Kyoto lodging asks Israeli guest if he committed war crimes | The Asahi Shimbun

Japan is not doing this. A private business is.

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

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.

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.

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.

I'm not saying it's the right thing to do but a big difference here is that up until VERY recently, the US did not have an official language, so for them to say "English only" would be a bit more offensive than for Japan (whose official language is Japanese) to say "japanese only".

Additionally, the US is on colonized land, so English wouldn't be the native language of the land. Japan on the other hand has existed for close to 40,000 years and was not colonized in the same way (Not saying that the Japanese historically haven't been colonizers, but the island of Japan is generally not). I genuinely wouldn't even be mad about it if someone in Manitoba made a rule that was like "Ojibwe only".

But also to your point, yeah the US did recently pick an official language AND launch an "English only" campaign for a whole profession and it is extremely fucked up.

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.

Intolerance of genocide...?

Military service is compulsory for Israeli citizens. The IDF has been committing war crimes daily for literal decades. It was a legitimate question to ask.

Yeah. The shit they were doing with geishas is fucky.

Not literally those words. From what I've seen online, various establishments, if not entire towns, have thrown up "Japanese only" or "Japanese language only" to discourage foreigners. They generally only do this after there's been a trend of tourists making asses of themselves, but since the first places to do it kind of went viral, it's not too surprising if the habit has sprung up elsewhere.

Sure, it's only a handful of disrespectful tourists when all the rest are fine, but if you allow any non-Japanese (person or language, pick your preference) eventually you'll get those tourists.

Like it or not, it's a simple way to say no to that.

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

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.

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

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.

The purpose of my comment was kind of to call out the ridiculousness of the question being on the form, because if that broad definition is how were defining war criminals, then yes I think logically it would mean people funding the war crimes in any capacity would then be war criminals themselves. Again, by the definition assumed based on the question being on the questionnaire. When I read it my first thought was that I could probably not say no to that question as a US taxpayer

Personally I dont think aiding & abetting in any way, especially through involuntary taxation, is enough to define someone as a war criminal. But its fair to say we (collectively) arent doing enough to stop the bad shit our taxes are funding, which is true of any Israeli citizen right now as well.

People could refuse to pay their taxes and risk arrest, but I dont think thats an effective form of protest. Better to not be in prison and have a voice. But there would be a logical consistency in doing it

Hey another fedditor defending the rights of war crimers. No surprise.

2 years and 8 months for men?

My love for round numbers is offended.