Indeed, the Japanese people have believed for decades that their nation has a special role as peace ambassadors and an obligation to refuse war—an obligation mandated by the American-authored "peace constitution." But, while Japanese military are still known as Self-Defense Forces, their budget is now the fourth largest in the world—around $46 billion annually, trailing only the U.S., Russia, and China. Since three years after the bombs were dropped "No more Hiroshimas, no more Nagasakis" has been the mantra of pacifists and anti-nuclear activists, but the Japanese commitment to peace has been wavering recently, while the nuclear threat from North Korea and other neighbors increases daily.
It should not be said that "bombs were dropped." We must admit that we dropped bombs. We may not approve of many things the U.S. government did then, or is now doing, but since it is our government we have to acknowledge some kind of complicity.
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