Defense Minister Kyuma resigns!

Update: Good grief! Kyuma resigned. I couldn't believe it when I heard it yesterday. What incredible news! Could things get any worse for Abe? I really want to do a news round up but not sure when or if I can get to it. I want to comment too ... but have to run for now. Great reporting of this at Observing Japan and other places as well. [sigh] I have to run. From before: This is a little surprising ...

Kyuma says US dropping of A-bomb 'couldn't be helped' Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma said the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan by the United States during World War II was an inevitable way to end the war, a news report said Saturday. "I understand that the bombing ended the war, and I think that it couldn't be helped," Kyodo News agency quoted Kyuma as saying in a speech at a university in Chiba. ... Kyuma, who is from Nagasaki, said the bombing caused great suffering in the city, but that he does not resent the U.S. because it prevented the Soviet Union from entering the war with Japan, Kyodo said. It is rare for Japanese Cabinet ministers to make such remarks. ... Kyuma's remarks drew immediate criticism from Japanese atomic bomb victims. ... In America, the bombings are widely seen as a weapon of last resort against an enemy that was determined to fight to the death but instead surrendered unconditionally, six days after Nagasaki was attacked.

I doubt this will aid Prime Minister Abe. Also, I'm surprised that someone from Nagasaki would say this.