in article cl2j2c$jd$1@newsflood.tokyo.att.ne.jp, Scott Reynolds at
sar@gol.com wrote on 10/19/04 5:25 PM:

> On 10/19/2004 4:53 PM, Ernest Schaal wrote:
> 
>> Up until recently, I was hoping that the younger generation could be the
>> key, but recently there has been an increase in the whitewash, I think maybe
>> in response to the present economy and the growing power of the rest of
>> Asia. Funny thing, while the nationalists are getting more xenophobic, Japan
>> has become more and more dependent on foreigners to keep their economy
>> alive.
> 
> I wasn't thinking about whitewashing events from WW2 when I made my
> comments about there being hope for the future. It is quite possible
> that a lot of Japanese young people may continue to hold views about the
> war that people in other countries find objectionable. But I think as
> the years pass that becomes less and less relevant to people's lives and
> to their attitudes toward other nations. For example, it seems to me
> that young Japanese people have a rather positive impression of their
> Korean peers and of their culture these days. You can see this in the
> popularity of Korean food (which is no longer limited to yakiniku in
> people's minds anymore), Korean pop culture, travel to Korea, and so on.
> This is a positive trend, and frankly I think it has very little to do
> with changing views about the war.

I agree with you that the youth have promise, if they can reject the type of
Chinese-bashing, Korean-bashing, etc of Kaz et al. On the other hand, to the
degree that the youth follow the lead of Kaz and Yoshida, they will have big
problems. I really hope that the youth select the more cosmopolitan view of
the world.