Inbetween Math and Science...

Is my free period on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Wahaha... Which is why I am actually able to come to the computer classroom and catch up on my internet-ing.

I am amazed at the amount of news that has accumulated since I came here. Today was the first day that I actually logged on to Channelnewsasia.com. Lo and behold, there is news on one of my favourite countries in the world, Japan! Yet once again, it seems to be about how the rest of the world cannot wait to criticise her. Koizumi has gone off on another pilgrimage to the Yasukuni Shrine and everyone else in East Asia is making a big hoo-ha about it. Even BY (the China girl I befriended in my class) is upset about it. Not to say that I don't understand China's viewpoint about the whole matter, but I do see Japan's POV as well. I shall not elaborate on that just now (as I'm running out of time and it shall be time for my next class soon) but I would like to add-on (rather than correct, though I am tempted to use the word) to one of the articles posted by CNA about the matter. The article says that the shrine honours Class A War Criminals. One single sentence-paragraph, making it sound as though the shrine holds ONLY the mentioned war criminals. This is very misleading, in my opinion. The shrine is home to many other war heroes of Japan who came centuries before the WWII generals and soldiers. It is an unfortunate thing that these generals, now classified as some of the worlds greatest evils, are housed together in a shrine that holds the remains of greater ancient heroes, who acutally deserve the honour and praise that come during the annual pilgrimages.

One should also remember, that the WWII generals, however evil we may perceive them to be, truly believed that they were performing great deeds of service in the name of their Emperor, their living god, according to their local beliefs.

I am not saying that I would condone any of their actions during the War, or that I agree with their beliefs. I am just saying, that perhaps, there should be a little more understanding in the world, and a little more give and take.

Or maybe, I'm just being too idealistic.