You just got to love the Sept. 26 article "Two 'systematic' acts of brutality and coverup," by The Japan Times' apologist Hiroaki Sato.
Well, despite what historian Gar Alperovitz and others might have said, the insinuation that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were unnecessary has a long history and might even be true in some respects. But this is all pure hindsight and the fact is that the bombs brought an abrupt halt to the millions of acts of systematic brutality that the Japanese government had wrought on the Asia-Pacific region since 1937, and resulted in the rescue of tens of thousands of prisoners of war, civilian and military, who were actually tagged for extermination in the event of an allied victory.
The bombs probably also saved the lives of countless Japanese, both in and out of the country, at the hands of the military, especially the dreaded kenpeitai. Perhaps an article or two about the propensity of Japanese officers to lop off heads for sundry or no reasons would be in order.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.