310
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by schizoidman@lemm.ee to c/world@lemmy.world

A lodging facility in Kyoto has drawn a protest from the Israeli Embassy in Tokyo for asking an Israeli man to sign a pledge that he had never been involved in war crimes.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] pH3ra@lemmy.ml 30 points 23 hours ago

Japan: "did you commit war crimes?"
Israel: "i'm outraged"
Japan:"that isn't a 'no'..."

[-] tatterdemalion@programming.dev 34 points 1 day ago

If being asked to confirm that you have not committed war crimes makes you uncomfortable, then you might be a war criminal.

I'm pretty sure Japan's immigration asks if you've ever been convicted of a crime, so how is this any different?

[-] PyroNeurosis 5 points 23 hours ago

It's different because no jury in Israel will convict someone of warcrimes (against Palestinians).

No conviction, no crime. EZ.

[-] hark@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago

If israel doesn't like this treatment then they should stop the policy of forcing israeli citizens to serve in the israel genocide forces.

[-] zelnix@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 day ago

Are these the same types of war crimes that the Japanese committed in WW2 which they deny and don't teach they younger generation about?

[-] Count042@lemmy.ml 8 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

I don't know why you are being down voted.

I love that the Japanese are treating Israeli's as members of the apartheid genocidal state that they are.

Japan also hasn't recognized or paid reparations for many of the horrendous war crimes they've committed themselves.

Both things can be true at the same time.

[-] BenjiRenji@feddit.org 59 points 1 day ago

Classic Japanese. No dancing around or confusion about anti-semitism, just straight out asking the Israeli about recent war crimes.

Had the same as a Swiss guy living there: sure, everybody loves Roger Federer, but they also know about Nazi gold and the banking secret protecting dictatorships. And they just ask about it directly. Would never happen on Japanese topics though.

Yeah, it feels slightly tone-deaf for Japan to be doing this. It’s not quite as bad as the USA dong this but it is close

[-] Drusas@fedia.io 21 points 1 day ago

Japan is not doing this. A private business is.

[-] prole 29 points 1 day ago

IDF service is compulsory for Israeli citizens, so it was a legitimate question to ask.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 80 points 1 day ago

This right here is what I love about Japan.

When I was there a few years ago to snowboard, they had a "fuck you" policy to non-Japanese speakers in some towns because the Aussies basically run around rough shod and turn everything into a loud party.

Imagine being in a sleepy resort town while 7 dudes are walking down your cobbled street screaming about Ruggers, then one falls into the cold stream because they're drunk, so a rescue team is sent out... On a weekly basis.

There's simply a no more bullshit cap.

[-] GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 32 points 1 day ago

So, to be clear, you get how that's more than a little bit fucked up, right?

To demonstrate, imagine a deep southern U.S town instituting an English-only policy and aggressively turning away for example Spanish or Arabic-speakers.

This is not something to be celebrated. Ban the thing you actually want to prevent instead of pushing through unmitigated xenophobia.

[-] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

imagine a deep southern U.S town instituting an English-only policy and aggressively turning away for example Spanish or Arabic-speakers.

Yeah that's called Tuesday in the rural south.

[-] orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 38 points 1 day ago

Yes, I do. But I am a foreigner there. When we don't observe their traditions and disrupt their society, I feel like it's okay for them to set boundaries.

I get why it's not right, but I also accept it. It's not my country, not my rules, not my traditions. So, I am willing to live by their rules.

[-] mg2130@lemm.ee 9 points 1 day ago

You realize not every country wants foreigners right? It’s their right to dictate that. There was this whole thing about how America and England literally threatened Japan with artillery until they opened their borders.

[-] kadup@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

not every country wants foreigners It's their right to dictate that

That's an extremely complicated philosophical argument that goes beyond two simple sentences, I hope you realise

load more comments (8 replies)

What you love about Japan is it’s cultural intolerance?

[-] quetzaldilla@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

If you go into someone else's house, you need to be respectful of their space.

Many Chinese and Indian tourists regularly trample the alpine flower fields at Mt. Rainier National Park for selfies or just as a shortcut when they get tired of walking on the hiking paths.

When confronted, instead of being apologetic, they get defensive and diminish the impact of their actions by demeaning American culture and spaces.

"It's just some flowers. They'll grow back!"

Yeah, maybe. But that will take eighty years and it may not even happen due to climate change.

These kind of behaviors are what sours locals against tourism, especially when it is consistent across a cultural tourist groups.

We all need to do better when visiting each other's spaces, and that starts by owning our cultural shortfalls and poor behavior, with the goal of personally improving our own.

Ironically, I've never heard any complaints about Japanese tourists, as they often arrived well-educated about local customs and behave respectfully.

[-] orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 9 hours ago

It's almost time to take a walk up on the Sunrise side to see the flowers, isn't it?

[-] demonsword@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago

complaining about Chinese and Indian tourists on american soil is so ironic considering what american tourists usually do when abroad

There's a difference between being respectful of the space and racial exclusion. What they are backing is racism.

Japan is a nation that has intense issues with racism that they have never confronted and it is fucking weird how often people are willing to forgive their overt racism.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (11 replies)
[-] Phen@lemmy.eco.br 54 points 1 day ago

Wait, so Israel is not even trying to distance itself from war crimes... Their actual point is "not all war crimes are equal and it's difamatory to label everyone who commits war crimes with the same 'war criminal' label"... Wtf is wrong with those people.

No, their point is you shouldn’t be randomly asking Israelis if they committed war crimes.

The article points out there are ten nations whose citizens they ask this question.

[-] GoodWaterBottle@lemmus.org 8 points 1 day ago

It's not "random" if they've been committing genocide for the last 2 years.

[-] Phen@lemmy.eco.br 28 points 1 day ago

Based on the article there's nothing random about it and it's not just any citizen. They ask it of people who served on nations that have active conflicts. So basically, people who might have been in position to commit war crimes.

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world 43 points 1 day ago

Its what the free market wants ;)

[-] ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 24 points 1 day ago

How could any Israeli citizen say no on #3 At this point. Even if you arent directly committing atrocities yourself you still are funding the government engaging in it. Not to mention most all of them have served in one capacity or another (involuntary aspects nonwithstanding)

[-] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 34 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

This honestly doesn't make much sense. The implication would be that all citizens are culpable for their government's actions once they start paying taxes.

Funding your government isn't a voluntary act, so your last parenthetical already invalidates most of what you said.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

So by that logic, are all Americans war criminals because Americans pay taxes, which go to fund drone strikes that murder civilians overseas, domestic militarization of police, prisons, etc?

This is the same logic as "all Palastinians support Hamas."

[-] GoodWaterBottle@lemmus.org 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

So by that logic, are all Americans war criminals because Americans pay taxes, which go to fund drone strikes that murder civilians overseas, domestic militarization of police, prisons, etc?

Yes. Exactly like russians are all submitted to sanctions because of their government.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[-] BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago

What's the protest? "We don't want to be pointed at when we commit war crimes" ?

The embassy thinks it is messed up to ask people if they committed war crimes.

This is ignoring they ask people from 10 different nations this question.

[-] loki@piefed.social 5 points 1 day ago

Is "asking" messed up or committing war crimes more messed up?

[-] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 day ago

the same amount of war crimes as happened in Nanjing

Japanese man scribbles down zero

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 15 May 2025
310 points (100.0% liked)

World News

46580 readers
1741 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS