regarding andys reply (1 Viewer)

[stevep]

i was really happy when andy replyed about what i would like to see re german latewar officers and the great variety of uniforms with maps possibly around a vehicle.i have so many books on the various uniforms the germans did wear,and the quality of the figures andy produces i understand the enthusiasm people have for king and country,i suppose we have to be carefull not to glamorise the waffen ss but i understand why they are the most popular the uniforms are fantastic from a modellers perspective,but after i get rommells greif and the new version of the king tiger i want to start collecting the us b of b series i think the snow and frost on their coats looks so accurate how could you not want to collect them! stalingrad will be something to look forward to. but are the jap figures popular? i havent read any threads regarding them.i suppose they are big in japan.

 

[jazzeum]

From what Andy has said, the Iwo Jima series does okay, but it's a distant third after the Germans and Allies. I don't personally collect it.

 

[Chuck Harris]

i was really happy when andy replyed about what i would like to see re german latewar officers and the great variety of uniforms with maps possibly around a vehicle.i have so many books on the various uniforms the germans did wear,and the quality of the figures andy produces i understand the enthusiasm people have for king and country,i suppose we have to be carefull not to glamorise the waffen ss but i understand why they are the most popular the uniforms are fantastic from a modellers perspective,but after i get rommells greif and the new version of the king tiger i want to start collecting the us b of b series i think the snow and frost on their coats looks so accurate how could you not want to collect them! stalingrad will be something to look forward to. but are the jap figures popular? i havent read any threads regarding them.i suppose they are big in japan.

As far I know or read anything about the Japanese, they don't teach or talk much about WWII. Only in the last 10 years have they apologized for some of the things they did in China & Korea.
I for one would would like to know if these K&C IWJ toy soldiers were sold in Japan? How many japanese collect or want to collect toy soldiers?

 

[Shannon Reuss]

Hadn't really thought about it before but although we have customers from all over the world I don't believe I've ever shipped soldiers to Japan.

 

[Gideon]

One of my customers is head of the news wire from the UN to Japan. He collects K&C WWII but refuses to go near the Iwo Jima series. As he says, he has "severe reservations about buying such subject matter."

I really don't have any other Japanese collectors who go for the K&C range. I have a number of Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean customers who buy a lot of the LAH series but not the Streets of Hong Kong series.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[jazzeum]

The Japanese skip over this period of history in their history books so I think it's hardly surprising that they don't buy the Iwo Jima series. Their record of owning up to what they did in World War II, unlike the German people, is abysmal.

 

[stevep]

i have a friend who just came home(newcastle n.s.w australia) from living in japan ,he said they never say anything about the war(they started) and they dislike foreigners.

 

[nmrocks]

I'll bet the LAH series is not real popular in Germany, seems a bit morbid gon't you think?
Ray
P.S. I think anything Nazi is contriban there?

 

[sceic2]

I wonder how much of the Japanese’ denial of responsibility for their actions in WWII is the result of Macarthur and his willingness to change the terms of surrender to accept the continuance of the emperor cult. With that acceptance of the emperor’ continuation came the implied acceptance of not all that they did was wrong; I use the small case emperor to show my personal contempt for this failure of the Japanese conscience.

Macarthur did change the terms, therefore, they have argued, what the Japanese did was not all that wrong and they were given passive permission to continue their society unashamed. Additionally, the Bushido ethic does not allow for failure let alone the acknowledgement of it, other than committing hara-kiri to demonstrate that the failure was the personal responsibility of the person who empties their bowels onto the ground. If it is total personal failure, in hara-kiri, the act does not rate a beheading by sword. Instead the suicide is not allowed to be completed other than by bleeding to death. An honorable death is accompanied by beheading.

We in the West have such a different philosophy of life. To the West, the individual is the meaning of society. In the Japanese culture, the society is greater than the individual and the individual may be sacrificed to ensure the survivability of the society (for the greater good).

The West must insist that the Japanese own their past and they change their society to become equal members of the world culture by admitting that past. Michael

 

[Chuck Harris]

I wonder how much of the Japanese’ denial of responsibility for their actions in WWII is the result of Macarthur and his willingness to change the terms of surrender to accept the continuance of the emperor cult. With that acceptance of the emperor’ continuation came the implied acceptance of not all that they did was wrong; I use the small case emperor to show my personal contempt for this failure of the Japanese conscience.

Macarthur did change the terms, therefore, they have argued, what the Japanese did was not all that wrong and they were given passive permission to continue their society unashamed. Additionally, the Bushido ethic does not allow for failure let alone the acknowledgement of it, other than committing hara-kiri to demonstrate that the failure was the personal responsibility of the person who empties their bowels onto the ground. If it is total personal failure, in hara-kiri, the act does not rate a beheading by sword. Instead the suicide is not allowed to be completed other than by bleeding to death. An honorable death is accompanied by beheading.

We in the West have such a different philosophy of life. To the West, the individual is the meaning of society. In the Japanese culture, the society is greater than the individual and the individual may be sacrificed to ensure the survivability of the society (for the greater good).

The West must insist that the Japanese own their past and they change their society to become equal members of the world culture by admitting that past. Michael

Michael

Hell will freeze over before Japan admits to their WWII past. So don't hold your breath.

I still buy a GM Ford Car or Pickup Truck.

 

[Njja]

Japanese society was divided into three basic classes. The peasants did

all the labor, the samurai spent their time training for war and the warlords

competed with each other for more power. The samurai kept the peasants

inline, and the warlords created the "bushido code" to keep the samurai under

control. Samurai were considered the property of a warlord, as a hammer

belongs to a carpenter. It was understood a warlord would never "waste a

valuable asset" so whatever they ordered must be done. If you fail kill

yourself, a unique way to handle a highly trained warrior.

