An utterly unrepentant Japan opening up past wounds derail peace diplomacy

Whatever declarations Japanese leaders may make about the aims of their visits to the Yasukuni Shrine being only to honour their war dead, the acid test is whether victims of their past aggression believe them.

THE recent visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the Yasukuni Shrine has provoked a very negative reaction in China and South Korea.

While less strident, other countries like the United States and Singapore also did not approve of the visit. The former expressed disappointment while the latter stated that it regretted the visit.

At the heart of the disapproval is the belief that such a visit indicates that Japan has not come to terms with its past of aggression in Asia. Many compare this unfavourably with Germany where it is very unlikely, if not inconceivable, that the highest German political leader will ever make a public visit to a shrine of Adolf Hitler or of any top Nazi leader.

How valid is this comparison?

It is first necessary to state that the issue is somewhat more complicated than a clear-cut case of an utterly unrepentant Japan and a completely contrite Germany. The Japanese public are deeply pacifist. While it is true that they have caused tremendous destruction in Asia, they themselves have been profoundly scarred by the atomic devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Moreover, there are many Japanese, parti­cularly those in the teachers’ unions, progressive intellectuals – especially from the older generation – and others, who are unequivocal in their condemnation of their country’s record in the Second World War.

Germany, for its part, did experience some neo-Nazi manifestations, especially in the eastern part of Germany just after reunification. And there was the controversy over the visit of President Reagan to a cemetery in Pitburgh in 1985 where some of Hitler’s Waffen SS were buried.

Helmut Kohl, then Chancellor, despite protests from many Jewish personalities, insisted that Reagan together with Kohl himself, not cave in to the protests. The Germans argued that many German cemeteries have buried SS officers. Moreover, many of these SS men were innocent young men forced to join the SS at a young age.

Such aside, it is nevertheless clear that in the main, the Germans have come to terms with their recent history. They have clearly acknowledged they did wrong under Hitler and have vowed not to resurrect the Third Reich.

They have, in addition to giving substantial reparations to their victims, made many convincing gestures of contrition, one of the most dramatic being that of the then Chancellor, Willi Brandt, going down on one knee in a monument in Poland in 1970 honouring the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during the Nazi era.

The Japanese on their part are much more ambivalent. Their apologies have been hedged about by many qualifications, and often when made by one leader refuted by statements and actions of other leaders.
And, more dramatically, some of their highes­t political leaders have visited, and intend to continue visiting, the Yasukuni Shrine where many class one war criminals have been enshrined.

Whatever the declarations the Japanese may make about the aims of their visits to Yasukuni being only to honour their war dead, the acid test is whether their war victims believe them. In this, the Chinese and Koreans do not. On the other hand, the victims of the Germans do.

The most dramatic recent example is the plea by the Polish foreign minister in 2011 to the Germans to take leadership of a federal Europe!

One can hardly expect a Chinese or Korean leader to ask for Japanese leadership in Asian affairs!

There are three reasons why both differ in their approach to their recent history. One consists of what they actually, or believe they actually, did.

Amidst the horrors of war the Germans unleashed, they went on an extermination of Jews and other groups which could not be justified by the exigencies of war or by any other wrongs that others may have been inflicted on the Germans. Such an extermination was a clear-cut case of genocide.

Many Japanese, on their part, argued that they committed no such genocide in Asia, and what atrocities Japanese soldiers committed were not a result of policy but of the stress of war. Moreover, in their colonial conquests, they were only following the examples of the Western colonial powers. In some places like South-East Asia, they helped their liberation movements.

While there is some degree of truth in the Japanese argument, some heinous crimes such as the human experimentation by their notorious Japanese Unit 731 and the testing of bacteriological warfare in parts of China cannot easily be justified as due to the strains of war.

While the Western comparison over colonial conquests may seem valid, it cuts no ice with those countries colonised, like Korea and China.

In fairness, some Japanese scholars acknowledge that whatever the Western example, they were wrong in colonising these two countries. Hopefully, such acknowledgement can be one basis for reconciliation between Japan and their Northeast Asian neighbours.

The second reason, somewhat related to the first, is the lack of a regional grouping the Japanese could identify with or be a member of. Germany had a regional organisation, the European community, they could, if not subordinate themselves to its regional aims, use as the focus of their attempt not to repeat their past.

