Atomic bombings of Japan were of its own making

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday that the dropping of atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ran contrary to the basic understanding of humanitarianism as regards international law.

By pulling the world's first ever use of nuclear weapons out of the historical context, he is trying to portray Japan as the victim of World War II rather than one of its major perpetrators.

Three days before US President Barack Obama's visit to Hiroshima on Friday, such remarks sent a clear signal to Japan's right wing and revisionist forces, as well as the bombings' victims and their relatives. Yet they are anything but right understanding of both the bombings and World War II.