ForeignPolicy.com today published a beautifully written inspection and reflection on the US’s role in shaping Japan in the 20th century. In “Hiroshima, My Father, and the Lie of U.S. Innocence,” freelance writer Jerry Delaney details his journey through memory and research of the post-WWII Tokyo trials: as a boy, Delaney lived with his father who served as a judge in the historical trials that were woefully incomplete, inadequate, and politically motivated. As a man, Delaney searched through first-hand accounts of the war crimes committed by both the US and Japan in the early 20th century to answer his daughter’s questions of familial involvement in this dark chapter of history.

This article gives new insights to those already knowledgeable of that era while being presented in plain yet artistically structured narrative for those unfamiliar with these histories.

A must-read for understanding today’s Japan.