In wake of the annual Atomic Bomb sessions on the Catholic Blogosphere

Here's another interesting article.  Fact is, we Americans and Europeans still look at WWII as a European phenomenon.  As a general rule, we examined the Pacific war as a conflict between us and the Japanese that was a sidebar to the important part of the war.  I remember even hearing folks say 'in Europe, there were many countries involved, but in the Pacific, it was the Yanks vs. the Japs.'  Well, plus the Aussies and the Brits.  But fact is, it was also the entire Pacific rim, most of East Asia.  China, the Philippines, Burma, Korea.  These countries, turns out, have an entirely different view of the war, what it was about, how it ended, the horrible toll of occupation, and why things may not look the way we've always imagined.  And as those countries have emerged from behind Japan's rather impressive shadow, we come to realize there are different views.  Some of what we've heard may not be, well, accurate.

It hasn't just taken only these countries emerging.  For years, folks have been calling into question the Official Narrative (TM) of the Pacific War as told by Japan and critics of Truman and his decision to drop the two atomic bombs.  But in the last twenty years especially, more and more tales told by those countries who suffered under Japanese occupation, as well as reform minded scholars from within Japan itself, have cast new light on the old Japanese friendly tale that was always so easy to fit into the modern Super Narrative of the West*.  Not that it changes things from a Catholic, or even Christian, perspective when it comes to dropping atomic bombs on cities.  But it does call into question the traditional crutch that even without Christ, it was a bad decision since the peace loving Emperor and the rest of the nation was just itching for love and harmony, and nothing else was really bad until...

*White European and American heterosexual Christian men are the incarnation of absolute evil and the singular cause of all human suffering in the world; all other peoples, genders, races and nations are pure, caring, brilliant and flawless beings who ever and always wish to make love to nature, live in peace and harmony, and build a world centered around the eternal chanting of John Lennon songs.