[Milsurplus] A Visit to Battleship Cove

[Mike Morrow]

>I don't understand this Japan bashing. 

I've not observed any.  Multi-culturalism causes oversensitivy to perceived offenses.

>They were our enemies during WW2 but they have turned out
>to be one of your staunchest allies in the last 30 years.

There are two excellent recent movies that portray the Japanese side of the war in the PTO.  "Letters from Iwo Jima" is one, and "Yamato" is the other (but this last is very hard to find in the US).  Even while watching these, I found the perspective interesting but at no time did I develope any sympathy.  In the decades since WWII many former opponent veterans groups have met and established friendships.  But a display that is purporting to show historically correct war-time conditions is very incorrect to mislead with a display which could symbolically imply friendly attitudes between combatants.

But that's not the main objection to the use of riceboxes at historical sites, which is that it is always *technically incorrect* for a historical display.

>We criticize the use of their equipment in some of our
>museum displays but we don't hesitate selling milsurplus
>radios to Japanese collectors.

Many collectors do, in fact, hesitate or reject such sales.

Mike / KK5F