U.S. drops atomic bombs on Japan in 1945: How AP reported it

The A bombs were not enough for the military elite who attempted a coup after Hirohito decided on surrender. When that failed they cut their bellies open.

Schopenhauer AUG. 04, 2015 - 09:14AM JST Japanese people rumoured that America used the atomic bombs to Japan but not in europe because of racial discriminations.

U.S. did have the bomb prior to May of 1945 so how could America use the A-bomb in Europe? In May 8, 1945, the Allies accepted Germany’s surrender, about a week after Adolf Hitler had committed suicide. A-bomb was successfully tested in July 16, 1945 in New Mexico.

Funny how Japan does nothing to remember Pearl Harbor.

Even if America came up with A-bomb before Germany's surrender, they must have hesitated using the bomb in Europe. They have their ancestors and relatives in Europe and they share the same religion. They would be morally blamed for ever.

From the ground, there was fundamentally no difference between the nuclear bombs available in those days and the devastation caused by the carpet bombing that leveled most of Japan and Germany. Schopenhauer, the House of Windsor ( née House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) was intimately entwined with Germany, yet that did not stop Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris from reducing Dresden to rubble.

and let's hope that this will be the last time one is dropped...ever.

I have never bought the idea that a demo would have swayed minds because Nagasaki is proof that Hiroshima wasn't enough of a "demonstration." It took two bombs to convince the Emperor and the military wanted to continue the War. It does not take a genius to figure out what was in store for the invading forces.

The Nagasaki bomb was cross haired on the steeple of a catholic church

What does that even mean? The bomb exploded about 500m in the air, and over 2km away from the intended target area.

It should have been dropped on a remote area where few people live or on an army base. Then the Japanese should've been given a chance to assess the power of the new weapon and then surrender.

Hindsight is 20/20, and these articles give a bit of the history behind their use.

Grown men killing children... Cowards.

Blame the governments for starting the war.

The United States at the time wanted Hiroshima and Nagasaki to be test beds, they sent medical teams in afterwards to observe and take pictures - then blocked release of the information for years afterwards.

it was to them the ultimate experiment- drop the bomb on real people observe the result. - and by then no-one thought of the Japanese as real people- the Propaganda tools had taken the humanity away.

Yamashi is telling the truth, the plan was to continue dropping as soon as the new bombs came over from the states. it is though LeMay was disappointed that Japan surrendered.

what history does not say is that the ports were already blockaded- the country was cut off. travel to or from Japan was only by the whim of the allies in the end. they could have rode it out for a few months.

Note to some readers: Not all B29 missions were bombing runs. Once the USAAF could reach all of Japan from Saipan, Guam and Tinian, and began their runs, B29 missions were made that dropped leaflets over every Japanese industrial city. Those leaflets told people they should seek safety because the object was not to destroy the Japanese people, but stop the military's war machine production. You can find content of them in museums, in many books and on the Internet. I suggest additional verification for your own confirmation.

War production had decentralized to the point where people had machinery in their homes throughout cities to make weapons, parts, ammo, parachutes, kits and everything else. War production wasn't from some select big factories anymore. Japanese industrial planners knew those targets were too easy. Decentralization was a strategic measure against that.

Many people sent their families to the hills, but many stayed for various reasons. But the warning leaflets effort was huge. Much was done to get word out, flying through ground attack and fighters. This was done before the atomic bombs were dropped.

Interesting. No estimate of the Hiroshima casualties.

@darnname "you're going to get voted down by this crowd"

Thank you. It was highly predictable.

Wc626 "US & Soviet NAVY squared off face-to-face. Who blinked ? That's right - the soviets."

Blinked ? Could you provide a source ? Because even Soviet merchant vessels got Cuba multiple times despite "US blockade" and successfully delivered components of intermediate range ballistic missiles and units of troops. Also Soviets and Cubans shot down an American U2 recon airplane just over the island. Americans were "blinking" after that, not Soviets.

More examples. In 1971 Soviet Pacific Fleet forced US 7th Fleet to roll back from India. Americans, together with British naval forces were planning to attack India from the sea and support Pakistan, their ally. During stand-off Soviets were ready to attack Americans at visual range. As result, Americans "blinked" and rolled back. People of India still remember it. That is why India was and still is a strongest ally of Russia. In 1988 USS Caron and USS Yorktown tried to enter Soviet territorial waters near Crimea peninsula. Soviet destroyers rammed them, forcing to roll back in international waters. You should learn naval history more attentively!

Do you know the number of even more horrific pictures that exist of the aftermath of the atomic bombs?

Replace the words "atomic bombs" with any number of horrific things that nations inflicted on one another throughout the war, and particularly near the end and your point becomes painfully diluted.

Forced marches Slave labor Scientific experimentation Systemized rape Mass executions Prolonged siege (leading to any or all of the following: Starving to death, freezing to death, dying of thirst) Artillery bombardment Naval bombardment Aerial bombardment Aerial bombardment with incendiary devices . . .

The list goes on and on.

It's utterly absurd to try to rank suffering at the hands of one method of killing and destruction above others, as if one way of being maimed, mutilated, dismembered, disemboweled, or otherwise having your life taken from you in a moment of violence is more or less preferable to another.

