BE19Pilot comments

President Obama has about as much understanding of Japanese civilities, culture and customs as he does economics, foreign policy and health care. Once again he didn't fail to embarrass himself and the United States...

I think the Japanese people have every right to honor their ear dead in a manner they choose. I don't think the average Japanese soldier or sailor was very much different than their counterparts. However, their leadership made a series of decisions that led to a war which Japan had no hope of winning. The result of these decisions was the suffering of the average Japanese civilian. Furthermore, it can be argued that the United States committed a crime on August 6th and 9th, BUT I wonder if Japan would have emerged in it's present form had an invasion taken place that was estimated to cause the deaths of upwards of 25 million, mostly civilians. Japan is a great country...beautiful people and culture. I was norn there and later stationed there...remembering and honoring those DESERVING respect is the Japanese thing to do. The "14" in my eyes perverted the warrior code to use it in making aggressive war on their neighbors and not "to serve" as true Samurai. They were self-serving cowards. Not worthy of being enshrined with the warriors that died serving their country...an honorable thing to recognize in Yasukuni as much as Arlington.