And I want to relate this with how in Germany they don't commemorate their past actions, and it is in their constitutional law to never commemorate their past war generals. The German people consider them criminals as well. The difference here is that Japan doesn't.

Which war criminals do they commemorate

Japan doesn't and people don't care because the victims were Chinese. The West wouldn't care about Germany if they hadn't been rampaging in western Europe. Nobody says anything about Mussolini because his victims were mostly Ethiopians and Greeks. In fact Italy celebrates Mussolini with gusto and nobody says boo about it. They have openly pro-Mussolini politicians in power.

"Which war criminals do they commemorate"

Among others - Hideki Tojo, Heitaro Kimura, Seishiro Itagaki, Kenji Doihara, Iwane Matsui, Akira Mutou, Koki Hirota Yoshijiro Umezu, Kuniaki Koiso, Kiichiro Hiranuma, Shigenori Tougo , Osami Nagano, Yosuke Matsuoka.and Toshio Shiratori.

All of the above are enshrined at Yakusuni, which Prime Ministers repeatedly go to to pay their respects. Again, nobody in the West has said anything to the Japanese about this, and it has been a source of friction between Japan and China for a long time.

actually I read about it being a source of friction in the west as well, that and a lack of apology (not sure if they still haven't apologized but I know that hadn't for a long time)

I read also, not justifying it of course, that it also has to do with japanese traditions emphasizing the importance of ancestors. Again not justifying any of it, just throwing it out there

How is it a source of friction? The US has committed its military and economic aid to Japan since immediately after the war. Where has the US ever complained about Japan rewriting their history books to white-out the Rape of Nanjing? Where has anybody ever condemned the Tokyo mayor for calling the Chinese "rats"?

Japan gets away with everything. Let's not kid ourselves.

You think it was a coincidence President Bush blew chunks all over the Japanese Prime minister? CONNECT THE DOTS PEOPLE

Same with the land of Dokdo, which is part of Korea. From what I saw on the news, it says that the Japanese have begun to teach in their schools that Dokdo is part of Japan, or historically it is. Also there have been cases where they have justified their actions in the war by putting false information in their education. The Japanese government does all this and many of the citizens of Japan aren't aware of this. They are unaware of the truth. They commemorate their old war criminals and they manipulate the minds of people through false education.
I agree with Putin33, Japan gets away with many things.

They commemorate their old war criminals and they manipulate the minds of people through false education.

While it is inexusable, Ill have you compare it to the United States, where a similar dynamic exists with the teaching of early American history.

For a very interesting take on this issue Id recommend "The Name of War" by Jill Lepore, which discusses how Americans come to terms and remember the wars of annihilation that our ancestors (civic at least) fought.

People are the same everywhere, just as wonderful and just as atrocious. It doesn't matter if we're talking about Nazi Germany, Civil War US, Soviet Russia, or wartime Japan. Different conditions lead to different results, but the principles are the same.

There's been a lot of talk about how we ignore Japan's atrocities (which we do), but as I understand it the opposite is true in East Asia, where Nazi motifs become fashionable every now and then.

Where are Nazi motifs fashionable? If you're talking about the swastika, it was a hindu/buddhist symbol long before it was appropriated by the NSDAP.

The other difference is there are no global powers from East Asia. East Asia countries don't support West European countries militarily and economically. This analogy fails.

"Same with the land of Dokdo, which is part of Korea. From what I saw on the news, it says that the Japanese have begun to teach in their schools that Dokdo is part of Japan, or historically it is."

This billboard is a few miles down the road from me, in a predominately Korean-American area:
http://rokdrop.com/2010/02/01/picture-of-the-day-dokdo-billboard-goes-up-in-los-angeles/

It's been up there for over a year now. Every time I drive by it, I'm still amazed by the passionate fervor generated by a couple of worthless rocks in the middle of the ocean that someone on the other side of the planet would be willing to spend hundreds of dollars a month to proclaim the ownership of them by another country. Then I drive by the Benihana's a few miles further down the highway.

"You're just making whatever atrocity you can think of up in order to paint your Confederate heroes in most positive light."

No I'm not: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3671/is_200904/ai_n31964235/?tag=mantle_skin;content

"Confederates engaged in the same tactic - seizing food from civilians and burning cities - when they were in Pennsylvania."

Really? What cities were burned down to the ground by the ANV? Name one. While food and horses were seized during the Gettysburg campaign, there was no effort to 'break the will' of the Civilian population through terrorism and pillage. it was certainly not on the scale of Sherman's or Sheridan's deprivations.

Here's an example of the 'brutality' the ANV inflicted on the residents of southern Pennsylvania in 1863:

"While enjoying a home-cooked meal at Michael Mumper's house (across the street from the Maple Shade Barn) the Confederate leader inquired as to how the boy became injured. He ordered his regimental surgeon to treat the open wound and redress it. When informed that the boy was from Shippensburg, a town several miles to the west, the Rebel officer offered him a pass so that he could safely travel through Confederate lines, and that his old horse would not be confiscated...

Young Caldwell later headed home, but was stopped by Confederate guards just past at the Coover-Welty house (now restored as the historic Dill Tavern). The Rebels ordered him to halt and get down from the horse. In his fright, he forgot he had a pass, so he painfully dismounted. Then, he remembered the signed pass in his pocket and showed it to his captors.

Taking sympathy on the lad because of his lameness, they helped him remount, told him the location of the next picket post, and ordered the boy to make sure he freely showed the pass to each patrol he encountered. Willie Caldwell rode westward to his home, where his mother joyfully met him."

http://www.yorkblog.com/cannonball/2009/12/jenkins-raid-through-northwest-1.html#more

"When you consider the loss of life at Gettysburg and other pitched battles, the loss of life during these raids by Sherman was very very small."

