No, the Japanese government was willing to negotiate peace with the USSR as mediator. The bombings were unnesecary.

Because the people decide when a country goes to war?

Idiot.

User was moderated for this post ~ CGI

I am first generation Asian-American (Chinese... mostly). Because of the invasion of Japan into China during World War II, my grandmother was separated from her biological family since she was around the age of five never to see them again. She left this earth just two years ago at the age of 84. Today, I have no anger towards the Japanese and embrace what I can of their culture. I ask of no apology from the Japanese. I expect no restitution from them. I serves me and everyone else around me to keep moving forward and be kind to those I meet. In other words, get over it and move on.

I'm not sure if he really has to, but I don't really see why he shouldn't.

I will say this idea that apologizing for anything is a sign of weakness is sad and quite frankly a little pathetic.

Yup, Hiroshima was Obama's fault, thanks Obama. He's against huge wars so... this is kinda stupid. A lot of people want things from wrongful events but that doesn't mean they'll get them. Give us an apology first for Pearl Harbor and maybe we'll talk because we had no intentions of harming Japan, they attacked us first. I hate to sound like this but it's a tall order.

japan is an important american ally. why the fuck would you say some of the very hurtful things being stated in this thread to an ally. you guys must be terrible friends.

america had their justifications for dropping those bombs but our lack of knowledge of radiation fallout means we killed tens to hundreds of millions more people than we thought we were going to. knowing what we know now i don't think truman would have dropped the bomb. and apologize won't change anything but it might make some people from a country we respect feel better.

Their apologizing complaint should be voided. Because this should of been asked decades ago. The US should ask for a aplogy. For being late, after our apology.

Not directly speaking, no. However, a nation's people are as a rule responsible for the international actions of said nation. Your leadership is a product of your people, and their decisions are what steer you in international conflict. You don't just get to separate a nations actions from it's people. You don't just get to go along with whatever your government is doing, hope it works out, and then point and condem or plead ignorance if things don't. If a nations people are against a war, and refuse to fight....good luck fighting. Japan itself is responsible for what happened to them in WW2. You can't just separate Japan's actions from it's people and pretend like all it's civilians outside of the military (and btw, these cities WERE military targets) were innocents gathered around a campfire singing world peace. Of course it's terrible when civilians die in war, but it happens, and when your country is the instigator, you don't get to complain about it. It's not like it would help anyway. If those people want an apology, they should demand it from their own leadership for putting them in that position. 

This line of reasoning hasn't stopped people from apologizing on behalf of the organization (in this case, American Government) of which they are part.

Nay, in the Modern Age, apologies for past mistakes/atrocities/etc of said organization have become more common.  

An apology for nuclear war crimes is consistent with the ethos of the modern age.

TL;DR summary: so what?

Do you know ANY of the backstory of how Japan got into that war. Japan was always a flawed democracy. Before the war, a whole series of coups and disaster struck the country. A military government was formed and the left-wing opposition was either jailed or killed. Everyone who didn't conform was put under the scrutiny of the military police. What could the people do?

As a rule, the leadership is responsible. Heck, In Belgium, we ask constantly to stop the military interventions we are waging on NATO behalf. Does the government listen? No, no and no.

First look at the leadership, then look how far the people collaborate.