Derogatory statements

The Japanese were abominable and treated other Asians with unspeakable cruelty from their subjugation of Korea in 1905 until the United States crushed Japan in 1945 and forced Emperor Hirohito to submit to unconditional surrender to avoid total annihilation of Japan and its people. They were insufferably arrogant in victory and unbelievably humble in defeat. But, that defeat and their acceptance of it did not come until the living son of the Sun Goddess, the Teno Heika or Emperor commanded the people to accept the unacceptable.

If you don't know what the Japanese were like during their years of victorious warfare, read "The Rape of Nanking."

I do not accept someone using anti-Asian slurs in my presence today any more than I accept anti-black, anti-Semitic, or anti-latino speech. But, I understand and accept the use of "Jap" and other anti-Japanese dialogue in movies or other media about the Pacific War.

I don't understand what you want. Do you want this movie to change the history as a sort of apology for the nuclear attacks. Everyone should be kind to each other and un-bigotted? Everyone talking to each other like they're at a happy, hippy summer camp weaving dreamcatchers and making birdhouses out of popsicle sticks. Actually, this movie waters things down quite a bit because censorship at the time didn't allow graphic violence.

What the little boy says is "get away from me you dirty japs!" a derogatory but very common and historically accurate piece of vernacular language at the time. He was a child, there was a war on, heated things were probably said by his parents leading up to the invasion and he repeated them...you notice his mother tries to quiet him for his own safety. Also keep in mind this scene occurs before the Japanese have committed overt acts of violence, so the whole justification of bigotry theory doesn't hold up much.

They didn't show acts of (comparatively mild) violence in order to justify "bigotry." They did it to capture the realities of war. One of the ongoing themes of the movie is the difficulty in the human experience to reconcile a natural, instinctive hatred of the enemy with the simultaneous recognition of their humanity.

Col. Suga was played by a real Japanese actor...not Chinese or Filipino, or white wearing "yellow-face" as was the custom at the time. He is depicted as a psychologically nuanced, basically compassionate but obviously flawed figure. A man corrupted by circumstance to turn a blind eye to atrocities. After his family is killed in Hiroshima, he shows enormous sensitivity and humanity, as Colbert does toward him. "Whatever the rest is...there's no difference in our hearts in what we feel for our children," she says. A beautiful and very respectful moment.

Considering this was just five years after the war, and a time when racism was still institutionalized and widely accepted, a degree of European/American bias is to be expected...but all in all I'd say for 1950 the Japanese were treated with remarkable good taste and fairness by this film.

I really don't want to turn this into a Japanese vs. Americans, who was worse debate. The truth is well documented. Read about Japanese-American Internment , read about Nagasaki and Hiroshima...but also read about "comfort women", The Rape of Nanking, etc. Let the historical document speak for itself.

I simply want to say this. In war time, atrocities are committed, racial slurs fly....it's not pretty but it's history, it's the reality as it was. If you don't like it, don't watch it. But don't expect people to turn fact into fiction to make it more palatable for you.

Well it's easier than referring to them as 'The dreaded, "YOU, DIE, JOE!" Boys'.






Why can't you wretched prey creatures understand that the Universe doesn't owe you anything!?