Hong Kong's Version of "The Departed" Was Better
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/post ... n_jap.html
'Infernal Affairs' Trilogy
http://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment ... xml&coll=7

Hong Kong director Johnnie To considers remake of 1970 French thriller 'The Red Circle'
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?fi ... ec=apworld

Clint's New Hat - "Letters From Iwo Jima" director skewered
http://www.nysun.com/article/49165?page_no=1

Epic Chinese Action Musical -- Terracotta Warriors -- Set for Chicago Debut
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sectio ... id=5060291 (minor popup warning)
http://nwitimes.com/articles/2007/02/23 ... 685ea0.txt

Q&A: Stan Lai - Secret Love of Peach Blossom Land
http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2007/2/23/qaStanLai

Kung Fu Series Continues Hot Run on Small Screen
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/02/23/60@198866.htm

Bionic "Dororo" splits into trilogy after B.O. success
http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/850/1/

Chinese Director Honored at Asian Film Festival in France
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/02/23/60@198903.htm


Int'l Fashion Icon Interested in Fan Bingbing
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/02/23/60@198884.htm

Clint's New Hat - "Letters From Iwo Jima" director skewered
http://www.nysun.com/article/49165?page_no=1

Interesting piece. It can't hurt that some writers are taking the time to add additional context to Eastwood's film, especially when one considers the atrocities committed by Japan in World War II have generally not been given equal footing in Western classrooms with those commited in Europe. I'm surprised the debate hasn't been stronger, in fact, but then again, the film hasn't exactly been burning up box-offices, either, what with those pesky subtitles and all...

Brian Thibodeau wrote:

Clint's New Hat - "Letters From Iwo Jima" director skewered
http://www.nysun.com/article/49165?page_no=1

Interesting piece. It can't hurt that some writers are taking the time to add additional context to Eastwood's film, especially when one considers the atrocities committed by Japan in World War II have generally not been given equal footing in Western classrooms with those commited in Europe. I'm surprised the debate hasn't been stronger, in fact, but then again, the film hasn't exactly been burning up box-offices, either, what with those pesky subtitles and all...

I thought it was quite good and plan to share the url for the Sun article pretty widely. The author makes his points but without the whining or self-righteous or just plain weird tone that often characterize articles like this, the "This movie didn't cover what I know about the subject in exactly the way I wanted it to..." kind of thing.

His "culture of death" reference may be over the top--I don't know--but the otherwise measured tone and factual presentation is exactly what this topic needs.

There are lots of reasons why the Asian mass slaughter of civilians has been ignored, many of which Iris Chang outlines in her book on Nanking. One of them that she doesn't mention is touched on by the author of the "Sun" piece--that it was an almost continent wide holocaust imposed on the citizens of many countries regardless of ethnicity. Further, unlike the European holcaust, it wasn't centralized--there were no pictures of impossibly gaunt survivors, mounds of skeletons or crematoria smokestacks in Southeast Asia, China, Korea or the Philippines. It was simply less dramatic.

Other reasons, like the way that Western/Caucasian/White society looked on Asia aren't really germane in this already too long post and Kozak's article does a terrific job anyway.

Hardly.

Imperialism is imperialism. U.S., British, Belgian, Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, French, Nazi, Japanese: under whatever guise, the results are about the same (large-scale atrocities, mass-murder, dehumanizing brutality, etc.), and the underlying power and domination motivations and the deeply racist sentiment that fuel them, are also about the same.

The Nazi atrocities against the Jews, however, seemed different. Holocaust is the perfect description. Sort of an internal political oppression taken to an obscene and deeply pathological level. Quite unlike the standard imperialism position, usually couched in moral platitudes like "we are bringing civilization to savages" or "saving the people from 'terrorists'". The Holocaust was similar to the dehumanizing hatred fomented in the U.S. against the Japanese (or likely the Japanese racist hatred of the Chinese). Truly sickening stuff. And fortunately was not taken to the same ghastly extremes of mass murder within the U.S.

