Japan's Abe visits Yasukuni Shrine, annoys China, South Korea and U.S.
- 9 years ago
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stirred the proverbial pot today by making an official visit to Yasukuni Shrine, the place that houses the remains of war criminals, as well as a bunch of other people who died fighting for Japan.
To understand why this irritated China and South Korea so much, and even the United States a little, it is important to understand that the Chinese and Koreans are still really upset about the atrocities that took place in their countries at the hands of the Japanese before the end of World War II.
You see, Japan occupied quite a lot of China, as well as other countries, before the U.S. dropped the bombs, and it had ruled what is now South Korea on-and-off for ages and ages. They weren't cordial invaders, a fact well-documented and as far as the Chinese and Koreans are concerned, they never properly apologized for their crimes.
So now, basically every time a Japanese leader visits the shrine, it gets people riled up. And now that the Chinese are rich, they're not afraid of reminding people of how pissed off they still are. At the tiniest suggestion of any perceived slight made by the Japanese, the Chinese will smash Toyotas and say all kinds of nasty things to each other about how awful the Japanese are. Not only that, the government encourages it. They'll actually let people protest in front of the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, just as long as they're not protesting against anything else.
And this is where it gets interesting. You see, Abe's popularity ratings are sliding on the home front and his visit to the shrine is seen as a way of rallying support from the Japanese conservatives. At the same time, China can use this opportunity to fire their own people up and channel their fury at a politically-correct enemy and not the Communist Party, who control the government.
So, in the end, it's actually kind of a win-win. Abe gets support and China gets a Christmas present in the form of an unexpected chance to distract the people away
To understand why this irritated China and South Korea so much, and even the United States a little, it is important to understand that the Chinese and Koreans are still really upset about the atrocities that took place in their countries at the hands of the Japanese before the end of World War II.
You see, Japan occupied quite a lot of China, as well as other countries, before the U.S. dropped the bombs, and it had ruled what is now South Korea on-and-off for ages and ages. They weren't cordial invaders, a fact well-documented and as far as the Chinese and Koreans are concerned, they never properly apologized for their crimes.
So now, basically every time a Japanese leader visits the shrine, it gets people riled up. And now that the Chinese are rich, they're not afraid of reminding people of how pissed off they still are. At the tiniest suggestion of any perceived slight made by the Japanese, the Chinese will smash Toyotas and say all kinds of nasty things to each other about how awful the Japanese are. Not only that, the government encourages it. They'll actually let people protest in front of the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, just as long as they're not protesting against anything else.
And this is where it gets interesting. You see, Abe's popularity ratings are sliding on the home front and his visit to the shrine is seen as a way of rallying support from the Japanese conservatives. At the same time, China can use this opportunity to fire their own people up and channel their fury at a politically-correct enemy and not the Communist Party, who control the government.
So, in the end, it's actually kind of a win-win. Abe gets support and China gets a Christmas present in the form of an unexpected chance to distract the people away