The ethics of Hiroshima

[think positive]

well i just got back from Japan and yes i visited Hiroshima!
ill post some pics at a later date,

i will say our tour guide was really amazing at rewriting history!!!

and her comments on rape were damn mindblowing!!!

it was interesting, but once was enough.

[roar]

Have only been twice so far, but I love Japan. Will go again, multiple times if possible, but I doubt I will ever feel like Hiroshima is something I need to see.

[David]

i will say our tour guide was really amazing at rewriting history!!!

and her comments on rape were **** mindblowing!!!

How so? What was the narrative she was describing? Were the rape comments in the context of talking about comfort women, or something else?

[stui magpie]

I'd also be very interested to hear about what people had to say and how you found the place. I've never been there and don't have any great desire to go there, but I could be convinced. The Japanese are a different culture, there's a lot going on up front and a lot down deep.

[think positive]

i will say our tour guide was really amazing at rewriting history!!!

and her comments on rape were **** mindblowing!!!

How so? What was the narrative she was describing? Were the rape comments in the context of talking about comfort women, or something else?

She said that in japan Rape isn't a problem like it is in Australia and other countries because in japan the bathwater is shared by the whole family, and they get used to each others bodies at an early age, and dont feel the need to rape!! i shit you not!! im surprised we didnt have to call an ambulance for the jaws that hit the ground all at the same time!!!!

and in case you are curious:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary ... hk-survey/

[think positive]

Have only been twice so far, but I love Japan. Will go again, multiple times if possible, but I doubt I will ever feel like Hiroshima is something I need to see.

it was the main thing i wanted to see, aside from tokyo drift square, which was fricken awesome!

The peace island thing was nice, ill find the name later, deer walking around, and the something gate. but everywhere is pandemonium. they let far too many visitors everywhere!

I dont feel the need to go back at all, but i did google recipes as the food is awesome!

my thing is wide open spaces, think yellowstone, the icefields parkway etc

[think positive]

I'd also be very interested to hear about what people had to say and how you found the place. I've never been there and don't have any great desire to go there, but I could be convinced. The Japanese are a different culture, there's a lot going on up front and a lot down deep.

the kids are amazing, so polite, the vast majority were helpful, though i was shocked how many have no english at all!

if you like Times square you would love what i call Tokyo drift square, its the big crash scene in the movie, and also, Hachi is there! the neon lights blow your mind, the 3D effects are out of this world.

I felt uncomfortable at Hiroshima. I dont like people taking selfies at these places, ie, the world trade centre. it just seems wrong to me. It did nothing for me TBH and I felt guilty for it!! I gave the tunnel were there are vivid images of bodies a miss, i really dont think its necessary to show that, seeing little dresses and hats blown apart, with stories attached is enough.

It was raining pretty hard half way through our visit but it was still packed in like sardines. thats the difference for me. Memorials in the states have limited tickets a day. it feels far more respectful.

i remember seeing a comparison between Hiroshima and the city where the bomb flew from in the states, the US one was a slum, Hiroshima looked beautiful. but it just looked like another city to me. My daughter told me there are no homeless people, but I saw a large encampment, and also people sleeping on the footpaths - out on the outskirts, where most people wont notice them.

I have no desire to go back. and forget tripadeal! it was too hurried, we could have taken the bullet train to osaka from tokyo instead it was 2 days on the bus! (could have done it in 1 day, but we had a couple of stops).we have a tripadeal booked for June next year to Thailand. seeing the sights, including the bridge over the river kwai and the burma railway, ie not the loadyboy bars!!

i doubt ill book another, travelling with 19 other couples, most older, for me was ugh! I prefer to do my own thing!!

[David]

i will say our tour guide was really amazing at rewriting history!!!

and her comments on rape were **** mindblowing!!!

How so? What was the narrative she was describing? Were the rape comments in the context of talking about comfort women, or something else?

She said that in japan Rape isn't a problem like it is in Australia and other countries because in japan the bathwater is shared by the whole family, and they get used to each others bodies at an early age, and dont feel the need to rape!! i shit you not!! im surprised we didnt have to call an ambulance for the jaws that hit the ground all at the same time!!!!

and in case you are curious:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary ... hk-survey/

Yeah, sounds like the kind of thing where it's a nice idea in theory but has little to no bearing on reality. I do get the sense that it's a culture (though maybe a lot of cultures are like this in one way or another, including our own) where people want to believe that they're more advanced and civilised than other places, but in fact have just been a little better at hiding problems.

[stui magpie]

^
Yeah, culturally Japan is still very much male dominated. There's lots of quirky things around Rape and abortion that you wouldn't expect in a supposedly advanced country.

[Durka]

i will say our tour guide was really amazing at rewriting history!!!

and her comments on rape were **** mindblowing!!!

How so? What was the narrative she was describing? Were the rape comments in the context of talking about comfort women, or something else?

