Massacre in Nanjing
On a clear winter day you can see from Tokyo
The snow-capped volcanic cone of Mount Fuji.
Towering to a height of 3,776 meters on Honshu Island,
About 100 kilometers south-west from the capital,
The majestic mountain is a staunch symbol
Of the Land of the Rising Sun.
During the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945,
Hirohito's armies invaded China, carrying along
A fascist banner of samurai honor and pride.
The Japanese Imperial troops
Advanced with brutal force,
Committing dreadful atrocities
Against prisoners and civilians.
They reinterpreted bushido virtues and believed
That their war crimes elevated the splendor and glory
Of Mount Fuji to new heights.
Articles published in November and December 1937
In the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun reported the exploits
Of Japanese Imperial Army officers Toshiaki Mukai and
Tsuyoshi Noda, who on the road to Nanjing competed,
For being the first to behead 100 Chinese with a sword.
Okumiya Masatake, a Japanese officer,
Was a witness to the atrocities.
He was a principled aviator in the Imperial Navy,
Serving in Jiangsu.
He was shocked by the carnage he saw in China.
On December 12,1937,
He participated outside Nanjing
In the bombing and sinking
Of the American Gunboat USS Panay
In the Yangtze River.
A few days after the sinking of the Panay,
Okumiya rode a chauffeur-driven car,
Searching for the bodies of downed Japanese pilots.
It was then that he had witnessed
His Majesty's Imperial Troops
Perpetrating gruesome Massacres.
In the streets of Nanjing, Japanese soldiers
Were slaughtering indiscriminately
Chinese men and women, young and old.
On December 25 and 27 of 1937,
Okumiya photographed in the capital
Piles of innumerable bodies of Chinese people,
Lying unburied along the Yangtze River
And on the shores of Xuanwu Lake and Xuanwu Gate.
Once he came upon a terrible scene of executions.
About twenty soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army
Forced a large group of Chinese to sit on the river bank.
The prisoners' hands were bound behind their backs.
The soldiers beheaded their victims by the sword.
One warrior after the other approached
A kneeling prisoner and drew his sword.
The soldier raised the weapon with both hands,
Its blade glittering in the bright daylight.
And then with a swift and savage sweep
He struck at the prisoner's neck.
The severed head rolled into the river.
When Okumiya asked why the troops execute
The prisoners by sword instead of shooting them,
An officer replied that killing by sword
Saved ammunition.
Okumiya was immersed in his homeland
In the violent culture of the sword.
He was well-aware of its pivotal role
In Japanese history.
Nevertheless, he was shocked by the executions.
The officer's explanation lingered on in his mind
With an unnerving persistence.
Although he was a disciplined naval officer,
Loyal and ready to die for the Emperor,
He still felt that what he witnessed compromised
The samurai way of the warrior, dishonored the spirit
And soul of the bushido.
The reign of terror in China began in 1937,
When the Fascist Imperial Army of Hirohito
Invaded the country.
After three months of brutal fighting,
The Battle of Shanghai ended in late November.
Then the Japanese army marched all the way to Nanjing,
The historical capital of Six Chinese Dynasties.
On December 10,1937, the Japanese mounted
A fierce assault on the walls of the city.
After two days of heavy artillery fire
And aerial bombardment
The Chinese army retreated from Nanjing.
Gunboats of the Japanese fleet were cruising
In the Yangtze River.
By nightfall, on December 13, the historical capital fell.
The Emperor's forces entered Nanjing
Through the ancient city gates.
The masses of defenseless civilians
Trapped in Nanjing
Became prey and pillage of Fascist bestiality.
Brutal crimes of looting, arson, rape and murder
Were perpetrated everywhere.
Soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army
Roamed savagely the streets.
They entered every household,
Searching door to door for females.
And it did not matter
If they were young or old or pregnant.
The troops gang raped thousands of women,
Stabbed them to death with their bayonets
And then mutilated their bodies.
Entire families had been murdered in cold blood.
Men were shot through the head or the heart.
And the soldiers killed even the babies.
They also used young men for bayonet training
Stabbing the screaming victims repeatedly,
Or beheading them by their swords.
Historians estimate that in the horrible war crimes
Committed at Nanjing
The Japanese army slaughtered
Between 200,000 and 300,000 people.
