The world will never forget the morning of 60 years ago, August 6, when the first atomic bomb exploded 580 metres above the city of Hiroshima, Japan.
First there was an intense flash of light and blast in the city’s downtown, followed by a thunderous roar, with enormous pillars of flame bursting upwards.
On people’s memories will also be seared the date August 9, for on that day 60 years ago at 11:02 am, the second atomic bomb fell on Nagasaki, Japan.
Why do some folks think that the only deaths that count in a war are American?
Every year on these days, the world is reminded of the devastation and destruction nuclear weapons can wreak upon humanity and the earth.
Reminiscing perhaps most of all at this time of year are the Japanese, as victims of the horrific weapons.
But in a way, the atomic bombs have become the only memories of the Second World War for quite a few Japanese politicians, as they try to obliterate from living memory the atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army against millions of people in the Asia-Pacific region.
In most of the American press, articles written about commemoration of those who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki — are followed within a few breaths by nationalist blogs about “the bombs ended the war” and “the Japanese deserved it”. Yet, the nation which suffered the most from Japanese imperialism and militarism — China — manages to encompass both sides of the dialectic of death that is the core of all wars.
In a resolution passed early this week, the lower house of the Japanese parliament went so far as to deliberately delete the terms for “colonial rule” and “aggression” from the country’s past. The same phrases were used in a similar resolution it adopted a decade ago.
Some Japanese officials and lawmakers continue to visit the Yasukuni Shrine – where Class A war criminals are enshrined with other war dead. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has visited the shrine four times since he took office in 2001.
Why do some folks think that the only deaths that count in a war are Japanese?
If we people of the world truly hope to maintain peace and prevent war and tragedies like Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we should not only commemorate those who died but also never lose sight of what caused the war and the suffering inflicted by Japanese imperialism.
War criminals should forever be nailed to the pillory of notoriety.
Perhaps it is because those of us who remember that time so well reflect on the fact that if the Japs had not started the war, there would have been no casualties on either side. They deserved exactly what they got. Note now that they are constitutionally prevented from any military action except strictly defensive in nature – lesson learned?
May we never again need to experience nuclear war.
Hopefully nuclear weapons will never again be used. Ever.
However, I hope they never disappear, for they are what people have always dreamt of for centuries – the weapon so terrible to use that you can’t use it – and therefore ending war.
I find it *suspicious* that so many people seem to ignore this – or are led away from this simple truth – and actually wish nukes to be totally erradicated. This would bring us back to the late 19th, early 20th century as far as wars go. Not a pretty thought. Why would you want to go back to such carnage as World War I?
May nukes live forever! May every country have them! May wars stop. May I find a psedonym so that powers that be don’t know my real name…
I don’t mind being reminded about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as long as the media also gives equal attention to Nanking, Pearl Harbor, Bataan, and the Burma Thailand railroad, etc. Some would say it’s a great pity that Japan wasn’t defeated by someone with their same enlightened policies in the treatment of conquored peoples.
For me, the Japanese Atom Bombs victims have nobody to blame but themselves.
For being the aggressor and savagely invaded China, South East Asia and the Pacific, which resulted in untold sufferings and deaths in tens of millions of lives.
Nightmerish memories which survived until today, who is going to speak out for them?
“For me, the Japanese Atom Bombs victims have nobody to blame but themselves.”
Most of the victims of the atomic bombs were civilians, they couldn’t have stopped the war if they had wanted to. Actually, about 10% of them were Koreans that were forced to go to Japan to labor for the war effort. We can argue about whether using nuclear weapons was a good thing (stopped the war earlier/fewer total lives were lost etc).But whether they DESERVED it or not? No, when it’s innocent civilians, “deserve” is never part of the equation.
If the bomb hadn’t been dropped, Curtis Lemay would have unleashed much more carnage on the entire country. Keep in mind that these bombs were realtively weak as far as nuclear weapons go, and there was much more carnage in the bombing of Dresden. The main effect of the bombs was in creating ‘shock and awe’ for a quick surrender.
My father 19 at the time had just fought in the battle of the bulge and
was shipped to the west coast to await invasion orders. America was
in a war idiot do you have any idea of kill or be killed?
sh — your comment is properly preceded by the bit in bold in the middle of the posting.
I was school age through the war. Many members of my family were in the military through throughout the war. Some perished. Fortunately, most survived.
You obviously feel that only American lives are important. You are the idiot. You are no different from the politicians who think that only Japanese lives are important. That’s the point.
perhaps you guys have to realize this: yes the Japanese inflicted horrors beyond description (Nanking, Unit 731, Death marches, etc.) and manage to permanetly jade an entire generation against the Japanese, yes they haven’t apologized for it and whitewash the incident, but it is important nonetheless that ALL death is tragic. The Japanese deaths from the atomic bombs were heartbreaking, but so was the deaths resulting from the rape and carnage that is Nanking. Neither of them deserved to die.
But what irritates me the most is simply that the Japanese government refuses to admit that they are sorry, and give out no compensation. There are so-called “comfort women” demanding it, and the government of Japan refusing to pay out. Worse, they have specifically whitewashed its own history textbooks, thus providing an imprint for an entirely new generation to deny Japan’s guilt (compare this with Germany, which has shelled out a ton of dough, publicly admits its sorry, shows its respect to the Holocaust, and bans Nazi symbols).