Ha+Jung


 * Write a short reflection of what you learned from these readings. With the benefit of hind site and knowledge of China and Japan, would Korea had been better off if it had “opened up to the west.”**

By reading about the invasions and the establishment of the religion, I learned different wills and values that the Koreans had in the past. Also, some new important figure such as Ch’oe Chue. Yes, Korea may have been more developed and better off if it had at least some of the western values. If they had western values, they would have developed faster, and not face such harsh invasions from foreigners from all over the world. Possibly, Korea could have been one of those nations that would control part of another region.


 * Observation Questions**

1. What are some of the imperialist ideas that brought conflicts and new ideas to Japan? Due to the imperialistic ideas, what happened around the nation? Think globally, and give your opinions on the topic and analyze to think about deeper meanings that may have been given.

2. Describe the nationalism in Japan. What were the main sources that brought nationalism and how would YOU define nationalism? In your point of view, what is nationalism?

3. What are the reasons to the military expansion and the corruption of the government? Describe Fujii’s poem and analyze its meanings. What did you gain from Fujii’s poem? Did it have impact on your point of view or give you any significant thoughts?


 * Introduction to Rape of Nanking**

After reading the introduction to the Rape of Nanking, I gained many new ideas, thoughts, and the perspective of the people who have discussed this matter. It was shocking in how badly the Chinese people have been treated by the Japanese. The innocent people have been raped, killed, and tortured until unbelievable amount of deaths resulted from it. Just by reading the descriptions that the author had written, it was clear that this incident was something that needs to be presented to the world and important part of a history. It’s horrible how so many people from a “city” had been killed as much as a number of people who could be killed during a war. As for the author, she seems to pinpoint the important facts and the thoughts regarding the incident about the people and presenting this to the world to make it more known. Numerous times, it was mentioned how the Rape of Nanking was unknown by many people and textbooks. Later, it also shows how she tried hard to participate in the conference to gain more information, and proved her strong engagement on the subject regarding Nanking.

For the general view of the Rape of Nanking, it seemed pretty outrageous in how the Japanese soldiers had forced such brutal ways of killing and torturing people. The citizens were forced out to another city, killed by guns, burned alive, and etc. As for the sake of these treachery, just like the author mentioned, Japan should admit their wrongdoing and the Chinese people should stand up for themselves to preserve the precious history. The survivors of the citizens are believed to be decreasing each year, and due to the unspoken people, the Rape of Nanking is still quite unknown by the majority of the world. It would result in significant effect if the world was to know and view this history, and reflect upon their wars, and killings as well. It would be an opportunity for the world to look at their own history and evaluate it regarding this incident that may impact the course of history. Lastly, the Rape of Nanking gave me an entire new perspective on wars and its brutality in which I have never known before, and led to more curiosity in which I would want to discover, and reflect the author’s thoughts more thoroughly.


 * Response to Ch.1**

After reading the first chapter of the Rape of Nanking, I gained knowledge on the events that led up to the disastrous event in Nanking. It all started with Japan’s time of development, conflicts, military, and etc. Japan had faced economic depression which severely brought down their economy, conflicts with China and other European nations, developing their country to be able to conquer China, and much more. It gave an outline of how Japan and China experienced endless conflicts with one another until the anger was finally broke into wars and the Rape of Nanking. I got the impression that Japan and China had almost no limits in the things that they were doing. They were all eager to make their nation more superior and powerful among the others, and expand onward. However, this seemed to have caused too much conflicts. It led to quite a few tragic events which were mostly wars. It was pretty much predictable that after building up such history of unfavorable experiences, it would eventually lead up to something enormous. On the first chapter, it built up all the tensions that led to the outbreak in Nanking. Lastly, it focused mostly on the negative parts of the history that led up to Nanking and the path of cruelty among the nations.


 * Re-read 54-59 complete the following Write a three paragraph reflection: Why do you think the Japanese were so cruel? How can ordinary Japanese soldiers commit such atrocities(cruel acts)? Be sure to copy and past the prompt. You may post to the wiki.**

The cruelty of the Japanese soldiers towards the Chinese citizens and soldiers were terrible. They had treated them like animals and insects who had to be dehumanized. Their purpose was to kill both the combatants and noncombatants alike. To achieve this, some soldiers had conducted contests to see who can kill more Chinese people. Mukai Toshiaki and Noda Takeshi had decided to hold contests to see who can kill one hundred Chinese people first, but they admitted how they lost count, and had raised to goal to hundread and fifty. During the contest, one of the solider mentioned how his sword had been messed up a little because he had cut the Chinese in half. Later, it was declared by these two soldiers that the contest was "fun." These kind of horrifying situations clearly proved the cruelty of the Japanese soldiers regardless of the people who they were killing. They were beasts at killing people after they had been trained in camps.

