To the Arabic-speaking people who came to criticize my post yesterday:
“Did you forget Nagasaki and Hiroshima?”
“You’re just America’s slave.”
“Japan is a country of gropers.”
More than 90% of the comments were basically the same.
At some point, I honestly wondered:
are you all bots?
Japanese people have not forgotten.
Not Hiroshima.
Not Nagasaki.
It is true that the postwar occupation of Japan is complicated.
It is also true that Japan has a problem with sexual harassment and groping.
I am not trying to deny any of that.
But let me say this clearly one more time.
Japanese people have not forgotten Hiroshima.
We have not forgotten Nagasaki.
The lives lost that day,
the pain burned into our history,
and the scars left behind
are still part of Japan’s memory.
But we do not choose to hate the Americans standing in front of us today
because of what happened 80 years ago.
We do not force children, students, travelers, or friends
to carry the anger of the past.
That is not strength.
That is just taking old grief, turning it into hatred,
and letting it rot inside your heart.
Yes, the history of the occupation is complicated.
Yes, there are still things worth discussing.
And yes, Japan has issues with groping.
I will not pretend otherwise.
But if you want to talk about women’s dignity,
then start by respecting women as human beings.
Do not tell Japan that society becomes moral
by restricting women’s freedom.
Do not tell Japan that problems disappear
by hiding women’s bodies.
That way of thinking is not something we want forced on us.
Japan was wounded.
Deeply.
But Japan stood up again.
We rebuilt our cities.
We carried our losses.
And we moved forward.
And part of that history includes our relationship with America.
Remembering the past
and living as a prisoner of hatred
are not the same thing.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki are not words for you to use
as weapons against Japanese people.
They are Japan’s memory.
They are Japan’s pain.
And they are a warning to the world
that the same tragedy must never happen again.
Do not use our dead
as fuel for your anger.