praack comments

Actually the US bombing campaign had Japan at it's knees already, all ports were closed, all major cities save 2 were firebombed. the US saved those two for the Nukes. There were people in government who wanted to continue - regardless of surrender- but of course the other 8 bombs would not be ready for another month.

the US does not really teach what happened in Japan with the bombs and post war period. just like we don't mention our internment camps.

what is apparent here is that the message from the Singaporean leader is not being listened to : it is being reinterpreted to meet the opinions people already had.

Japan is not a country looking for war, denying war, begging for war. it s a country of peace, which if you compare a Japanese citizen with one from the US, EU and most Asian countries you will find that on most topics the idea of sending troops, taking up arms and such - is not in the vocabulary.

the anger that is present is for an older breed that all but wiped out during the war, almost all of the Japanese Troops died in the war- where most of the other countries that fought in the pacific theater survived.

you talk so well of Germany - yet that country was run by Nazi's well into the mid 60's, don;'t believe me- go check. the west was more concerned about Russia by then. and for the 50's into the late 60's they were not really telling their children much about the war.

war is horrible, the thing is this one is long past, we need to let the wounds heal- all this does is keep them fresh and keeps the hate alive- that is never good for the soul

china fully expects the US to fold and go home- something the current president might do, and something Madame President Hopeful might do as well.

as for Living Memory's comment's- sign of the times for the 60's . but look at today- russian bears flying over Alaska, China attempting to fly over carrier fleets, china building the island- which can currently land transports- so if a transport can land i hazard a guess fighters could too.

closure is nice - if we have the means and there is still dna in the bones we should try. families need peace.

as for the war- let it go, the propaganda from that time leads you to believe the US would have conducted things differently, Perhaps- but i imagine we would have our ships and planes off their shores just waiting for the message which would have been communicated in the US to the embassy.

then we would have moved in

not really any warning with that scenario- not much of a moral high ground. bur war is war

I'll be saying a prayer for the Japanese as well as for the Allied troops who had to fight that horrible war. It is a shame such a strife took place, but our peoples have grown closer- though it is tough to tell with reading comments in these posts.

this is memorial day in the states, a day for remembrance of sacrifice, a day to hopefully form peaceful bonds- not one to plot further vengeance

Jimizo- the reason the word Homosexuality was not mentioned in the bible is that they used to use the word sodomite- the Germans were a tad offended by the use of the label.

you will shortly see a change to using the Cis lable as they are also driven by psychiatry.

When God sent his Son to die for us many of the laws in the old book were scrubbed, but if it was reiterated in the New Testament we were to follow them- not just ignore them.

If the current trend of society is that Gays Marry- let them Marry by Judge- that is the way of Caesar. If a Church decides to change the bible to meet Society - then it has lost God's way, for the church is now telling God it knows better.

I take umbrage with the archbishops comments however, and i will be disheartened if another church puts aside the teachings of the bible to cater to the whims of a group coming to power. for man to decide that the bible, especially the new testament is no longer valid is wrong, this was a book written by witnesses of Jesus under the hand of the Holy Spirit.

it was not just knocked together by a drunk in a bar for a couple of chuckles.....

whale and dolphin, wish i could try some here.. sigh...

oh well will have to wait until my next trip to Japan.

BTW - in the 1050's we would not have this conversation,

in the 1960's some conversation would be occurring to ensure that overfishing was not occuring

we only became concerned after a TV show in the late 60's and couple of movies in the 70's and 80;s and people humanized the creatures - now we honor them as gods. not really scientific just a set of movies and film...

don't scream- you don't have any options -

you can go renewable but the price is high, the return rate is not as big as people say and the replacement cost of wind turbines is high as well.

but go ahead- list all the sources allow people to pay what they want, cut the power back- cook on camp stoves

but also get rid of coal and oil fired electric - because if you want green - you need to be green - not just anti- nuclear (which BTW is green)

36 is pushing it, the initial date is always hazy, so you cannot really set the conception date- and that starts the "40 weeks" and children have a mind of their own anyway.

so if this was a last minute "Vacation" = not a real smart idea

the world runs on business not politics- otherwise Ukraine would not be happening, neither would Chinese expansion, the crumbling of the middle east etc.

though countries were deriding Russia, France stopped deliver of a naval vessel only at the last minute due to the pressure it was getting from other eu countries. The UN kept contracting with Russia the whole time. most of the restrictions placed on Russia are targeted on a few men and what they have outside the country- not on the country itself.

EU wants it's natural gas and other products and was quite willing to sacrifice the Crimea - remember Putin admits now he put troops in to take it - but no uproar. , no uproar over the commercial jet, heck the west will probably allow them to take everything east of the Dnieper

actually nicely posited.

whenever you use a popular medium to set a social thesis you will have issues- however this one does have some parallels with today's societies.

sometimes it is seeing the threads and pulling them together - i believe the writer did that here.

nice reading

nice fictional tale- good reading on wikipedia about alex haley and how he crafted it- but remember- it is fiction

in reality only two are truly at fault and they are the police in charge of the van, they have pulled everyone- from the arresting officers, through the officers at the other scenes to the final officers at the jail.

that is why the union is a bit upset, the charges are for the crowd - not for what happened and who was at fault.

if you go on a witch hunt you will always find a witch

women;s rights in the US has a stellar record !, well may not so much., sure women finally made in-roads with the workplace in the late 60's early 70's due to necessity of a weak economy and rising prices, but it tok until this century for women to really get in to middle management.

even then women still are not in senior management or regularly on boards of directors

what i am saying is - this takes time , and a lot of factors need to be taken into consideration including child care options, need, want/drive for steady employment over home life and, yes, available job growth

