The Nuking of Japan

[Shell B]

I think it's also appropriate to point out that Japan, up to mid-1800's was almost completely isolated. If the Allies had contained Japan, nothing would have changed within Japan, they just wouldn't have been able to go about their imperial conquest. Isolated for a long period of time

Yes, it would have. The point is that isolating them would have led to a surrender with the terms we desired. Being "isolated" to Japan meant not letting people in. Cutting off trade with them is the point, not restricting visitors. Cutting off trade was enough to make them start a war. Do you really think they just would have went all, "Meh. It's too bad we're cut off. Guess we'll just sit here going crazy?" *sigh*

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Gotta make a couple replies. Earlier you mentioned someone you knew who was a teacher in Japan. I have to point something out real quick, and then ask something. The pointing: There are three professions in Japan that no matter where you are from or where you live, they will always earn you a far higher level of respect from the locals than otherwise. Namely teachers, engineers, and programmers.

He didn't go there a teacher. He went there as a really young man with practically nothing. He's been there for a long ass time.

Now the question: Does he happen to live on the island of Okinawa?

Nope, mainland. And he teaches English.

And yeah, we weren't so much separatist as we were neutralist. We were following the old adage our founding fathers had stated we should follow; commerce with all nations, alliance with none. Quite simply we felt we should leave the world alone and hopefully it would leave us alone.

Semantics. We were uninvolved.

Alas, that is never the way of things. The US would never have actually attacked Japan first (which you kind of sort of implied we were going to; [quote] Pearl Harbor was really an excuse to do what we were going to do anyway

Oh, that very much depends. Their alliance with Italy and Germany, plus a success in China would have been very bad for us. We would have lost our interests in China. It would also have meant that the Axis became more powerful and a British defeat more likely. We would have avoided that at any cost. By that point, we were already secretly sending planes and pilots to England. Let's not forget all of the tanks too.

Yes, you're right. It could have happened later, but it was nearly inevitable that we would become involved.