Honestly, I just can’t fathom how people get so incredibly worked up over the atomic bombings when they account for but a fraction of the insane volume and variety of misery that was unleashed on civilians by Axis and Allied powers alike.

An account from a survivor of the Bombing Of Dresden:

To my left I suddenly see a woman. I can see her to this day and shall never forget it. She carries a bundle in her arms. It is a baby. She runs, she falls, and the child flies in an arc into the fire.

Suddenly, I saw people again, right in front of me. They scream and gesticulate with their hands, and then—to my utter horror and amazement—I see how one after the other they simply seem to let themselves drop to the ground. (Today I know that these unfortunate people were the victims of lack of oxygen). They fainted and then burnt to cinders.

Insane fear grips me and from then on I repeat one simple sentence to myself continuously: "I don't want to burn to death". I do not know how many people I fell over. I know only one thing: that I must not burn.

— Margaret Freyer

What is it about the atomic bombs that pushes so many people's buttons in a way the Tokyo Firebombing, Rape of Nanking, Bombing of Dresden, or the Seige of Leningrad don't? Serious question.

Funny how Japan does nothing to remember Pearl Harbor. funny how you hardly ever see anything relating to WW2 outside of Japan, WW2 was so much bigger than the Abombs, 20 times as many people died outside of Japan (60million+, Japan lost around 3 million) this was more than the total population of Japan at the time. The Abombs killed a total of about 250,000 both during the detonations and the years after. Europe and Asia had the same fatalities as the Abombs in about 8 days!. Yes that equals about 30,000 people everyday for the total six years of the war. Japan wants so desperately for the world to look at them as a main victim of WW2, but the truth is many other countries suffered on a much larger scale, Jews, Soviets, Chinese etc they deserve as much recognition if not more for there sacrifices, and they arent tarnished by being the aggressors thats started and caused much of this slaughter, 2/3 of which were civilians.

tinawatanabe AUG. 04, 2015 - 04:08PM JSTIt's consistent with US action. I'm not blaming the Americans who say the Japanese are their slaves. I just said Americans thinking hasn't changed. If anything getting worse.

Maybe millions of Japanse citizens still believe in what Abe and 150+ of these Japan lawmakers support for the past action by their military. In 1937 Japanese soldiers systematically raped, tortured and murdered estimated more than 200000 - 300,000 civilians. This was more than killed in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined, and more than the combined civilian losses of Britain, France and Belgium in the whole of WWII.

Chinese men were used for bayonet practice and in decapitation contests and many thousands women were raped. Many Japanese soldiers went beyond rape to disembowel women, slice off their breasts, nail them alive to walls. Fathers were forced to rape their daughters, and sons their mothers, as other family members watched. Not only did live burials, castration, the carving of organs, and the roasting of people become routine, but more diabolical tortures were practiced. So sickening was the spectacle that even the Nazis in the city were horrified. No wonder these lawmakers still go to Yasukuni.

The real message of the war criminals being enshrined at Yakasuni is that no matter what you do, no matter how much suffering you inflict, if you have Japanese blood in your veins you are ok. On the other hand if you are foreigner, no matter how much they have suffered it is not important, you are not Japanese. Considering the suffering inflicted on neighboring Asian countries by Japan is it so hard to call them the 'invasions' that they are rather than 'advances'? If Hiroshima and Nagasaki are crimes then surely Japan's wartime actions are also crimes, why is it so easy for Japanese people to acknowledge A-bomb victims and so hard t acknowledge Asian victims of Japan's wartime aggression? Simple, The A-bomb victims were Japanese and therefore important and the others were foreign and therefore less than human and unimportant. That is the underlying fact that is hard to move beyond that for Japan.

Najing was grossly exaggerated decades after war ended by a Chinese American woman who later commited suicide.

tinawatanabe - I don't think I've read a more disgusting comment on JT in years. Celebrating a woman's unrelated suicide as vindication for your own personal feelings is as low as you can go. Sad the mods see it perfectly fit to mock victims of depression.

It seems really hurtful, the way it is portrayed on the other side of the war but remember that the war machine is much too complex to sum it up in one paragraph but we all know that a great part of it is propaganda. The way it is portrayed is not only to boost morale in the country but to sway international public opinion and somehow make the Japanese government to give in. Here too, it seems there was a crucial delay of information, that most people rather think it was really how long it took to access the damage instead of the uncertainty of how to act in face of this new and already feared threat. So in times of war, the media is only one more tool in the hands of the governments.

If any act in history deserve to be called a war crime, it was the use of an atomic bomb twice over.

It is, and was at the time, illegal to kill civilians in order to break military resistance. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are no exceptions to this rule.

But it was okay for Japanese soldiers to kill civilians?

I found an interesting photo taken by a Japanese soldier, it was a picture of another Japanese soldier killing a Chinese mother holding a baby. The mother and baby were killed with a samurai sword. The photo shows the sword having passed through the woman's neck, and is halfway through the baby's head. You can see the woman's face is wet with tears. It is an incredible photo, showing the most barbaric scene the human mind could imagine. These two Japanese soldiers couldn't even use the excuse that they were trying to break military resistance.