The number of people who froze to death (since they were now homeless at the onset of winter) or starved (because all their winter food stores were seized) will never be known, since union authorities weren't particularly interested in counting them; it could very well have been in the tens of thousands, putting it on par with the bloodier battles of the war.

"but dont seem to care much about the mistreatment of Union Prisoners"

Very funny. Engage in "Logistical strategy" against a country, and then complain when your victim lacks the resources to adequately care for prisoners of war. Confederate prisoners weren't exactly well maintained, either. 3,000 Confederate POWs were starved to death in one Union prison camp alone in New York, when the northern states faced none of the disruptions in food production the southern states did. But I'm sure the dead were all slaveowners, so NBD.

"Where are Nazi motifs fashionable?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/world/asia/24iht-fuhrer.html

"..."Mein Kampf" is a hot seller at many Indian streetside book stalls. When a German writer, Georg Martin Oswald, came to India recently on an exchange program, he wrote in an online diary of being stunned at the book's popularity.

Newspaper surveys have found that significant numbers of Indian college students rate Hitler as an ideal model for an Indian leader. A 2002 survey by the Times of India, an English-language daily, noted that Hitler signified discipline, efficiency and nationalism to the students. Hitler also holds appeal for some Hindu nationalists who dream of a more assertive, conquering India cleansed of its Muslim population..."

"What cities were burned down to the ground by the ANV? Name one."

Chambersburg was burnt to the ground by Jubal Early. Sorry if that flies in the face of Ron Paulie alternative version of reality.

"Really? What cities were burned down to the ground by the ANV? Name one. While food and horses were seized during the Gettysburg campaign, there was no effort to 'break the will' of the Civilian population through terrorism and pillage. it was certainly not on the scale of Sherman's or Sheridan's deprivations."

Ok pop quiz time, name 1 city in southern Pennsylvania...

The Battle of Gettysburg started as a confederate attempt to pillage shoes from the town of Gettysburg. Stuart attacked the C&O Canal, and Charles Sumners house and Business was burned to the ground.

@Putin: No, I was not referring to the Swastika as a religious symbol.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_chic#Nazi_chic_in_Asia

I'm not going to devote much effort to arguing on an internet forum about insensitivity towards another culture's taboos and controversies. I was not attempting to draw an analogy, only to point out that Japan, for example, does not treat our issues the same way we do, in the same way that we don't regard Japanese atrocities the way the Chinese do.

Regardless, that's not really the main point I was trying to make.

"3,000 Confederate POWs were starved to death in one Union prison camp alone in New York, when the northern states faced none of the disruptions in food production the southern states did. But I'm sure the dead were all slaveowners, so NBD."

By proclamation every African American who was captured was to be executed. Justify that away...

Actually recently read that Neo Naziism is gaining in popularity in Mongolia of all places

"Regardless, that's not really the main point I was trying to make."

What was your main point then? The suspense is killing me.

Let me clarify the issue here: We defend militarily and support economically Japan against their victims in WWII - China and Korea (namely North Korea). There is a special moral responsibility to address the lack of any real atonement on the part of Japan, especially since we essentially let all the old Japanese militarists keep their positions of power in the name of Cold War expediency. This special responsibility doesn't exist in your attempts to analogize the situation.

If the victims were Europeans we wouldn't be so glib about this. But since we hate the Chinese and North Koreans anyway, oh well.

"By proclamation every African American who was captured was to be executed. Justify that away..."

I think that was a terrible thing that cannot be justified.

But apparently it justifies starving POWs to death out of spite. Is that what you're saying?

"Where are Nazi motifs fashionable?"

While fashionable's a stretch, they certainly don't carry as much stigma outside of Europe and the United States. Which makes sense, if you think about it. I mean, if no your country or family wasn't directly affected by the Second World War then you would assume it was just like any other, albeit a very large and consequential one.

The sad fact is our children will live in a world where Hitler and Nazism will be seen in the same sort of way that Ghengis Khan is now. As in "Sure it was horrible, but that was a long time ago." Since Nazi-chic has quite a bit of lingering appeal and international opposition to Israel is on the rise (in addition to naked antisemitism), it's not too crazy to imagine a future with some sort of National Socialist revival once the Millennial generation retires from running the world. We're basically the last ones to have had a chance to really know people who went through that time. Without that cultural anchor against such an ideology the appeal of awesome uniforms and the like could easily lead to a slide where a sort of soft Nazism (if there can be such a thing) is acceptable again.

But we'll be dead by the time this could hypothetically happen, so no big concern.

How about starving White union POWs out of spite justifies starving Confederate POWs out of spite. The summary execution of soldiers because of race and the horrific violence those noble southerners metted out to African Americans in the wake of the war justifies the burning of that backward region of the country to its foundation.

"I think that was a terrible thing that cannot be justified. "

But yet you've been propagating this crap here for a while about the South was nicer to the blacks than the Union, that the whole cause of the Confederacy wasn't predicated on white supremacy and slavery, and a whole lot of other rubbish. Seems the facts contradict your fairy tale narrative of gentlemanly Confederates vs barbaric Unionists.

or do you glorify the White League and the original KKK as well

@Putin: Briefly, the first phrase I wrote earlier. I hope the suspense is relieved.

"People are the same everywhere"

"The Battle of Gettysburg started as a confederate attempt to pillage shoes from the town of Gettysburg. Stuart attacked the C&O Canal, and Charles Sumners house and Business was burned to the ground."

So we have an army looking for shoes to equip themselves with, an attack on a canal likely being used to ferry enemy troops around, and the burning down of a single politician's house.

Yeah, that's certainly the same scale as Sherman's deliberate campaign of wanton destruction and terror that resulted in dozens of towns being literally wiped off the map.