Bullets 'n' Babes

Well the Jews would not be happy, only because they never thought of it first and made cash from it.

What?

grim_tales wrote:So do I, she's cute

She's not cute IMO. Do you think every Asian women under the age of 30 is cute? .

ok, enough about cute Nazis. Japan's got so much more, like

ehm, dunno


ehh, still dunno


holy crap!


This guy you know.The Boss of the all since 1992

Those last two are really weird ways of advertising.

You'd think Japan of all countries would stay far away from glamourising Nazism.

Nice souvenir for family...


OR NOT!


for those who haven't bookmarked XE, that's about $US 4300

Hung, have you ever thought about getting a Flickr account? It's the most popular image site for sharing photos.

Markgway wrote:You'd think Japan of all countries would stay far away from glamourising Nazism.

I wouldn't say that. Japan is a long way away from Europe and for teenagers it was a long time ago. Germany regrets it's part in WW2, Japan doesn't.

bradavon wrote:

grim_tales wrote:So do I, she's cute

She's not cute IMO. Do you think every Asian women under the age of 30 is cute? .

Maybe I went a bit too far

bradavon wrote:Hung, have you ever thought about getting a Flickr account? It's the most popular image site for sharing photos.

Nope

grim_tales wrote:

bradavon wrote:

grim_tales wrote:So do I, she's cute

She's not cute IMO. Do you think every Asian women under the age of 30 is cute? .

Maybe I went a bit too far

Nope. You have the full right to think she's cute. Looks and nazism aren't related, even if they apper in the same pic.

If you thought she was cute because of the nazi uniform, well, I don't think we need to be so uptight to moralize on that. As long as you take it with humor and keep the facts in mind it's pretty much ok. I also think she looks a bit cool thanks to the uniform. It's bit distasteful but if you don't intentionally offend anyone it should be ok. They don't intend it in a bad way, even if it comes out just that in some people's eyes.

which leads us to the next topic

bradavon wrote:Germany regrets it's part in WW2, Japan doesn't.

We've had a lot of good coversations in the dorm, especially while drinking, cause we've got a nice mix of Japanese, Chinese and Korean students. Yes, teaching history in school is important. But then again, I do think it's time to let bygones be. Today's youth doesn't need to be taking responsibility of what their grand fathers did 60 years ago.

It's sad that in Japan there are ice age conservatives who deny things like Nanking, but if you go complain about that to an average 18 year old uni student that's not quite fair. It's not his fault what happened before even his parents were born, nor does he need to carry the sins of his grand parents.

Sometimes foreign media juices things up a bit, even in Europe, and especially in countries like China. There's been reports about Japanese school books ignoring Nanking and the likes. Well, that's a fraction truth. Yes, there is at least one publisher that releases these books. But no, these books not very commonly used in Japanese schools (and yes, even one would be a terrible thing, so the problem does exist). The Japanese friends I've talked to all said that they actually did learn about Nanking in school.

while at it, here's a few photos from the Atmomic bomb museum (or whatever it was called, you'll find if if you go there) in Hiroshima. It's a pretty... well, like Finnish people would say, silencing experience.

This is what Hiroshima looked like before the bomb


This is the view after the bomb








There's another museum in Nagasaki. It's very similar, like a repetition of the Hiroshima experience. Again, you see really silent people there. It's a pretty emotionally crushing experience.

Interesting but understandable contradition: by a very quick look it would seem Hiroshima and Nagasaki are some of the most beautiful modern cities in Japan. I've only briefly visited both cities.

These pictures are from Hiroshima. You can find a couple of Nagasaki pictures on the previous page of this thread.

I didnt think she was cute BECAUSE of the Nazi uniform, hell - the Nazis were some of the most vile and viscious people in history - but I dont think she was ugly
I agree its in rather poor taste imo (as you said) but I dont think ALL Japanese people are Nazi sympathisisers.
Students dont have to "take responsibility" in that sense but respect should be shown.

I know what you mean, she looks kinda cool, maybe its the combination of innocence juxtaposed with the military uniform.
Holy crap, the images from the museum are sobering

There's a lot more depressing stuff on display in the museum. Didn't feel like photographing it. It's a good experience, though. A reminder, about a lot of things. Sets your values and standards back where they should be. People tend to forget how good their life is.

Hiroshima was a ghastly war crime as proven by those pics.
Yes, Japan was 'the bad guy' but to evaporate hundreds of thousands of civilians in one strike is grotesque.
It's a step toward genocide.

However, Japan as a country must face up to what it did.
Unlike Hung I think it's still important.
And if they had done so decades ago as Germany did then maybe their attitudes (and attitudes toward them) would be different today.
I'm not saying that the youth of Japan should accept blame but rather acknowledge (and apologise for) the horrors perpetrated by their ancestors.
That's the only way to move forward.

