Should the United States apologize to Japan for dropping the atomic bomb?

No the United States of America and the other allied powers in WWII whose people suffered so much as the hands of the Japanese should not apologize for dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which helped bring WWII in the Pacific to an end SGT David Ewers . Since the 1930's when Japan invaded China and "raped" much of that land as it did wherever its forces invaded.
Japan could apologize to the proverbial cows come home for the myriad atrocities they committed in China, SE Asia, Thailand, Burma, India, throughout the eastern Pacific from wake through the Solomon Islands. Japans's atrocities were committed in accordance with their worldview of the valor of the victor and the absolute subjugation of the vanquished. Our leaders wrestled with dropping the bombs because that action mitigated against our worldview.
Not only was the war brought to a close at an allied cost much less than feared; but, our post war efforts to rebuild Japan and turn it from a warrior idolizing nation to a nation of acute businessmen and women and many world class entrepreneurs. Japan is our staunchest allie in NE Asia and our diplomatic relationship with Japan is secure.
Revisionists may wish to reinvent the 20th century and the conflicts of relative good versus unspeakable evil. Those who are truly interested in history are at the forefront of encouraging others to remember what happened so "we" do not repeat the past.
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Hitomi and I have some awkward moments when we watch WWII episodes on the History channel, that's for sure. My grandpa served as well as hers, but he didn't come home. She understands that had we invaded Honshu, we would have had to bayonet 7 yr olds running at us with bamboo sticks. The entire country was militarized and brainwashed since conception. Even when the Emperor tried to concede after Hiroshima his own military tried to kill him so they could continue fighting to avoid the shame and humiliation. It was never going to be over. More Japanese were killed in the final bombing raid on Tokyo than when Hiroshima was nuked from orbit and they were prepared to endure even more. Apologize? I say no.
Every Prime Minister since the end of WWII has apologized to the world for their aggression and expansionist policies. It is expected of their title and position. Shinzo Abe sent another unanswered request for POTUS to join them at the Dome (Memorial for World Peace) and before we bash POTUS, let's be clear that no American President has answered their invitations. That would be one difficult speech to have written by the staff. S!@t happens in war. We had the atomic bomb before anyone else and it got used. We can write libraries upon libraries of books as to why we were justified/condemned to do so. But the bottom line is this, had the Japanese developed it before us I promise you we would have been on the receiving end.

Apologies can be funny things. They should be offered when you 1) hurt another by acting selfishly (by giving in to temptation, greed, or some other selfish motivation) AND 2) are remorseful for doing so. In this case, the US was not acting selfishly ... it was defending itself and preventing future (probably larger) loss of life. So while only a sociopath would not be saddened by the death & destruction directly caused by the bombs, apology is inappropriate. A good litmus test is, "would we (or any country) do the same thing, faced with exactly the same set of circumstances, options, & context?" Of course we would. It's history. Remember it and learn from it.

This is a joke, right? I'll tell you what. Let the Japanese first apologize to the "comfort women" in Korea. Let them apologize to the Chinese. Then they can apologize to the POWs they incinerated rather than allowing to be repatriated as their camps were being liberated. Next, they can apologize for the murder of their own citizens. After all that, I still won't see any reason to apologize. Indeed, they should thank us for dropping the bombs and forcing the Emperor to issue the decree of surrender over the objections of his military who wanted to fight to the last drop of blood. Our nuclear weapons saved millions of Japanese lives as well as Americans. Oh, are you thinking maybe we should apologize for then helping them rebuild their nation into one of the most successful economic powerhouses in the world, in all of history?

"We're sorry that you were too f***ing stupid to realize that sucker-punching a guy ten times as big and twenty times more ornery than you would turn out badly."

SGT David Ewers - Sergeant; If you want to check the actual wording, Japan has never actually "apologized". "Expressing regret" for an "unfortunate incident" is NOT the same thing as apologizing.

I don't like nuclear weapons and would be just as happy if they had never been invented - BUT - I also recognize that TENS OF MILLIONS of lives (mostly Japanese) were saved by using the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Japanese military and government knew that the war was lost before the bombs were dropped (and, in fact, had known that it simply couldn't be won if the US chose to pursue it rather than come to a negotiated settlement while Japan was still in the ascendant),

However, the Japanese military and government simply could not surrender until obviously, finally and decisively beaten.

BUT, the Emperor could "save face" by protecting the Japanese people from weapons of unparalleled lethality against which the Japanese people had no defence by ordering the military and government to surrender AND the military and government could "save face" by complying with the dictates of the Emperor.

The Army sent me back to school to get a master's degree in counseling. I counsel married couples, family members, dependents and DOD civilians. Whereas a therapist's perspective may not always be applicacble in areas of tactics, I would like to offer some insight. A husband or a wife should ALWAYS apologize to his or her spouse, when he or she was WRONG. SGT David Ewers, if the actions of the United States in response to Japan's un-provoked attack on Pearl Harbor was morally wrong, then apology is warranted. If the United States was acting in defense of her sovereignty, in kind, with intention of stopping additional bloodshed, the United States should promise all aggressors that she'll do it again, in spades.

Winners don't apologize. We write the history.

Hell no.

PO2 Ed C. It is terribly sad what happened to the innocents and to those who had family who were interned in the USA and illegally I might add but we do NOT owe an apology for the carnage. Sad but they did bomb Pearl Harbor and the Japanese did awful things like skewer filipino infants on bayonets. So, again we probably saved many lives and in a war we did not start,