Jandworld, has anything changed? look around you, a country that hates war, a country that wishes to remain peaceful that wishes someone truly acknowledge the nuclear bombing and the fire bombings that took place. a country that does want to change a constitution put in place by the west.

most of those in congress have never walked the streets and paths of Japan, never met the people. they look at the monuments and posters of the past war and believe all the hatred.

then they read more hatred here

Japan is peaceful , will remain peaceful unless other countries push it into a war stance - i am praying that never happens

Actually Jerseyboy - the South Korean Embassy does enlist the services of several lobby groups to push their agenda- every once in a while they get named if the contract is high- or if the change is frequent- such as in 2010 . all lobby groups must be reported to the Justice Department.

so no Ossan is not pulling the wool over our eyes- it is just something that no one reports in the news,

i don;t know what to say, i have a western mindset, i sit here astounded in discovering how many Nazi's were allowed to live unpunished by Germany and the allies - yet here we are revisiting Japan and whether the apology was deep enough

is is almost like one country got a free pass the other one is kept with each generation paying reparations over and over

agree on the intrusiveness of drones - though i hear there are some good uses they are far outweighed by the bad ones- from war to invasion of privacy.

japan4life - you have hit the correct nail on the head- the USA is the driver hear- not Japan- and the US will not do anything to anger China - who owns the US Debt load, supplies the Apple Products to the faithful and is always pointed to as being the next Big Sales Audience.

at least until the next industry is hit with fines and driven from the country for not giving up all their industrial secrets to China....

"It might be reasonable to expect guarantees" oh that is rich, where in the world can a natural disaster be guaranteed not to happen?

as for power in this century- we are at a breaking point, all alternative methods are either not able to scale up- or are not cost effective to do so.

without nuclear you are left with fossil fuels, which increase air pollution and global warming.- all of the projected decreases in air pollution were based on the heavy use of nuclear energy.

you may malign it as much as you want- but the only options are- to increase fossil fuel and kill the planet - or decrease our use of energy by 50-60 percent to start getting us in the range of current energy plants and alternative e-sources.

and even that number may be too small- we might have to cut to 70 percent of today's energy

in reality if the decision of the commission is to discontinue all whaling then they should just say it.

Arguing if a scientific plan is "good enough" in the court of public opinion is just that- collecting public opinion that was set from some movies years ago.

in this case - if they keep pushing Japan- Japan may leave the IWC and just start whaling again- as there is no real world wide law that everyone needs to be part of the IWC or follow it's rule

not really a big airport, 41 flights a day and that's with the military sharing the field- newark has 402,000. the last time it was close to 41 was in 1957 - then it was only a measly 61 per day in 1939

the pilot was well trained, the maintenance staff had checked in, yes the tower made a mistake- but as someone else said- that's why you practice touch and go

In the USA the standard age is 32-40 years and most of the plants have another 40 years to go on the license. the idea that 40 is the optimum time period for operation is incorrect- the question is how good the control systems are, the containment vessel is and whether the plant received regular updates.

you should also do the same with fossil plants- however most stay untouched from the time of installation till the time they are mothballed, there is a new attempt at a :"Clean coal fired solution" however there are inherent safety solutions there- as the CO2 buildup along with the mercury removed from the atmosphere (coal still remains 66% responsible for acid rain and mercury) are normally stored on site initially and there is a large potential to leaks.

however when people start talking nuclear and safety all real numbers tumble out the window- no one wants to look at safety numbers of nuclear energy vs the other big energy sectors, and no one wants to look at the polution numbers as well

nice haiku, appropriate, always sad - but nice that they are finding their way home at last

it is clearly stupid when you do not understand that the enemy is one of religion and not of country boundaries that were set during colonial rules.

when reporters are out they here from the troops how they will smash the opposing Sunni's or the opposing Shia's - none of this garbage about fighting Iraq, Syria or any other country.

to them it is a religious war, so when IS rolled into an area that was controlled by people of the same religion- well the main troops melted away leaving the material- or joining forces (do you really think someone picks up driving an Abrams using a a YouTube video?)

the US is acting just like a colonial power, while the countries surrounding IS are clearly staying out of the conflict- as it depends on the religion if they contribute to the cause or not - Islam is made up of more than one branch to us infidels you know.....

tinawatanabe has some valid points, since the war Japan has remained a scapegoat to the US for many trade reasons- i remember the infamous Steel embargo to try to keep out "Cheap:" Japanese steel. it was actually made much better than ours and came wrapped.

now the push is to have japan remove safety]'s for rice - so that the US can trash the Japanese rice farmers with cheap US rice

the F2 fighter is another sore point- the US wanted to ensure the Japanese would help with funding and buying the first ones (the most expensive ones that pay off research costs) so the F2 (Japan's ) could not go forward- enough pressure was put on Japan that they stopped development in the 1980's.

the demonization of Japan by the US during the pacific war was so vast that it is easy to use it for political means - so i expect when Abe goes there will be a list of politicians bowing to veterans groups and not showing - the same veteran's groups who would meet their enemy now in peace if they had the chance.

vin diesel is only 47, michelle rodriguez is only 36, Jason Statham is only 47

nope not that old at all pal,.....

i fear the future: where dinosuars like us will have to turn on flashing lights, and sensors warning others if we are driving - staying in certain lanes where we are controlled at safe speeds below 30mph.

while numbnuts who cannot be bothered and want to watch the latest youtube highlights zip by unable to stop when the software hiccups

oh freaking god, what am i ? i work all day in a research plant making things that make people better, i take photo's, can make and fix computers but yeah i love anime and people look at me strange because in their eyes Ghost in the Shell or Knights of Sidonia is the same as Micky Mouse

No you won't see me at a conference like this - but that is something for the younger set- leave them be - they are having fun and have an escape outlet that is not hanging out on a street-corner mugging people