U.S. owes Japan no apology at Hiroshima plane exhibit

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | December 5, 2003 | NEIL STEINBERG SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

[gcruse]

The firestorms resulting from the March 9 and March 10, 1945 bombings of Tokyo weren't any less destructive than the A-bombs, if the photographs of what was left are any indication.

[Question_Assumptions]

My father was on the third ship given liberty in Japan and he traveled with a military reporter. The guy asked, "Where are you from?" My father answered, "Jersey City." He asked if my father knew is aunt. Turns out she was his music teacher in high school. He said exactly the same thing -- that the destruction in Tokyo was far more impressive than the destruction in Hiroshima. My father had a pretty intense dislike of the Japanese which softens a bit for individual Japanese (he dislikes them as a group but can like them as individuals). I've lived in Tokyo and they've certainly changed quite a bit in 50 years. I do think the atomic bombings were the right thing to do but I also think that Americans need to realize that the Japanese of today are not the Japanese of 50 years ago.

As for apologies, the "Japanese way" is for both parties to apologize without assigning blame. In other words, the Japanese probably feel that both American and Japan should issue a joint apology expressing regret over the lives that were lost on both sides without detailing who did what to who or why. That sounds awfully unjust to Americans but that's how things are done in Japan. Before you condemn this approach, let me simply say that few disagreements in Japan wind up in front of a judge. On the other hand, it can be abused to let the guilty off the hook. The American way, of course, demands that the Japanese apologize since what they did caused the problem and their atrocities were inexcusable. To the Japanese, the American way seems rude. As an American, I certainly do feel that they should apologize and there is no excuse for glossing over the atrocities in their text books (that's not all they gloss over, by the way -- there are other embarrassing details about the Emperor and Japanese history that they gloss over, or so a Japanese person told me). But I can understand why they don't and why they expect America to apologize for Hiroshima.

[Levante]

"In short, they don't like people knowing what brought the end to the Second World War? Tough. They started it. We finished it."

That is as concise a statement as I have ever seen.

[Question_Assumptions]

Similarly, the Japanese of today are not the Japanese of 50 years ago yet many Americans still await apologies for Pearl Harbor and Bataan.

[COEXERJ145]

The famous B-29 fire bomb raid on Tokyo was more destructive than either atomic attack. Official estimates put the deaths in Tokyo at roughly 100,000. However, almost everyone who has reviewed all the information on the fire bomb raid, agree that the number is probably much higher for two reasons. First of all the fact that so many families were totally wiped out. This wasn’t just father, mother, children but the entire extended family. Secondly, many bodies were simply burned to dust and there was no way to identify remains or even realize the pile of ash @ your feet was once a person. As an example of how hot the fires that night were, people who jumped into bodies of water to escape the flames were boiled alive because the fire storm had caused the water to reach the boiling point.

Like I said above, people are trying to apply “modern” views about nuclear weapons to what happened in 1945 and that is something one should not do.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

The firestorms resulting from the March 9 and March 10, 1945 bombings of Tokyo weren't any less destructive than the A-bombs, if the photographs of what was left are any indication.

They were actually more destructive. And still they didn't surrender. The A-Bombs were needed to force them to see that we could with little effort reduce Japan to smoking rubble. They were hoping to make the main islands to tough a nut to crack.

Someone once said, "We might not be able to win but we can trouble you greatly with our dying." That was the whole plan. The A-Bomb showed that it would be no trouble at all. Forty planes, forty bombs, forty cities gone. You can't win against an enemy who can and will do that. There is no waiting them out or making the war too costly.

The tough nut cracked.

[Question_Assumptions]

The quick end to the war and the occupation by the US probably also saved Japan. Period. The USSR had entered the war between the two bombs and the Russians, to this day, occupy 4 small Japanese islands and, as a result, still do not have formal peace with Japan. Had the war gone on longer, Russia would have occupied much more of Japan, taking at least Hokkaido and possibly dividing Japan for years like Germany was. Had the Americans accepted a conditional surrender that left the Japanese government intact and did not result in an occupation, a much weakened Japan with no resources would have had to face China as well as an expansionist Soviet Union and may have suffered the same fate as Korea or Vietnam. The atomic bombs were the only way to get a quick and unconditional surrender (and even then, it two out of the three that we had). Yes, a lot of civilians died but every scenario I can think of that takes the facts (as opposed to the wishful thinking that an unconditional surrender would have happened anyway when the facts show nothing like that would have happened) into account suggests that things would have been much worse for Japan, nevermind America, had those bombs not been dropped.

