Japan's Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma has stirred up a hornet's nest at home with a remark that can be interpreted as meaning the atomic bombing of Japan is not something that is blameworthy. From an AP/Kyodo [the Japanese version of AP] dispatch:Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma said Saturday he thinks the dropping of the atomic bombs by the U.S. in the closing days of World War II "could not be helped," as it was aimed at preventing the Soviet Union from entering the war against Japan."I understand the bombings brought the war to its end. I think it was something that couldn't be helped," Kyuma said in a speech at a university in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture.I am all but certain the phrase he used in Japanese was "shikata ga nai," a very common expression meaning that there was no alternative, and connoting that blame is not to be meted out to the person or persons responsible. Many in Japan, particularly those associated with Hiroshima and Nagasaki but...(Read Full Post)