The soldiers raped tens of thousands of women.
Yet in this tragic epoch of Chinese history
There were still beacons of light that shone through
The long and cruel nights of barbarism.
Confronting the bloody maelstrom of atrocities
A few courageous foreigners in Nanjing
Risked their lives and came to the rescue.
These righteous Europeans and Americans
Helped many people to escape.
They hid and protected
Thousands of Chinese men, women and children
From the massacres.
One of the rescuers was
Bernhard Arp Sindberg of Denmark.
When the war broke out Sindberg worked as a driver
For the British journalist Pembroke Stephens.
One day in Shanghai,
They climbed a water tower to observe the fighting
And Stephens was killed by a machine gun salvo
Fired from a Japanese airplane.
Shortly before the occupation of Nanjing,
Sindberg moved to the capital.
Here he was employed as a guard
At a concrete factory in the city,
Owned by a Danish firm.
During the massacres he flew the swastika flag
To protect approximately 6,000 Chinese refugees
Camping on the factory lot.
Another foreigner
Who saved thousands upon thousands
From Japanese brutality
Was the German businessman, John Rabe.
Employed by the Siemens AG China Corporation,
He helped to establish the International Safety Zone
Of Nanjing.
The Safety Zone had sheltered
Approximately 200,000 Chinese men, women
And children from the massacres.
Ironically, Rabe was a member of the Nazi Party.
However, he was a conservative man fostering
Traditional values and he had a compassionate heart.
Displaying the swastika at his house
And presenting his National Socialist documents,
Rabe negotiated, argued and protested
With the Japanese military in order to keep
Hirohito's troops out of the Safety Zone.
He even wrote Hitler a letter
Requesting him to interfere
With the Japanese authorities
To stop the bestial bloodbath.
The Fuehrer did not reply.
When Rabe returned to Germany,
The Nazis forbade him
To lecture about the Japanese war crimes.
Another angel during the dreadful days
Of the Rape of Nanjing was Minnie Vautrin,
An American missionary and Dean of Jingling College.
She harbored and protected up to 10,000 women
At the school.
She kept a diary in which she had recorded
The horrors of Nanjing.
Once, late on a winter evening,
She saw an army truck in the street,
Carrying a group of young Chinese girls.
As the truck passed by, the girls called out:
'Jiu ming, jiu ming', 'save our lives, save our lives'.
A Buddhist monk once told me
That rivers and mountains have their own soul.
Nature is alive.
And so, in this terrible time of history,
Those who had listened carefully enough, could hear
The mountains and the rivers of the earth sigh.
And then in the glorious Land of the Rising Sun
The snow-capped peak of sublime Mount Fuji
Hid its head in the clouds, ashamed.
poem by Paul Hartal
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
Samurai Competition
The steel blade of the sword flashed in the bright sunshine.
Second Lieutenant Toshiaki Mukai clutched the handle in both hands.
He raised the weapon high towards the sky and took a deep breath.
And then, with a powerful strike,
He slashed the head of the young Chinese man kneeling before him.
He smiled.
Did Second Lieutenant Tsuyoshi Noda win or lose?
On route to Nanjing, the two officers
Of the Japanese Imperial Army were
Competing with each other for being the first
To behead 100 people.
The competition was not a war crime, they said,
But in the Samurai spirit of kiri sute gomen,
The ancient feudal era custom
That authorized the Samurai to execute by sword anyone
From the lower classes who compromised the warrior’s honor.
The Japanese media liked the idea of the beheading contest.
Newspapers celebrated it with enthusiastic reports.
They explained that cutting heads strengthened military character,
Increased patriotism and public support, as well as army moral.
The Tokyo Nichi-Nichi Shimbun covered the contest
Of cutting 100 heads with a series of articles.
“Incredible Record”, announced the newspaper
In its December 13,1937 headline:
“Mukai beheaded 106, Noda 105”.
The Tokyo paper also claimed that the two officers decided
To start another competition with the aim being 150 severed heads.
During the Fascist invasion of China and in World War II
Soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army treated people
In the occupied territories as inferior lower classes and slaves.
Beheading by sword became a common war crime in the Asian theatre.
Yet Japanese officers saw it not only as an antidote to faintheartedness
But as a grand act of heroism.
