Japan has apologized over and over.

[Bonobo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan

When did the U.S. ever apologize for ANY of their heinous actions? So I would not expect one for the nukes.

It is the U.S. that cannot face their crimes.

But stop repeating untruths. Japan has apologized. They do it over and over and over.

Ultimately, a country, like a person, can only control their actions, not the actions of others.

Saying that Japan has not apologized and therefore the U.S. should not apologize is not only untrue, but it is sadly immature.

Until the U.S. begins to confront its own shadow, it will continue to remorselessly inflict its own will and military power on the rest of the world in the arrogant and condescending manner it has done for decades.

[Richardo]

1. Who cares?

Apologies are cheap and less than meaningless. And they have zero effect on the formulation of current foreign policy or anything else in the real world.

[Bonobo]

4. I agree.

What bothers me more is to see the naked and brutal jingoism displayed by some people here on DU.

It really is a black mark on us, I think.

Yes, the Japanese were horrible back then.

But how much more disturbing is it to see the lack of compassion and the disgusting attitudes here, today, from citizens of a country that has been at war for the last 9 years.

Who is the danger to the world now?

It ain't Japan folks.

Look in the mirror.

[Dogtown]

2. Nicely put, Bonobo.

Love your nick, BTW.

:hi:

[Pavulon]

3. The current Mayor of tokyo denied this to Rob Gifford(npr)

face to face. Denied chinese massacre.

The nuclear issue is done. We controlled all things japanese for decades and still have great political influence.

Trying to apply current thinking about nuclear weapons to 1945 is not reasonable.

The words are meaningless. Our actions in Japan after the war are sufficient to prove we were not intent on destroying the place.

[Bonobo]

6. That guy is a crackpot and well-known as such here. nt

[Pavulon]

7. The reality is we rebuilt japan and they are an ally in the region

the continual scab picking around ww2 is pretty much irrelevant to modern us japan relations.

[Bonobo]

8. No one is picking scabs.

Japan has not made any particular call for an apology and I have never, ever heard a Japanese person in all my years here ask for one.

However, some posters on DU choose THIS DAY to make a strawman suggesting that and then proceed to heap further abuse for no reason.

That is disgusting.

No scabs are being picked by Japan. This OP was in response to what I see as piling on a day of remembrance of great pain.

Like dancing on a grave.

Japanese people are VERY, VERY grateful to the US and love the US. I see it every day.

[Pavulon]

9. We agree. The issue is closed and has been for 50 years.

The topic has been well covered and like german and russian acts no one knows about should be left alone. It is reasonable to ask and discuss to learn about it, but not to place it anything other than a solid historical view.

I had a brief stay in tokyo on the way to shanghai and would love to get back and visit more of Japan.

my 2 cents on the topic.

[Bonobo]

11. I had an interesting talk with a Japanese guy last night.

We discussed the troops in Okinawa and the bomb.

I asked him how many people, in his opinion, out of 100 would want the US troops out of Okinawa.
He said 10 out of 100 only.

I was surprised. I argued that Japan should grow up and defend itself. He would have none of it. Japanese appreciate American help here and do not want to re-militarize.

I then tried to tweak him a bit asking how he felt, on the day of all days, to be asking/needing the US (that dropped the bomb on them) to be defending their own country.

He look a bit abashed but nevertheless went on to say that the US is the strongest country and that he wants them to stay.

In retrospect, that is really the majority opinion, especially with the older folk.

The Americans treated the Japanese wonderfully during the occupation and gave them a democracy and a constitution that they are proud of and happy with. Gratitude abounds. Never bitterness. Even when I tried to create it with my prodding.

Nevertheless, as an American, I think that showing some remorse and reflection ourselves is not a bad thing.

In light of our current wars, I feel it is particularly needed. The U.S. should not be above self-reflection and examination of our past deeds. It is the mark of maturity and I do not think the U.S. does a very good job of it. Perhaps if we taught our own people better, we would not have such apathetic complicity in the current killing we are doing.

[roguevalley]

18. Japan has rewritten their history books to change the truth and they

have never apologized to the 'comfort women' or the chinese atrocities. War sucks. All the dead should be mourned but to mythologize Japan is to kill the dead twice.

[proteus_lives]

20. +10,000

[oneshooter]

5. "So I would not expect one for the nukes."

There will never be an apology for the nukes. It was a war that they started, and we finished. Using whatever means we had.

There were more killed in the B-29 strikes on Tokyo than were killed by both bombs.

Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas

[Touchdown]

10. Triumphalism prevents the afflicted from being humble.

You have to be humble to apologize. You have to be self aware to see your faults. The US has never done that, sadly.

We have a holocaust museum, but no slavery museum. It's always about what other countries do wrong... Never us.

[KharmaTrain]

12. The Chinese And Koreans Sure Don't Think They Have...

There's been a lot of angst between those countries as Japan still refuses to address the Comfort Girl and other attrocities it committed during its 50 year occupation of Korea or the sadistic pillage and occupation of China. And then there are the appologies to the Filipinos, Vietnames, Burmese, Malaysians.

Several years ago, a Japanese friend and I had an interesting discussion on this...he grew up with a limited view of World War II. It was viewed that Japan attacked the US cause they were cutting off Japan from its trade routes and that they were the real victims of the War. There was nothing mentioned about the Rape of Nanking or live medical experimentation and chemical warfare.

Two wrongs don't make a right...and the attempts to say Japanese attrocities are somehow equivelent to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima is a no-win game.

[VMI Dem]

17. Amen.

[Johonny]

13. Goggle Obama apologizes -apparently we apologize a lot so much for this thread

[ProgressiveProfessor]

14. In the context of the times, Japan committed war crimes in China and Korea and the US use of nuclear

weapons was not. All these years later I am not really sure if apologies matter much from one side or the other.

[slackmaster]

15. Japan should keep apologizing. It was the aggressor in World War II.

:nuke: :nuke:

[VMI Dem]

16. Those apologies are lame.

They do not sufficiently address the deaths of at least half a million Korean civilians.

[MicaelS]

19. My opinion has always been

That if the bomb has been available 6-12 months sooner, or the war lasted 6-12 months longer, then Berlin would have been the first target. Those who condemn the use of the bombs on Japan would not have said a thing about their use on Germany. Their attitude would have been that the dirty Fascists got what they deserved.

Those scientists who worked on the bomb (many of the Jewish refugees from Hitler) did not seem to develop scruples until it was clear that Germany would no longer be the target. They knew for a fact that Berlin, and its civilians would certainly be the main target. They certainly didn’t have any concerns about German civilians being killed.

The Japanese were just as bad as the Nazis. But too many people weep tears for the “victims" of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as if the Japanese did nothing to start the war in Asia. The Chinese suffered between 20-35 million casualties during the Japanese invasion of China (1937-1945). The Japanese forced Korean women into sexual slavery as “comfort women” in field brothels where the women were forced to sexually service, as many as 70 Japanese soldiers a day. In other words these women were raped 70 times a day for yeasr on end. Everywhere the Japanese conquered, they acted like barbarians toward Allied POWS and civilians. The Japanese beat, starved, tortured and executed men and women. They used living human beings as living test subjects in their infamous biological warfare Unit 731.

People these days find it easy to take some moral high-ground when they are not involved in a war to the knife for the future of civilization. Hindsight is easy.

[inna]

21. K&R

[TexasObserver]

22. When did they apologize to China for Nanking?