Had Japan and Germany not started their war, tens of millions would not have died. Tens of thousands of cities would not have been destroyed. The atomic bombs would not have been developed or dropped. Japan and Germany are responsible for every death and atrocity committed by all sides, as they were the original instigators. I don't want to hear any more crying about the necessity of dropping atomic bombs, it is irrelevant. It was part of the price The nation had to pay when embarking on a path which caused worldwide death and destruction. What goes around comes around.

It was summer recess. I went up of our house called monomiYagura and used British made binoculous to protect my eyes and watched mushroom cloud. I hate to confess but I was glad Japan lost war. We did not have to use ketchup to pretend we participated IchiokuGyokusui. And I am still alive.

BurningBush, please read: WW2: AMERICA WARNED HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI CITIZENS (radio broadcasts and 5million leaflets) http://www.damninteresting.com/ww2-america-warned-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-citizens/ I know people who were on those leaflet runs.

And warning was made in the Potsdam Declaration - "“We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.”

Some military leaders wanted to fight until every last citizen died in the name of the Emperor. These things are history, pieces of a complex puzzle that's more than just Pearl Harbor one day and Hiroshima and Nagasaki another day later.

Funny how Japan does nothing to remember Pearl Harbor.

That's because it would (inconveniently) remind the people that Japan initiated the war, and wasn't the innocent victim of it

Even if America came up with A-bomb before Germany's surrender, they must have hesitated using the bomb in Europe. They have their ancestors and relatives in Europe and they share the same religion. They would be morally blamed for ever.

Bollocks. That didn't stop the allies from bombing Dresden. Compared to the total casualties of WW2, the atomic bombings were actually very minor. And just because we share the same blood or religion has never stopped us Westerners from visiting great cruelty on one another.

It's consistent with US action. I'm not blaming the Americans who say the Japanese are their slaves. I just said Americans thinking hasn't changed. If anything getting worse.

And so I'm back to 'what a stupid comment'.

74 comments so far. People really love this topic. Has posting comments helped reduce your guilty conscience?

Most of us aren't American. Why would we have a guilty conscience?

It has been estimated that the Japanese invasion of China resulted in the deaths of over 20 million Chinese, mostly civilians.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties

Both Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany tried to intentionally cause the deaths of enemy civilians, as a way to destroy enemy morale. There is a saying about "What you sow, so shall ye reap."

I can only guess that the reason a city was targeted from the beginning is that the US knew Japan would surrender but the US wanted to see how deadly their new toy truly was.

@BB & to send a strong message to Stalin and set the tone for the cold war. C'mon pal, you know this.

Japan as a land mass doesn't hold much value with it's lack of energy resources. Given it's position on the Pacific Rim it's not a valuable property at all. So a land invasion should not have been expected.

After battles like Iwo Jima it was very clear that Japanese had an insatiable bloodlust. Even in defeat taking their own lives. Truman was right in his decision.

It's not like Japan didn't know this was coming. With the invent of color TV, most military strategists for Japan warned of Japan's defeat.

The atomic bomb represented the most economic form of war. Costly war manufacturing and human resources would have doubled the cost of the war. The atomic bomb allowed America to keep it's workforce and maintain growth after the war. It was a business decision - Tsun tsu bing Fa!

IF you focus on the gore of the war then I can easily say that NOTHING compares to the rape of Nanking by Japanese. It was done without mercy. The atomic bomb was instant. Only survivors and witnesses speculate that death is painful. Wrong. Torture is painful. Death is a release. As we sometimes say "The first to go are the last to know".

Great article. Lots to read here.

T

It is, and was at the time, illegal to kill civilians in order to break military resistance.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki are no exceptions to this rule.

Was the devastating human tragedy wreaked upon the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki avoidable or necessary to bring about surrender?

A University Professor once lectured about shortening the war so winning the peace, as a human race we will have to live with the consequences of our actions.

My Grandfather insists elements within the Imperial Government of Japan would never have contemplated unconditional surrender, the very thought is an abhorrence.

Below will chill the soul, World War II: The Fall of Imperial Japan, the 45 photos need to be viewed with caution as are harrowing.

http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/10/world-war-ii-the-fall-of-imperial-japan/100175/

Primary source documents:

The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki..

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/mpmenu.asp

Japanese Surrender Documents

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/jmenu.asp

Cue the cry baby America haters. I see they all showed up as usual. I for one am glad the Allies won the war and Germany and Japan lost. Japan assured all out war and they got it.

Lesson: Don't start something you can't win.

Grown men killing children... Cowards. and the best at that were the Nazis and IJA, they killed millions

The most grotesque justification I've ever heard of the nuclear genocide.

Are you trying to imply that war production was not a legitimate military target?

Najing was grossly exaggerated decades after war ended by a Chinese American woman who later commited suicide.

The manner in which she died in no way undermines the atrocities committed by the IJA in China that were revealed in her book. At any rate, even if it did matter, how many thousands of Japanese soldiers committed suicide in WWII? hmmmm.....enough with the petty smear campaign.

Still don't.

You sound sillier and sillier with every comment you make. If we didn't view Japanese as people, why would we live here and learn your language and culture? hmmmm...

Above poster. Nagasaki was bombed of a cloud cover over Kiakyushu, the original target.

your point becomes painfully diluted.

I am sure you did not get my point at all.

Justifying the suffering of the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki because Japanese soldiers made other people suffer is an outrageous argument.

The 9/11 plotters used a similar logic, they killed innocent Americans, because Americans had killed their innocent.

People get worked up over Atomic bombings because one small weapon can cause mass destruction in a matter of seconds. The scale of destruction will ensure that however well aimed or targeted there will always be mass collateral damage. Such weapons are the ideal tools of genocide, they can wipe out masses with little effort.

If such a weapon falls into the hands of terrorists( a likely scenario with unstable countries like Pakistan, N.Korea being nuclear armed) and gets used on innocents, I am sure you will be more than worked up.

Guys and gals! LOTS of reasons the U.S. gov decided to drop the bomb:

1) To end the war once and for all (because Japan was the last opposing team standing among the Axis) 2) To send a message to the Soviets (which seemed to work) 3) To experiment with new technology (and what a convenient time to do so) 4) Because the Japanese were less regarded than Europeans (perhaps in response to how the Japanese treated others and the fact they sent their own pilots hurtling their planes into ships)

SO, can we agree it was a combination of these things and not just one reason? If so, then case closed.

Burning Bush What exactly did a 3 year old child in Hiroshima start? The same thing a 3 year old child in Nanjing started.

Cowards and Chickens attack women and children. The Imperial Army did in Najing.

There's no justification ever for burning children alive. The Imperial Army did in Nanjing, in their own homes.

Cowards. Imperial Army in Nanjing.

The atomic bombs were not aiming for children. In Hiroshima they were aiming for the headquarters of the 2nd General Army, 59th Army, 5th Infantry Division, and the 224th Mobile Division. Plus dozens of factories producing war materials.

In Nagasaki, they were aiming for the war production capability. Nagasaki was a major industrial center during WWII and over 90% of the city's industry was directly involved in the war.

Schopenhauer AUG. 04, 2015 - 09:40AM JST Even if America came up with A-bomb before Germany's surrender, they must have hesitated using the bomb in Europe. They have their ancestors and relatives in Europe and they share the same religion. They would be morally blamed for ever.

Do you know anything about the history? Even if U.S. had a A-bomb before the surrender, and drop the bomb in Germany, It would not make any difference to Hiroshima today. Unfortunately, war is ugly, regardless of color or religion. U.S. military would remember the events in Normandy that German soldiers didn't remember that they have ancestors and relatives in Europe and they share the same religion.

I don't imagine that Japan would have hesitated to use a nuclear weapon if they had one to use!

I'm a South Korean but I feel truly sorry for all the civilian casualties of the atomic bombings in Japan. I read "Barefoot Gen" recently and felt that nuclear bombing is something too brutal to be allowed for humanity. It should not have happened, nor should ever happen again.

From my understanding, the majority of civilians supported the war but they were thoroughly brainwashed so they believed that they were going through those hardships in order to bring peace to the Pacific... They even thought victory was just around the corner. I don't blame them for that. Rather, I feel pity for them. If I were born there as a Japanese at that time, I might as well have been just like them. It's the Imperial military government who's to blame.

Nevertheless, I want to point out that Japan wasn't just a victim but a brutal aggressor, too. I'd like to ask the people of Japan that in remembering their sufferings from the war, they would also remember the sufferings of their victims who were killed, raped, forced into harsh physical labor, robbed of all necessities, deprived of all rights for during the times of Japanese Occupation. That, too, was as atrocious the two atomic bombings in Japan.

I'm saying this because it seems to me that the general tendency in Japan is to skip the part where they were the cruel aggressor, and only emphasize the part where they suffered as victims. No, Japan... you've got to remember and teach the younger generation both sides clearly. As long as this is done I'd be happy to leave the past grudges in the past and move on.

As an aside, the resolution which was passed through government relating to the deliberate targeting of women and children and firebomb destruction of every Japanese city, except those earmarked for the atomic bomb tests, was (approx)

"inducing permanent absenteeism within the Japanese workforce".

I cannot afford the time to dig out the original quote right now.

As it's been said on this website before, during the amalgamation of Korean and Japan, Korean life expectancy doubled, so did the population, slavery was abolished, an oppressive caste system destroyed. There were huge, unmatched advances.

At some point Koreans have to come to terms with what the reality of that means and understand that the world view they were fed for decades is highly faulted. Sometimes I wonder if those who are most upset about are just from the families of the old upper classes who lost their privileges?

@Jiho Kim"..railways, industrial centers and modern financial system... but we, Koreans don't believe that any of them was done with good intention."

I heard that Russians helped you a lot with the creation of national space port . Did they do it also with bad, colonial intention?

It must be August again if the Japanese press is once again focusing on the atomic bombings without any discussion of the underlying causes that resulted in the decision to use those weapons.

Because desert near current Vegas was underground A Bomb test site, there is a museum of A bomb near Vegas strip and its theater shows A bomb simulation show. My daughters brought me there but I declined to watch the show. When I was in Girls college, we were so brats that school brought us to visit Hiroshima hospital. After we met victims whose skins and bodies were decaying, we suddenly became model students. On the way to, we just insulted men who wanted our seats on train. Not me but others were rich girls who loved to insult men,

Not too many residents in Vegas then but there is cancer hospital. One Mafia member who owned many casinos helped hospital and cancer patients and he was named as humanitarian of the year by cancer society. Historians say he couldn't stand to think A bomb effected cancer.

@kawabegawa198AUG. 04, 2015 - 09:16AM JST Funny how Japan does nothing to remember Pearl Harbor.

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Funny you have never read December articles and comments For your info, Pearl Haror was not in August

kaBUKI is rivht. It was Kokura city. We did not know. So we Japanese along with Asahi and Mainichi decided Japan was not going to be forgiven. The only Christian area in Japan. So none Christian like us will all be perished. Don't laugh us. We were so confused/

Playing the innocent victim card is so much easier than facing the question of what led to that horrible end. Japan is always so good at magnifying what's convenient for Japan and avoiding anything that sheds negative light on it. This aversion to anything critical of Japan runs deep in this society. A typical Japanese easily gets defensive when Japan is mentioned in a negative way as though he himself was subjected to the reproach. This blindly nationalistic streak and having very limited stomach for criticism constitute Japan's major weakness.

I for one am glad the Allies won the war and Germany and Japan lost. Japan assured all out war and they got it.

I am glad the Allies won too, but gloating over deaths of any nation's populace is sick.

People should look at what happened with Italy during the war. There were fascists who rose to power control in the 1920s, and there were people who opposed them from the start. Ultimately the latter had enough of an upper hand to gain control from the former. Very fortunate, and Italy by and large escaped the kind of consequences suffered by the other Axis powers. There was also opposition also in Germany, Japan and other countries, but there was not sufficient numbers of people, at least with any real power, to have any effect, and it guaranteed being shipped to a camp and/or executed. But they did exist and their existence should not be glossed over as if it didn't matter.

At the same time, there were many volunteers from a number countries, including those from countries of the Allies, around the world who willingly sided with the Axis powers, much like the situation with foreign fighters for the Islamic State today. Anybody glossing over their existsence? No.

In the end, it's always a matter of who was/is in power and what control they have over the rest of the population. It should be obvious that not everybody is going to agree with them, so stereotyping a nation one way or another is silly. You can however make general comments about those in power based on their policies and actions.

It is Wallaroo or something who said.

Doesn't change anything. Have a look at their posts. In no way is he supporting the United States. That comment was a criticism of Japan and its treatment of Okinawa compared to the US and its treatment of Japan. He was not saying Japan is a slave, he is saying the United States treats Japan like a slave:

More like slaves-you are allowed to domineer over other slaves as long as you are following our directions (http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/11/us-should-use-japanese-political-change-to-advance-the-alliance). Actually, the US has first-class intelligence outwit other world-class intelligence organizations and her own people (How many Snowdens does she have?). How could it fail to spy on one of her satellite countries? I believe it's just a pathetic and desperate attempt to keep their faces to Japanese people rather than really expecting any answer. I wonder Abe actually could keep himself believe the US would trust him and his minions after shameless and transparent apple-polishings, including his English speech simply because I find myself hard to track his thoughts.

http://www.japantoday.com/member/view/Wallaroo

Maybe as Wallaroo said what the Japanese are .

Oh, but Tina, weren't you saying that Japanese politicians go to Yasukuni because that is what Japanese voters expect? The US certainly does not approve of such visits. If Japan is truly a slave to America, how are Japanese politicians allowed to Yasukuni? If a weak, impoverished country such as the Philippines can kick the US out of their country, Japan most certainly could. Your arguments don't make sense, they're bogus.

Kokura, not Nagasaki, was target. All Christian Nagasaki people either dead or suffered. Amb Kennedy visited So called grown up Genbaku Babies who about everybody except Kennedy forgotten in Nagasaki.

WC Nankin Gyakusatsu. Bataan Shi no Koushin and many more in Japanese Language. BunShun ShinChou ChuouKouron etc published many periodically. Nihingo only. Sorry no one translated in English.

It was GyokuSui, not Gyokisai Sui is kudakeru Sai is nuance of Decoration such as on kimono. Check old people who are still alive order was in katakana and hiragana for students.

@Jiho

Mmmm I see were we have a discrepancy... but rather is not where you point out. About the infrastructure and social/political organization that was created (imposed) during the first three decades of the 1900s (during the occupation), no doubt that those were implemented because of the big schemes that Japan had for Japan and its "territories" by that time.

Where do I see the discrepancy?, is that according to what you have said, the Korean people see that "there was NOTHING good from the Japanese and its occupation". Japan does not deny this (well most of Japanese people), but we do think that "you gain from any experience". Yes the occupation wasn't welcomed by Korea, yes there were killings and crimes committed during the war, but despite of that there were good things too (maybe little but still). See Germany, they had that terrible government during WWII but, that government also created good things, like an excellent Highway network (Autobahn?) and Volks Wagen.

And, as I said, in my comment before, even if you are not willing or simply can't perceive as good the thing that Japan implemented during the occupation. Let's agree that that period of time was terrible and savage and Imperial Japan was a step from evil

BUT, there are a lot of things that Japan did to somehow repay all the damages to Korea after the war up until the 1990s (or even more).... 70 years of Japan repent and repay, and seems like nobody sees that.

And warning was made in the Potsdam Declaration - "“We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.”

