A Time of War
Going out today to sweat and shoot with my sons, warm up the shutter finger a bit because tomorrow it’s that time of year again, when the mad, bad, dangerous and deluded descend on Yasukuni Shrine to commemorate the end of the war. And some to pray for peace.
It is clear that most Japanese viscerally hate war which is why this annual show of bravado and myopic remembering is always so interesting to visit. Been reading Embracing Defeat: by John W. Dower
and it really puts a lot of what happened during and after August 15th 1945 in perspective, especially the victors’ justice for some war criminals and the way some more genuine war criminals were allowed to carry on, eventually leading to the sort of cultural and corporate cocks-ups that brought us Fukushima. It is a complicated story of paranoia, prejudice and pragmatism.
An opportunity missed doesn’t even come close to speaking for the misfortune of that time.
Later
Damon
This entry was posted on August 14, 2011 by sungypsy. It was filed under Japan, personal, photography and was tagged with End of the Pacific war day, End of war remembrance day, History, Japan, Japanese, John W. Dower, Wars and Conflicts, Yasukuni, Yasukuni Shrine.
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