It is absolutely about extreme cultural values. Some times extreme cultural values are good things, sometimes not. Some cultures fight to the death, others do not. The overwhelming evidence was that the body count, on both sides, of an invasion of Japan would have far surpassed that of the dropping of the bombs.<p>To be fair to you I am not singling out Japanese culture in this scenario. The World Wars, and history in general, are replete with cultural significance, from cultures that abandon a sense of self in attack or defence, or both, to those which view themselves as culturally superior such that occupation is preferable to annihilation. None is better or worse than the other, but the idea that different cultures manifest different responses to the same stimuli cannot be controversial, and that therefore how different cultures are treated by others is necessary.