There may be many people in Japan who feel disappointed by the gullibility of popular opinion in America, that seems so easily led to believe the lies about “comfort women,” and the “Nanking Massacre,” — but that may not necessarily be the case. America has always had a conscience; hence the title of this article: “U.S. Forces Were Against the Dropping of the Atomic Bombs.
Many Western historians claim that, “the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary. Otherwise American troops would have had to be deployed to the Japanese archipelago, where a million American casualties would have been sacrificed. It brought a speedy end to the war, saving both America and Japan.”
However, this claim overlooks one important factor (either that or they are brain washed, or the informations has been manipulated). At the time, excluding a few people such as Truman and Roosevelt, most people, both in the government and military, were against the atomic bombing of Japan.
For instance, six out of seven “five-star generals” (senior ranking marshals and admirals) during WWII) were against the atomic bombing.

Just before the end of the War, General Dwight Eisenhower, who was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe (later becoming President of the U.S.), heard about the “atomic bombing plan” at the Potsdam Conference, and expressed clear discomfort. He denounced it by saying, “I do not want our country to be the first to use such a brutal weapon.”
General MacArthur too condemned it saying, “the dropping of the atomic bomb was completely unnecessary.” Pacific Fleet Admiral of the United States Navy Nimitz also stated that, “it was utterly meaningless, and should not have been dropped.” The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Leahy, condemned President Truman saying, “These new and terrible instruments of uncivilized warfare represent a modern type of barbarism not worthy of Christian man’….and ‘we had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages’.”
Underlying such clearly voiced opposing opinions, are civilized and historical reasons, and we may find further hints for reflection in the condemning words of Admiral Leahy: “I was not taught to make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be won by destroying women and children.”
(Sorry to say, but it has already been settled academically that the “Nanking Massacre” by the former Japanese military is fictional. The misunderstanding persists only because of the clumsy handling in the area of foreign public relations by the Japanese government. I plan to post an article on this matter elsewhere.)

In accordance with Leahy’s words, we can say that before the advent of the modern constitutional state in an earlier more “barbaric age”, so to speak, entire armies and civilian populations in the enemy sector were often wiped out in war, including women and children (A Prime example of this is illustrated by the Mongolian army that conquered the Eurasian continent in the 13th Century).
However, as such a manner of warfare has been considered “lower than beasts,” since the 17th century, there have been efforts to establish international laws. And it has been enacted, by international treaty (the Hague Conventions, etc.) among nations under modern rule of law that “in wars fought as an extension of diplomacy, noncombatants (women and children) are not to become targets”.
This is taught early on in both military and naval academies in America as well as Japan. Thus, in this sense, Japan is not the only country that has “Bushido Spirit”. What Admiral Leahy and the five other generals wanted to express was, “Truman’s order soiled the pride of military men, and burdened us with the stigma of being beasts lower than the barbarians.”
In the spiritual message by Master Ryuho Okawa given on 3 January 2014, the guardian spirit of the pundit for diplomacy, Mr. Hisahiko Okazaki stated that, “if Americans would be given explanations with proper knowledge, then they would be able to determine matters fairly.” (Confer the references at the end)
There is no need to fear. America is a country of conscience, I believe. We ought to now demand that: “It has been seventy years; it is time for the U.S. to revise the misguided interpretations of history.”