Sean: しょうがなかった

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Posted by Sean:
しょうがなかった
http://whiteperil.com/posts/1183264594.shtml


   You don't see this very frequently: Minister of Defense Fumio Kyuma
   [1]gave a talk yesterday:

     Opposition parties unanimously criticized Defense Minister Fumio
     Kyuma for remarks he made in a lecture on 30 June. Kyuma had stated
     that the dropping of the atom bomb by the United States during
     World War II was "unavoidable."

   Kyuma is the only sitting cabinet member from Nagasaki Prefecture.
   [2]Reaction to his dissent from orthodoxy has been swift and furious:

     Kyuma said later that his comments had been misinterpreted, telling
     reporters he meant to say the bombing "could not be helped from the
     American point of view."
     "It's too bad that my comments were interpreted as approving the
     U.S. bombing," he said.
     ...
     Bombing survivors have developed various illnesses from radiation
     exposure, including cancer and liver diseases.
     "The U.S. justifies the bombings saying they saved American lives,"
     said Nobuo Miyake, 78, director-general of a group of victims
     living in Tokyo. "It's outrageous for a Japanese politician to
     voice such thinking. Japan is a victim."
     Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue was quoted as saying by Kyodo, "The
     use of nuclear weapons constitutes the indiscriminate massacre of
     ordinary citizens, and it cannot be justified for any reason."
     ...
     In America, the bombings are widely seen as a weapon of last resort
     against an enemy that was determined to fight to the death but
     instead surrendered unconditionally, six days after Nagasaki was
     attacked.

   There are many things to admire, even love, about Japan; but surely
   one of its more unpalatable cultural traits is its tendency to look
   for reasons to feel put-upon and victimized. The way people talk about
   the A-bomb, one would never know that Japan had tried to take over all
   of East Asia. (Its invading forces were not known for their
   scrupulously upright treatment of ordinary citizens.) One would never
   know that the Allies had spent the last year enduring through Saipan,
   Iwo Jima, Okinawa.
   I don't mean to make a coarse tu quoque argument here. I'm perfectly
   willing to acknowledge that America had geopolitical reasons for using
   the atom bomb that went beyond the saintly desire to prevent more
   blood from being spilled in the immediate future. Japan had inserted
   itself into World War II as our enemy, and we needed to defeat it, and
   we needed to win. It would be nice if war didn't work that way, but it
   does. It's easy for me to say this as an American, I guess, but I
   don't think Kyuma's acknowledgment that it wasn't our job to play nice
   with Japan in 1945 can be construed as "approval." It's certainly
   going to be interesting to see where this goes politically, though.

References

   1. http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/past/honbun.cfm?i=AT3S3001O%2030062007&g=MH&d=20070630
   2. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/J/JAPAN_ATOMIC_BOMB_COMMENT_ASOL-?SITE=YOMIURI&SECTION=HOSTED_ASIA&TEMPLATE=ap_national.html