In the words of one of the greatest 20th century German intellectuals, Thomas Mann, Germany should strive for a European Germany, not a German Europe. Asia is too diverse, culturally and economically, and still filled with bitter war memories, for Japan to identify with.

Third, the de-Nazification campaign in Germany was quite thorough. Few Germans, if any, with Nazi connections were allowed to occupy significant governmental and private posts in post-war Germany.

Japan was different. While in the initial stages, the Americans, who basically dominated Allied policy (there was more non-American input in running post-war Germany), intended to purge Japan of those involved in Japanese aggression in Asia, they subsequently relented by allowing many to assume positions of influence in a post-war Japan. (Abe’s maternal grandfather Nobusuke Kishi who was Prime Minister in the 1950s was one of them.)

The US needed an anti-communist, strong Japan against communism in Asia, especially China. It is thus difficult for post-war Japanese governments consisting of many who committed aggression in Asia and who could have influenced their successors to acknowledge they did wrong.

It would now seem that those inclined to the denial that Japan committed aggression are gaining momentum in Japan. It would be a sad day for Japan and for Asia that a Japan which had made a lot of headway in its peace diplomacy after the war would have that peaceful image destroyed by becoming clearly unrepentant about its past.

- Contributed by Lee Poh Ping, a Senior Research Fellow, Institute of China Studies at Universiti Malaya.

Related:

Dialogue 07/25/2013 Shinzo Abe revisits Southeast Asia CCTV News ...

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Dr. Lee Poh Ping, Senior Research Fellow, Inst. of China Studies, University of Malaya

Dialogue 07/25/2013 Shinzo Abe revisits Southeast Asia CCTV News - CNTV English

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China Thursday refuted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent appeal for more transparency in China's military budget, stating that it is Japan that should increase transparency and explain its own military buildup.

"China's defense policy is transparent and has been published in its white papers and on other occasions," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang on Thursday told a regular press briefing in response to Abe's speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a day earlier.

"We must ... restrain military expansion in Asia, which could otherwise go unchecked," Abe told the annual meeting of global business and political leaders, following his government's custom of not naming China in such references.

In response, Qin urged Japan to explain to Asia and the international community the real purpose of amending its pacifist constitution, which has been in existence since 1947. The Abe government has been trying to revise it so as to greenlight the expansion of Japan's military forces.

In December, Abe's cabinet approved a critical defense policy package comprising new defense program guidelines, a five-year defense buildup plan and the national security strategy. Japan vowed to seek more "proactive" roles for its military forces abroad and to set new guidelines on arms exports, signaling a major shift from its previous restrictive stance.

"Abe tends to depict China as a threat at whatever occasion he attends. His purpose is to worsen Sino-Japan relations and damage China's image in the international community, as well as tear apart economic development in the Asia-Pacific region," Lü Yaodong, a research fellow of Japanese politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

During the Davos speech, Abe also called for dispute resolution through "dialogue and the rule of law, and not through force and coercion."

Qin said that Japan cannot on one hand refuse to admit mistakes and continue to denigrate China, and on the other hand indulge in empty rhetoric to advocate dialogue, as it is the Japanese leader that is shutting the door to dialogue.

Liu Jiangyong, a vice director of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University, said it is inappropriate for Abe to cast blame for political issues at an economic forum.

"Abe is trying to distract people's attention by claiming it is others' fault," Liu told the Global Times.

Abe also defended his visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, saying that the shrine honors the dead of World War I and the 1868 Meiji war, not just war criminals or others who died in World War II.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is currently attending the international conference on Syria in Montreux, Switzerland, described Abe's argument as futile, which only serves to expose Abe's erroneous perception of history.

Even today, the Yasukuni Shrine still represents the notion that the aggression of Japan in World War II was "just," the Pacific War Japan launched was "self-defense" and the trial at the Far East International Military Tribunal was "illegitimate," as well as honoring 14 Class-A war criminals, Wang noted.

South Korea Thursday also said that it is a complete contradiction to talk about forging friendly ties while continuing visits to the shrine.

Liu said Abe is unlikely to change his stance even though he sensed the pressure and isolation from the international community.

"His explanation reveals that he doesn't think he's wrong and he would do it again," Liu said.

Tensions between China and Japan have been rising since Tokyo announced in September 2012 the "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.

Chinese air force planes have been regularly patrolling the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which covers the Diaoyu Islands, air force spokesman Shen Jinke said Thursday.

