Every August 6th, around the globe, people gather to hug the Japanese and slap the United States in the face. The Japanese need to be soothed. They need compassion and empathy.
They suffered a trauma at the hands of the United States military. We committed an injustice against these Japanese. The world must offer them solace.
Japan has cultivated these offerings of sympathy and the implied condemnation of the United States that goes with it.
I might be more sympathetic toward the Japanese if they had embraced and apologized for their own atrocities. Japan slaughtered 25-30 million people during the war, most of them Asian, and the majority of them Chinese.
Japan Invaded the Dutch West Indies, Burma, Indochina and the Philippines. Over 8.5 million natives died during those invasions and occupations.
While building the Burma Railway, over 110,000 Asian slaves and Allied POWs died.
In 1942, American bombers, in Doolittle’s Raid took off from aircraft carriers east of Japan. The planes wouldn’t have enough fuel to return to the carriers. The daring plan for the 18 planes was to bomb Japanese cities and then head to airfields in China. Most ran out of fuel before reaching the airfields. The pilots parachuted into Japanese held China territory. The 68 pilots were hidden from the Japanese by the Chinese. In retribution for helping the pilots escape, Japan burned down dozens of villages, killing 250,000 Chinese. Before the burning they raped all the women and killed everyone. Then they poisoned all the water wells with anthrax.
Over the last 75 years both the short term and long term deaths from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings hover around 250,000 people. During the Japanese seven week invasion of Nanking in 1937-1938, soldiers killed almost 300,000 Chinese. During The Rape of Nanking, Japan did in seven weeks what the United States could not do in seven and a half decades.
Every August, the world community, led by the Japanese, wag their moral finger at the United State, while at the same time the world ignores Japan’s own massive atrocities.
For 75 years the Japanese have been viewed as victims of an horrific act. The United States has stood by silently. This must stop. We must no longer let these implicit condemnations go unanswered. We must take this narrative back from Japan who stole it so they could be victims on the world stage.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki is our narrative. We did it. We own it. We must vigorously defend our actions against Japan’s propaganda. We saved millions of Asian lives. Sorry about that.