She said that in japan Rape isn't a problem like it is in Australia and other countries because in japan the bathwater is shared by the whole family, and they get used to each others bodies at an early age, and dont feel the need to rape!! i shit you not!! im surprised we didnt have to call an ambulance for the jaws that hit the ground all at the same time!!!!

and in case you are curious:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary ... hk-survey/

She obviously hasn't seen the photographs of the cartloads of piled up, naked women of all ages, that had been raped and then bayonetted to death by the Japanese in Nanking. They probably don't teach actual history in Japanese schools though.

[stui magpie]

I'd still like @think positive to elaborate on what she meant about the tour guide re-writing history.

[think positive]

Everything from car manufacturers to who invented various things! Her Pearl harbour comments got me and other riled up. We know the story, but her going on and on about sneaking into the harbour, I’m talking a three hour bus ride, but then how honourable the Japanese are blah blah blah. I didn’t see any of the flyers dropped the day before the bomb, or any mention of Japanese atrocities . I tuned out a lot, she was a joke. I’m just glad we and 2 ladies got together and did the Hiroshima part separately rather than pay her $500 each, it cost us about $460 a couple including the bullet train! I can imagine her spin on it!

Pearl harbour tells no lies about the fact their warning systems and look outs let them down.

[stui magpie]

^
Cheers for that. Interesting. Japanese are a very proud people, I guess their view internally of certain historic events are different to the Western view.

It would have been interesting to ask her view on the war in the Pacific and how Japan tried to invade Australia and see what justification she had, or how their best jungle troops were stopped in Kokoda by a bunch of barely trained Militia, not even real Army.

[Woods Of Ypres]

Japan has completely re-written their own history and does not allow anyone to talk about the atrocities they committed (Nanking, Unit 731, WW2 etc.). they stuff they did is beyond sick. at least the Germans took ownership of their history.

[think positive]

^
Cheers for that. Interesting. Japanese are a very proud people, I guess their view internally of certain historic events are different to the Western view.

It would have been interesting to ask her view on the war in the Pacific and how Japan tried to invade Australia and see what justification she had, or how their best jungle troops were stopped in Kokoda by a bunch of barely trained Militia, not even real Army.

Seriously, we all just wanted her to shut up! Hour upon hour of mostly drivel in broken English! She would get on a rant and not breath for 15 min! A couple of ladies from chile really peed her off, they took off and didn’t tell her, she said having the bus extra time cost her hundred dollar! Over and over! I get She was peed but if you went on The morning tour, which was in the deal, but not the afternoon one you had to pay for, you had to make your way back to the hotel from Tokyo to some place 15 min away! Ok if you’re a bit savvy, but there were couples who looked one foot in the nursing home! We took off with a couple from Altona (we sat next to them on the plane!!) and had a ball at the Eiffel Tower and Tokyo drift square! Caught a cab around town, and the train home! We were looking for the equivalent of Times Square, but didn’t know the name, I saw a bunch of mclarens etc from the tower, and we walked to the place, and it dawned on me! I went up to some young girls and asked for the Tokyo drift intersection! And they got it!

And the next day she was still going on about the hundred dollar, so when we stopped at a rest stop, everyone but chile was back in their seats in the20 min, but they were 13 min late! I said that’s so deliberate ! People were like oh it ok, me no it’s not, it’s our time too, and we will lose it at sites. Sure enough, we are walking distance to the top of Fuji, and we have 45 min, be back at 12.45, but it was already 12.07! So 32 min at the most scenic place we went, including going to the loo and food! Yes this photographer was mighty peed off! Luckily on the last day as we chugged along, I saw it in the distance, whacked the altonadude and said, thereis the pic we missed! He went and spoke to the driver and we stopped at a truck stop (they have to be seen to be believed!) like 30 heated toilets in the women’s alone! And we got pics! Plus I got some out the window as we drove along!

Hubby put his speaker on after that, and we rocked to the r version of living next door to Alice and some Aussie classics! It sure beat Japanese church music!

Oh, each couple introduced them selves the first day, hubby isn’t a good public speaker, so I jumped up and said Jo and Rod, the only thing you need to know about me is that Collingwood is the only team that matters! I got a few cheers, louder than the boos! So since hubby isn’t great at technology either, I slipped in Our theme song! So funny!

The plane ride to Japan from Brisbane should be 9.5 hours, it took us 13! First it was getting repaired for an hour delay, we get on, taxi out, he revsthe motor, and stops, we sit there for a good half hour, no air con. He says sorry, I have a light on, just taxing back to check it. It’s been an hour, a baby is screaming, no air con and no entertainment systems! (None the whole flight not even the plane tracker) We get water! They run tests. It’s been another hour, so three late so far, and we flew to Brisbane at 6frickenam! Idont book flights before 9! So we have been up since 3am! I actually didn’t sleep at all! It’s now dinner time,everyone is hungry, hot, bored, and fed up.

And the captain says …. “Please unbuckle your seatbelts while we test run the engine”! WTAF! Let meoff!

The engine revs, no one breathes, andthe captain says “all good!”

I look at hubby ‘I was taking my camera down the slide!’