I'm sure many warnings were made on all sides. It's hard to distinguish between wartime bravado and a legitimate threat. I'm sure Japan made similar threats, and yet the U.S. fought on.

On the one hand, the bombs enabled the Emperor to surrender somewhat earlier than would otherwise have been the case. That reduced the civilian-military body count overall on all sides, and foiled Russia's plans to complete an East Bloc/East Berlin-style land grab — which Russia having been caught off guard still hastily attempted resulting in it's invasion and occupation today's Sakhalin and other Northern Islands after Japan's surrender. Without the bombs, it seems likely that Japan would have surrendered when Russia set foot in Hokkaido, which would have meant a divided Japan like East-West Germany or North-South Korea.

Still, I would argue that the bombs are a major reason Japan has never taken ownership of its role as wartime aggressor, unlike Germany. Instead, the bombings enabled revisionists to paint a picture of Japan and its people as well-meaning yet hapless victims of the war. This is the message conveyed in the Emperor's surrender speech, and the message still conveyed in Hiroshima and Japan's many other 'peace museums.'

@sangetsu03 well said, every one of the 60+million deaths during WW2 were the direct and indirect result of Japans and Hitlers aggression. If Japan had just kept to itself and not followed Hitlers lead were wouldnt be having this debate today about how wronged the Japanese have been done at the hands of America. No War = no war crimes, no immoral acts, the F end

The product of $2,000,000,000 spent in research and production, the atomic bomb has been one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war.

I wonder what other secrets were closely guarded and are still secret!

In resume... US should have wiped out Japan with all the A bombs they have... since we are evil, don't assume our "historical responsibilities", deny history and Japan at the time was eager to use Abombs, Neutron bombs, railguns, electromagnetic wave tech weaponry on China (specifically on Nanjing.. because one massacre two massacres, three massacres) and the world...

We are evil and we never ever ever learn.. We should have to be blown up

That is more or less the core of most commentators in here.

It's no sarcasm. I wasn't born yesterday.

Well, you sure act like it. Let me spell it out for you: The same person that referred to Japan as America's 'slave,' burningbush, also said in this article:

It should have been dropped on a remote area where few people live or on an army base. Then the Japanese should've been given a chance to assess the power of the new weapon and then surrender. Attacking civilians is cowardly. I can only guess that the reason a city was targeted from the beginning is that the US knew Japan would surrender but the US wanted to see how deadly their new toy truly was. Grown men killing children... Cowards.

So no, he was not calling Japan America's slaves. His comment was quite clearly a criticism of US foreign policy.

I just said Americans thinking hasn't changed. If anything getting worse.

And how is that? The Philippines kicked the US military out of their country. Why doesn't Abe do the same?

@Burning Bush

Attacking civilians is cowardly.

Grown men killing children... Cowards.

Actually, it's worse than that, it's plain evil.

As another poster documented, history tells was deliberately planned. As they said, "because they wanted to see what an effect their new toy had".

An official Japanese photograph was sent to Hiroshima as well. One of the reason there are so few detailed photographs of the effect was that the suffering they say was so great, imaginably so, that they did not want to offend the dignity of the victims which were, as has also be written, mainly women, children and defenceless old people.

In case people forget, the cities which were bombed were left untouched by the fire bombing campaign because the architects of destruction wanted to see the full effect of their creation.

Kyoto was actually at the top of the list and was only spared because some American diplomat had honeymooned there and had a soft spot for it (i.e. valued its cultural worth).

I am sorry to say it, and I hope the moderators allow me do so without censoring the whole of my post, but it's only morons who see things in an us versus them nationalistic way.

The old Japanese culture that was destroyed (essentially the last of Edo) was part of the world's culture. It was a very rare and valuable culture.

The bombing was a war crime and a crime against humanity.

Only that Japan does not have any slaves. lol Japan are slaves to there culture and social norms. which is why very few speak out or question those in positions of power, nothing changes

Wc626

The book about Nanking is a fabricated story written decades after the war by a yound Chinese American who later commited suicide. It was the start of Japan bashing. Japan has many evidence against her story, but westerners like yourself never read the Japanese side and bash Japan based on her book because it is convenient for your interest. Make Japan as evil as possible.

@Jiho Kim

We appreciate your concern regarding your view of Japan.

Tough I think it will be good if you just come to Japan and talk to people regarding this matter (in a calm way). Also, please do try to remember or acknowledge what has done Japan to repay for all the damages that the Koreas suffered during the war. Please, try to understand and acknowledge that there were good thing that Japan transmitted to Korea during its occupation... sure there were many violent and regrettable acts but if you look around you will find many good things too.

Even if you don't want to acknowledge anything during the occupation and war, please do look what have Japan done, said and provided in order to repay to your country.

... Since there are some comments regarding Yasukuni and although I know what ever I say will just fail to be understand ed...

Yasukuni as any other Shinto shrines are places where some specific god resides, in this case, the god/spirit that resides in Yasukuni is the spirit of Japan (as a whole, a country, a nation, a culture). A spirit/god in Sintoism is neither absolute evil nor absolute good but is just IS, as any other persons soul. It has good aspects as well as bad dark aspects.

Those soul enshrined in Yasukuni cannot be separated since they form the very soul that make Japan the nation that it is now, with all its defects and faults. So in Yasukuni, Japanese people goes to pay honor to the soul/god of the Japan, and not to one/several specific souls of people (since there are no separated souls in Yasukuni).

