Visit Yasukuni Shrine....(do Americans have a clue???)

[mumon]

If you ever go to Japan, I thoroughly recommend, especially nowadays, that you visit Yasukuni Shrine (Yasukuni "Jinja") in Tokyo.

In case you didn't know, Yasukuni Shrine is where the spirits of Japanese war-dead are honored as defenders of the country. This is the place that gets Japanese politicians in trouble for visiting, because of the war criminals there.

It's kind of like a Shinto Arlington national cemetery.

It's not far from the Imperial palace.

There's a museum there that is simply amazing for its display of national propaganda, some of it certainly true (there were literally dozens and dozens of attempts to "open up" Japan prior to Perry's visit, for example, and Japan was well aware of what Europe was capabile of in "civilizing" the "barbarians.")

But there's clearly alot missing, too. In the bookstore books in both English and Japanese are sold that "debunk" the Rape of Nanking.

The museum features two rooms where the 6,000 kamikazes and other suicide fighters are honored.

This has a portent for Iraq: the lies that Bush told won't be eliminated; the truths that Saddam told his people (yes, yes yes he was a mass murdering tyrant) won't be eliminated (like the slant-drilling as a cause for Iraq I).

The narrative that started WWII in the Pacific, or, (if you like, the "Greater East Asia War," as it's referred to in Yasukuni Shrine's museum) lives on in Japan.

No right winger should think for a second that the narratives that show the truth about Iraq will be air-brushed out of history.

Nor should we on the DU think that simply by electing Kerry all will be sweetness and light.

We have to continually tell the truth and tell the truth and tell the truth.

That's my rant for today.


More on my blog here:

http://mumonno.blogspot.com/2004/09/ihave-seen-yasukuni-shrine.html