[JCBreckenridge]

“Japanese civvies showed nothing but obedience to their masters.”

Right, that’s because the Japanese have no souls of their own, eh? /sarc

I don’t believe this for a second.

[xone]

What don't you believe? Japs have no soul or that they obeyed their masters? The emperor was called 'Tenji-sama' Son of Heaven. Was considered divine. Perhaps you'd elaborate on the coups for peace that were planned against the High Command or the Emperor unlike in Germany where they at least attempted to rid themselves of Hitler. Or maybe you have historic literature about the political peace parties that had formed in Japan circa 1945.

There doesn't seem to be an aversion to killing civilians in this argument as much as there is an aversion to killing them efficiently, dramatically, in a way that saved the POWs and hastened the close of hostilities. In short, it is a nonsensical argument that ignores the truth on the ground at the time, a re-write of history.