The Bombing of Japan: A Japanese Perspective

Japanese Lantern Festival (Obon Matsuri)

It has been a tradition for 500 years in Japan to light small lanterns that represent the departed spirits of their ancestors, and float them in the rivers, to honour those people from the past

On August 6th, the river that flows through Hiroshima is full of lanterns, in remembrance of the many people who died in the atomic blast.

Clocks all over Hiroshima were fixed forever at 8:15The nuclear bomb exploded 660 yards from the ground into a fireball almost 110 yards in diameterIt obliterated all but a few solid structures, including the post office, which was in the hypocenter of the bomb

What the post office looks like today

What the hypocenter (post office) looked like after the nuclear bomb was dropped

A model from the Hiroshima Peace Museum, of what the bomb site looked like before and after.

65-years back, the US President Truman announced to the world:

"The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, in so far as possible, the killing of civilians."

However, we now know that:About 90, 000 people were killed immediatelyAnother 40,000 were injured, many of them died in agony from radiation sicknessThen three days later 37,000 people died when the city of Nagasaki was bombed, and another 43,000 injured

Together the two bombs eventually killed an estimated 200,000 Japanese civilians."

The fireball was almost 300,000 degrees centigradeRoof tiles softened and changed colourAll over the city numerous silhouettes were imprinted on walls of people who literally disintegrated and disappearedOn Yorozuyo Bridge, ten people left permanent outlines of themselves on the railing and tar-paved surfaces

This is the outline of a boy who disintegrated from the heat rays of the blast, all that was left was the outline of his body.

350 children from the Girls Commercial School had been mobilized to make fire lanes in Hiroshima that day. They would help clear lanes of houses so fires wouldn't spread.When the bomb dropped they were close to ground zero, and many of them disintegrated or died.

People exposed to the bomb within 500 meters died instantly, many were disintegrated.At distances of 3 to 5 km, people later showed symptoms of radiation, which was a slow and prolonged death, through cancer, keloids, and acute radiation exposure.

The story of Sadako Sasaki

There is an ancient Japanese legend that promises that anyone who folds 1000 origami cranes will be granted a wish, as cranes are seen to be mystical or holy creatures

Sadako Sasaki was a two year old girl who lived in Hiroshima, and was about a mile from ground zero when the bomb dropped.Ten years later, she started getting spots on her neck and behind her ears, and then purple spots on her legs. She was diagnosed with leukemia, and given a year to live.Sadako remembered the legend of the cranes, and thought that if she could only fold 1000, she would live.Sadly, she folded 644 cranes before her death. Her friends completed the 1000 cranes for her, and then buried them all with Sadako.

Students from around Japan send paper cranes to the peace park in Hiroshima in memory of Sadako Sasaki, and as a present day reminder of the need for peace not only in Japan, but around the world.

Was the bombing of Japan necessary?

The U.S. said the bombing of Japan was necessary because they needed “unconditional surrender”However, on January 20th, 1945 President Roosevelt received a surrender from the Japanese that offered:

Complete surrender of all Japanese forces and arms, at home, on island possessions, and in occupied countriesOccupation of Japan and it’s possessionsJapanese relinquishment of all territory seized during the warRegulation of Japanese industry to halt production of any weapons and any other tools of warRelease of all prisoners of war and interneesSurrender of designated war criminals

Japanese Emperor Hirohito

The Americans wouldn’t accept this surrender, unless Japan admitted that their Emperor was not a descendent of the Sun god and step down as leader

Ironically, in Japan's September 2nd surrender, the US decided that they wanted Emperor Hirohito to continue on as an important figurehead to unite the people of Japan.

Was this one point worth dropping the atomic bomb for?

Dwight Eisenhower said in an interview:“The Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn’t

necessary to hit them with that awful thing…I hated to see our country be the first to use such a weapon” (Newsweek, 11/11/63)

Herbert Hoover said:“The Japanese were prepared to negotiate all the

way from February 1945…up to and before the time the atomic bombs were dropped;…if such leads had been followed up, there would have been no occasion to drop the atomic bombs”

(Judgment at the Smithsonian, P.142)

So why did they drop the bomb?

To justify the Manhattan Project, they had spent 2 billion creating the bomb, and needed to test it on humansPresident Truman was getting pressured by Congress for wasting money creating the bombTo prevent the USSR from entering the war with Japan, and expanding their territoryTo punish Japan for Pearl Harbour and the treatment of war prisoners

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony

Every year the city of Hiroshima has a ceremony to 'console the souls of those who were lost' and remember the need for everlasting world peaceA 'Peace Declaration' is made by the mayor, who shares Hiroshima's wish for the abolition of nuclear weaponsAt exactly 8:15, the peace bell is rung, and all over the city citizens stop what they're doing to pay silent tribute to the victims of the atomic bomb.

In present day Hiroshima, there is a ever glowing flame in remembrance of all of the people that perished from the nuclear bombs of 1944, and with the hope that such a tragedy will never happen again.