On a recent patrol, multiple Chinese aircraft were sent to "monitor, identify, track and warn" multiple foreign military planes that had entered the ADIZ, established two months ago, Shen added.

By Zhang Yiwei Global Times

China, Japan open German front in diplomatic war

BEIJING (Jan 25, 2014): One hundred years after the outbreak of World War I, China and Japan are ripping selected pages from Germany's history -- including the Nazi period -- as they seek to demonise each other in their modern-day diplomatic battles.

Beijing's state-controlled media have compared Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Adolf Hitler, using shrill rhetoric that analysts say exploits Tokyo's mixed messages about its past aggression in China and elsewhere.

At the same time, they urge him to emulate Germany's post-war contrition for the evils of Nazism.

Abe, for his part, has raised the spectre of 1914, saying at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland that relations between Japan and China resemble those of Britain and Germany as they stumbled towards war.

Tokyo and Beijing are locked in an increasingly acrimonious row over small, uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that Japan controls but China regards as its territory, with their militaries warily eyeing each other.

Commentators have likened China, a rising power, to Germany in the early 20th century and portrayed the islands as Sarajevo, site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that triggered the Great War.

In Davos, Abe pointed out that war broke out in 1914 despite strong economic relations between Germany and Britain.

"I think we are in a similar situation. We don't want an inadvertent conflict arising between these two countries," he told reporters.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang roundly rejected the simile Thursday.

"Actually in history China was already a major country in the Tang and Song dynasties (from the seventh to the 13th centuries), so there is no so-called 'China is becoming a major country'," he said.

"There is no need to make an issue of the Britain-Germany relationship."

Hitler's DNA

Chinese officials have lashed out at Abe since his December 26 visit to the hugely controversial Yasukuni shrine, which honours 2.5 million Japanese war dead including 14 senior war criminals described by Qin as "the Nazis of the East".

The shrine is seen in China and South Korea as a symbol of Japan's 20th century military and colonial aggression which saw the country occupy a large swathe of East Asia, often to brutal effect on civilians and prisoners of war.

In what analysts see as crude propaganda, the overseas edition of the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily headlined an article "Hitler's DNA in Abe", illustrated with a mock-up of Japan's leader gazing up at the Fuhrer.

The Global Times tabloid, in its English edition, this week carried a cartoon of Japan's national flag with the sun symbol in the centre dripping blood and a swastika imposed.

"You could say it's propaganda," Torsten Weber, an expert in modern East Asian history at the German Institute for Japanese Studies in Tokyo, told AFP.

"It is a way to distort history and it's also a way to distract attention from more pressing problems that, for example, China faces."

Chinese media have also tried to compare Abe unfavourably with how Germany faced up to Nazi atrocities.

The official Xinhua news agency urged him to follow the example of West German chancellor Willy Brandt, who fell to his knees at a monument to victims of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising -- a brutally crushed 1943 revolt by Jews in the Polish capital facing deportation to the Nazi death camps.

- AFP

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Emotional intelligence for business success

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to relate and empathize with emotions in others.  While traditional attitudes in business have preferred to closet most emotions except a prescribed few business-related qualities like drive, ambition, and single-mindedness, 21^st century attitudes assert that emotional intelligence in business isn’t just important, it may be essential for success.

21^st Century Work Ethics
Collaboration is one of the major tenets of business in the 21^st century.  Saying it’s important, however, doesn’t help businesses achieve it in practice.  One reason collaboration is so important is because business is becoming increasingly global.  Offices spread across nations are learning to work together as a result of new partnerships and relationships with new companies.  The gel that helps support collaboration in this century isn’t single-mindedness or even an aggressive business drive.  Instead, it’s things like emotional intelligence that increasingly allow people to work together—and work together well.

Management and Emotional Intelligence
When management is not emotionally intelligent, business owners see high turnover rates.  Workers, whether new to the business or veterans, simply work better when they are with emotionally intelligent people. A lack of understanding leads to conflict and, in some cases, weekly or even daily conflict.  A manager that can’t relate to others isn’t likely to have the emotional tools required to build and manage teams.  People without emotional intelligence may be quite intelligent otherwise and almost certainly are when they land supervisory positions; however, becoming a boss does not mean they have the right skills to be a leader in this 21^st century business climate.

