Sunday, May 06, 2012
Local Boy Makes Good by Following Orders and Bombing Hawaii
With the popularity of a recent movie in Japan about Admiral Yamamoto (who planed the attack on Pearl Harbor) and with a special festival this weekend honoring Nagaoka's local hero, I feel compelled to post a link to this earlier posting on the famous military leader. I totally get how horrible the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were...I get that. I understand the horror of so many civilians killed in the fire bombings of Tokyo. What I don't get is the Japanese disconnect between their formal apologies about their own actions during World War II (and initiating the conflict in the Pacific) and the noticeable lack of sincere remorse over their actions. I'm reminded again and again that Yamamoto was personally opposed to the attack on Hawaii but,...please, the guy is no hero. To my knowledge, Germans don't celebrate and idolize Erwin Rommel (who by all accounts was a great military leader and involved in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler). What is it about an honest appraisal of history - and sensible manners -- that the Japanese public just can't seem to grasp?
