Many of them were model citizens from Japan and when they returned became respectable members of the community. Research has found that the more concentrated the power in the hands of a few, such as in a totalitarian regime or in a dictatorship, the more likely that few powerful elite will commit atrocities both at home and abroad. So it seems as if almost all people have this potential for evil, which would be unleashed only under certain dangerous social circumstances. In which they re indoctrinated, in effect. And what research has shown is that power seems to be the greatest factor behind these atrocities, regardless of that country s nationality, political affiliation, race, or religion.
Power is the greatest source.
And yet, after all the debates about Nagasaki and Hiroshima, we have amnesia about Nanking. Well, I think the Cold War is the main reason why we have this worldwide amnesia on the subject. After 1949, neither the People s Republic of China, nor the Republic of China and Taiwan wanted to push the Japanese for reparations or an apology because both of them ironically now needed Japan as an ally against each other, and they needed Japan s economic and political support. To this day, I think there is a reluctance on the part of both governments to broach the subject with Japan. In the year since World War II Germany has paid reparations to victims, has apologized, sent its leaders into the Warsaw Ghetto to apologize.