Mokusatsu

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mokusatsu (黙殺) is a Japanese word formed from two Chinese characters: "silence" (moku, 黙) and "kill" (satsu, 殺) and means the act of keeping a contemptuous silence. The word was possibly misinterpreted by the United States when the government of Japan used it ambiguously as a response to American demands for unconditional surrender in World War II. This misinterpretation is argued by some to have been a factor in President Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb against Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The term is not always "contemptuous" however -- and it is a rare word, even in Japanese (older Japanese people know that 'mokusatsu' is a rare way to let somebody down easily and still let them keep their pride). Highly educated Japanese people understand the several meanings of this word.

Mokusatsu literally means "kill by silence" -- and can be used to just let a topic or subject die by refusing to follow up on it. The reasons for the "mokusatsu" response could as easily be contempt as embarrassment, discomfort, or even simply not knowing what else to do in response.

This inability to fully understand its implications was one of the troubles Truman and his advisors faced.

The recently (10/06) released index to the NSA Technical Journal (cf. http://www.thememoryhole.org/nsa/bibs.htm ) mentions an article on mokusatsu.

This page has been transwikied to Wiktionary. Because this article has content useful to Wikipedia's sister project Wiktionary, it has been copied to there, and its dictionary counterpart can be found at either Wiktionary:Transwiki:Mokusatsu or Wiktionary:Mokusatsu. It should no longer appear in Category:Copy to Wiktionary and should not be re-added there. Wikipedia is not a dictionary, and if this article cannot be expanded beyond a dictionary definition, it should be tagged for deletion. If it can be expanded into an article, please do so and remove this template. Note that {{vocab-stub}} is deprecated. If {{vocab-stub}} was removed when this article was transwikied, and the article is deemed encyclopedic, there should be a more suitable category for it.