When I lived in Japan I made a visit to Hiroshima. The thing that sticks in my mind is not the horrific waxworks but the smaller items in the exhibition, the watch that stopped at the time oif the detonation, the twisted childs tricycle and other personel affects.

On the day I visited, which was during 'Golden Week' a week long holdiday in May there were many school parties. Several approached us and asked us our nationality. British I replied. They then asked what we thought about the bomb drop?

I had to agree it was a devastating demonstration of power, but when I asked these same students about the history of the Pacific War and why such a bomb was used they had no reply. Their school history books then and today do not cover the reasons or the actions of the Japanese forces in Asia or the war crimes committed against the Chinese, Thais, Phillipinos, Koreans.

This very fact still causes hatred of the Japanese in the region.

So while I agree that the bomb drop was an awfull thing the Japanese politicians should use the 6th August as a day of mourning not just for the Japanese who lost their lives but also to offer some kind of honour to those they tortured and pillaged and killed in their campaigns.

I am not anti-Japanese but I find the ambivalence to the suffering they caused at odds with the way the whole thing is turned into a guilt trip against those that fought them.

If you think that there are no right wingers left in Japan who want a return to Imperialism then go to the Yasukuni Shrine a week before the 6th August and witness the gathering of them. This group of people are still in denial and they include many of the Japanese Diet's politicians.