, , is a Japanese language phrase meaning "it cannot be helped" or "nothing can be done about it". , is an alternative. Cultural associations The phrase has been used by many western writers to describe the ability of the Japanese people to maintain dignity in the face of an unavoidable tragedy or injustice, particularly when the circumstances are beyond their control, somewhat similar to "c'est la vie" in French or "It Is What It Is" in English. Historically, it has been applied to situations in which masses of Japanese people as a whole have been made to endure during World War II, including the Allied occupation of Japan and the internment of Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadians. Thus, when Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) was asked, in his first ever press conference given in Tokyo in 1975, what he thought of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, he answered: "It's very regrettable that nuclear bombs were dropped and I feel sorry for the citizens of Hiroshima but it couldn't be helped because that happened in wartime." In Asian American Women: The "Frontiers" Reader, author Debbie Storrs states: The Japanese phrase shikata ga nai, or "it can't be helped," indicates cultural norms over which one has little control... This notion of suffering in part stems from shikata ga nai: failing to follow cultural norms and social conventions led to a life of little choice but endurance of suffering. The phrase also can have negative connotations, as some may perceive the lack of reaction to adversity as complacence, both to social and political forces. In a Business Week article, a Western businessman says of Japanese people: He encourages Japanese not to succumb to the shikata ga nai mentality but to get angry and start behaving like citizens. 'Japanese people listen to me because I'm always pushing what the possibilities are and how things can change... to ensure positive economic and political prospects...' Non-Japanese literary references The phrase appears as an important theme in a range of books relating to major events in the history of the Japanese people. Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston's Farewell to Manzanar devoted a chapter to the concept to explain why the Japanese Americans interned in the US during World War II did not put up more of a struggle against the restrictive conditions and policies put upon them. The historical manga Barefoot Gen shows many of the citizens in Hiroshima using