Earlier this month, Hiroshima and Nagasaki held their annual atomic bombing commemorations. From Ishiba to local officials and citizens, speeches focused overwhelmingly on Japan’s suffering under nuclear attack, with little mention of Japan’s wartime aggression abroad. In Nagasaki, residents interviewed stressed the horrors of the bombings but rarely acknowledged Japan’s role as an aggressor.
The emphasis has shifted public perception. An NHK poll found only 35 percent of Japanese now see the war as one of aggression, compared with 52 percent in a 1994 survey.
In contrast, 67 percent of respondents said they “still cannot forgive” the atomic bombings, up 18 percentage points from a decade ago.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 