Why is it OK to make fun of the Germans, but not the Japanese?

[cleller]

My daughter and her husband are visiting, and last night we watched the old movie The Secret of Santa Vittoria, where the villagers hide their wine from the Germans.
I brought up the oddball observation that it seems to be culturally acceptable to ridicule the Germans/Nazis any way you want in regard to WW II, but there seems to be a sense that the Japanese are now off limits in that regard.

Both were guilty of horrible atrocities, with the Nazi's crimes always center stage. The Japanese raped and pillaged from all their neighbors, and enslaved, tortured and executed prisoners at an alarming rate. Our servicemen suffered some unthinkable fates at Japanese hands.

That's why I never understood the idea of apologizing for the nuclear attacks on them. Had we not used those bombs, and were forced to invade, or firebomb, a great many more Japanese would have died.

Not trying to take away Nazi guilt by any means, just thought it might be a topic to generate some polite and civil discussion.

[SicEmBaylor]

I have absolutely no problem whatsoever making fun of or reminding people of Jap history in WWII. None. at. all. I detest the bastards.

There are several reasons why but the most important of which is the fact that Germans are white and Asians are not. It's the same reason why it's okay to make fun of white people, but you don't dare make fun of black people without being labeled a Grand Wizard of the KKK.

[badger]

There's been some very interesting documentaries since WW2 that have discussed the ways in the which the U.S. was going to attack Japan to end the war, but that every idea went out when the bomb idea was decided that it was the sure-fire way to convince them to stop attacking us. One of the most interesting ideas I heard was napalm-armed bats that would be released from helicopters, take refuge during the daylight in villages and then, after a certain amount of time, would burst into flames, setting entire areas of fire. Wow... bats? Napalm?!

In any event, I think Nazi (not German) atrocities against humanity are more documented than Japanese ones, hence the Nazi bashing.

[sappstuf]

In general, the entire pacific campaign was ignored. It is somewhat understandable, most people in the 40s still had friends or relatives in Europe and so that was where the focus was on.

Look at the precentage rate of surival of our troops in German hands versus Japanese hands and the Germans start to appear very gentlemanly... The Germans treated the Russians much differently from our and very brutally. Again, from the American perspective that experience has been downplayed.

EDIT:

This was what I was looking for..

According to the findings of the Tokyo Tribunal, the death rate of Western prisoners was 27.1%, seven times that of POWs under the Germans and Italians. The death rate of Chinese was much larger. Thus, while 37,583 prisoners from the United Kingdom, Commonwealth and Dominions, 28,500 from Netherlands and 14,473 from the United States were released after the surrender of Japan, the number for the Chinese was only 56.

To answer your question, it is probably because making fun of Japanese usually included race and the Germans not so much.

[cleller]

Good to see I'm not alone. Those who want to apologize should read up on Gen. Curtis Lemay, and his firebombing of a few Japanese cities. Incredible. That guy knew how to wage some war.

Another piece of the puzzle may be that the Japanese quickly responded positively to US occupation. In Germany the country was torn in half and things got confusing.

[jk the sooner fan]

just as the people living in the U.S. today had nothing to do with slavery, the people living in Japan today had little/nothing to do with the atrocities committed by their country before and during the war 60+ years ago

I personally think that Japan has risen out of those ashes quite well and been a productive country and a good ally

to continue to harbor bad feelings is a sign of immaturity and stupidity ....just my opinion

[Sooner24]

A friend of mine is a supervisor, at a tire plant in Tennessee, that is a Japanese owned company. The big wigs flew in from Japan to inspect the plant. As the big bosses approached one of the tire builders took off his shirt to reveal his t-shirt underneath.



They sent the guy home but couldn't fire him because the union fought it and won.

[cleller]

just as the people living in the U.S. today had nothing to do with slavery, the people living in Japan today had little/nothing to do with the atrocities committed by their country before and during the war 60+ years ago

I personally think that Japan has risen out of those ashes quite well and been a productive country and a good ally

to continue to harbor bad feelings is a sign of immaturity and stupidity ....just my opinion

Oh, and let me be clear, I was mostly talking about referring to the two countries in discussions about WW II. Germany is clearly the economic powerhouse of Europe, while Japan has pulled itself back from catastrophe without screaming for handouts.
Probably why both were such tough opponents back when.

