A-bomb survivor gets thank-you note from Pelosi

Wednesday 26th November, 02:48 PM JST

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11 Comments

mtt at 03:55 PM JST - 26th November

Well....better than nothing.
tigermoth at 01:28 AM JST - 27th November

As long as we remember that it was because of Japanese aggression and brutality that led to the bombing of her people, then that's cool - even though I hate Pelosi.
OssanAmerica at 02:35 AM JST - 27th November

As long as we remember that it was because of Japanese aggression and >brutality that led to the bombing of her people, then that's cool - even >though I hate Pelosi.

Why do we have to remember it? Nobody in Hiroshima including all the peaceniks blames the US. Nobody is seeking blame. Why are you?
teaabe at 02:39 AM JST - 27th November

rubbing salt in the wound.

Japanese people have every right to condemn the nuclear bombings.
JohnBecker at 03:07 AM JST - 27th November

I would love to see a U.S. president visit the Peace Park. It's a powerful experience. The documentation at the Edo-Tokyo Museum of the firebombings of Tokyo are also pretty stern stuff.

I have no problem with what we did to win the war, but when faced with the reality on the ground, right where it happened, you can't help but feel for the innocent victims.

Every American visitor should take his/her medicine and go to these places to reflect on what happened. It'll open your eyes.
tigermoth at 03:13 AM JST - 27th November

Well OssanAmerica (and any others) its seems that the Japanese have a tendency to play the victim card when speaking of the bombings. Now I come from an older school; I know (knew as many are now dead) and have spoken with many veterans of the Pacific campaign and the Second World War in general. Three of my uncles were in the U.S. Navy fighting in the Pacific when the war ended. People have short memories and tend to forget. Rather than recall that Japan attacked America and that Tokyo's stubborn resistance to any armistace or ending of the war was costing the lives of scores of its own people, the tendency in our revisionist society is to blame the 'evil 'ole USofA). And don't tell me it's not, I've even seen it in this country with friends in a Master's history program at a prestigious university in the mid-west.

Japan has showed little remorse since the war, many/most of the children living there today know almost nothing about it - certainly not the atrocities carried out by Japan (which were many, and in many ways as bad as those purpotrated by the worst of the SS). Should they still be held to cause? Of course not. But should they be reminded of their country's former transgressions? In this case I would say yes. The key to 'never again' is acknowledgement and acceptanct of blame. Germany did this; Japan did not. It's fine to see the folks of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as victims; they certainly were. Victims of a mad culture, a stupid code and a power-hungry group of militants (Tojo and clan).

But modern revisionist hitory has painted the U.S., its government and to a degree even some of its fighting soldiers as the 'bad guys'. When Paul Tibbets, the man who dropped one of the bombs, recently died he didn't want his burial site known because some of these leftist, revisionist historians call him a criminal and murderer. He was a soldier and a man who did his duty to keep more of his fellow Americans from being killed. My uncles or perhaps your great uncle or someone in your family who might have fought had just as much of a right to live as a citizen of Hiroshima. Perhaps more because our side didn't ask for it. You don't hear or see any Japanese politicians apologizing or giving letters to the families of any of the sailors (can't remember #'s but well over a thousand) who died at Pearl Harbor.

teaabe - Do they? How about all of the American families had to go on without brothers, husbands, fathers simply because Japan decided to exercise aggression? No one ever seems to speak for them, and they were the first and true victims. You are correct in that anyone with sanity and sense should condemn the use of nuclear weapons, but first and also you have to condemn the aggression and warfare that lead to such a conclusion. To do one without the other is to promote the stance of innocent victim prosecuted unjustly. The baby on the end of the Japanese soldier's bayonet in Nanking is the innocent victim. The child who was vaporized in Hiroshima is indeed also the innocent victim - but there is a cause and effect that has to be taken into account.

My purpose in this comment is just a reminder that while it's fine to hear of these people's tragic story, let's not forget what put them in harm's way. It's an insult to all of the other innocents who died first.

Moderator: Readers, please keep the discussion focused on Pelosi's letter.
urufuls at 04:22 AM JST - 27th November

OssanAmerica - while not everybody blames America for the bombings, many people do. Including many Japanese. I have heard from the mouths of many Japanese. In fact, there was a mock-trial by a lawyer in Japan that put the now dead US generals and then Truman administration on trial and found them guilty of war crimes.

Also, I've visited the Peace Memorial Park in this article many times.

The first time, I cried. The second time, I cotemplated. The third time, I began to pick up the underlying theme that "It is all America's fault".

Tigermoth is spot on. And if we don't remember what actually happened, we are doomed to repeat it. That's why we have to remember it.
Sarge at 09:21 AM JST - 27th November

"Now I would like U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to visit Hiroshima," Takahashi said."

I would like that visit to be preceded by a visit to Pearl Harbor by Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso.

Moderator: Stay on topic please. Pearl Harbor is not relevant to this discussion.
mtt at 09:56 AM JST - 27th November

For anyone who truly cares about history, I recommend "The Limits of Power/The End of American Exeptionalism" by Andrew Bacevich. I hope Ms. pelosi read it so she may be able to evolve out of the WWII mentality and wll not make the same mistake.
David3 at 11:35 AM JST - 27th November

Speaker Pelosi's visit was a good first step in acknowledging the crime against humanity that the use of the atomic bomb inflicted upon first, Japan and second the world-at-large. Nuclear weapons are the world's most serious common denominator. Only their abolition will help unite humanity around the concept of love rather than the suicidal lust for power that motivates world leaders.
teaabe at 02:13 PM JST - 27th November

note: Thank You Japan.

LOL.