You believe the Pacific war was a "...a racist war of the first order"?
Can you explain exactly what you mean by that? I really am curious.
Were we racist towards them? Were they racist towards us? Both sides racist towards each other?
Or did they only attack us ONLY because we were mostly caucasian? Did we fight them all the way across the Pacific ONLY because they were orientals?
Do you suppose the military people who fought against the Japanese did it so strenously due to unrelenting racism?
Are you contrasting the Pacific war with the "more civilized" European theatre?
I really am curious, I would like to know what you mean.
This was a fight to the death that was nothing like the war in Europe. IMHO that had as much to do with cultural clash as ideological clash. The Japanese felt there was no honor in fighting until the battle was lost and then surrendering. They felt battles should be fought to the last man...period. Thus you have massive death tolls on so many of those islands even to silly lengths such as Saipan. How many Japanese literally committed suicide on Saipan, even non combatants rather than surrender?
I think this view also accounted for at least some of the poor treatment of POWs. Americans fought until it was pointless on Corregidor and Wake Island then surrendered. The Japanese felt such behavior was wosre than that of dogs and treated prisoners accordingly. And that was on top of an already egocentric mind set that even other Asians were sub human and whites didn't quite ascend to the level of subhuman.
I don't think the Japanese invented the belief that "my race is better." Go back and look at some headlines of the day in the United States. The term "yellow peril" comes to mind.
In any event that war became a fight to the death, which makes the whole story even more compelling. I heard or read somewhere, or perhaps it's a story my Dad told, that orders were sent to the line on Iwo Jima that Japanese POWs were to be escorted to the rear and if they didn't make it alive, the escort would stand before a court marshall for murder. I don't think any courts marshall were ever held, but it helps understand the sentiment of the day.
I also read somewhere that in Japan, women and children were being taught how to attack machine guns using that time honored weapon of the broom stick because Americans liked to eat dead Japanese. How leaders can explain the need for such knowledge and action while also saying the white devils are being defeated everywhere will remain a mystery.
It's chic these days to say the use of nuclear weapons on Japan was immoral. It's so delightfully liberal to say it with the intervening cushion of 60 years. If you look at the mindset of the era, Americans felt sinking the entire Japanese nation 100 feet below the surface of the sea to save one more marine was a fair trade. If it came out that we had invaded Japan at the loss of who knows how many while Truman sat on such a life saving weapon, he would have been lucky to be tarred and feathered.
I also find it interesting that there are a few Japanese philosophers these days that admit there were a great deal more Japanese lives saved because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki than were lost in those cities.
I think Japanese fighters hated white folk. I think the feeling was mutual among sailors, soldiers and marines wearing US uniforms. The foundations of their cultures were so different as were their attitudes of life that it isn't surprising. It also makes negative judgements of those that fought for the good guys to be just a bit petty.