Alas, a Second Pearl Harbor

How to be splendidly political, Nagasaki style, and some thoughts about the purpose of historical memory

Nagasaki Peace Park, Chris Galdis

I think that the decision by Shiro Suzuki, Nagasaki’s mayor, to disinvite Israel from the city’s yearly commemoration ceremony, a decision that caused multiple Western countries to boycott the event, is quite extraordinary. So much so, in fact, that may even become a historic milestone. Here’s why.

Shiro Suzuki’s decisi…