During the ceremony to mark the 58th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba blasted the United States for "worshipping nuclear weapons as God" -- a statement that, understandably, received a great deal of media attention. And while U.S. President George Bush, who is advocating the development of smaller tactical nuclear weapons, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who has indicated his intention of joining the nuclear-arms race, were singled out by Akiba as men who seem to be moving backward, he also mentioned that Japan had suddenly gone from a "postwar" mentality to a "prewar" one.

This distinction wasn't mentioned much by the foreign media, but the Japanese understood exactly what Akiba was driving at. Ever since the end of World War II, the citizens of Japan have been under the impression that they would never be involved in a war again, not in this lifetime nor in any lifetimes to come. That is the "postwar" mentality. The "prewar" version that Akiba cited so ominously is one that not only accepts war as a possibility, but sees it as inevitable.

Akiba's fear is founded mainly on the violation of the antinuclear "taboo." Some Japanese are now discussing seriously the possibility that Japan will someday possess nuclear weapons of its own.