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Obama and Abe shake hands after paying homage to the bomb victimes
Japan’s spectacular rise, with exceptional speed, post World War II in general and from the horrific atom bomb devastation in Hiroshima in particular, is an extraordinary feat that is well known. But seeing is indeed believing.
The amazing resilience and strength of the Japanese people, who built Hiroshima to what it is today, is apparent in the imposing modern architecture of this neat and well planned city. Contrast this with the overwhelming emotion that engulfs one at the memory of the catastrophe they have endured, reinforced by the very sight of the preserved skeletal remains of the devastation that was caused by the ‘Little Boy’ of the United States…
At 8.15am on 6 August 1945, the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) dropped an atomic bomb targeting the city of Hiroshima. It was a uranium gun type atom bomb, the first nuclear weapon to be used. Named “Little Boy”, when detonated it exploding with a yield equivalent to 12,500tons of TNT. The blast and thermal wave of the bomb destroyed nearly 50,000 buildings (including the headquarters of the 2nd General Army and Fifth Division) and reportedly killed approximately 75,000 people instantly, among them 20,000 Japanese soldiers and 20,000 Koreans. An estimated 70,000 suffered fatal injuries from the radiation.
Three days later, on August 9, the U.S. dropped a plutonium implosion-type bomb dubbed ‘Fat Man’ on the city of Nagasaki killing an estimated 39,000–80,000. Approximately half of the deaths in each city occurred on the first day. During the following months, large numbers died from the effect of burns, radiation sickness, and other injuries, compounded by illness and malnutrition. In both cities, although Hiroshima had a sizeable military garrison, most of the dead were civilians.
The exact mortality rates of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan will never be known. The destruction and overwhelming chaos made orderly counting impossible. It is not unlikely that the estimates of killed and wounded in Hiroshima (150,000) and Nagasaki (75,000) are over conservative.
By the end of the year 140,000 were reported to be killed out of the 350,000 who lived in the Hiroshima city. It was reported that twelve American Prisoners of war also died in the bombing, but it was not acknowledged by the United States until the late 1970s. The Japanese have now added the names of the twelve dead soldiers to their official tally of those killed in the bombing.
The mortality was greater in Hiroshima because the city was located in a flat delta, in contrast to Nagaski’s Urakami Valley. The Nagasaki-Urakami is enclosed by mountain ridges that shielded the city.
History in retrospect
The war in Europe was over, with Nazi Germany having signed the Instrument of Surrender on 8 May 1945. The Pacific War however continued with the Japanese refusing to follow suit. On 26 July 1945, the Allies issued an ultimatum to Japan for an unconditional surrender on the Potsdam Declaration, or face “prompt and utter destruction”.
Sixteen hours before the attack American President Harry Truman called for Japan’s surrender, warning them to “expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth”.
The Japanese chose to ignore. That decision was to cost the Japanese insurmountable damage and destruction to the nation as well as untold misery and trauma. The psychological effects on its people continue even to date.
One would never have imagined that what was ridiculously dubbed as a ‘Little Boy’ and ‘Fat Man’ would cause such devastation. The atom bomb was no boy or man and it was by no means little or fat, as named. It is unthinkable how one could humanise a weapon that was inhuman, even by name. They were killer weapons that ought to have been dubbed the Devils.
One aircraft that filmed the bombing was even code named ‘Necessary Evil’!
The two atomic bombs, and the Soviet declaration of war against Japan on 8August 1945, finally left the Japanese no choice.
Japan surrendered to the Allies six days, after the Nagasaki bombing, on 15 August 1945.The surrender of the Empire of Japan was announced by Imperial Japan on August 15 and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close.
The debate rages on…
The debate rages on yet, of that decision of the Japanese to ignore the bombing threats, and the US view of the bombings. Certain historians believe the bombings on Hiroshima and then Nagasaki, which together took the lives of more than 200,000 people, saved lives on balance, since an invasion of the islands would have led to far greater bloodshed. This stance is however equally disputed.
Some supporters of the bombings have emphasised the strategic significance of Hiroshima, as the Japanese 2nd Army’s headquarters, and of Nagasaki, as a major munitions manufacturing centre.
The role of the bombings in Japan’s surrender and the US’s ethical justification for them will continue to be the subject of scholarly and popular debate as was the case for the last seven decades.
But the fact remains that it is not possible to turn back the clock.
As for the use of nuclear armament – in the interest of a peaceful present and future there must be an end to the show of military might of certain countries by some leaders blinded by their bloated egos, accelerating the scale of their weaponry merely for the sake of power and doing little to nothing on the prohibition of nuclear weapons of mass destruction. It is not as though they are unaware, that if such are unleashed, it will be at the cost of innocent civilian lives.
