Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Leaving no controversial topic unturned

Fans are saying that at the Nagasaki concert Hyde said he visited the memorial for the atomic bombing and said that even though Japan lost to America, they should be proud to live in a country that doesn’t make war (and I’m thinking he meant doesn’t make war now, not referring to the past).

Seems he then went on to say, “America no baka na yatsura” and “mawari ni meiwaku kakerunayona” (the Japanese text is posted on the ARK).

According to Insomnia (No.15217), Hyde is not saying all Americans are stupid ("baka") but is referring to when the U.S. has fought battles where innocents have been targeted. In the context of Nagasaki, he’d be talking about the bombing of civilians who had nothing to do with the war.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! He certainly is pressing a lot of buttons on hot topics. All I can say is, last August I was in Hawaii & visited Pearl Harbor & felt that feeling of patriotism for the souls that were lost. I guess if I were in his shoes, being born and raised in Japan & seeing their memorial site for all the souls lost there, maybe I would feel the same as he does. Tough to say. I grew up here, and he grew up there. All a matter of perspective..but Hyde being anti-war is no shock....I know he doesn't agree with our government's politics here (neither do a lot of Americans) but as always, I respect his opinions and still find him a fascinating person!

musingwoman said...

Very thoughtful comment, Patty. Thank you for sharing.

Anonymous said...

I agree with him. War, in general, is stupid. There are few things that can't be solved with mediation but that seems to be an unpopular choice right now. To me it doesn't matter where one grew up, it's more a matter of looking at a memorial for hundreds or thousands of senseless deaths and wishing there could have been more done to prevent them and hoping that there won't need to be more memorials in the future. Followed by the frustration of knowing there will be.

musingwoman said...

Hi, arisma,

I feel similarly. I'm not a complete pacifist (yet) but feel that in many cases war is not the answer. Thinking of Iraq at the moment. :-(

It also seems to me that there's a big difference between hitting military targets and civilian cities. I can definitely understand Hyde's reaction.