I hope people could understand it.... but I suppose from a monotheistic, "God-fearing" cultures and those who are unwilling/incapable to understand (that is many people in this section)... so I will be down voted, and attacked... but well

Tina,

I wish US did not interfere the visits [to Yasukuni Shrine] because it has hurt the Japanese people

No, U.S. opposition to these visits absolutely does not hurt the Japanese people. The average Japanese citizen couldn't give two squats about the shrine and the celebration of militarism it engenders. The only people who take issue with U.S. pressure to stop these asinine and intentionally provocative visits are ultra-nationalists who see Yasukuni as a way to wax nostalgically over the good ol' days of Japanese colonial zeal.

The bombings occurred purely so the US could demonstrate its new power to the world, particularly the Soviet Union which they were preparing to confront.https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2012/08/hiro-a06.htm

Who are "we?"

I suspect Burning Bush just wanted to stoke the JT fires. That's why there's no response.

I think his comment "More like slaves-you are allowed to domineer over other slaves as long as you are following our directions" suggest he thinks Japan is US slave.

No it doesn't. If you are reading it that way, it means that your English level isn't as high as you think it is.

What's done is done. People still talk with so much words, but you don't need words. The more words the more unstable and complex the situation becomes. In the end, war is still there...but is covered up with words.

So much cognitive dissonance that is displayed here.

@Wc626

LoL, those same cowards and chickens slowly won battle after battle.

So you are in agreement that the bombers in air force are cowards then?

Yikes, major typo. Above should have read, " Nagasaki was bombed because of a cloud cover over Kiakyushu, the original target." The bomb was dropped in the suburbs, coincidentally with a large Catholic population. It happened to be Sunday. Thus much of that Catholic population died in church.

The Nagasaki bomb was cross haired on the steeple of a catholic church

Present day atomic bombs are on average 10 to 100 times more powerful then one dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and China alone has over 250 this nuclear warheads even North maybe have 10 to 20 warheads. This is why when Japan spat with its neighbors nervous tension is unavoidable.

Wc626 "US & Soviet NAVY squared off face-to-face. Who blinked ? That's right - the soviets."

@yamashi. Sorry bra, the mods deleted my argument. Why do you need a link? Everyone knows the missle sites in ciba were dismantled after the soviet navy went home. Do you need a link for Nanjing Massacre too? Or are you willing to admit it actually happened?

what history does not say is that the ports were already blockaded- the country was cut off. travel to or from Japan was only by the whim of the allies in the end. they could have rode it out for a few months.

Yeah, and all they had to do was properly surrender. . . . Oh, but that's not the way of the samurai is it?

Having read the "MANHATTAN PROJECT" got to understand the secrecy and the method in which "FAT MAN" and "LITTLE BOY" were manufactured.Sadly the World in 2015 has become a much more dangerous place post 6/8/1945 when the first atom bomb was detonated. Today numerous Country's possess "ATOMIC WEAPONS" and the thought of setting a "ACCIDENTAL NUCLEAR WAR" is no more a film fantasy but could become a reality with us humans destroying our own planet.

The atomic bombs were not aiming for children. In Hiroshima they were aiming for the headquarters of the 2nd General Army, 59th Army, 5th Infantry Division, and the 224th Mobile Division. Plus dozens of factories producing war materials.

In Nagasaki, they were aiming for the war production capability. Nagasaki was a major industrial center during WWII and over 90% of the city's industry was directly involved in the war.

The most grotesque justification I've ever heard of the nuclear genocide.

@Wc626"There is a book, "the Rape of Nanking", most disgusting historical book I've ever read.

Please, try to find in a local library another book, a story about genocide of American Natives. Something like "The Trail of Tears". Betcha, you will cry a river.

@Yuri Otani "another nation will use the same justification for an atomic attack".

Americans must realise a plain thing. When they justify atomic bombings of Japanese cities by any reason, they give a green light to any radical group to justify, say actions like 9/11.

Those soul enshrined in Yasukuni cannot be separated since they form the very soul that make Japan the nation that it is now, with all its defects and faults. So in Yasukuni, Japanese people goes to pay honor to the soul/god of the Japan, and not to one/several specific souls of people (since there are no separated souls in Yasukuni).

Too bad that the names of war criminals are there then, or that there is a revisionist museum nearby. They could get rid of that for a start, then people might take the claims of politicians that they are "praying for peace" a little more seriously

Dear Daniel.

I'd love to hear more from Japanese people about this matter. I'm sure most of them are nice people. In fact, I have 3 Japanese friends all of whom are really good, polite guys. But you see, there is a huge discrepancy on how we view the past. As you've mentioned, the Japanese people may point out that their colonizing Korea resulted in "developments" in Korea so it was beneficial in some ways, but most Koreans would disagree with that. (And they'd be rather offended at such statement.)

I've learned that Japan laid out a lot of infrastructure in Korea such as railways, industrial factories and modern financial system and so on, but we Koreans don't believe that any of them was done with good intentions. Rather, all of it was to exploit Korea faster, in a more efficient way. OK, even if it's true that some influenced Korea in a positive way, as a whole Japan did much more harm than good in Korea. That's why we can't appreciate the colonial period in any way at all.

