'I still hate the glow of the sun': Hiroshima survivors' tales by Shingo Ito

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11. Here's the difference

The Japanese, right or wrong, bombed a military installation called Pearl Harbor. We destroyed cities full of innocent civilians, who were maimed and massacred in a most horrible way, simply so we could test this weapon of mass destruction. No comparison and no excuse for what we did. My understanding now is that the emperor was willing to surrender, before the bombs were dropped, but it was, traditionally, dishonorable for him to surrender "unconditionally," which is what we insisted on and what was known he would not be able to do. For the Japanese, it is about saving face and an unconditional surrender was too much of a humiliation.
We have no excuse for the horror we caused those people. There aren't enough apologies to be offered these people. I will, however, add mine.