Of all of the people on the planet, you would think the Japanese would understand the danger of all things nuclear, but I guess every generation has to relearn the same lessons.

My Dad and I were both concerned with the variety that goes boom in the military, and I just can’t understand people who don’t show the proper fear and respect for all things nuclear. It is hard to believe that we actually had nuclear warheads for Bomarc anti-aircraft missiles. The project was cancelled, but someone in power actually thought it was a good idea.

I accept your reasoning on the cultural biases, but it definitely doesn’t make me very happy.

That was the point. Accepting assistance would have been career seppuku because it would have meant dishonor and forced people to resign. It’s the same syndrome that led to Japan losing WW2 — to admit that they hadn’t the resources to fortify hundreds of tiny islands scattered across the Pacific in the face of a navy able to practice classic concentration techniques to concentrate thousands of aircraft on floating airports against a tiny atoll would have brought shame upon the people who’d planned the strategy back in battleship days, and they would rather see collective disaster than face personal shame and ruin. Shame-based societies lost to ambition-based societies in the clash of civilizations for a reason — placing one’s personal honor ahead of the collective good means crap like this happens.

This is one reason why the “Japan Scare” of the 1980’s didn’t strike me as realistic then, and why China is only slightly worrying to me. Post-Communist China is not Japan, but many of the cultural traits are close enough that I worry more about the rot in America than about what China does.

It’s just scary when these folks have nukes (whether the boom kind or the boil kind)…

– Badtux the Culture Penguin