By the end of the Second World War an estimated four million soldiers
And perhaps up to sixteen million civilians lost their lives in China.
poem by Paul Hartal
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Honor and Betrayal (Jiangsu 1937-1945)
The bamboo leaves swished in the wind
As Lieutenant Ryouta Takahashi said goodbye
To his wife and son.
He made his way to the port
With measured steps,
His mind thick with heavy thoughts.
On route
To reinforce the Japanese garrison in Shanghai
The convoy set sail
From the Sasebo Naval Arsenal
In Nagasaki Prefecture.
It was part of the 3rd expeditionary fleet
Of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Consisting of a dozen cruisers and gunboats.
Their mission was to patrol the coasts
And river ways of China and to give support
to the landing operations of Japanese troops.
The boats ploughed through choppy waters
In the South China Sea for two days
And three nights.
Upon casting anchor in the Yangtze delta,
Lieutenant Ryouta Takahashi reported himself
To the staff of his commanding officer,
Major Daiki Chinen.
Judging by his name,
Takahashi-san told himself,
The major ought to be from Okinawa.
The lieutenant spent
A few relatively calm weeks
In Jiangsu Province.
But then, on August 13,1937,
The Battle of Shanghai began.
The exchange of fire
Escalated into a full-scale war
Between Japan and China.
Imperial Japanese Army units,
Supported by aircrafts and tanks,
Crossed over the Bazi Bridge in Shanghai.
Hirohito’s Third Fleet
Stationed in the Yangtze
And the Huangpu River joined the battle.
They bombarded the Chinese positions
In Shanghai.
It became one of the fiercest battles
Of the war. After three months of fighting,
In the end of October, the Chinese forces
Led by the Nationalist General Chiang Kai-shek
Started to retreat from Shanghai to Nanjing
Engaging the Japanese in combat
Along the road.
Advancing with his platoon,
Takahashi was shocked to see
Piles of corpses of Chinese men, women,
And children lying on the roadsides.
Once, in a stockade yard,
He saw Japanese soldiers
Dashing forward and shouting ‘charge’
In bayonet practice on Chinese civilians.
At another time he saw a sergeant
Amusing himself in tossing grenades
At captured prisoners.
Grinning widely, the sergeant removed
The safety pin of the hand grenade,
Holding in place the lever in a death grip
And then threw the bomb
At the frightened and helpless victims.
It took seven seconds for a grenade
To explode, leaving in its wake
Bleeding men with shredded bodies
And limbless torsos.
And Takahashi also witnessed
Other atrocities. He saw
Imperial Army soldiers
Raping and killing women,
Murdering men and children
And then looting their houses.
In the autumn of 1937,
In the days before Nanjing’s fall,
The invading Japanese troops massacred
About 150,000 Chinese prisoners
Along the Yangtze River.
The commanding officer of the region
Was initially General Iwane Matsui
But he became ill and
Prince Yasuhiko Asaka,
Uncle of Emperor Hirohito replaced him.
The Prince issued a secret order
To kill all captives.
Despite being surrounded
By the horrors of war,
On a rare occasion,
Takahashi-san managed to sit down
With Captain Naoki Hakudo for drinking
A few cups of saké.
They both liked it herb-flavored.
From small choko cups
They gulped with joy the aromatic rice brew
And their spirit rose fast to an elevated level.
And so, it did not take long
Before the beverage
Loosened their tongues.
“You know, Captain”, said Takahashi-san,
“The height of the sky rivals the depth
Of our everlasting shame.”
“And why is that? ” asked Hakudo-san.
“As you know our history and culture
Are rich, but we are indebted forever
To China for her gifts to us;
For her contributions to our identity,
For shaping our way of life,
Our customs and outlook on the world.
Mind you, culturally, Japan absorbed
The Confucian virtues of loyalty,
Trust, righteousness, politeness
And wisdom. And now look
What happens here.
How can we do this to China? ”
Hakudo-san gave an inquisitive look
To his comrade.
“Well, lieutenant”, he said,
“Remember that your duty is to be loyal
To your country. And never forget
That your honor is to die for the Emperor.
Nothing less and nothing more.”
The Sino-Japanese War went on
And expanded into World War II.
