And I agree. It's quite amazing. I'm not sure how familiar you are with Mishima but recently I've begun to [re-read] some of his work. Anyway, he deals with [to a certain extent] the aestheticization of Seppeku. To me it's rather unbelievable that someone could be this committed to 'duty' and 'honor'.
I wasn't aware that they knew they only had two weeks, but it's not very surprising. However, the opposite attitude regarding the invincibility of Japan and its Emperor would have been pretty commonplace as well. After all, Japan beat Russia in Russo-Japanese War in 1905. After that they beat the Chinese numerous times. Naturally, your common nationalist would feel that his/her state cannot possibly be defeated. Especially not by a 'weak' liberal democracy such as the US.
If the bombs hadn't been dropped? Good question. I'd imagine Japan never would have surrendered and the Allies may have been forced to make an amphibious assault (which could be highly disastrous).
I'm slightly familiar with 'bat bombs'. It would have resulted in less civilian causalities for sure, but the Allies weren't only concerned with a strategic/tactical victory, but a moral one.
It's hard to come to a conclusion about all of this, but the mass incendiary attacks against Japanese cities was brutal yet somewhat understandable. However, they bomb a country into oblivion and then drop TWO nukes on them? I don't know. Certainly questionable.
And I agree. It's quite amazing. I'm not sure how familiar you are with Mishima but recently I've begun to [re-read] some of his work. Anyway, he deals with [to a certain extent] the aestheticization of Seppeku. To me it's rather unbelievable that someone could be this committed to 'duty' and 'honor'.
I wasn't aware that they knew they only had two weeks, but it's not very surprising. However, the opposite attitude regarding the invincibility of Japan and its Emperor would have been pretty commonplace as well. After all, Japan beat Russia in Russo-Japanese War in 1905. After that they beat the Chinese numerous times. Naturally, your common nationalist would feel that his/her state cannot possibly be defeated. Especially not by a 'weak' liberal democracy such as the US.
If the bombs hadn't been dropped? Good question. I'd imagine Japan never would have surrendered and the Allies may have been forced to make an amphibious assault (which could be highly disastrous).
I'm slightly familiar with 'bat bombs'. It would have resulted in less civilian causalities for sure, but the Allies weren't only concerned with a strategic/tactical victory, but a moral one.
It's hard to come to a conclusion about all of this, but the mass incendiary attacks against Japanese cities was brutal yet somewhat understandable. However, they bomb a country into oblivion and then drop TWO nukes on them? I don't know. Certainly questionable.
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