RE: August 15 in Japan: From Surrender to the Kamikaze Winds

Well, whoever did the provoking, the end result was still a desperate defense, wasn't it?

I think at the time, most people were against the war. No one wants war, whether that be Japan invading China or the US invading Iraq. When things were going well, people kind of kept their mouths shut. Being too vocal with anti-war feelings would get you in jail (as in the US during WWI). But when the war turned badly, people were much more free with their anti-war feelings.

After the war, the general sentiment was that the idiots in the government were the ones responsible for this. America was thought of as a savior. This feeling persisted for a very long time. Young people today still hate war, but when they look back they are a little more critical. The US wasn't entirely innocent, after all, provoking Japan with the oil embargo which everyone knew would cause Japan to attack us. Things like that have younger people taking a more balanced look at it. But they still mostly blame the Japanese government of the day.