Eight years after the Battle of Shanghai,
On August 6,1945,
The American “Enola Gay” B-29 bomber
Dropped an uranium atomic bomb
On Hiroshima.
Three days later another B-29,
The “Bockscar”, raided Nagasaki
And destroyed it with a plutonium bomb.
Soon after the nuclear attacks
Emperor Hirohito
Reluctantly announced the capitulation
Of the Empire of the Rising Sun.
On September 2,1945,
A formal surrender ceremony
Was held in Tokyo Bay
Aboard the battleship USS Missouri.
The Second World War was over.
Takahashi-san survived the war.
However, it took many months
Until he was able to return
To his homeland and to reunite
With his family.
He could hardly recognize his son.
He also found that his wife
Was very different.
Takahashi-san settled down
To civilian life
As a mechanical engineer.
A few weeks after his return
He was sipping green tea
In the rock garden.
It was a peaceful morning
And a glorious sun was rising
Over the snow-capped summit
Of Mount Fiji.
For a while
He looked at the magnificent scene
And then turning to his wife, he said:
“You know, Shiori,
My comrades and I always believed
In the unimpeachable supremacy
Of the Emperor.
We served him with honor.
And we remained loyal
To our country till the bitter end.
Yet we betrayed humanity.”
poem by Paul Hartal
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Turning Japanese
Ive got your picture
Of me and you
You wrote, I love you.
I love you, too
I sit there staring when theres nothing else to do
Oh, its in color
Your hair is brown
Your eyes are hazel
And soft as clouds
I often kiss you when theres no one else around
Ive got your picture, got your picture
Id like a million of em over myself
I want a doctor to take your picture
So I can look at you from inside as well
Youve got me turning up, Im turning down, Im turning in, and Im turning round
Im turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Ive got your picture, Ive got your picture
Id like a million of them over myself
I want a doctor to take your picture
So I can look at you from inside as well
Youve got me turning up, Im turning down, Im turning in, and Im turning round
Im turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women
No fun, no sin, no you, no wonder its dark
Everyone around me is a total stranger
Everyone avoids me like a cyclone ranger
Everyone
Thats why Im turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
(think so, think so, think so)
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
(think so, think so, think so...)
song performed by by Liz Phair
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Surprise in Japan - A sincere apology
our Japanese teacher
starts her lesson bowing to us
and apologises for the war
I was rather surprised this 30's something Japanese teacher apologised for the role Japanese played in the second world war
in the Asia Pacific. All the students in this Japanese school in Ichikawa Japan were from Asia particularly China, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. Many Japanese never felt sorry about the ruthlessness they unleashed on their neighbours but there are some who knew of the real situations and are ready to apologise when occasions permits it.
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The causes of the China Incident were the exclusion and insult of Japan throughout China, the exclusion of Japanese goods, the persecution of Japanese residents in China, and the illegal violation of Japanese rights.
quote by Hideki Tojo
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The Sword
There's a sword affixed in a glass case,
There on a western wall.
There's a photo there of a soldier
Who answered his country's call.
There's of the sword, a story to tell;
And of men - how the dice may fall.
In the east ‘neath the rising sun,
With his family gazing on,
In a uniform smartly fitting,
Stood an officer of Nippon.
At his side swung his sword - katana,
And to war he would soon be gone.
From his people were gifts bestowed:
A small book of prayers to take,
And a camera to record
The conquests their son would make;
So his family's photo he took;
In the book he would keep the keepsake.
The sword of his samurai forebears,
Fitted with ancestral blade,
Temper and balance so perfect,
Forged true - by true craftsman made;
There on its handle so ornate,
Three cherry blossoms were laid.
Sharkskin it inlaid the handle,
Tassel showed officer class,
Perfect the fine crafted pommel,
Shone bright its high polished brass;
Proud was he of this fine weapon;
On to his sons it would pass.
Triumphant in battle it served him
Until the fighting it turned
To defeat for the forces of Nippon;
Here was their might to be spurned:
By another Imperial Army
At Balikpapan, as Borneo burned.
There as the officer bravely
Brandished his sword in the fight,
Gunfire and shell fire around him,
Smoke of war - oil and cordite;
Surged on the valiant diggers,
Hopeless the Japanese plight.