When new soldiers get sent to the training camps for the military, they were usually afraid and scared of the violence, and showed their fear of following hte order of the killings for practice. One of the commanders of the camp quoted that all the new recurits were like this when they saw scenes like the people being tortured to deaths, but they wil get used to it soon, and they would be doing the same. Also, an officer named Tominaga Shozo recalled his first reaction at the camp of fear, and how he was turned into a killing machine afterwards. He mentioned how the soldiers' eyes were like leopards rather than humans, and the instructors had provided the new recruits of the new soldiers with live Chinese soldiers who were blind-folded to practice their killings. Also, if they didn't volunteer, they were yelled at, and were randomly called to condct the practice killing. As time passed by, Tominaga admitted that he had learned to kill and explained how he became more adept to it. Many of the soldiers also remarked how it was easy for them to kill now since they had so much training. From there rose a quote saying how duty is like a mountain, and life is lighter than a feather. It was also considered important for a soldier to come back dead indicating that he had fought well for the emperor. By the military training influences, the Japanese people had become more aggressive and less guilty towards committing killings.

The ordinary Japanese soldiers seemed to be able to committ such brutal killings because first of all, their militay expriences, and their orders, and thoughts. The Japanese soldiers have been given constant orders from generals to conduct so many tasks regarding killing under strict rules, that they had to obey every order of it. They had not choice in which they could choose any options. They had been taught this way since young age in the training camps with harsh treatment and conditions that came to force them to become tougher and more cruel. In general, Japan seems to have very strong laws against military that encourages and teaches the young ones to be like the soldiers who were in Nanking. Everyone eventually came to grow up to be killers who could do any killing without any guilt. The people who were being killed were only animlas to their eyes which was awful and terrible. Basically, I believe that the harsh conditions had resulted from the military camps in which brought enormous influences to the trained soldiers.


 * Was "The Rape of Nanking" a genocide and/or holocaust and/or massacre?**

In my point of view, The Rape of Nanking was a massacre. The Rape of Nanking involved the act of instance murder of helpless Chinese citizens. The Chinese citizens had been treated instantly killed with guns or bayonets no matter of their age, or gender. Babies had been killed as well with no mercy as well. The Japanese had used one of the most cruel ways in murdering all the citizens in numerous ways in which was not possible to describe. The citizens had no power or any source of weapons to defend themselves from the harsh soldiers, and all they could do was to stay in a safety zone or hide in some places. Nothing had been safe during this massacre, and was probably one of the most horrific massacres that had occurred.


 * Do countries have the obligation to compensate each other for injustices done in time of war?**

Yes, the countries have the obligation to compensate each other for injustices done in the time of war because for example, if one side had lost, the country who had won deserves the right to be repaid. The nations who had triumphed will want to repair all the damages done by the enemies and ask them for money, and other necessities to help them rebuild and make up for all the issues. For example, after World War, Germany apologized to all the other nations for everything that they had done. They paid enormous amount of money to all the nations, lost the lands that they gained throughout the war, and could not speak up for themselves for their rights along with other nations since they were the losers and the starter of the war. Therefore, the countries do have the obligation to compensate one another for injustices done in time of war.

 **Nogun-ri Reflection**

The incident in Nogun-ri is different from the Korea-Japan controversy. In the Korea-Japan controversy, Korea had suffered a great deal from the Japanese suppressions, harsh treatments, and etc. Basically, Korea didn’t have any right at this time with the Japanese because nothing could be controlled by their will since the Japanese had completely dominated the nation. The people had been forced to change their names, language, and many other things that regarded Korean custom. In the event during the Korean War, bridge massacre, and other major events, the Koreans and the US people constantly had their own opinions and issues that regarded the situations that resulted from the evacuees, and victims of the disasters that occurred. I still believe in compensation but in a different way after reading the Nogun-ri reading. Compensation doesn’t always seem to involve the winners demanding the losers to pay them money for the damage and such. Instead, it could mean just apology and helping a bit in a certain way. For example, the US made an apology to the Koreans about the killings of their people and set up a memorial on the site of the deaths to show their apology. Korea had not necessarily demanded anything such as money or power. It was just a simple solution to the issues. As a result, compensation seems to differ depending on different situations.

 Yes, Korea and China should most definitely have a say in what Japan puts into its textbooks. Japan has included some information about their treachery from the past recently, but not quite. They have begun to include events such as the Rape of Nanking and a few others, but they have only included the most basic facts but no reasons or justifications behind. When there are no justifications or reasons are behind the facts, the purpose of learning the facts are useless since what's the point in when we don't know anything. Facts don't tell everything. For example, in the past, many nations had committed wars, and massacres, but nowadays, they include it all in their textbooks about the details and justifications. It's understandable and is definitely the right thing to do in saying 'sorry' and having their generations learn about it to prevent the same mistakes in the future. However, in Japan's case, they are trying to hide their history from the rest of the world when history cannot be taken back and is already known by many people. Therefore, Japan should just admit to the world about their wrongdoings and officially apologize.
 * Reflection: Should Korea and China have a say in what Japan puts into its textbooks?**

When Japan had caused Rape of Nanking, China and Korea were both impacted by such event. Japan had murdered infinite number of Chinese citizens and had caused such unbearable sights and disasters. For example, they had built undergroud route to take the women from China, and Korea also in order to torture them and to capture them for later use. In the process, many women were raped and were treated in horrible circumstances. There were also a group of women called comfort women who were forced into sexual slavey. They had been unwillingly taken away with force by the Japanese and had to work for them. Later, the Japanese insisted and told the world that the comfort women had come on their own with their own wills which was completely wrong. Due to issues like these, China and Korea should have their sayings on the Japanese textbooks to prove their point of view and to justify.