Japan Minister Resigns Over A-Bomb Remark

Defense Chief Steps Down After Suggesting WWII Atomic Bombings Were Inevitable

(AP)  Japan's defense minister resigned Tuesday after suggesting the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 were inevitable, a comment that stirred up a storm of criticism in a country where the bombings are seen by many as an unjustified slaughter of civilians.

Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma, a native of Nagasaki, said he did not mean to condone the attacks.

"I just meant that there was nothing we could do about it," he said after tendering his resignation to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose administration has been plunging in popularity and faces key parliamentary elections later this month. "I don't think people understood what I meant."

Kyuma's remarks generated angry criticism from survivors of the bombings, opposition lawmakers and fellow Cabinet members.

The mayor of Nagasaki was among the most vocal, telling Kyuma to stay away from a ceremony marking the bombing anniversary next month and saying the comment "tramples on the feelings of A-bomb victims."

In a speech on Saturday, Kyuma said the atomic bombings caused great suffering. But he added that Japan would have otherwise kept fighting and ended up losing a greater part of its northern territory to the Soviet Union, which invaded Manchuria on the day Nagasaki was bombed.

"I understand that the bombings ended the war, and I think that it couldn't be helped," he said.

Though Kyuma's statement was similar to the interpretation in the United States that the bombings hastened the war's end and thus saved lives, it contradicted the generally held Japanese stance, fiercely guarded by survivors and their supporters, that the use of nuclear weapons is never acceptable.

A ban on the possession of such weapons is a hallowed tenet of Japan's postwar pacifist policies. Kyuma's remarks were slammed as both a tacit acceptance of the 1945 U.S. decision and of the use of nuclear weapons in general.

"Abe should have said this is outrageous," said Tomoaki Iwai, a political scientist at Nihon University in Tokyo. "The atomic bombings are something that Japanese people can never forgive."

Kyuma's repeated apologies and a stern reprimand from Abe failed to quell the furor.

The opposition had been preparing to submit a formal request for Kyuma's resignation later Tuesday, and opposition leaders claimed Abe shared the blame. Kyuma, who represents Nagasaki in the lower house of Parliament, resigned to minimize the pre-election fallout.

He was replaced by National Security Adviser Yuriko Koike, the first woman to assume the defense portfolio.

Since Abe, an avowed nationalist, assumed office last September, lingering controversies over World War II have become front-and-center issues.

Abe himself was the focus of international ire for denying that the government forced "comfort women" to work at front-line brothels during the war, despite historical evidence to the contrary. And a large faction within Abe's party is rallying for a re-evaluation of the Rape of Nanking, in which the Chinese claim as many as 300,000 people were slaughtered.

The atomic bombings are an even more delicate issue.

On Aug. 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped a bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, killing at least 140,000 people in the world's first atomic bomb attack. Three days later it dropped another atomic bomb, "Fat Man," on Nagasaki where about 74,000 are estimated to have been killed.

Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945.

Abe has not made his own position on the bombings public, saying instead that Kyuma "caused misunderstandings" with his remarks.

Koike, Kyuma's successor, also carefully avoided the topic in her first meeting with reporters.

"Japan wants to continue to be a leader toward nuclear abolishment," she said.

Kyuma was among the most outspoken of Abe's Cabinet ministers.

In January, he raised eyebrows in Washington by calling the U.S. decision to invade Iraq a "mistake" because it was based on the false premise that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. Japan and the U.S. are close military allies, and Japan hosts some 50,000 American troops under a security treaty.

Kyuma later apologized for that comment, too.

[lochukung]

I have full respect for Mr. Kyuma for having the courage and conscience to speak the truth even though it's so politically incorrect. Truth does hurt. Most die-hard right-wingers in Japan will never acknowledge the atrocities they inflicted upon their poor neighbors or any of their militaristic past. If you compare the countless innocent civilians killed directly or indirectly by the Japanese Imperial soldiers before and during WWII, those killed by the 2 Atomic bombs were just a few drops in a bucket. If there is anyone to blame for their deaths or the pain of the survivors, it is their Emperor, their zealous military and their blind faith to their Shinto idealogy. A nation unable to face their wronged past will most likely trek on the same destructive path in the future.

[jimc52]

My father was in the US Army in the Phillipines waiting to go into the invasion of Japan. If the war had not ended, there is a very good likelihood, I wouldn't exist because my father would have been one of the projected 1 million soldiers killed in Japan IF we had to invade. The Japanese were viscious and brutal everywhere they went, from China and Korea to the Phillipines, Borneo, Malaysia, Thailand...they beat, torchured, murdered, killed without mercy, millions of innocent civilians, NOT just military people. I'm sorry, but I do not agree with the apologists. The Japanese need to teach their children WHAT THEY DID. They are NOT doing that. And it is a big mistake for them to think they can cover up their bushido brutality by hoping that over time history will revise their criminal behavior. It was necessary to drop the atom bomb on them and I don't feel sorry for nor am I apologetic for it...they, in fact, need to remain apologetic to all those they murdered in their ruthless agression and imperialism.

