“… So I said, people dying is so damn inconvenient. I wish I could just throw him out with the trash or leave him on the roadside like unwanted furniture. I know that sounds awful, but I’m telling you how I feel. You try organizing a funeral for someone you stopped loving years ago, and the worst part is putting on a show of sadness to satisfy everyone’s expectations. Ugh!”
How’s life yo!
I’m on vacation today and Friday. I accompanied Dee to her appointments, now I’m chillin’. Tomorrow? We’ll see. Did I tell you I stopped drinking alcohol? I haven’t had any since April 1, 2025, possibly a few days before that, but definitely started on April 1.
Since I made the decision to rejoin Toastmasters, two sessions have passed me by. I keep you posted.
Also, I keep forgetting to tell you the story about Basket #2 and how I found out he was homophobic. It completely threw me off, because when we first met, he mentioned that his brother is gay. I took that as a sign of being accepting and supportive, like, why would you bring it up otherwise?
Ready for the answer to Name that Tyrant: Tentacle Edition?
Our tyrant is Hirohito (裕仁, 29 April 1901 – 7 January 1989), posthumously honored as Emperor Shōwa (昭和天皇, Shōwa Tennō),[a] was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. He remains Japan’s longest-reigning emperor as well as one of the world’s longest-reigning monarchs.
From Wikipedia
To clarify, and keeping my poor memory in mind :). It’s been a while since I read the book and lots I’m still ignorant of. As far as I remember, he didn’t directly order the massacre, but he was the reigning emperor during the Second Sino-Japanese War and Japan’s invasion of China in 1937. The atrocities in Nanking were committed by the Imperial Japanese Army, and responsibility ultimately traces back to the imperial leadership and military command structure that operated with his approval or passive consent.
FYI: You might see Nanjing in some places. Nanking and Nanjing refer to the same city—the difference lies in how the name was romanized. Nanking comes from an older English/British system (Wade-Giles), while Nanjing uses the official Chinese romanization system (Pinyin).
Out of respect, it’s better to use Nanjing, as it reflects the name as rendered by Chinese speakers themselves. Iris Chang chose “Nanking” in her book title to reflect the historical period and usage prevalent at the time she was writing.
“While there was no Japanese equivalent of a ‘final solution’ for the Chinese people, the imperial government endorsed policies that would wipe out everyone in certain regions in China. One of the deadliest was the ‘Three-all’ policy (loot all, kill all, burn all) in northern China …”
From the Epilogue
Before we get into the winners, here is a snippet from the back of the book …
In December 1937, the Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking. Within weeks, more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers were systematically raped, tortured, and murdered-a death toll exceeding that of the atomic blasts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Iris Chang, one of the nation’s leading historians and critically-acclaimed author of The Thread of the Silkworm, tells the story from three perspectives: that of the Japanese soldiers, that of the Chinese, and that of a group of Westerners who refused to abandon the city and created a safety zone, which saved almost 300,000 Chinese.
Read the book
More than just narrating the details of an orgy of violence, in The Rape of Nanking Chang analyzes the militaristic culture that fostered in the Japanese soldiers a total disregard for human life. It also tells of the concerted effort during the Cold War on the part of the West and even China to stifle open discussion of this atrocity. Drawing on extensive interviews with survivors and documents brought to light for the first time, Iris Chang’s classic is the definitive history of this horrifying episode.
Actually, I change my mind, maybe cause I’m tired. And I also feel this should stand alone and soak in before I start being silly. I’ll share the winners another time.
Thursday June 12
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