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

Why should we apologize for defending ourselves?

The alternative would have been an invasion of Japan that was estimated to cost us 250,000 lives as the Japanese were, among other thi0ngs, training civilians to be suicide bombers, etc. So the choice was clear 250,000 of my people or 60,000 approximately of the enemy. BTY I have never read anywhere that Japan apologiezed for anything and are still not apologizing for their "comfort women" program.

Simply put, HELL NO! Japan dragged us in WWII by their cowardly attack on Pearl Harbor. Dropping the bombs secured our victory and peace! A lesson the current administration could learn from!

Nope. Not ever. Not for any reason. They chose a most dishonorable path of making war before it was declared. They deserved to get exactly what they got.

My father served in China Burma India theater of war from May 1942 until the War ended. This was not one of the areas of constant Allied Victories even late in the War. I can tell you exactly how he felt about it, can't say I disagree either. "They started it, it saved American Lives, they got what they deserved". After reading up on the atrocities in Burma and China, I don't even disagree with the last part of that statement.

Absolutely NOT, the dropping of the Atomic Bomb saved thousands of American lives. The invasion of mainland Japan would have been a disaster as the Japanese people would have fought us tooth and nail. They were prepared to fight to the death of every man, woman and child. My only regret would be that the technology of that day was not able to pin point a military target and hit it and only it. The bombing caused hundreds of Japanese lives. But from the ashes rose the great economical and technical nation of today. A World Power when it comes to technology. Japan as a nation is recognized as the one of the world leaders in technological advancements. Lastly, we warned the Japanese that we had the bomb and they did not believe us and after we dropped the first one they still did not capitulate.

Did the Japanese apologize to China for the Rape of Nanking in December, 1937? The brutality of their attack and subsequent occupation exceeds even that of the Soviet Army in World War II. The Bataan Death March, starting on April 9, 1942, was addressed only much later when "On September 13, 2010, Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada apologized to a group of six former American soldiers who during World War II were held as prisoners of war by the Japanese, including 90-year-old Lester Tenney and Robert Rosendahl, both survivors of the Bataan Death March. The six, their families, and the families of two deceased soldiers were invited to visit Japan at the expense of the Japanese government" I include a photograph of an American Soldier being bayoneted by Japanese Soldiers during the Bataan Death March, as well as Japanese burying a live Chinese prisoner during the occupation of Nanking in 1938. Although the Allies spent over a year preparing for the invasion of Japan, President Truman determined that the cost in lives and materiel warranted the dropping of the atomic bomb. General George Marshall commented on the Bataan Death March " These brutal reprisals upon helpless victims evidence the shallow advance from savagery which the Japanese people have made. [...] We serve notice upon the Japanese military and political leaders as well as the Japanese people that the future of the Japanese race itself, depends entirely and irrevocably upon their capacity to progress beyond their aboriginal barbaric instincts" Although a number of the leaders were later tried, executed, or imprisoned, it is still hard to this day to stomach the atrocities committed by the Japanese Army.

To all future generations who may yet contemplate Japan’s atomic destruction as unnecessary, cruel, and unjust I say let them come to Pearl Harbor as I had done to stand quietly some morning at the USS Arizona Memorial, respectfully bow their heads and simply listen to the wind. (Michael A. Bressler)

Why is it necessary to bring all of this up now? It's been 70 yrs....what's done is done...let it be....we already went into Japan after dropping TWO atomic bombs...and we helped them clean up...re build and get back onto their feet.

Leave it alone...why bring it up? what's the sense?

No, As someone who was born and raised in Hawaii before it became a state, I had relatives serving in the Pacific in WWII, along with my deceased F-I-L as an RM1, USN. The answer is very simple. NO! Look folks when I was growing up in the Islands my dad was with the 25th Infantry, Tropic Lightening at Schofield Barracks. We used to live across the street that had a plaque that read it was the first building fired upon by the Japanese Fighters at Schofield Barracks. As a high school student I did an extensive research on the Battle of Pearl Harbor and what it was like. When they filmed Tora, Tora, Tora, it was film in my home town of Wahiawa, Hawaii. Watching those makeshift Zero's flying down the street on California Avenue it was something out of the blue. As a kid, I remember the U.S. Marines in their Dress Blues from the Marine Barracks of Hawaii Guarding the Arizona Memorial, day and night. Now the Pacific Island National Park Services are in charged. I had many friends who survived those attacks that unfaithful day and I listened to their stories when I see them. Not many are left and if you would ask them, I bet they will say the same No or just walk away. I am a member of the AMVETS-Hawaii Arizona Post, and I know that the Hawaii Pearl Harbor Survivors and the San Diego Pearl Harbor Survivors will be Honored by the State of Hawaii and the Pacific Island National Park Services. I had family relatives that died by the hands of the Japanese. It's a hard thing to live with when you go to work everyday and see both the U.S.S. Arizona and the U.S.S. Missouri at Ford Island. S/F JK