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This article examines the commemorative role played by museums of nuclear technology in the United States, particularly those supported by the government agency responsible for the nation's nuclear weapons and reactor programs, the Department of Energy. The management of public perceptions of America's nuclear history in these museums reflects national defence and security imperatives in the post 9/11 era. The legacy of American nuclearism is complex and contradictory, and presents a daunting challenge to curators in museums sanctioned by vested interests. The many beneficial civilian applications of nuclear technology have be balanced by the recognition of the dire destructiveness of nuclear weapons; the compulsion to celebrate American technological achievement has to be checked by the acknowledgement of the damage wrought by the military use of nuclear energy both at home and abroad. A comparison with the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum suggests that nuclear 'victory' is more problematic to exhibit than nuclear victimhood.

'The Child of the World's Old Age': Photographing Japan in the Early Twentieth Century -- 'White Australia' in the Darkroom: 1915-1941 -- Shooting Japanese: Photographing the Pacific War -- Japan for the Taking: Images of the Occupation -- Through Non-Military Eyes: Developing the Postwar Bilateral Relationship -- Cross-Cultural (Mis)understandings: Independent Photography since the 1980s -- Conclusion: Revising 'Us and Them'.

In late 1945, Australia eagerly put up its hand to join the American-led military occupation of war-devastated Japan: the old enemy was still hated, yet the Australian involvement was motivated by ideals of democratic reconstruction rather than retributio