Japanese Imperialism

When Professor Phipps began her lecture and said she would be speaking on Japan and its imperialism in history, I thought why does this matter? Honestly all I really knew about Japan was its attack on Pearl Harbor and how that one attack affected our country so much. On top of not really knowing anything about Japan, I was not even sure of what imperialism meant. I never had thought to research how much Japan actually tried to conquer the world. After realizing how much Japan once had over our world, I also saw how cruel and misleading they had become.
When Professor Phipps began discussing the topics of “comfort women” or sex slaves, the Rape of Nanking, and the textbook controversaries, she immediately caught my attention. The thought of women being forced to do sexual behaviors made me cringe. I think that it is absolutely horrible that these innocent Korean women were forced into sexual relations with the Japanese military. It blows my mind how these men got away with this then and yet still have not apologized. If this were to happen today, there would be major consequences. I also thought that when Japan invaded China in the Rape of Nanking, I could not believe how many civilians lost their lives. Now, Japan will not even take responsibility for their actions but instead say that the Rape of Nanking is fiction. How can the country say that something is fiction when every other country knows the truth? Although Japan is ashamed of what they once did, it does not make the situation any better. In order for everyone to get along, every country must claim its actions and try to make things better.
After being misleading and cruel in other countries, Japan brought it into their own country. In Japan’s textbooks, they were posting false information to make themselves look better. How would this go over in America? What if America tried to ignore Vietnam and its impact? As I am aspiring to become a teacher in America, I hope that I will never be accused of teaching American children false information. I think that it is so important for not only American children but also the children of other countries to become well educated about every country because they will one day run the different countries. If every country was lying about mistakes they had made in the past, then we would no t know how to make these problems better.