It has been 70 years since the tragedy of Hiroshima where the city was virtually levelled, of which the scars remain to date. The 30-acre Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima consists of one of the few severely damaged remains standing, of the then Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall built in 1915, now commonly known as the Genbaku (“Atomic Bomb Dome”), which was only a few meters away from ground zero. The ruin which serves as a memorial to the people who were killed in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945,was named the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996 despite the objections of the U.S. and China.
Some reinforced concrete buildings in Hiroshima had been strongly constructed because of the danger of earthquakes. Their framework did not collapse even though they were fairly close to the centre of damage. The bomb detonated in the air, so the blast was more downward than sideways. This explains the survival of this particular building.
This site, together with the Peace Memorial Museum is a grim reminder how innocent lives were lost en mass and buildings destroyed leaving skeletal remains of a few – classic consequences of nuclear munitions.
Historic visit
G7 held in Japan this year was marked with two firsts, politically: the Outreach Session with a number of Asian and African leaders (Sri Lanka’s President was an invitee) and US President, Barack Obama’s scheduled historic visit to Hiroshima.
On the morning of 27 May, 70 years and nine months after the horrific bombing of Hiroshima, the city was under siege. Security within the city of Hiroshima was tight, with helicopters circling the city centre.
This time the invasion was by species of a different kind – anarmy of local and foreign journalists and of security personnel. They were readying themselves for an historic event – in preparation for the first-ever visit of a sitting United States President arriving at Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park to pay his respects to the victims of A-Bomb, ‘Little Boy’.
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An amazing alliance
Thousands of Japanese lined the route of the presidential motorcade to the memorial in the hope of getting a glimpse of US President Obama on route to visit the most potent symbol of the dawning of the nuclear age. Thousands in attendance and much of Japan watched the ceremony on TV or on their smartphones, with the event organised to military precision with the pomp and ceremony of a state visit, or a state funeral.
US President Obama walked alone towards Hiroshima Peace Memorial and laid a wreath on the pyramid He paused before the memorial‘s Cenotaph, his head bowed, amidst pin drop silence followed by Japan’ s Prime Minister Abe who also laid a wreath on the adjacent pyramid. After a moment’s reflection, the two leaders shook hands – aclear signal of the amazing alliance their two nations had subsequently forgedand are committed to now, out of the ashes of war.
“Seventy-one years ago, on a bright cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed,” Obama said in opening his speech at the memorial.“Technological progress without an equivalent progress in human institutions can doom us, and such technology requires a moral revolution as well.” He added.
Obama’s visit to Hiroshima takes place in the wake of his nuclear weapons policy released just before in a report, which indicated a striking example of the gap between Obama’s vision of a nuclear weapons-free world and the realities of purging them. A report on American nuclear arsenal shows his administration has reduced the stockpile less than any other post-Cold War presidency. Supporters of Obama say the slowdowns are understandable given the rising level of hostility and intransigence of the Russian President, Vladimir V Putin, dealing with the reclusive North Korea, as well as the inherent difficulties involved in arms control and related complex technical projects.
“71 years since the bombing, world institutions have grown up to help prevent a recurrence. Still, nations like the United States continue to possess thousands of nuclear weapons. And that is something that must change,” he said.
“We must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them,” he was quick to add, “We may not realise this goal in my lifetime, but persistent effort can roll back the possibility of catastrophe.”
“Hiroshima demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself,” said Obama adding, “More is needed as far more primitive weapons than nuclear arms are causing widespread destruction today”, and said humanity must change its mind-set about war.
“The world was forever changed here, but today the children of this city will go through their day in peace,” Obama said. “What a precious thing that is. It is worth protecting, and then extending to every child. That is a future we can choose, a future in which Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known not as the dawn of atomic warfare but as the start of our own moral awakening.”
The Children’s Peace Monument at Memorial Park, dedicated to the childrenwho perished with the atomic bomb and afterwards due to radiation, is also situated adjacent to the construction that holds the eternal flame. At the top of the nine-meter monument, bronze statuesdepicting a young girl are located on the top and the sides of the monument.
The monument was originally inspired by the death of Sadako Sasaki who was exposed to radiation from the atomic bomb from the age of two. 10 years later Sadako developed leukaemia that ultimately ended her life. Sadako’s untimely death compelled her classmates to begin a call for the construction of a monument in remembrance of all children who died due to the atomic bomb.
Bomb survivor’s emotional embrace
Among the audience for Obama’s visit were the bomb survivors, Sunao Tsuboi, a Chairman of the Hiroshima branch of the Japan Confederation of A-and H-bomb Sufferers Organisations and 79-year-old Shigeaki Mori. The white House evaded questions on Obama meeting the survivors for weeks prior to the visit commenting it was a delicate decision.