[tbweb]

mitch0927,,,

Japan was a different country back then and if given the chance Japan would have done to the United States what it did to Pearl Harbor! The attack on Pearl Harbor was beyond wicked, that was nasty and Japan was clearly going for a knock out blow against the U.S. Fleet, good thing our AirCraft Carriers were out to sea. The U.S. forward deploys 2 Aircraft Carriers to this day because of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. always has 2 Aircraft Carrier Battle Groups armed to the teeth and forward deployed because of Japan's attack on Pearl. After Pearl Harbor the U.S. said never again! Many have asked the U.S. to stand down but the U.S. is not having it! The most interesting thing about the A-Bombs dropped on Japan was the U.S. only made 2 of them, Fat Man and Little Boy and must have known 2 would be enough, so that says something right there, the U.S. didn't make 3! The U.S. probably figured and correctly too that Japan would need to see it again!

[mitch0927]

tbweb, I do agree with you a little, but hopefully our screw-up%u2019s during the 60's and 70's won't haunt us. I see the same pattern now as I did during the Vietnam War, people are starting to voice their opinions loudly (deservingly so) about the Iraq war, I pray that their voices will be heard and bring back our troops that can still hold their shoulders high, and e give them the respect they deserve. I guess Bush and company thought they would get the same reaction they did when daddy was in office during Desert Storm, but we all know that isn't going to happen. Sorry for being so critical, I know most of us here write quickly what is on our minds and could care less about grammar and punctuation.

[hawksprings]

Over the years I've done a lot of reading about WW2, and I have come to the conclusion that given the situation in 1945, and the knowledge that our leaders had, using the A bombs was the right decision.

While it's sad that thousands of innocent people died, some horribly burned or made sick by radiation, the two bombs undoubtably brought the war to a quicker end, and spared the lives of hundreds of thousands, and possibly a couple million who would have died in a full-scale invasion of Japan.

Anyone who says differently is doing so without a complete understanding of the situation, and is arm-chair quarterbacking from the position of hindsight and 50 plus years of knowledge.

...

[tbweb]

tbweb, good grief...it is PAST, not pass......

Posted by mitch0927 at 01:44 PM : Jul 03, 2007

mitch0927,,,

I know, thanks! I didn't correct it after I saw it, didn't want to waste bandwidth, but the message wasn't lost was it? They have those new "forget pills" now that erase your bad memories so maybe we will be repeating the past anyway! :)

[mitch0927]

tbweb, good grief...it is PAST, not pass......

[tbweb]

the younger generations in both Japan and Germany are getting very tired of being made to feel guilty over things they had nothing to do with. A powder keg waiting to go off.

Posted by infidel_us at 12:54 PM : Jul 03, 2007

infidel_us,,,

The pass makes us who we are today, it shapes and molds us, the pass is rich with lessons and like they say, those who forget the pass are condemned to repeat it. Maybe those who keep bringing it up do it out of fear of it being repeated!

[dogsoul]

"At least 49% of the people in this country voted against our current president, but we're all going to pay the price of terror for decades"

We were neither in Iraq nor Afghanistan on 9/11 - we were dealt quite a few terrorist attacks while Clinton was in office as well as earlier Presidents, including a bombing of the WTC and many targets abroad. Iraq & Afghanistan were not the cause of terror, they were very much a response TO it... so they wanted us dead well before Iraq - appeasement doesn't work with terrorists - it only encourages more terror... Taking the fight TO them & changing the long term landscape of the MiddleEast is the only way toward eventually rooting them out, or at least minimizing their ability to be as successful as they were on 9/11. Perhaps you ought to consider switching sides to support this mission, instead of fretting that NOW we're making them REALLY mad.... liberal p*ssies

[dogsoul]

"The atomic bombings are something that Japanese people can never forgive."

Tell ya what, forget about Pearl Harbor... how about WE forgive YOU for siding up w/ the Nazis & launching the world INto that nightmare... then maybe we can get graciously get your forgiveness for ending it. I suppose they're implying that Japan would never have used the atomic bomb were THEY to have gotten it first? Or their allies, Germany? Just ask China how well the Japanese treated their enemies...

The fact is that back then, cities got carpet bombed - that's how war was fought, no precision guided weaponry to speak of... and the atomic bomb simply did it better than conventional bombs. AND it IS a fact, however gruesome, that a full scale invasion of Japan would have resulted in many MANY more deaths on BOTH sides...

So if you ever want to forgive someone for these bombings... forgive yourselves, because THAT is who is to blame - YOU...