Why Do Managers Need to be Emotionally Intelligent?
One of the main reasons to have a team of emotionally intelligent managers is because then business is likely to be better.  According to Computer Weekly, “The world’s most effective leaders are alike in one crucial way: they all have a high degree of what has come to be known as emotional intelligence quotient or ‘EQ’ for short.” The article goes on to explain, “Psychologist David McClelland did some thorough leadership research that found that executives with higher EQ outperformed their annual revenue targets by 15-20%, and that 87% of the executives rated highly on EQ came in the top 33% of performance-related bonuses.”

Some Traits of Emotionally Intelligent Managers
When considering promoting someone to management, look for applicants who boast rewarding relationships with other people, cope well with pressure, and lead by example.  The Harvard Business Review asserts that emotional intelligence is “firm, but not rigid,” implying that some people may get better at it if it becomes a priority.  On the other hand, when you make it a point to hire and promote employees with emotional intelligence, you’re more likely to achieve both the work climate and success you want for your 21^st century business.

What do you think? On the flip side, what are some traits you’ve encountered of emotionally
idioticunintelligent managers?

Contributed by
Shafat Qazi, Founder and CEO of BQE Software, is an engineer-turned-entrepreneur who created the most awarded time billing software ever, BillQuick, while still in college. He set out to make time tracking, billing and project management easier for engineers as well as all service professionals, and continues to perfect BQE Software products hands-on today.

 Why Entrepreneurs Should Care About Emotional Intelligence

 

When asked what the most important qualities for entrepreneurs are, you may come up with a list that’s completely different from that of the next person.  

Successful entrepreneurs have a whole list of traits that serve them well in their endeavors. Commonly cited qualities might include determination, passion, confidence, and optimism – all distinctive traits of entrepreneurs and instrumental in achieving small business success.

But there’s one quality that you might not have thought to add to your list: emotional intelligence.
It’s the single quality that plays a defining role in the success of most entrepreneurs.

What is Emotional Intelligence (EQ)?
Emotional intelligence, otherwise known as EQ, is defined as the ability to perceive and understand the emotions of both oneself and others.

With this knowledge, individuals are able to navigate social networks, make informed decisions, and react to behavior accordingly. This quality is divided into two major categories –  personal and social competence, – each which have their own core skills.

Personal competence is comprised of self-awareness and self-management skills, which centers more on the individual’s ability to perceive his or her own emotions.

On the other hand, social competence, which is made up of social awareness and relationship management skills, determines the entrepreneur’s ability to understand and react to the moods and behaviors of others. Both are equally important for entrepreneurs and can play a major role in whether the individual succeeds or not.

Why is Emotional Intelligence Important?
Emotional intelligence provides entrepreneurs with a set of social and personal skills that can help them in any situation or environment.

The following are just a few of the skills that are enhanced by emotional intelligence:

Decision Making:
One of the major components of emotional intelligence is self-awareness, which enables individuals with the ability to accurately perceive their emotions as it happens. They are able to keep stray emotions in check, preventing them from affecting any decisions or choices. As a result, emotionally intelligent individuals are able to look at the big picture without swayed by the details.

Customer Satisfaction:
Small businesses are nothing without happy, satisfied customers. Luckily, EQ provides entrepreneurs with the ability to deliver customer satisfaction. Emotional intelligence allows the individual to be more empathetic.

They have the ability to perceive and understand the emotions of others. They are able to help customers with their buying decisions and keep them engaged, providing a more comprehensive, satisfying experience.

Leadership:
Entrepreneurs are often responsible for leading the direction of their endeavor and clearly communicating goals to their teams. Therefore, they must be able to form a good rapport with their employees, inspiring and motivating wherever possible. Emotional intelligence provides entrepreneurs with the enhanced ability to manage interactions and form meaningful relationships. In addition, individuals with high levels of emotional intelligence tend to be more self-confident and adaptable – vital traits for any entrepreneur.

Conflict Resolution:
Whether there is a dispute with a customer or a disagreement between team members, entrepreneurs are bound to run into conflicts. However, emotional intelligence provides the individual with conflict resolution skills. Entrepreneurs with this quality are able to gauge the emotions of both parties and provide a resolution that will connect with both. With this ability, they are able to quickly placate the threat to efficiency and productivity.

 Conntributed by Sara Fletcher
Today’s Guest Poston Start Your Own Small Bizwas provided by Sara Fletcher. Sara  is interested in emotional intelligence in leadership and understanding how it affects her life. She loves to explore psychology, business, and sports in relation to her test of emotional intelligence.