American cover-up of Japanese war crimes | Hacker News Reader

American cover-up of Japanese war crimes

en.wikipedia.org

42 pointssigma510 comments

The occupation authorities were focused on rebuilding Japan enough that it would become a bulwark against Soviet expansion. Anything that would demoralize or anger the population, like trying the Emperor for his part in the war or having trials related to Unit 731, was not going to happen.

Though even in that light it's difficult to understand why people like Ishii weren't quietly hanged. I can't imagine his cooperation produced a nontrivial amount of useful information we couldn't have gleaned from documentation.

I do wonder why the occupation authorities did the exact opposite for Germany, emphasizing war crimes, collective guilt, etc, since (West) Germany was also a bulwark against the Soviet bloc?

Maybe partition has something to do? You had another Germany that would be viewed as "the good one" if these things are not done.

It may just be that there were different people involved making different decisions.

But I suspect the reason was they viewed Naziism as a greater evil than Communism, whereas the emperor worship in Japan was seen as relatively harmless. Though they did hang a whole lot of Japanese politicians and officers.

Cycles in an ecosystem. During each phase of the cycle different groups and behaviors dominate. In this case we are talking about moral ecosystems. 5 behaviors arranged in impact through the cycle >> exploration(morally neutral small groups) discovers something >> exploitation(morally negative but highly rewarding. small group) >> opportunism. rewards attract the majority. Morality is ambiguous. Costs multiply. >> moralists who have been screaming and taking hits through the entire cycle gain ground but dont have power to make change >> reputation/status sensitive actors(ie ppl with power) act on "moral grounds" only when they see themselves taking status/rep hits and stop acting as soon as they see status stabilize.

In Shinto religion the emperor is viewed as direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu. During the rule of the Shogunate, the Emperor was simply a figurehead, a role he was relegated to again after WW2.

Similarly, cold war geopolitics quickly overcame the allied effort at de-nazification even while the Nuremberg tribunals were happening. Many prison sentences were commuted by ~1950. West German cooperation was more important.

I think more people should be aware of Unit 731. Japan has done a fantastic propaganda job, labelling themselves as the land of Pikachu and catgirls. But they've also the land of wild racism, WWII human experimentation and brutality towards the people they conquered. And they're unrepentant for what they did.

> I think more people should be aware of Unit 731.

They wouldn't. CIA was also doing human experiments yet, although we live in a democracy, nobody held them accountable. You see, as long as a government cannot be held accountable by its own people, all bets are off.

CIA controls all western media, so good luck "making people aware".

The CIA is definitely scary. I’m not sure why people reach for old medieval guilds or Ancient desert pantheons to describe an evil unaccountable shadow government when we have the very tangible CIA already there.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com