Message from jwyss

[Anonymous]

Professor Notehelfer's session was fascinating but I wished he had gone further in his analysis. It has been my impression that though the daimyo and samurai class social organization gave way to a corporate business model, the notion of bushido did not disappear but was amplified by the adoption western military models and weapons. Soon Japan would be participating in the great colonial game. First a war with China, then one with Russia, and a secret treaty with the United Statees ended with the Japanese annexation of Korea. Joining the allies in WWI, Japan was rewarded with the Carolines, the Marianas and the Marshalls, but gave the German port of Tsintao back to China after capturing it during the war. With the end of WWI, the Japanese and Americans competed in a naval weapons race despite the Washington Naval Treaty. Japan returned to China with a number of "incidents" challenging the Chinese until the outbreak of war in 1937. This, plus Japan's alliance with Germany and Italy, brought friction with the United States resulting in the attack on Pearl Harbor and war in the Pacific. 1945 brought two atomic bombings and an end to the war.

Professor Notefelder felt that the bombing were totally justified and necessary. He brought up the figure of 1,000,000 American casualties associated with "X"-Day and the invasion of Japan. I had thought this fiction had been totally dispelled long ago but apparently not. I respectfully disagreed with him, but pursued it no further. The issue has been highly politicized again since the Smithsonian's attempt to portray the effects on the Japanese in their Enola Gay display. I won't go into all the arguments, but two seem particularly compelling to me. The Japanese had been putting out feelers about surrender for nine months before the bombs were used; and second, most of the major American military commanders ( MacArthur, Nimitz, Halsey, Spatz, LeMay, Eisenhower, and others) thought the bombs were not necessary to end the war, it was already over. http://www.doug-long.com/ga1.htm We always do origami cranes during the Japan unit; this year I think I'll start early and attempt 1,000 cranes in honor of Sadako Sasaki and the other civilian victims at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.