staits from Asia, so if there
were any people living in what is now called N. America they owe
them an apology. Get the idea? 

> You
>then said that there was no common justice. You also
>tried times and agian to sell your 20 century's most
>notorious idea: it is alright for stronger to attack 
>the weaker. You tried very hard.
>If everybody shares your philosophy, no peace will
>last on Earth. 

I believe I said that there is no common agreement on exactly what
'justice' is. If you have some evidence which supports the idea that
there is, would you please post it? 

As for your claim that I support of the "notorious idea: it is
alright for stronger to attack the weaker," this is simply not so.
I'm beginning to suspect that you haven't read what I actually said,
but are just jumping to your own preconceived ideas. 

However, I will say that it is a fact of life that the stronger
attack the weaker as we are witnessing now in Sarajevo, and as we
witnessed in Tiannamen, and as we witnessed at Hiroshima. This
doesn't mean that I support the idea, only that since it happens
it seems like a good idea to think that it might well happen
to you and take steps to prevent it.

>The only way to avoid the future war
>is that: let us talk, we are all human being, we all
>respect each other and we all do not want war. 

Yes, that's what were here for, in this newsgroup, right?

>The Japanese you talked to are either not typical, 
>or Japanese government has done such excellent cover-up 
>that Japanese people are not aware of the fact that millions
>of innocent Chinese people have died in that terrible war.

I don't know if they are typical or not. I never claimed they
were one way or the other. 

[* AARD (Automatic Anti-Rant Device) ON *]
.
.
.
[* AARD OFF *]

Too bad. I guess your mind slipped a gear there. What you had to
say was pretty interesting but the last part got deleted <sigh>. 

Dave

--
Dave McLane 
JUNET: davidg@aegis.or.jp (ONLY within Japan: post otherwise)
Nagaokakyoshi, Kyoto Japan Tel: +81-75-951-1168 Fax: +81-75-957-1087

Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan