3-2 Interpretations of Pearl Harbor and Atomic Bombs (Q. 22, 23)

Each country can give its own account of historical incidents such as Pearl Harbor or the dropping of atomic bombs and teach students as if it were a "fact" by using the history textbook with their version. In Japan, Pearl Harbor was considered a surprise attack. On the contrary, it was a sneak attack for Americans since they believe the Japanese invaded without declaring war and, thus, it was not a fair action. Moreover, the Japanese should keep in mind that even fifty years since the war ended, the phrase "Remember Pearl Harbor" remains in common usage in American society.
For a long time after the war, history textbooks in elementary schools, high schools, and even in colleges stated that "atomic bombs were dropped not only to shorten the war but to save many lives of American soldiers as well as Japanese people". It is only in the last decade or so that other interpretations have also been included such as the Back Door Theory (the US top officials knew Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor) or Cold War Theory (dropping atomic bombs was to take an offensive role toward Soviet Union).
Then, how do students of both countries interpret these historical incidents?
Do perception gaps exist between the two countries? In order to address these issues, we prepared question items regarding Pearl Harbor and the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The results inform us that almost 40% of Japanese students and 60% of American students feel 'bombing Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack'. While nearly half Japanese college students strongly disagree with that idea, half of the Japanese high school students are not so sure what to think about this particular subject. Among those who say 'I don't know', the difference between the two countries remains around 10%, indicating that as a whole it is rather difficult to trace a perception gap on this problem.

[Do you think bombing Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack?]

With regard to atomic bombs, the Japanese are quite negative toward the idea that dropping the bombs contributed to shortening the war. While the majority students of NW public school, a rural school, support the theories that Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack and that atomic bombs were necessary to terminate the war, college students and a campus town-situated I High School are less accepting of these classical interpretations, increasing the 'not sure' or 'don't know' responses. In general, we can clearly detect a significant difference in the interpretation that atomic bombs were necessary in order to terminate the war.
In both countries, the higher one's academic aspiration is, the less one agrees that Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack and that atomic bombs were necessary to terminate the war. Those with higher academic aspirations tended to choose 'not sure' or 'don't know', suggesting that the more information one gets, the more one become aware that drawing one single interpretation on the historical incident can not be easily accomplished.
When sorted by gender, female students of both countries chose 'not sure' by far on these two issues. Since many American high school students nowadays often refer to the Vietnam War instead of World War II in the usage of "the war", we can expect more 'don't know' responses on these subjects from now on.

[Do you think Atomic Bombs were necessary to terminate the war?]