# why did we drop the Atomic Bombs on Japan **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 21, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-drop-the-atomic-bombs-on-japan/635342 "2012-09-21T00:37:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-drop-the-atomic-bombs-on-japan/635342/121 "2012-09-27T08:00:35Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > To add to what you wrote in said post, there was an attempted [palace coup](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABj%C5%8D_Incident) 3 days after Nagasaki on Aug 12, 1945 with the intention of placing the Emperor under house arrest and preventing the broadcast of the Imperial Rescript on surrender. The interesting thing about at attempted coup was that although it was lead by a major and the colonels (aren’t all coups lead by colonels?) it was carried out with the full knowledge of the top army leaders, including Army Chief of Staff Gen Umezu, one of the Members of the Japan War Counsel who did nothing to stop it. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-drop-the-atomic-bombs-on-japan/635342/122 "2012-09-27T08:22:29Z")
Personally, I think Shōwa-tennō (Hirohito) did his duty to his people by surrendering. He stood up to his council and said, essentially, “no more.” > [@](#): > > I desire that concrete plans to end the war, unhampered by existing policy, be speedily studied and that efforts be made to implement them. His radio broadcast urging surrender included this gem of understatements, “[T]he war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage.” ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-drop-the-atomic-bombs-on-japan/635342/123 "2012-09-27T16:53:53Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > The interesting thing about at attempted coup was that although it was lead by a major and the colonels (aren’t all coups lead by colonels?) it was carried out with the full knowledge of the top army leaders, including Army Chief of Staff Gen Umezu, one of the Members of the Japan War Counsel who did nothing to stop it. I’m drawing a blank and my google-fu is failing me, but there’s even a specific word for this kind of ‘patriotic disobedience’ by junior officers with how prevalent it was; this, the Feb 26 Incident, the May 15 Incident, the Kwantung Army being informed that it was going to receive orders to not do anything to increase tensions or involve Japan in war in Manchuria (so wink wink you’d better do it now before the orders formally arrive). ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-drop-the-atomic-bombs-on-japan/635342/124 "2012-09-27T20:38:27Z")
[Gekokujō](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gekokuj%C5%8D). > [@](#): > > Gekokujō (下克上?, also 下剋上) is a Japanese term variously translated as the lower rules the higher or the low overcomes the high. The phenomenon became prevalent during the Warring States period (1467–1573), starting with the Ōnin War when the power of the Muromachi Shogunate ended in factional strife and the burning of Kyoto > … > Later centuries used the concept of gekokujō as justification for junior and mid-level military officers engaging in principled disobedience if they were motivated by moral principles. This was played out in Manchuria and Tokyo several times during the 1930s. Army officers engaged in provocative attacks in Manchuria in attempts to create justification for seizing territory from China. In Japan, ultranationalist military officers led waves of assassinations against political and business leaders, in order to “purify” Japanese society from the corporate and political party influences that they believed were preventing Japan from attaining its rightful place among nations through Asian expansion. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-drop-the-atomic-bombs-on-japan/635342/125 "2012-09-28T00:35:41Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > Personally, I think Shōwa-tennō (Hirohito) did his duty to his people by surrendering. > He stood up to his council and said, essentially, “no more.” Good god no. Hirohito (who is called Shōwa-tennō by Japanese, in Japanese, but as this is a discussion in English by primarily Westerners, I’ll follow Western convention) was a war criminal, and only escaped that fate because his personal best interests, in which is consistently acted for and never against, happened to be aligned with the US’s interests. Had he done his duty to the people, he could have acted sooner and with more authority. The blood of millions was on his hands. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-drop-the-atomic-bombs-on-japan/635342/126 "2012-09-28T03:46:17Z")
They deserved it. Use punctuation. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-drop-the-atomic-bombs-on-japan/635342/127 "2012-09-28T06:08:25Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Use punctuation. That’s a strong argument. He did not do his duty to the people. He failed them. Did I miss any periods there? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-drop-the-atomic-bombs-on-japan/635342/128 "2012-09-28T21:55:40Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Use punctuation. I see plenty of punctuation. There are numerous commas, and a couple of parentheses. And they were used correctly. I suspect your real complaint is that the sentence was just a tad too complicated, with too many subordinate clauses intruding the flow. That’s a different thing than a lack of punctuation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-drop-the-atomic-bombs-on-japan/635342.md?page=6)