Life has always been about control, how does one man get others to do

his bidding, provide his food, fight for him, give him all the wealth while they

eat scraps and live in mud huts.

I always wondered why someone didn't fire an arrow into the first guy that

claimed he was a living God, would have ended that pretty quick.

Njja

 

[Joey]

I'll bet the LAH series is not real popular in Germany, seems a bit morbid gon't you think?
Ray
P.S. I think anything Nazi is contriban there?

I believe the range is quite popular in Germany, though these figures can not be displayed in public in any way. If so, the Swastika's have to be covered with a sheet of paper.

The German governement is quite paranoïd when it comes to Nazi objects. One guy, who was selling medallions and cuff bands in his antique shop, said that there are severe fines regarding the display of swastika's and third reich objects with signs that could be of any offensive nature in your shop... ( I thought he said imprisonement too...)

 

[sceic2]

I believe the range is quite popular in Germany, though these figures can not be displayed in public in any way. If so, the Swastika's have to be covered with a sheet of paper.

The German governement is quite paranoïd when it comes to Nazi objects. One guy, who was selling medallions and cuff bands in his antique shop, said that there are severe fines regarding the display of swastika's and third reich objects with signs that could be of any offensive nature in your shop... ( I thought he said imprisonement too...)

That is just one example of how the German people are dealing with the past, perhaps a little over the top but it is their conscience and they must deal with their past in the best way possible for them. The Japanese on the other hand..Now that's a different story. The emperor still survives (although the WWII one is dead), the right wing in their society still denines history and truth in education, attitude and culture. Shame on them and let us beware of mistakes made by us (US). Hay, a pun and I did not even intend to make one. Michael

P.S. Pete and Shannon, why don't you start a new category - Japan Bashing (just kidding...I think).

 

[Louis Badolato]

I agree with Chuck about the Japanese failure to acknowledge their responsibility for their actions in WWII, and with NJJA about shooting arrows into the SOB's who claim to be living gods. And, for the record, I also agree with Chuck about American vehicles, I drive a Jeep and couldn't be happier with it.

 

[jazzeum]

I'll part company with others about driving a Japanese or a German car. I don't connect the two and have no compunctions about driving Japanese vehicles. While the Japanese don't own up to what happened in World War II, there are many things in Japanese society that I like and enjoy. While this may not be important to any of you, the Japanese have a reverence for jazz, sadly lacking in the country that developed the genre. And it's not for nothing that Japanese cars are popular because they are quality built machines, something it's taken us awhile to catch up on. And their history is quite interesting. Yes, they did many terrible things in World War II. Who hasn't in a war? Our history is checkered with similar incidents: the opening of the west and what happened to Native Americans.

So let he who is without sin...

 

[Gideon]

What a great turn this conversation took!!! I like Njja's synopsis of Japanese history. I have learned a lot reading this short thread.

I find it reprehensible that the Japanese have not lived up to their crimes but also agree with Brad about our "checkered" past and how we have overlooked so many attrocities committed by we "Americans" as we expanded our country. It is this checkered past that I use as an example when I have been confronted about showing the LAH series both on my website and in the shop. I really find it interesting when I bring up the various horrors we have comitted or comitted through the support of a regime or dictator. Usually, there is just blinding ignorance standing in front of me still arguing their point.

But still, I wonder why there were no "Tokyo Trials" during our occupation of Japan as there were in Germany.

 

[boot51]

Actually,Gideon there were war crimes trials held after the war for the Japanese, many hundreds were found guilty and hung and many more were not, unfortunately, some even went on to elected offices in the Japanese government. Hirohito was allowed to continue to carry on as Emperor even thought he condoned the atrocities his troops commited. I know many very regretable acts of brutality took place against Native Americans and many minority groups in our history, but at least we didn't use live Japanese POW's for medical experiments and chemical and biological warfare studies, We also didn't use them for live bayonet practice with a circle drawn around the heart and told not to stab inside the circle so the victim would suffer longer. And I don't recall ever hearing about the allies dropping plague infested rodents among civilian populations like the Japanese did in China or decapitating prisoners with swords and eating their livers and on and on. No, you couldn't pay me to own a Japanese car!

Fred

 

[jazzeum]

I'm sure there are many different kinds of atrocities that we could take about, all disgusting no doubt. But to say that there were no atrocities against the Native Americans in North America -- or South America for that matter -- is naive.

Another thing, how long do the children need to pay for the crimes of the parents, all of whom will not be with us in the not too distant future? Or are we doomed to reinforce and perpetuate the negative attitudes that people have against one another for eternity?

 

[Njja]

Gideon:

Oh but they did. "Tokyo Trial" began 5/3/1946 28 Class "A" Japanese War

criminals. Unlike Nuremberg, the Asian trials were for Crimes Against Peace.

And reported only to Gen. Douglas MacArthur. The results: All uncondemned

prisoners were set free by Gen Doug in 1947 & 1948.

Matsui Iwane, Doihara Kenji, Muto Akira, Tojo "Corn-Dog" Hideki, Hirota Koki,

Itagaki Seishiro, Kimura Heitaro, all received "Death by Hanging".

It was a big mess with quite a few of the judges writing dissenting opinions.

As usual Gen Doug allowed his HUGH ego to cloud his questionable

judgement.

Njja

 

[boot51]

I believe I did mention brutality against Native Americans and others, so I don't know how I'm being "naive". Let me first hear an acknowledgement of the atrocities from the government of Japan and then an apology as this country (the U.S.) has done for it's wrong doings then Ill reconsider my "negative attitude"!

Fred