Never surrender - his motto,
There with his comrades he died,
Amongst the corpses - the carnage,
A digger sergeant he spied
A sword in the officer's dead hand,
Its scabbard lay there at his side.
Weary of death was the digger,
Still for some reason he took,
There from the dead man's shirt pocket,
A stained and a tattered small book -
It fell open, and there on the first page
Was the picture the officer took.
The digger he took up the sword,
And he slipped the book into his pack;
His young eyes showed no trace of feeling,
He strode off and didn't look back;
He'd hardened himself to war's horror,
But humanity he didn't lack.
So now when a visitor questions
The history of that old sword,
Says the old man - it's there to remind him
When nations with others are warred,
How soldiers who fight for their country,
May take bloody death as reward.
There's a sword affixed in a glass case,
There on a Western wall.
There's a photo there of a soldier
Who answered his country's call,
And a bloodied book, beneath the sword
That tells of a soldier's fall.
In memory of:
QX13210 Sgt A.N. O'Brien,2nd 31st Bne.7th Div AIF
and of an unknown Japanese officer.
poem by Dennis N. O'Brien
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Hiroshima
Oh! The mushroom cloud
Oppenhiemer takes solace
In my Bhagwad Gita and
Quotes Lord Krishna
I have become death
The destroyer of Universe
The Emperor when told -
The old wooden palace
Reduced to cinders- Asks
What about my old Elm tree
For a palace can be built in a month
It takes a hundred years for
An Elm to fully grow
We will surrender says the Emperor
Why - asks the Diet
I cannot see the slaughter of -
My people.
Young army hotheads-thinking
Emperor has been ill advised
Ask the General to follow -
The Code of the Japanese Soldier
And overthrow the Emperor and the Diet
Sayeth the General-
You talk of the Code of the Japanese Soldier
The Japanese Soldier has but one code -
'He always obeys his Emperor'.
And commits
Harakiri
poem by Satbir Bakshi
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Honor And Courage
In Japan, they write on rice paper,
In America, we write on the sides of buildings.
In Japan they honor their elders,
In America, we rob them on buses,
And abuse them.
In Japan there is great love for their country.
In America, people are refusing to stand,
For the national anthem.
In Japan, men are volunteering to die,
Without a second thought,
To give up their lives,
To save their fellow citizens.
Oh yes, you'll say, the Japanese are great,
At dying, at suicide missions.
But is that the point?
Shouldn't the point be,
The Japanese love their homeland,
The Japanese love their own people,
The Japanese love their way of life,
The Japanese love their traditions,
Love, honor, respect, courage,
Nobody writes on Japanese walls.
Offenders are quickly and severely dealt with.
Wouldn't you volunteer also?
Maybe not.
Honor, and courage,
Seem to be,
In short supply,
Stateside.
3/26/11 Alton Texas
poem by Juan Olivarez
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Japanese Wife
O lord, he said, Japanese women,
real women, they have not forgotten,
bowing and smiling
closing the wounds men have made;
but American women will kill you like they
tear a lampshade,
American women care less than a dime,
they’ve gotten derailed,
they’re too nervous to make good:
always scowling, belly-aching,
disillusioned, overwrought;
but oh lord, say, the Japanese women:
there was this one,
I came home and the door was locked
and when I broke in she broke out the bread knife
and chased me under the bed
and her sister came
and they kept me under that bed for two days,
and when I came out, at last,
she didn’t mention attorneys,
just said, you will never wrong me again,
and I didn’t; but she died on me,
and dying, said, you can wrong me now,
and I did,
but you know, I felt worse then
than when she was living;
there was no voice, no knife,
nothing but little Japanese prints on the wall,
all those tiny people sitting by red rivers
with flying green birds,
and I took them down and put them face down
in a drawer with my shirts,
and it was the first time I realized
that she was dead, even though I buried her;
and some day I’ll take them all out again,
all the tan-faced little people
sitting happily by their bridges and huts
and mountains—
but not right now,
not just yet.
poem by Charles Bukowski
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
They got word that the Japanese planes were coming back, so we sunk her ourselves so the Japanese wouldn't get it. We didn't want the Japanese to get it intact.
quote by Barney Ross
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
A war in the Taiwan Strait would destroy China's international relations overnight. It would destroy Chinese - Japanese relations, not to mention Chinese - American relations.