It was a poignant moment when Obama spontaneously embraced and shook hands with survivors of the attack. One gripped Obama’s hand and did not let go for quite a while. “I held his hand, and we didn’t need an interpreter, I could understand what he wanted to say by his expression,” Tsuboi, 91, told the media later. The USPresident exchanged an embrace with Shigeaki Mori, 79, who had spent decades researching the fate of American prisoners of war who were killed in the bombing. He was eight years old when the bomb exploded.
Many survivors longed for an apology for an event that destroyed almost everyone and everything they knew, but some of those in Asian countries brutalised by imperial Japan indicated that a presidential apology at Hiroshima would be inappropriate.
Obama did not apologise, he in fact made clear that Japan, despite a highly advanced culture, was to blame for the war, which “grew out of the same base instinct for domination or conquest that had caused conflicts among the simplest tribes.”
There were small demonstrations near the ceremony by protesters demanding an apology. But Obama said before his trip that he would not apologise for the attack.
Yet, Obama’s homage to the victims and his speech were largely welcomed by most Japanese. “We are grateful for his visit,” said an attendee of the ceremony who had lost many relatives in the Hiroshima attack, while brushing tears rolling down her cheeks. Similar sentiments were expressed by almost all we spoke to, not only those at the Memorial Park but a cross section of the public.
A clock that has frozen with the time at 8:15a.m. hangs at the Peace Memorial Museum amongst the thousands displayed of many mangled items left over from the war as well as the victim’s belongings, photographs and other materials that convey the horror of that event, supplemented by exhibits that describe Hiroshima before and after the bombing and others that present the current status of the nuclear age.
Each of the items displayed embodies the grief, anger the emotions of the people who have as a nation now recovered anew materially, but never to reverse the mass human loss and psychological pain of an event that will last forever. Some Western journalists have noted that the museum provides few of the historical reasons for the bombing, such as descriptions of the attack on Pearl Harbour, the savagery of Japan’s occupation of China, or the extraordinary death toll of soldiers and civilians in the invasion of Okinawa.
Post-war economic miracle
After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese were forced to introspect in view of the changing world order. They were devastated but unlike Germany after World War I, forced themselves into an economic revival lest hopelessness stroked extremism (including Communism) and a passion for revenge. Japan embraceddemilitarisation which made money otherwise meant for defence spending to be routed to reconstruction of infrastructure.
Gradual deregulation and privatisation was a natural step, which came to the victors not until the Thatcher and Reagan era. Disciplined generals and soldiers became disciplined business managers and workers. With the Cold War at its peak, China in firm Communist grasp with it spreading to Korea, Vietnam and South East Asia, Japan ironically became an important ally to the United States.
Japan followed an export oriented industrialisation model and focused chiefly on cars and heavy electronics. United States was not only a market but also a big source of capital. The closely knit bank borrowing structure called Keiretsu along with a co-operative worker’s union called Shunto is largely credited with the Japanese post-war economic miracle.
Today the economy of Japan is the third largest in the world by nominal GDO and the fourth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) and Japan is the world’s second largest developed economy. It is the world’s third largest automobile manufacturing country and has the largest electronics goods industry, and is often ranked among the world’s most innovative countries leading several measures of global patent filings.
The amazing alliance the two nations US and Japan had forged and are committed to nowrising out of the ashes of warwas clearly seen through US President’s visit to Hiroshima.
In the backdrop of a reclusive regime in North Korea furiously building more nuclear weapons and trying to perfect the missiles to deliver them, Obama’s decision to make this historic trip can be considered as timely, reminding the world why the North Koreans must be stopped.
Any hurt feelings among other countries such as China and South Korea’s probable fears that Obama’s visit to Japan’s deepest wound could be taken by the Japanese as an endpoint to their country’s fitful efforts to come to grips with their own wartime atrocities, would have to be overlooked to achieve the overwhelming consensus on achieving these important successes towards world peace.
The pledge to not repeat the mistake
The Peace Memorial Museum’s brochure states: “Hiroshima’s deepest wish is the elimination of all nuclear weapons and the realisation of a genuinely peaceful international community.”
As the only country to have suffered nuclear attacks in war, Japan upholds the three non-nuclear principles of not producing, possessing or allowing nuclear weapons on Japanese territory.
But at the same time it has relied on U.S. nuclear deterrence for protection
The cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Park is inscribed with an ambiguous sentence: “Rest in peace, for this mistake will not be repeated.”
In his speech, at the Peace Memorial Park, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated “This tragedy must not be allowed to occur again,” adding without any ambiguity, “We are determined to realise a world free of nuclear weapons.”
It is then incumbent on the leading nations’ leaders who have openly declared support for a world free of nuclear weapons, to lead the way and do all they ought to do to sincerely make this a reality so that present and future generations of the world could live in this reality, not on one based only on anxious hopes.