[jk the sooner fan]

Oh, and let me be clear, I was mostly talking about referring to the two countries in discussions about WW II. Germany is clearly the economic powerhouse of Europe, while Japan has pulled itself back from catastrophe without screaming for handouts.
Probably why both were such tough opponents back when.

i wasnt responding to your post exactly

i think the holocaust is the main reason we can point directly to what Germany did to the Jews (God's chosen people)

Japan mainly committed their atrocities in China (clearly not Gods chosen people)

plus Japan makes a better stereo than Germany

[SicEmBaylor]

just as the people living in the U.S. today had nothing to do with slavery, the people living in Japan today had little/nothing to do with the atrocities committed by their country before and during the war 60+ years ago

I personally think that Japan has risen out of those ashes quite well and been a productive country and a good ally

to continue to harbor bad feelings is a sign of immaturity and stupidity ....just my opinion

You don't understand Japan or Japanese history if you don't understand the degree to which they dwell on the past. It's also pretty clear from the way they teach that history that they've never really taken responsibility for the atrocities they were responsible for.

Germany, to this day, still pays for its atrocities. Germany was held responsible, it owned up to its atrocities, it continues to make amends for the atrocities it committed, and it has truly rejected its history.

If you understood anything about Japan then you would know that virtually none of that is the case with them. When they reject their past atrocities and history to the same degree that Germany has been forced to over the same number of years and made financial amends THEN and only then should we allow the past to be the past with Japan. Doing anything else is a disservice to history, an insult to those who suffered at their hands, and naive.

[SicEmBaylor]

Japan mainly committed their atrocities in China (clearly not Gods chosen people)

Wow. Seriously?

[jk the sooner fan]

ok sic'em....i always feel better when i disagree with you on something

[badger]

They sent the guy home but couldn't fire him because the union fought it and won.

Oh man, that's awful, but he probably would have been decked in the head a few times if he was wearing a hurricane shirt

Come to think of it, that might be another reason why Japan isn't really getting a lot of international bashing. We've all faced our natural disasters at some point in our lifetime and we know how tough it is and our heart goes out to them in their time of need, yknow?

[SicEmBaylor]

Japan's atrocities were every bit as horrific and their treatment of American POWs equaled that of the treatment of Jews by Germany except in numbers.

No what this really has to do with is the importance of the Japanese economy in the United States and not wanting to offend them. Money trumps everything else in the United States and money makes Americans have a very short term memory. It's also racial in that it isn't politically correct to point out the atrocities of a non-caucuasian race.

[Sooner24]

Oh man, that's awful, but he probably would have been decked in the head a few times if he was wearing a hurricane shirt

Come to think of it, that might be another reason why Japan isn't really getting a lot of international bashing. We've all faced our natural disasters at some point in our lifetime and we know how tough it is and our heart goes out to them in their time of need, yknow?

This happened several years ago.

[badger]

This happened several years ago.

Ok then... an Xbox shirt

How DARE you video game with that stupid yankee company! How DARE you shun our vastly superior Sony and Nintendo products!

[SicEmBaylor]

Ok then... an Xbox shirt

How DARE you video game with that stupid yankee company! How DARE you shun our vastly superior Sony and Nintendo products!

Yankee company you say? Allow me to shun them as well.

[cantwait48]

prolly cause the germans bombed pearl harbor

[cleller]

prolly cause the germans bombed pearl harbor

Sneaky Krauts! (see what I mean?)

[Pricetag]

Yankee company you say? Allow me to shun them as well.

Funny that you mention this--I think your hatred of the Japanese is perhaps the only place where your poseurdom exceeds your Civil War stuff.

You've written of your grandfather's opinion of them, but he earned the right to that opinion by actually fighting in the war. I don't doubt that what you've read in books is true, but your talking like you do, calling them "Nips," etc., is a smack in the face to all those people who have actually been there.