quote by William Kirby
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Surprise in Japan - A biblical verse for Japan
Jesus too roams
the streets and lanes of the
Land of the Rising Sun
Land of the Rising Sun
the spirit of Christ too
roams its streets and lanes
the old women read out
a biblical verse to show Japan is
too a 'chosen' country
born again a Christian
in a Japanese
winter pool
I do not know which Christian denomination they were from, but they were quite sincere in spreading the faith. I was walking around a Tokyo departmental store and they approached me, with their Japanese bible in hand. They treated me to an expensive lunch and read out a passage that has the word Sun to show that Japan is too under God's guidance and a chosen country. They even told me to bring more friends to meet up with them in the next meeting.
Another chance meeting with a Christian lady saw myself
baptised as a born again Christian n a winter pool in a Japanese Church.
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
China Blue
I had seen him in the market,
I had glimpsed him in the rain,
I had tried to pick his trail up
On the Wenzhou-Hangzhou train,
Then he'd seen me drinking Kafei
In a little Shanghai Ba,
And had run the length of Nanjing Road
And fled in a jiao che.
He was Sun Peng Fei, her brother,
She was Sun Ye Ling, I knew,
But I'd always caught her smiling
When I called her China Blue,
She was sweet, and very pretty,
And I'd fallen for her, hard,
In the village school at Ping Yang
When I saw her in the yard.
We had taken to each other
And I'd tried to learn Chinese,
But she warned me of her brother,
He was grim, and hard to please,
And her parents had been angry
When they heard of me one day,
They had told her older brother
‘She'll not marry a yang wei! '
At the end of the semester
China Blue had disappeared,
And I asked the Zhongwen lao shi
If it was as I had feared,
She'd been taken by her parents
And her brother to Shanghai,
Thinking I could never find her,
But I knew I'd have to try.
A needle in a haystack
Would be easier than this,
There are twenty million people
In this huge metropolis,
But I knew that I would see them
If I watched the Nanjing Road,
In that swarm of Christmas shoppers
I stayed put, and watched the crowd,
A week before that Christmas
I could see them, in a queue,
Lining up for western presents,
Mother, father, China Blue,
Then I tapped her on the shoulder
And she turned and smiled at me,
So I took her by the hand
And then I whispered ‘Wo ai ni! '
‘Wo ai ni, ' she answered gladly
Flung her arms around my neck,
While the mother screeched at father,
And the father shook his head,
But they came with me together
And we sat in Mei Don Lao,
Where I slipped rings on her finger
And I made a solemn vow.
Then the mother, I won over,
And the father gave a grunt,
They agreed we should be married
If that's what we really want,
And the brother, he's no trouble
We go drinking, bowling too,
And I'm soon to be a father
With my love, my China Blue!
14 June 2012
(Glossary:
Kafei - (Karfay) - coffee
Ba - (Bar) - Bar
Jiao che - (Jow Tcher) - Taxi
Peng Fei - (Peng Fay) - male name
Ye Ling - (Yer Ling) - female name
Yang wei - (yang way) - Foreign devil
Zhongwen Lao shi - (Jongwen Lao Sher) - Chinese teacher
Wo ai ni - (war I nee) - I love you
Mei Don Lao - (May Don Lao) - MacDonalds)
poem by David Lewis Paget
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Survivors And Inheritors
Caves, like palaces,
hotels, churches
(and shoes) ,
outlive their tenants.
Tigers came and filled the caves
with snarling and roaring.
After the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima,
more than a hundred Japanese soldiers retreated here.
Most fell on their swords in accordance with custom,
grasping the hilts with both hands,
pulling and falling into an exploding sphere of pain.
The rest cut open their stomachs
and died more slowly, but just as surely.
Their flesh was eaten by tigers and dogs,
their bones mingled with those of prehistoric men
and the residue of earlier tiger feasts.
Thirty five years later, Buddhist monks came,
Japanese, Thai and Chinese,
and chanted mantras
for the salvation and reorientation
of the Japanese spirits,
who returned to Japan.
The earthly elements they left behind
were collected by the Japanese Embassy
(who also took the swords) .
The caves were cleaned.
The tigers stopped coming.
Like deserted Indian Temples,
the caves were left to monkeys,
who jabbered and squabbled
with the sounds of enraged chickens.
