“But I guess they still hated the idea of a US supported government there more than the old enemy they knew.”
Like with the French, once they drove us out they missed us and mythologized us.
You would have hoped that our experience there would have taught our foreign service types that western values can’t always be imposed on ancient cultures. But the recent adventure in Iraq proves that such lessons aren’t learned.
Japan was a fluke. They had been flirting with western style government before WWII and so they were receptive to it after their defeat.
I get flack for it sometimes here but i agree. Iraq was a foil for Iran and a two bit dictatorship.
I wonder if Japan, without he nukes, would have been another Vietnam.
I know North Korea WITH the nukes would have been another Japan. hmm.
I could be wrong.
Like you said, Japan flirted with western style government. Good grief, didn’t McArthur want to drop like 17 nukes along China border?
The lesson from Japan and Nazi Germany is that you CAN change a culture, but first you have to thoroughly break it.
In Japan, we made their god come down from heaven and surrender to us, burned all of their cities to ashes, and made every mother worry first and foremost where the next mouth of food was coming from for her children.
Had we done the same in Iraq, we might have succeeded. But we no longer have the stomach for war.