BTW I have found that western (or rather outside of China) "Leftists" always have a particularly rosy view of Japan. They want to believe the majority of Japanese people are good. I can't blame them since Japanese cultural exports are real and powerful. (Myself wanted to learn Japanese because of their stuff like Gundam. But learning more about actual historical and current Japanese ironically made me hate them to my guts......)
I’m not that surprised considering the rise of Japan’s soft power allow its bad history and negative stuffs to be washed off as people around the world enjoy watching Japanese anime, playing video games, driving their cars, collecting toys like Gundam and Pokemon, tasting wagyu beef, having fun at cosplay events and the list simply goes on and on.
This is exactly what the Japanese expect. Their perspective is focused on the West, and they have a very arrogant attitude towards their neighbors in East Asia. This "good impression" is the external image that Japan has always deliberately sought to portray, but of course, the victims are well aware of Japan's true nature.
The Japanese public also harbors a sense of complacency, believing themselves to be highly favored. They either remain ignorant of past atrocities, pretend ignorance, dismiss them as slanders, or simply refuse to acknowledge them as wrongdoings.
I strongly recommend that everyone take a look at how the Japanese extol the uniqueness of Japanese rice and rice culture in ACG works and light novels. That kind of ignorant arrogance makes people laugh uncontrollably.
The way I see the Takaichi row is that there's no chance of a war. Even if she's an idiot who doesn't understand military affairs, the rest of the Japanese government has plenty of people who would shoot the idea down. Moreover, any war is contingent on a Chinese attack on Taiwan, and that would only happen if Taiwan crosses a red line. It has nothing to do with Japan or Japan's position to begin with, so it's just not going to happen.
That said, Takaichi presents a golden opportunity for China to humiliate an American puppet over the issue of Taiwan, and get massive public support for doing so. So why wouldn't they take full advantage of the situation? You can tell that everyone knows that Takaichi stepped over the line by observing how other countries react to it. Not even the Trump or the DPP are willing to support her.
And just look at all the reaction out of China itself. I've always felt that there was a strong undercurrent of support of settling scores with Japan, but the response is stronger than I expected. I think that she's really lucky that China isn't a democracy.
The seriousness of the matter lies in the fact that the supporters of this old woman are completely based on an emotional attitude of arrogance and ignorance. These right-wing netizens only care about how to show their tough attitude to those "annoying neighbors", and they don't care about the consequences. And then this old woman really did it to please these voters.
Their memories have lingered in the glorious moment of 1894. I once showed a picture about their bookstore filled with ridiculous prophecy books about”China Collapse“.
——You think Gordon Chang is ridiculous, but people like him is everywhere in Japan
