Subjectivity, and your very own history lesson
Current Sounds: Hoshi no Koe - 01 - Through the Years and Far Away
Feeling 'better' is a funny thing, really. While I do most certainly feel 'better' than I have in the past 5 days, I by no means feel 'good'. The funny thing is that by sheer comparison (which is necessary when you use a word such as 'better', as it is subjective), I feel great. On the grand scheme of things? Still not so good. Subjectivity can really put a positive (or negative) spin on pretty much anything, depending on how you want to look at it. Seeing that I'm not a markedly optimistic person, I think we can guess as to what my usual preferred spin is, but we won't go there now.
Having picked one of those ".. seriously, what's wrong with you" majors actually does lead to some interesting bonuses, if a bit questionable at times. Namely, it is almost always an instant conversation starter when majors come up and can carry things for awhile. Somehow, "East Asian Studies, Japanese history" is a little less common than business or psychology (the two most popular majors in the US), and at leave gives you something to talk about. By and large, people don't actually care any more than I care about the random stuff I talk to the cashier about, but it does provide a good, random starting point. Then there are the more in-depth conversations, with the people who have actually considered what it means that I studied Japanese (and Chinese) history. These people often like to get into some international politics discussions (note: probably not a good idea. I read Chinese and Japanese newspapers in English, and Japanese news in Japanese.. odds are, I probably know what's going on and the historical basis), or bring up my favorite question ever. Seriously. I'm totally not sarcastic here. I love the question.
....
Okay, I'm being sarcastic.
"Well, what do you think about the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, then?"
It's not so much that I care about the question in and of itself.. it's the same to me as if you asked about some over-arching social issue. I have an opinion, I'm reasonably educated in the issue, and it's a fact of life that it exists. What causes problems is the other party's opinion, which by the time they're asking me for mine, they've already formed their's and are in no hurry to change it. So by asking what I think of this devastating historical scar, they're pretty much comparing notes. It doesn't help that my opinion on the issue isn't especially popular, though I think it's rather humanistic, ultimately.
In short, the bombing was terrible and a depressing loss of life. Alas, it was a necessary evil. If you review archival Japanese social/military training tapes and literature of the time, you'll find a Japanese populace that is not going to give up and will fight a very bitter, ugly war using every man, woman, and child. There are videos of children and school teachers training with bamboo spears and farm implements. These people would fight, and against the American and Russian (who were to come drive an invasion south through Korea and into Honshuu by Fall 1985) soldiers, they would die. Looking at the island battles (Marshall islands, Iwojima, Okinawa, others), the soldiers fight to the end, and the civillians ultimately were coerced into committing mass suicide. Basically, Allied forces would've not only taken harsh casualities (note, though, that the numbers MacArthur cited for the invasion of Kyuushuu were greatly inflated), but the Japanese would've suffered catastrophic losses.
Japan would also not have surrendered. While it is true they were seeking a possible surrender prior to the bombing, it was heavily stacked in their favor, which is something the Allies would never have accepted. It was all or nothing; terms Japan would never agree to.
Ugly as it was.. the bombing was such a huge, massive, unknown ordeal (the Japanese at this point were still unclear exactly what America had dropped on them) that it brought them to the negotiating table. Even the firebombings on Tokyo (which had killed more people in one night than either bomb did) couldn't do that, and had they spread out to more cities, again, the loss of life would be astounding.
Lastly, because America had bombed Japan into the ground, there was a certain guilt and responsibility that went along with this, leading to the Occupation period that ultimately put Japan in a position to rebuild and become one of the strongest economies in the world in such a short period of time.
So, as ugly as it may be, I think the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 100% necessary, even though I agree that it really is a very sad scar on humanity's record and says something markedly awful about the evils we can commit. Nonetheless, I still believe that America is one of the greatest countries out there, and that it was the best of all evils.
I should get going to bed, I guess.. just felt like writing something for awhile. Almost all my free time goes to work, school, or preparation for school nowadays. My Japanese is getting better, which is good.. but I'd still like to live once in awhile.
Other bizarre questions I get with a fair degree of regularity:
Who's cuter? Korea, Japanese, or Chinese?
What do I think of the accents of the countries?
Which language sounds better?
Tell me something about Japan..
Do they really sell underwear in vending machines? (I do know the answer to this and no, I will not go into it)
Do you know anything about Korea? (Koreans tend to ask this one the most, for fairly obvious reasons)
Why don't you study Chinese? It's a better language (again, this tends to be related to the people who are talking to me.. typically Chinese, for obvious reasons)
Sleeeeeepy...
Jason on 02.11.08 @ 10:02 PM JST [link]
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