Back in Time to Old Japan (1 Viewer)

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Shinpachi, i'm a new guy here so my knowledge of this forum is not that extensive but i've never seen a post from anyone that i thought was meant to offend. if anything i posted offended you please accept my most sincere apology.
i have no intimate knowledge of Japan but old hurts die slowly so i'm reasonably sure WWII era Japanese still feel some anger toward the USA. humans are pretty much the same everywhere
 
Shinpachi, I find your first hand accounts of Japanese ideas and beliefs very interesting. The American culture and your Japanese culture are so different in many ways.
 
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Thanks ,tail end charlie and vB, for your comments!

Those swords I saw are all real ones and you can buy for about USD 5,000.00 cased with no decoration or 15,000.00 cased/decorated like the Samurai style with the brim. They have registered numbers given by the government.

There is one more sword shop in my town.
 
In 1966 I was stationed at a small USAF installation outside Kokura, Japan, called Yamada Camp. It was so small ( about 100 men ) most of the local Japanese didn't seem to know it was there, they though we were sailors or merchant marine on shore leave.
One night while bar hopping we met a middle aged guy who wanted to buy us drinks and talk. He claimed to have been a Kamikazi pilot who never got used because the war ended before he was ever sent on a mission. He had a old photo in his billfold that looked like a younger version of him, in flight gear, thousand stitch headband and all.. From what I can remember, he was a low time Army pilot who had volunteered for the Kamikazi, from my impression he thought any mission was more or less suicide anyway, so he thought if he was going to die he'd rather do the maximum damage while dieing. Even though he undoubtable lost a lot of friends and family in the war, he didn't seem to have any ill feelings against me or the USA.
Yamada was about 100 miles from both Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and the local steel mills and shipyards still showed some evidence of bomb damage if you looked hard. Yamada itself or Kokura was the primary target for one of the atomic bombs, but it was saved by cloud cover. When I was there, I met several Japanese who would admit to WW2 experience, civilian and military, but very few wanted to talk very much about it. Young, dumb, kid that I was, I didn't understand, but I do now.
 
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Hello, mikewint and Messy1.

Sorry if my comments sounded offensive but I do not mean it, of course.
I am only feeling a sense of crisis for the future relationship between Japan and the US.

Since I became a member here, I have been learning and understanding your viewpoint clearly about the ww2. The more I understood, the more I was surprised at the recognition gap between the two peoples.

Can you believe that the newly produced movies about the Tokyo Tribunal of War Criminals are still popular in Japan? I don't think so. When you are talking about the video "The Pacific", Japanese are talking about "I want to be a shellfish" or "Best wishes for tomorrow".

The gap is not my responsibility.
So, I have only been stating what I felt as it was with the politeness I believed.

Please tell me clearly.
I am going to be more careful about my tongue in the future but if my behavior was unpleasant, I will never talk about my view about the history as a Japanese here.
 
Thanks ,tail end charlie and vB, for your comments!

Those swords I saw are all real ones and you can buy for about USD 5,000.00 cased with no decoration or 15,000.00 cased/decorated like the Samurai style with the brim. They have registered numbers given by the government.

There is one more sword shop in my town.

Shinpachi

the problem with those swords is etting them home even the ones without an edge are considered weapons.
 
Thanks for your kind comment, tail end charlie.

Yes, we speak or spoke much ill among us but before the guest:)
 
Shinpachi, no need to apologize. I have felt your posts have been fair, and without negativity. Without this forum, and your input Shinpachi, we all would be at a loss without your personal input. I like reading your point of view on topics because your country's experience after the war was totally different from ours. Please feel free to post. If we do not have open discussion, we all lose the opportunity to learn anything other than from our own experiences and perspective. The War is immensely important to talk and learn about.
I am sure there are both Japanese and American veterans who have negative feelings toward their former enemy. It is only natural. There are also those who do not hold any bad feelings. Just depends on the person and what they went through.
 
TEC, your last comment shocks me, those swords are art pure and simple, the blades as the steel is folded hundreds of times, the polish of the steel, the wrappings of the handle, the case and all its decorations. that is art.

Shinpachi, i echo the comments of messy1 please comment as you choose and do not worry about offending anyone. words are slippery things and have many meanings, just be honest as we will be with you with no intent ever to offend. please speak your mind here
 
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TEC, your last comment shocks me, those swords are art pure and simple, the blades as the steel is folded hundreds of times, the polish of the steel, the wrappings of the handle, the case and all its decorations. that is art.

Shinpachi, i echo the comments of messy1 please comment as you choose and do not worry about offending anyone. words are slippery things and have many meanings, just be honest as we will be with you with no intent ever to offend. please speak your mind here

LOL Mike I dont disagree at all, as I said in a previous post I saw one being made on "The Ascent of Man" it is brilliant and ancient mettallurgy, but I dont like having weapons in my house and my wife wouldnt have it either....They are fabulous though.
 
TEC, we all have our likes and dislikes and no one can dispute your taste. personally weapons are tools neither good nor bad.
a hammer is a tool it can be used to drive nails or break heads. if i want to drive a nail i want the correct tool. if someone or ones try to break into my home i want the proper tool. if i'm gone from home for several days i want my wife to be able to deal with any problem. in the words of the old west: "God made man, Col Colt made them equal"
 
TEC, we all have our likes and dislikes and no one can dispute your taste. personally weapons are tools neither good nor bad.
a hammer is a tool it can be used to drive nails or break heads. if i want to drive a nail i want the correct tool. if someone or ones try to break into my home i want the proper tool. if i'm gone from home for several days i want my wife to be able to deal with any problem. in the words of the old west: "God made man, Col Colt made them equal"


mike well gun laws are different in UK from my wifes point of view I would be leaving her with something worth stealing that someone can cut her to pieces with. When I first went to Japan a couple of guys bought the fakes...as if they had just won the war in the pacific. The first time I went to Japan was in 1986 and my father was still alive he was a veteran of the pacific war so it would have been a no no anyway.
 
Your win, Adler:occasion5: but -
Where is your comment about my latest photos:twisted:
I took them all begging pardons from the owners:evil4:

Thanks!

I think the swords are amazing. I have a few Japanese cooking knives here, they are 2nd to none. The best knives I have ever used.
 
I would love to see a handmade, authentic samurai sword in person. Would love to see the details in the blade, and thinking about how it could have taken a person over a year of non-stop work to create and fashion. Something like that is incredible to me.
 
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I would love to see a handmade, authentic samurai sword in person. Would love to see the details in the blade, and thinking about how it could have taken a person over a year of non-stop work to create and fashion. Something like that is incredible to me.

The one I saw at Sumitomo wasnt like people generally visualise it was a straight blade and completely plain and dull with no handle or decoration at all, however it was the pride and joy of the Japanese.

I have seen the later highly polished and engraved later examples and they are real works of art.
 
I've always been a big fan of sharp cutting instruments. i have a matched set of Katana, Wakizashi, and Tanto. they're modern hand-made versions but not to Japanese standards, still they were expensive. I have several other knives of various types but my pride and joy is my Yarborough and my 5th of Jack Daniels "woodsmens pal" both saw me through vietnam
 
TEC, she is not a fan of knives or swords but home defense is a 20gauge Mossburg autoloader she handles it like a pro.
i think the UK still allows shotguns
 

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