The Nazis committed hideous atrocities in Russia against non-Jewish Slavs on a large scale, which were purely imperialist racist-based, yet also couched in platitudes. That is not discussed much in mainstream media or canonical U.S. history, as it's too self-reflecting. The Russian people suffered in WWII immensely.

The Japanese committed hideous atrocities within their imperial domain. I would argue, if anything, that the Japanese atrocities taken as a whole (excepting a number of truly ghastly events), although vicious and brutal in the extreme, were actually less destructive and than say (sticking to the post-industrial revolution imperialism) the U.S. attack and destruction of large parts of Indo-China, the appalling Belgian imperialism and resulting destruction in the Congo, or the British imperialist destruction wrought in India. Countries under the imperial Japanese yoke were actually kept economically productive and not outright destroyed.

What is ignored in the Kozak patriotic tripe piece are the U.S. warcrimes and atrocities committed against the Japanese. Of course, because the U.S. committed them, they are, by definition, not warcrimes. Nuremburg was an excellent example of this sort of hypocrisy (e.g. Doenitz using the "the U.S. also what I did, so what I did, by definition, cannot be a warcrime).

Hiroshima and (especially) Nagasaki were also holocausts in their own right. So were the LeMay inspired, planned, and executed, civilian-targeted firebombings and destruction of non-military cities: hideous atrocities by any possible definition.

The Japanese and the U.S. still have a lot to answer for from WWII. It would seem that no human being is in any position to decide who committed the worst of the atrocities, or who was more/less at fault. The U.S. is certainly in no morally superior position whatsoever.

By the way, the fact that Kozak is working on a book about LeMay, of all people, says VOLUMES.

There are lots of reasons why the Asian mass slaughter of civilians has been ignored, many of which Iris Chang outlines in her book on Nanking. One of them that she doesn't mention is touched on by the author of the "Sun" piece--that it was an almost continent wide holocaust imposed on the citizens of many countries regardless of ethnicity. Further, unlike the European holcaust, it wasn't centralized--there were no pictures of impossibly gaunt survivors, mounds of skeletons or crematoria smokestacks in Southeast Asia, China, Korea or the Philippines. It was simply less dramatic.

If only I was a teacher.


All of this suddenly reminds me of my girlfriend telling me how her mom generally disapproved of her and her sister listening to J-Pop music and watching anime, not harshly, but as a rather religious woman, the nagging seemed to stem from the "everything-but-The-Book-is-bad-for-you" ideology often associated with the Right, as the disdain encompassed just about all forms of music and media. But there might have been something more to it. Both parents were passively dismayed when my girlfriend bought a Honda as her first car. But they also warned her to never buy Korean cars, and they're Korean! Later, out of a general curiosity, I asked my girlfriend if her grandparents had been forced to adopt Japanese names, as they'd lived through the occupation. She didn't know the answer, as few in the family openly mentioned it, but in asking her parents about it, she found that their parents had, in fact, been saddled with Japanese names, but that was about as much information as anyone could give her. She found this out only weeks after her grandfather passed away, several years after his wife, both of them taking stories that might have needed to be told to the grave. I think some Asian cultures—perhaps moreso in the North American disapora, I don't know—have almost been complicit in leaving an uncomfortable past behind, as it were. Certainly it's not the same thing as the blatant revisionism practised by the Japanese to this day, but it doesn't help that disaporic generations three and four times removed from the events are probably better educated about German atrocities than they are about those that befell their own people at the same time.

The west needs more Iris Changs.

Quite unlike the standard imperialism position, usually couched in moral platitudes like "we are bringing civilization to savages" or "saving the people from 'terrorists'".

Nice one.

It would seem that no human being is in any position to decide who committed the worst of the atrocities, or who was more/less at fault. The U.S. is certainly in no morally superior position whatsoever.

Perhaps they might be if they'd shown up to the parties a little earlier instead of having to be provoked into it. Seriously, though, you're right, but while I'm not so sure a condemnation of Japanese behaviour prior to and during World War II is an automatic dismissal of similar acts perpetrated by the Americans, from what you say about the Sun writer, perhaps that's very much the case?