Markgway wrote:Yes, Japan was 'the bad guy' but to evaporate hundreds of thousands of civilians in one strike is grotesque.

Personally I believe it had more to do with USA's fight against communism than Japan. Germany had lost the war, and it was only a matter of time when Japan would also. The problem was that Russia was on their way to beat Japan, and if they did that before US, Japan would fall under communist influence.

By using nucler weapons USA could end the war immediately and have Japan to surrender for them. From US perspective it worked perfectly: Japan was rebuilt and remodeled with US style legislation, school system etc.

Of course, for Japan it was tough psychologically. Japan has always been a very proud country and the leader of East Asia since the fall of China.

Hideaki Anno (who did the classic sci-fi-series Evangelion, where the fate of Japan is put on the shoulders of teenage mecha pilots) commented on this. He said that the lost war created a nation of children. There was no role model left, what a grown up Japanese person should be like. As a result today's Japan is a country full of aged children - salarymen sitting in trains reading manga and playing with cellphones.

I must say I quite like this Japan.

The only reason Japan has never apologised and probably won't be apologising any time soon is because politically it's still controlled by the older generation and upper class families who started the whole mess in the first place. Hideaki Anno's analogy is interesting because obviously their devastating defeat in WW2 is a major factor, but also with the higher echelons of government still being rather Oligarchic in many ways you could use the analogy of the current middle-aged salaryman generation becoming something like a child trying to get out of the shadow of a successful patriarch.

Not a Japanese product but related... I mean, is this the coolest thing you've seen this year or is this the coolest thing you've seen this year?!



Try going to the airport with this umbrella on your belt...

Not my picture, but a damn cool looking goth loli gal

HungFist wrote:Nope. You have the full right to think she's cute.

Er. of course he does. I didn't say he didn't . Grim finds every Asian girl posted on this forum cute .

HungFist wrote:But then again, I do think it's time to let bygones be. Today's youth doesn't need to be taking responsibility of what their grand fathers did 60 years ago.

That's what I said but you didn't quote that part .

Markgway wrote:Yes, Japan was 'the bad guy' but to evaporate hundreds of thousands of civilians in one strike is grotesque.

No country is blameless. America has never apologised for dropping the atomic bomb. Sure it stopped the Japanese who were unlikely to surrender otherwise (Germany surrendered months earlier) but that's hardly justification.

HungFist wrote:Personally I believe it had more to do with USA's fight against communism than Japan. Germany had lost the war, and it was only a matter of time when Japan would also. The problem was that Russia was on their way to beat Japan, and if they did that before US, Japan would fall under communist influence.

An interesting point. I didn't know Russian forces were the big influence in Japan losing. Are you sure?

HungFist wrote:Japan has always been a very proud country and the leader of East Asia since the fall of China.

China is likely to reverse that trend.

bradavon wrote:An interesting point. I didn't know Russian forces were the big influence in Japan losing. Are you sure?

It's not exactly something US would ever officially admit. But it's the theory I belive in.

bradavon wrote:

HungFist wrote:Japan has always been a very proud country and the leader of East Asia since the fall of China.

China is likely to reverse that trend.

Yeah, very soon. Japan's economy isn't really going anywhere. But as long as the Chinese government keeps kindapping Nobel winners' wives, and sending teenage girls to prison for publishing anti-government essay on internet forum, there's gonna be some image problems...

It's gonna take several decades "at least" but I reckon China's human rights record will get better. I cannot see them ever having democracy though. That said when a government get powerful, other governments tend to allow them to get away with it.

I cant remember the last time I said an Asian girl on this forum was cute

Well... China is going through it's revolution as our country did many MANY years ago, and back then we also had pretty bad 'human rights' going on, not to mention our behaviour overseas when it came to other countries' human rights.

So, although today's human rights in China are pretty poor, and can't and shouldn't be defended, it is smart to put it all in perspective. It will get better.

Also, it's a country with a billion people. With so many interests at stake, you need slightly different and stricter rules to make it all work, as opposed to having a country with a couple of million people.

Compare it to how you run a classroom with 10 students, as opposed to running a classroom with a thousand students. It's quit a different task.

True but European human rights have generally got better whereas China's have stagnated.

bradavon wrote:True but European human rights have generally got better whereas China's have stagnated.

'We' have been monsters around the world for centuries, and only the last 100 years we have given women equal rights. Not to mention we're still involved in overthrowing regimes we don't like and starting wars for oil and to support the war-industry...

... I don't really think we should be pointing fingers at others TBH. Yeah, China is disgraceful when it comes to human rights, but we certainly aren't much better.