That could well be part of it in NY - thought that effect would not be strong in Toronto.
Ah, yes, Ishihara Shintaro, that paragon of Japanese academia :rolleyes:
Thanks for the thorough and well-thought out rebuttal what with cites and thoughts.
Ok, how about this. Shintaro Ishihara is a loony. Look at some of the other comments he’s made that are sourced in that Wiki. Women shouldn’t live after menopause? It’s impossible to count in French? Forests eat children?
Ahh, he IS the Bachmann of Japan then.
Don’t think s/he was trying to rebut you.
The answer to your question about whether those guys are fringe-y is not as much as you’d think. These are the same type of people for whom it’s very important that the Yasukuni Shrine be/remain a legitimate pilgrimage spot despite being the resting place of many of the war criminals. Their numbers and influence (probably disproportionately on the latter) can be found in the fact that essentially every Japanese PM has to visit the shrine although it’s clear (to this outsider, it seems clear) some of the more modern/liberal ones probably really wish they didn’t have to.
Put differently, some degree of denial or better, minimization, of Japanese atrocities seems much, much more prevalent than would be permissible to any Western politician on a similarly-charged topic (imagine for a millisecond a government official at any level in Germany pulling the corresponding behavior). No one I’ve met really wants to discuss the China history. I remember some acquaintances grousing about Chinese tourists who are starting to show up in moderate numbers in Japan and are largely disliked for spitting, being loud, and overall “rudeness.” At some point one of the older guys weighed in philosophically and allowed as to how in fairness, we had to acknowledge that the Japanese had also sometimes been rude to the Chinese. True story.