Brian Thibodeau wrote:

... or "saving the people from 'terrorists'".

Nice one.

That was the official Japanese rationale for the 1937 invasion: we come to protect the Chinese from 'terrorists'.

By the way, on a personal note and clarification, just as some of us here have friends or relatives that survived the Nazi holocaust, and therefore have strong and deep feelings about the incidents; I also have a deep emotional connection to the Nanjing atrocity, as the grandmother of my soon-to-be-wife (Jing Yao) survived 'Nanjing'. I have attended many Nanjing-related observances and events where survivors gave speeches or narratives, and my daughter (seen at the left there) has even performed in dances at several anniversary remembrances.

It's hard for me to even discuss the subject, frankly...and in reviewing some historical materials for background to my upthread posts, I was re-reminded of some of the horrendous details, as well as the history leading up to it.

I agree with your conclusion Brian...about the Iris Changs of the world...particularly to bring to light the ignorance or misunderstanding of Asian issues, as well as the deep-seated anti-Asian racism so prevalent in Europe and the North America.

It's hard for me to even discuss the subject, frankly...and in reviewing some historical materials for background to my upthread posts, I was re-reminded of some of the horrendous details, as well as the history leading up to it.

I agree with your conclusion Brian...about the Iris Changs of the world...particularly to bring to light the ignorance or misunderstanding of Asian issues, as well as the deep-seated anti-Asian racism so prevalent in Europe and the North America.

I tend to lean more toward the "ignorance or misunderstanding" explanation than inherent racism, though certainly the former is usually (and too often wilfully) responsible for the latter. When I was in school here in Ontario, Canada, the Pacific War was but a blip on our curriculum, while the war in Europe was all the rage, particularly as our country was fighting in the thick of it several years before the Americans. I'm certain the conventional wisdom of that time (around the mid-80's) was simply carried over from decades of curricula before it: to wit, because the majority of students in the school system in that particular area tended to be caucasians of European descent, and Asian immigration still hadn't reached the proportions it would over the past 20 years, somehow the history of their people was enough to fill the school year, with only slight sidetrips into the histories of other lands. To be certain, it wasn't very fair to the five Asian kids who went to my high-school (one of whom was a friend), and to be perfectly honest, I don't remember learning much of anything about Asia in any other class besides geography, and even that was wanting. And it wasn't a case where I didn't pay attention, either: history was one of my favourite subjects, up there with English, Drafting and, umm, Art. (yeah, I picked the easy ones )

Like anybody, I've learned more since high school than I ever learned in high school, but I suppose that's the point, really. Not to sound like one of those smartasses that say the movies taught them everything they know, but in my case the movies (Chinese, Korean and Japanese especially, in the context of this conversation) have been directly responsible for pointing me in the right direction, to the purchase of some of the most interesting history and culture books on my shelves and hunting down further information via the internet. Not that the filmmakers were usually trying to have that effect, but still...

Brian Thibodeau wrote:I tend to lean more toward the "ignorance or misunderstanding" explanation than inherent racism, though certainly the former is usually (and too often wilfully) responsible for the latter.

I attribute it to the long-term generational internalization of a certain set of values to which one (and the whole society) is oblivious. The underlying intent is certainly not one of malice, but rather (I believe) superiority. 19th-century English literature illustrates this with obscene clarity without the added layer of modern hypocrisy.

I think it is when one steps completely out of their own culture and sees it through another's eyes does one begin to at least begin to see this.

One can observe this in the top levels of society. I spent more than a decade working in huge corporations at a professional level (where almost everyone has an advanced degree), and seeing how various culture/race issues are handled/mis-handled, and how culture/race is a huge issue just below the thin veneer of "corporate diversity".

"Hong Kong's Version of "The Departed" Was Better"

And in Japanese, judging by the URL for the article

newsweek.washingtonpost.com ... the_departed_was_better_in_jap.html