Freedom, here and there

On our country’s 231st Fourth of July, as we celebrate liberty, a shout-out of praise goes to … Fumio Kyuma.

Kyuma is, or was, of all things, the Japanese defense minister. He still would be if he had not said last week that the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II were … gulp … inevitable.

This is, of course, the truth. And it is even more true that the bombings were, ironically, the most humane way to end the war in the Pacific.

If the United States had been forced to mount a conventional D-Day style invasion of Japan, the number of Japanese (and Americans) casualties would have been much, much higher.

No serious military historian — or anyone with common sense — will dispute this.

That point of view isn’t popular in Japan, however, and that’s understandable. Their country is the only one on earth to have suffered an atomic bombing — twice. Even if it was the least-bad alternative, it is going to be a sore subject.

To make matters worse — from a Japanese perspective — Kyuma was a native of … Nagasaki.

Still, it’s about time that more government officials in Japan — like their counterparts in Germany — acknowledged the evil done by their country in World War II.

Many in Japan are still trying to deny the horrible saga of the “comfort women,” the 200,000 women (and girls) forced into military brothels.

Others are trying to say that the “Rape of Nanking” in 1937 wasn’t so ghastly — that only 30,000 innocent people were slaughtered, not 10 times that number. … Yeah, I’m sure that makes the survivors feel a lot better.

After the latest flap, Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue dredged up the old myth that the atomic bombings were the “indiscriminate massacre of ordinary citizens.” Two words, pal: Pearl Harbor.

The end of World War II was the best thing to happen to modern Japan. It got rid of a wicked dictatorship that brought massive death and destruction to the homeland. It allowed Japan to become one of the world’s most advanced societies.

We celebrate the birth of our freedom on July 4. Over the years, we’ve brought liberty to a bunch of other nations, from Korea to Kuwait. Japan is on the list, too — in large part because of what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945.

Happy Fourth of July to freedom lovers in this land and across the globe!