Dun, as a boy, came here with his friends,
when they were bored with fishing,
to fight the monkeys for their territory.
Now the worn limestone caverns
are empty, silent, echoing,
teeming with images in parallel worlds,
waiting for the next arrivals.
Tonight one old monkey
sits motionless.
poem by Brian Taylor
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
If you have only two pennies left in the world, with the first penny, you should buy rice to feed your family. With the second penny, say the wise Japanese, you should buy a lily. The Japanese understand the importance of dreaming...
On The Civil War On The East Coast Of The United States Of North America 1860-64
Because of the unaccountable spirit of the troops
oh we were marched as we were never marched before
and flanked them off from home. Stupid Meade
was after them, head on to tail, but we convinced
him, finally, to flank, flank, cut off their head.
He finally understood, the idiot, and got a fort
named after him, for wisdom. He probably thought
Lee would conquer Washington from Appomattox
if he, Meade, should march his infantry behind
him, Lee. Ah well, the unaccountable spirit of the troops
triumphed, Meade got his fort, Grant got his presidency,
Sherman got his motto, what was it? War is heck?, Lee got a military school
for the education of young Southern gentlemen, and the Union
Army was taken over by Southern noncommissioned officers
in the wars against the Indians to the west. I know all
about this, I know who won, I served under them
for three hundred and fifty years in World War II,
just long enough not to be called a rookie but a veteran,
and realized the rank and order of my enemies:
first, the West Point officers; second, the red-neck sergeants;
third, the Nazis and perhaps the Japanese. I won
all of these wars as a private soldier, for a while,
and am happy to have done so: without me
Hitler and Hirohito would he ruling the world
instead of America and Russia, but I still will not
drive through Georgia with New York license plates.
poem by Alan Dugan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Mr Bose good you never completed your war
Ah that untraceable in history
This is going to annoy many people
The ones who are searching for his remains
Trying to find out where he was knocked off.
The facts are there for all to see
Just look at those photographs
His jingoist military style
A fascist air about him
German submarines and Nipponese aircraft
Piggybacking on a rotten Japanese army
Whose cruelty even the best could not have overlooked
And a whole people across Asia can never forgive
Gandhi saw through him…
And the rest is history.
poem by Chootez Lao
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
We made air attacks on the Japanese anchorage, sinking and damaging several vessels. However, the Japanese were alerted to the fact that American carriers were nearby.
quote by Jack Adams
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Responsibility In The Workforce
What is the work ethic
of Japanese
white-collar employees?
there are three
important components
to the work ethic
loyalty to company
a commitment to quality
peer group bonding
What do the Japanese
feel about their co-workers
and their company?
the Japanese feel
great responsibility
toward company
and co-workers
What moral attitude
are Japanese
employees taught?
Japanese employees
are taught a moral
to work in groups
to think of themselves
as part of a family
What is the Japanese
attitude to failure
in the workforce?
the white-collar executive
is extremely diligent
knowing that failure
or any errors affects
other fellow employees
What is the Japanese
attitude to sharing
profit in the workforce?
all rewards
are group oriented
which places
greater responsibility
on individual
performance.
What is the foundation
of modern business
relationships in Japan?
to develop to maintain
long-term relationships
within one's peer group
is the company goal
this system creates
social professional
networks representing
spiritual foundation in
business relationships
What is the Japanese
attitude to quality
in the workforce?
a Japanese commitment
to quality has rightfully
earned Japanese products
an esteemed reputation
How do Japanese workers
support the continued success
of the company they work for?
Japanese employees put
their best efforts into the
success of their company
Japanese employees give
a wholehearted allegiance
to employer and company
company family are inseparable
within harmony of group society
What is the future of Japanese technology?
All systems are on line and operational.
poem by Terence George Craddock
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Burma
My father fought in Burma
At the time of World War Two
He didn’t hate the Japanese
He just hated what they’d do
When they went into a village
That the Japanese had left
They'd find children wrapped upon barbed wire
Bayonet wounds in their chests
He rarely spoke about it
Like others of that time
He left the army as a sergeant
With damage to one eye
But the damage was far deeper
And was not easily discerned
For what lived on inside of him
Was the horror that he’d learned.
poem by David Keig
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!