On this date in 1945

[Hekate]

44. That's quite possible, altho some of the same people show up every year with the same rant...

…that whitewashes Japan’s actual conduct in the Greater East Asia War and paints the US as the blackest villain in history for the way we made their rulers finally surrender.

They know better than to whitewash Germany’s behavior in WWII on this board — Jewish Americans have made quite sure that piece of history will not be forgotten by anyone sane.

But I think it is our reflexive orientation toward Europe and widespread ignorance of all things Asian that has allowed otherwise intelligent people to not acknowledge the evil that seized Japan and made them Hitler’s ally. The Rape of Nanking and the Bataan Death March were only two of the most notorious horrors.

The US helped a devastated Japan rebuild and to write a meaningful Constitution, and Japan became an economic powerhouse and a strong US ally. As Professor Akita said to my Japanese History class back in 1968, everything they tried to accomplish by war, they instead gained by peace.

But Dr. Akita, a Nisei himself, teaching at University of Hawai’i, never whitewashed history.