Arab News Japan

TOKYO: US President Donald Trump has been criticized for comparing America’s bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80 years ago at the end of World War II, with some Tokyo citizens telling Arab News Japan they were outraged at the American president’s comments.

One woman commented: “From Japan’s standpoint, I believe there could have been other ways to handle this recent attack. The memorial in Hiroshima says, ‘Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the error.’ There is only one Earth, and we must all cherish it. The idea of using nuclear weapons is unthinkable. It would destroy the Earth.”

A man disputed the notion that dropping the atomic bombs ended World War II early and said the use of nuclear weapons was “unacceptable. Even using a single nuclear bomb could lead to a chain reaction of further use, ultimately resulting in the destruction of humanity.”

Another man said Trump’s viewpoint was made to excuse the actions of the Americans, which had done nothing to bring about peace in the Middle East. “Neither Iran nor Israel is truly committed to ending the war anytime soon. This time, it was a bunker-buster bomb, but an atomic bomb is out of the question. As all Japanese people know, while the United States justifies the use of atomic bombs, from Japan’s perspective, it was a mass murder.”

A young man said President Trump’s remarks showed a disregard for the immense risks associated with nuclear weapons, comments echoed by an older man: “I find President Trump’s remarks extremely disturbing. Dropping atomic bombs is an act of mass murder, and not a war.  It must never happen.”