I have just read an article about a Japanese group protesting something their Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma, said.
His remark, referring to the dropping of bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WW II was only partly correct: "I understand that the bombing ended the war, and I think that it couldn't be helped."
Seems Nobuo Miyake, director-general of a group of Japanese atomic bomb survivors "The U.S. justifies the bombings saying they saved American lives, It's outrageous for a Japanese politician to voice such thinking. Japan is a victim."
There is an old remark that popped into my head when I read this crap. "My heart pumps p*** for you."
Some Japanese (the loud mouths, apparently) choose to forget several things. Like how they attacked and decimated Korea, the rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March, the Sneak Attack on Pearl Harbor and the 1001 other outrages their armed forces perpetrated on civilians when they started World War II.
And make no mistake about it. America had refused to become embroiled with Hitler and the Nazis until Pearl was attacked. The Japanese government had signed the Tripartite Agreement with Germany. It was a "fight one, fight all" pact. (Italy was the other signee.) The great Japanese Admiral Yamamoto had warned against this, but was ignored.
The idea that Japan was a "victim" is enough to turn anyone's stomach. Before the Emperor could publish his surrender, the Japanese Army tried to pull off a coup against him. It failed, primarily, because an aide hid the signed surrender until it could be announced safely.
Japan's military wanted men, women and children to resist an invasion. There were arms caches, ammunition caches, new jet aircraft, all hidden from spying agents and aircraft reconnaisance. Japanese civilians were trained to use these weapons.
The cost in civilian and military deaths and maimings would have been horrendous. And interestingly enough there would have eventually been a war crimes trial that would have made the Nuremburg trials look small and inconsequential compared them. The Japanese can thank Harry Truman it never happened. The trial they did have was comparatively small potatoes.
I understand that some Japanese still living suffered from radiation. But they are still alive as are some of our veterans who suffered massive injuries.
It is time the Japanese nation took responsibility for its actions.
