The first reason why the dropping of the atomic bomb in Japan should be justified is that Japan continued on its aggressive attack even though there were many warnings of the United States during World War II. After Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy in 1940, they began in earnest involved in several battles and colonized many countries, taking advantage of them. Before World War II, 1939 to 1945, Japan already achieved its goal to conquer China and Manchuria, the beginning of the war in the European Theater provided a chance for Japan to extend its horizons because the Allied power was more concentrated to fight against Germany at that time. Triggered by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States intervened in the war in the Pacific actively, and the aggressive attack on Japan did not stop. In 1941, the Japanese launched seven attacks at the same time, in Malaya, Thailand, and the Philippines, and many Allied naval forces were defeated due to Japan’s strong advance in Southwest Asia. Because Allied power could not expect that Japan had powerful naval forces and a strong ambition to dominate Southeast Asia for political and economic reasons, the United States and Great Britain had to make a decision to stop their aggression and a further attack on Allies, which was the atomic bomb.
Japan’s aggressiveness in the battle was nothing compared to their act of cruelty that showed in many massacres against Southeast Asian countries. The Nanjing Massacre, as known as the Rape of Nanking, from December 1937 to January 1938, killed a massive number of Chinese citizens in the city of Nanjing during the Sino-Japanese War. Under the order of Matsui Iwane, a general of Japan, the Japanese soldiers perpetrated mass executions of innocent Chinese citizens and tens of thousands of rapes. Furthermore, they burned down all the towns and the city, destroyed everything they had, made Nanjing the capital of their Chinese puppet government. In total, estimated ranging from 100,000 to more than 300,000 Chinese people were killed and raped by Japan. Not just in China, but also there was another massacre in Manila, Philippines, that was committed by Japanese troops in February 1945, and it is considered the most horrifying tragedy in the Pacific theater. Countless shooting, bombing, ravening, torturing, and killing were subjected Filipinos, approximately 100,000 civilians in Manila were killed indiscriminately and deliberately. Through that massacre perpetrated by Japanese soldiers, they proved themselves that they killed unnecessary lives of people first. The arguments of Japan was that too many innocent people died from a nuclear bomb in Hiroshima, but they committed the war crimes of killing and torturing innocent citizens, just for fun, and I think they deserved to lose a massive number of people, as they did to citizens in Philippines and China.
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Even though the claims have existed that Japan already showed signs of surrender, I do not agree that Japan would surrender if the United States did not drop the bomb in Hiroshima because Japanese soldiers never surrendered without an order due to excessive loyalty to their country. The code of Bushido, the samurai code was existed by Japanese soldiers from the 1900s with the publication of Nitobe Inazo, “Bushido: The Soul of Japan”, and Japanese soldiers viewed this as an admirable code of chivalry. This code of Bushido encouraged soldiers in Japan to fight eagerly for his country, and it had become a byword for Japan’s suicidal tendencies and military cruelty. In the same vein, the Japanese military had Kamikaze, the Japanese pilots who made deliberate suicidal crashes into enemy targets, usually ships. The kamikaze planes contained light bombers with them, and the Japanese soldier did not hesitate to kill and sacrifice themselves, even they thought it is an honor to destroy the opponent’s ships, kill the enemy, and die a glorious death in the battle. From the code of Bushido, the Japanese soldiers have deeply planted the idea of sacrificing themselves, and rather kill themselves than surrender to enemies. I think the Japanese soldiers would continue to fight until they die and would bring much more casualties if the United States did not drop the bomb in Hiroshima.
Before deciding to drop the nuclear bomb on Japan, the United States and Allied power already gave them a warning for their aggressive actions, and if they surrendered before the United States throw the bomb, that many innocent people did not have to die. On July 26, 1945, the Potsdam Declaration, an ultimatum issued by the U.S., Great Britain, and China, called for the unconditional surrender of Japan. At this time, Germany had already surrendered to the Allies, but the war continued in the Pacific theater as Japan remained committed to fighting. Responding to this, the leaders of each country discussed and delivered their warning to surrender, including complete disarmament and creating a responsible government. However, the Japanese Prime Minister responded “tokusatsu”, which mean “no comment”. Even after they decided to drop the bomb in Hiroshima, they gave a final warning to people in Japan in order to save as many innocent citizens in Japan. LeMay leaflets, suggested to the citizens in Japan to give the petition to their emperor to end this useless war, cease the military resistance, and evacuate from their cities. However, all of this effort went crumbled to dust, and I think the United States had no other options to end the useless war in the Pacific, responding to the aggression of Japanese military power.
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