For the
first time in 6 or 7 years, I had a taste of Atjar Tjampoer (‘pickled salad’). Funny thing is that I never even thought of scooping some bits when I was in Holland, 2 years ago.
A couple of weeks we saw ‘The Great Raid’, a movie detailing the liberation of American prisoners of war in East Asia during the 2nd World War. The accompanying documentary (about the US surrender in the Phillipines) on that same DVD had some good material about the initial phase of the war in the Pacific
Only one thing struck a chord with me: the interviewed American veteran POWs detailed their (admitted) ignorance about the Japanese war machine and soldiers.
We were all saying, these cross-eyed Japanese can’t even aim a gun, let alone start a war.
The same sentiments plagued the Dutch in Indonesia: it only took the Japanese a couple of months (excellent timeline).