[COEXERJ145]

When I visited Pearl Harbor in the mid 1990's, there were Japanese tourists there and I did not find offense at this. None of them were old enough to have been alive during World War II and to hold them responsible for the crimes of their ancestors would be no different that blaming Americans who are alive today for the slave trade.

However, I do think that the Japanese government should acknowledge what happened during World War II and apologize to the people (those still alive) who it harmed but not to anyone else. Germany admitted its guilt for its crimes in WWII, Japan never have.

I have always believed that using the atomic bombs was the right thing to do. It saved lives on all sides and ended a bloody war that would have only become worse if it had continued.

[Question_Assumptions]

Your analysis is dead on in my opinion. The alternative put forth by revisionists is that the US accept a conditional surrender that would have left the weakened Japanese government in power with no occupation (this is the "We had them beaten already and they were harmless" school of thought). That would have left a weakened Japan, without the protection of the US military umbrella, alone to face China and the USSR looking for a little pay-back. Think Korea and Vietnam.

[Question_Assumptions]

FYI, the Soviets were already moving into the theater and had their eyes on Japan. The Russian occupy small 4 Japanese islands even today and this is a very big deal in Japan. They are lucky they don't hold Hokkaido.

[Question_Assumptions]

The assessment from the ground by Freeper squidly's father and my own father say that Tokyo looked worse than Hiroshima.

[Question_Assumptions]

However, I do think that the Japanese government should acknowledge what happened during World War II and apologize to the people (those still alive) who it harmed but not to anyone else. Germany admitted its guilt for its crimes in WWII, Japan never have.

I'd frankly be happy if the Japanese simply taught their children the truth. The Japanese did a lot of awful things that certainly warrant an appology but I'd be happy if the Japanese knew how awfully their soldiers behaved so they never go down that road again. Also bear in mind that there is a certain amount of backlash in Germany about all of the hand-wringing and guilt and a certain amount of nationalism and anti-Semitism are, again, rearing their ugly head there.

I have always believed that using the atomic bombs was the right thing to do. It saved lives on all sides and ended a bloody war that would have only become worse if it had continued.

Oh, I agree totally. But just bear in mind that even if you point this out, a lot of revisionists will claim that the Americans simply should have let the Japanese off with a conditional surrender since they'd already been beaten back and were mostly harmless. To those people, it is important to point out that then Japan would have been left without American protection and support and would have fared no better against communist agression than the Korea or Vietnam. The hardcore commie leftists might actually consider this a plus but most thinking Americans will realize that this would have been as awful for Japan as an invasion.

[Windcatcher]

You don't see the Germans complaining about the British fire-bombing of Hamburg. How many thousands died there? 100,000? 200,000? Would the Germans dare complain? Of course not. There can be no mistake about the Germans' culpability, not only for their treatment of European Jews, but their aggression all over the Continent. You don't invade a dozen countries, crush their people under the Nazi iron boot, and not expect someone to hand your backside to you.

That evil regime deserved to be defeated utterly, and they got the full measure. They don't expect any apologizing for the punishment dealt to them, nor will they be getting any. The Empire of Japan, likewise, attacked us and others without provocation. They attacked their neighbors and treated them with the utmost brutality.

There is only one proper response to such evil in this world: unite and crush it--completely. They should be thankful we didn't fulfill our admiral's promise: that once the war was over the only place the Japanese language would be spoken henceforth would be in Hell. They attacked our country, killed our sons, caused us to give up countless lives in war, and we let their nation endure nevertheless. By God, they should shut their mouths and thank us for having more mercy in our little fingers than they showed those around them.

[JSloth]

Can't wait to hear the liberal's response...they probably advocate appologies, appeasement, and sending money for our atrocities!

(sorry if my spelling is bad!)

[Jonathon Spectre]

Don't want a team to jump on your school's logo, win the game.

Don't want a city nuked, don't attack America.

[Andy from Beaverton]

We don't owe them shit!

[buccaneer81]

Don't want a city nuked, don't attack America.

Unfortunately, Riyadh, Mecca and Medina are not a sea of glass.

My, how times have changed.

[Norse]

You're right - but I would say that Japan has been far more than a good international citizen - I would say economic superpower that has helped create wealth around the world

[saxxa]

Dec. 7th 2003 .....PEARL HARBOR DAY..............NEVER FORGET !!!!!

[reg45]

Re: Fast Research

That's why I use Netscape.

Ctrl-T opens a new browser tab to Netscape search, which defaults to Google. I do my research, then I click on my original FR tab and go right back to where I was.

IE is way behind Netscape and Opera in that regard.