It is common today to blame the United States for starting WW II because we tried to blockade Japanese imports of coal and scrap iron, forcing Japan to conquer in pursuit of raw materials. That claim, or perspective, ignores American knowledge of Japanese aggression and brutality in China—as typified in this warfare. I admire your dispassionate historical writing and your punctilious application of the relevant spiritual principles. You create a very valuable reminder to encourage us all.
There are some pretty decent YouTube videos that examine the Japanese actions and America's response. I wasn't able to include any of them in the newsletter because YouTube blocks sensitive videos from being embedded. As you might imagine, almost any video that shows the atrocities in Nanjing are considered sensitive.
I've seen it argued that Roosevelt blocked the sale of oil to Japan knowing it would cause Japan to retaliate and get the U.S. into the war. Roosevelt's motives aside, blocking the sale of oil to a country that was invading others and committing Nanjing style atrocities was the correct action to take. Now, precisely why the U.S. wasn't prepared for the Japanese response...that might be another story.
As always, I appreciate your insight and your kind words of support.
Powerful. Both the simplicity of reporting history, and then the encouragement of how we as followers of Christ can learn and turn to scripture. Thank you.
This was really difficult to listen to. How horrific! I didn’t know that there were westerners there who did their best to protect the citizenry, and for that reason I’m glad I listened to it.
I read "The Rape of Nanking" about 15 years ago. That book is not for the faint-hearted. It renders detailed descriptions of the atrocities the Japanese troops inflicted on Chinese civilians during those six weeks.
What I find most disturbing about the horrific rampage is that much of it was actually photographed by Japanese military photographers apparently AS A MATTER OF PRIDE. The book is littered with gruesome black and white photos of torture and maiming that I wish I'd never seen, and would not even think about detailing here.
My father was a US Navy fighter pilot flying off the aircraft carrier the US Essex in the last year of WWII. Even decades later I could never understand his hatred of the Japanese people, particularly men. I asked him about it in the late 1970s. He told me that the Japanese military were "inhuman barbarians" and that the things they did to the civilian populations of parts of China before we became involved in the war,
we're "things that were unspeakably evil" and that he could never think of forgiving them.
Having read the book and seen the photos, I finally understood his animosity.
I read that book some years ago and you're right. I actually tried to be careful about what I wrote for fear many subscribers would be disgusted and unsubscribe. It was almost impossible to find any photos to use that weren't stomach churning.
I realize that those horrors were sort of the death rattle of Japanese Bushido culture wherein one doesn't simply defeat an enemy, one proudly humiliates them.
Consequently, I find great peace and joy in modern Japanese culture. I hope that my father, who traveled the world in life and absolutely loved other cultures, people, and nations, has found Japanese friends in the afterlife.
It is common today to blame the United States for starting WW II because we tried to blockade Japanese imports of coal and scrap iron, forcing Japan to conquer in pursuit of raw materials. That claim, or perspective, ignores American knowledge of Japanese aggression and brutality in China—as typified in this warfare. I admire your dispassionate historical writing and your punctilious application of the relevant spiritual principles. You create a very valuable reminder to encourage us all.
There are some pretty decent YouTube videos that examine the Japanese actions and America's response. I wasn't able to include any of them in the newsletter because YouTube blocks sensitive videos from being embedded. As you might imagine, almost any video that shows the atrocities in Nanjing are considered sensitive.
I've seen it argued that Roosevelt blocked the sale of oil to Japan knowing it would cause Japan to retaliate and get the U.S. into the war. Roosevelt's motives aside, blocking the sale of oil to a country that was invading others and committing Nanjing style atrocities was the correct action to take. Now, precisely why the U.S. wasn't prepared for the Japanese response...that might be another story.
As always, I appreciate your insight and your kind words of support.
Powerful. Both the simplicity of reporting history, and then the encouragement of how we as followers of Christ can learn and turn to scripture. Thank you.
This was really difficult to listen to. How horrific! I didn’t know that there were westerners there who did their best to protect the citizenry, and for that reason I’m glad I listened to it.
I read "The Rape of Nanking" about 15 years ago. That book is not for the faint-hearted. It renders detailed descriptions of the atrocities the Japanese troops inflicted on Chinese civilians during those six weeks.
What I find most disturbing about the horrific rampage is that much of it was actually photographed by Japanese military photographers apparently AS A MATTER OF PRIDE. The book is littered with gruesome black and white photos of torture and maiming that I wish I'd never seen, and would not even think about detailing here.
My father was a US Navy fighter pilot flying off the aircraft carrier the US Essex in the last year of WWII. Even decades later I could never understand his hatred of the Japanese people, particularly men. I asked him about it in the late 1970s. He told me that the Japanese military were "inhuman barbarians" and that the things they did to the civilian populations of parts of China before we became involved in the war,
we're "things that were unspeakably evil" and that he could never think of forgiving them.
Having read the book and seen the photos, I finally understood his animosity.
I read that book some years ago and you're right. I actually tried to be careful about what I wrote for fear many subscribers would be disgusted and unsubscribe. It was almost impossible to find any photos to use that weren't stomach churning.
I realize that those horrors were sort of the death rattle of Japanese Bushido culture wherein one doesn't simply defeat an enemy, one proudly humiliates them.
Consequently, I find great peace and joy in modern Japanese culture. I hope that my father, who traveled the world in life and absolutely loved other cultures, people, and nations, has found Japanese friends in the afterlife.
So many great movies on this mid-20th century horror!! Oh. Wait.