Younghusband in front of the infamous war museum at Yasukuni Shrine, Tokyo
I was in Tokyo last week and had a good tour around the city. I hit all the major spots:
- Yasukuni Shrine – where to war criminals are
- Yushukan – the infamous war museum
- Ministry of Defense
- Diet building
- Imperial Palace
All in all it was a good adventure, and to top it all off I got to have dinner with the Lady and Lord Curzon in Kabukicho. I also took some good night shots of the city from Tokyo Tower. Check out all the photos at Flickr.
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COMMENTS / 17 COMMENTS
Curzon added these pithy words on 12 Jan 08 at 4:44 pm
The Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka was a purpose-built, rocket powered kamikaze aircraft employed by Japan towards the end of World War II. The United States gave the aircraft the name Baka (Japanese for “idiot”).Nice.
Aceface added these pithy words on 12 Jan 08 at 5:48 pm“Yasukuni Shrine-Where the war criminals are.”
Oh Come on.Don’t just mix both of my grand fathers with war criminals!The thugs came afterwards!
(Not that I supported the Koizumi visits,mind you)I just looked into the Yusyukan website for the first time.
Man,what is that weird beeping noise and playstation-like guidance map? The place is odd.Even for a nationalist like me.
Younghusband added these pithy words on 12 Jan 08 at 6:23 pm@Aceface You are right, that statement deserves clarification. There are almost 2.5 million souls interred there, only 14 of them actually war criminals.
The website is crazy. I assumed that the museum was going to be crappy based on my web experience. It was actually very nice. Great displays and graphics. Too bad about the history…
Alfred Russel Wallace added these pithy words on 12 Jan 08 at 7:56 pmBut that giant metal torii is just awful…...
Aceface added these pithy words on 13 Jan 08 at 8:59 amYou’re right,ARW.And it’s covered with rust and pidgeon dropping….
The big torii of Meiji Shrine is far more better.
Built with the Japanese cypress from Taiwan said to be 1200 years old.
willie added these pithy words on 13 Jan 08 at 12:18 pmIt’s not nearly as impressive as Arlington Cemetery. And not nearly as many war criminals, either.
Skippy-san added these pithy words on 13 Jan 08 at 2:07 pmYea-but did you hit any good bars in Ebisu? Or maybe one of the pubs in Meguro?
Now that’s seeing Tokyo!
Younghusband added these pithy words on 13 Jan 08 at 4:35 pmI really like both Ebisu and Meguro. They are much nicer now compared to when I first went to Tokyo 10 years ago. There is a nice pub in Meg I have been to before that is run by a Canadian(?). In Ebisu there is a restaurant that serves the best breakfast in Tokyo: bacon, eggs, hashbrowns and pancakes! Too bad it is like ¥3000.
Arcane added these pithy words on 13 Jan 08 at 8:17 pmIt’s not nearly as impressive as Arlington Cemetery. And not nearly as many war criminals, either.
What is this supposed to mean?
Rommel added these pithy words on 15 Jan 08 at 11:16 amArcane,
He’s just trying to be smug and self-righteously anti-war/American/establishment/choose-your-own. Don’t expect a logical and reasonable explanation for that smarmy comment. Chances are he spent an hour thinking of it and then laughed at his own “joke” while clicking send….
Joe added these pithy words on 19 Jan 08 at 4:00 am
In Ebisu there is a restaurant that serves the best breakfast in Tokyo: bacon, eggs, hashbrowns and pancakes! Too bad it is like ¥3000.More like 500 yen at Jonathan’s, and you get unlimited refills on your drinks. Of course, the food will leave your body within 90 minutes, but it’s still a good deal.
Michael added these pithy words on 21 Jan 08 at 6:24 pmPotentially dumb question: To what extent would Yasukuni still be a problem if it didn’t have that museum attached, or if the museum had a more balanced view of WW2? I can see where some people would still raise a fuss out of fanaticism or demagoguery, but would the issue still be one capable of damaging Japan’s foreign stature?
George added these pithy words on 22 Jan 08 at 7:11 pmThe museum inside is very well done indeed, perhaps the best example of museum design I’ve seen in Japan. It has its spin, of course, but still.
Michael, the museum itself isn’t an issue—when its view of history get put into textbooks it becomes an issue. The controversy over the shrine, though is that certain awful people are being venerated.
The problem I have is this: my grandfather fought in WWII and my wife’s grandfather fought too, on the Japanese side, and died on Saipan. He is memorialized at Yasukuni and when my grandpa dies he could go to Arlington (or someplace like that). Neither he nor my wife’s grandpa had any role in the political processes that led to war, and whenever I hear about the Yasukuni shrine controversy it always makes me sad that her family can’t think about his memorial unproblematically, the way I’ll think of my own grandpa’s.
Michael added these pithy words on 23 Jan 08 at 12:45 amI don’t know. Way I see it, the presence of Me Lai massacre perpetrators on the Wall in Washington or in Arlington would potentially have the same effect—but it would only bother me personally if there was a museum attached making them out to be heros or (like you said) textbooks being issued doing the same. There’s always going to be fanatics who’ll get upset about things, but opposition to 180 degree distortion of history isn’t necessarily fanaticism.
Aceface added these pithy words on 23 Jan 08 at 1:50 pmUnlike Arlington,Yasukuni shrine is no longer national institution.It is an independent religious body.And having democratically elected politician to go there would violate the separation of politics and religon.
While I have my discontent over the criticism from abroad that Yasukuni being exist in 21st century Tokyo,I fully understand the anger in China and other nations that prime minister paying pilgrimage there.I think vast majority of Japanese agree with the fact that these soldiers lost their lives in WW2 by fighting “wrong kind of war”.I’m fully satisfied with the fact that my grand fathers souls are memorated in their own graves in their home cemetary and I don’t need any politician do that for me in Yasukuni.(Perhaps his war buddys but then again they are now too old to go to Yasukuni)
I have to agree with Michael here.Yasukuni is not in the same category with Arlington.
ashigaru added these pithy words on 02 Feb 08 at 9:15 pm>And having democratically elected politician to go there would violate the separation of politics and religon.
I don’t think so. Aso (the former foreign minister) goes to Catholic church on every August 15th mass, but it doesn’t violate the separation of church and state.
What is problem here, is that it’s the religious institution, which is arguably the cult of worshipping emperor. Hence it cannot really be apart from a kind of nationalism. Museams are problems, too. But they recently changed the display by the advice of famous conservative academics in favour of Non-japanese side. Though there were still funny history explanations last time I checked the place.