But then again, you would disagree with me... So we have this distinct gap in our understanding here. I just hope that through honest conversation Korea and Japan could bridge this gap one day. It's a very complicated matter and nobody seems able to solve it... but all I wish with Japan is peace and more partnership in the future.

Oh, more competition, too. The soccer game between Korea and Japan's A team ended as a draw 2 hours ago. I hope we win next time! :P

kawabegawa198

Funny how Japan does nothing to remember Pearl Harbor.

One thing you must remember when you remember Pearl Harbor is that PH was a military base. And the tensions between Japan and America were very high at that particular time. In times of tension, a military base must be ready for an attack whether a war is declared or not. The US military leaders should have put PH on high alert.

Japan has paid heavily in the terrible nuclear catastrophes suffered by its people at Hiroshima & Nagasaki. It was a very heavy price paid for the atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Military Forces during WW II. Apologies had been made by a previous Japanese Minister, so it would be ridiculous for current PM Abe to keep on repeating a similar apology. Japan is now facing a Nuclear China and a Hostile North Korea that has Nuclear bombs with delivery systems supplied by the Chinese. So Japan must be prepared, and NOT suffer another nuclear holocaust. NEVER kow-tow or show that Japan fears Nuclear China. Japanese Peaceniks, understand the potential threats to your country when you protest against your PM, when his administration voted to change the Constitution relating to Defence & Security of the nation & its people..

tinawatanabe - I don't think I've read a more disgusting comment on JT in years.

I second that. There is a book, "The Rape of Nanking", most disgusting historical book I've ever read. Probably never published in Japanese (wonder why).

Cowards and Chickens attack women and children

LoL, those same cowards and chickens slowly won battle after battle. Island after Island, runways. Midway itself was a gamble. After going to hell & back in the Pacific and European theaters (WW2), the US would be stupid NOT to use those TWO BOMBS. Ehh??

The real message of the war criminals being enshrined at Yakasuni is that no matter what you do, no matter how much suffering you inflict, if you have Japanese blood in your veins you are ok. On the other hand if you are foreigner, no matter how much they have suffered it is not important, you are not Japanese. Considering the suffering inflicted on neighboring Asian countries by Japan is it so hard to call them the 'invasions' that they are rather than 'advances'? If Hiroshima and Nagasaki are crimes then surely Japan's wartime actions are also crimes, why is it so easy for Japanese people to acknowledge A-bomb victims and so hard t acknowledge Asian victims of Japan's wartime aggression? Simple, The A-bomb victims were Japanese and therefore important and the others were foreign and therefore less than human and unimportant. That is the underlying fact that is hard to move beyond that for Japan.

A fair point

It should have been dropped on a remote area where few people live or on an army base. Then the Japanese should've been given a chance to assess the power of the new weapon and then surrender.

Attacking civilians is cowardly.

I can only guess that the reason a city was targeted from the beginning is that the US knew Japan would surrender but the US wanted to see how deadly their new toy truly was.

Grown men killing children... Cowards.

Exactly. There was absolutely no reason to drop it on a heavily concentrated civilian area. It's just totally sinister.

Then again, what do you expect. That's the U.S. government and military for you. Not much has changed today with the world's foremost war-mongering nation.

@Kapuna"The same thing a 3 year old in Nanjing started"

You support a pure barbarism originated from Stone Age when one tribe could kill and eat another one. And if we are talking about ancient Talio principle (revenge), Americans should bomb Army corps or Naval harbor in Japan. Not civilians, elderly, women, children.

Nanking has nothing to do with American war crimes. Their actions have to stand on their own. One day another nation will use the same justification for an atomic attack on the United States.

So you are in agreement that the bombers in air force are cowards then?

No. They're brave HEROS who saved many young american lives and abruptly and deliberately forced surrender.

But it was okay for Japanese soldiers to kill civilians?

So you make up opposing arguments and then try to justify a truly evil act.

Do you know the number of even more horrific pictures that exist of the aftermath of the atomic bombs?

These two Japanese soldiers couldn't even use the excuse that they were trying to break military resistance.

I bet they cant, but can the leadership of a group of nations come up with an excuse for an act which was carried out with their approval, with the full knowledge of the destruction it would unleash.

I don't want to hear any more crying about the necessity of dropping atomic bombs

If you can close that browser.....

We did not have to use ketchup to pretend we participated IchiokuGyokusui. And I am still alive.

This should be "ichioku gyokusai' 一億玉砕 (not "IchiokuGyokusui").

@toshiko

I am certainly grateful that you survived to tell your story as well. But still with the benefit of hindsight, if it had been my decision I would not have dropped the bomb.

Tojo's call for ichioku gyokusai "100 million [people] shattering like a jewel" in February 1944 in his infamous emergency declaration was clearly a significant reason the U.S. was loathe to invade Honshu while opting for conventional and nuclear civilian air raids.

Anyway, here is a quote from a certain news source about ichioku gyokusai: "in February 1944, Tojo, in his “emergency declaration,” had called for ichioku gyokusai, “100 million shattering like a jewel.” It was a demand that the entire Japanese population be prepared to die. Japan’s population at the time was 70 million, so he was also ordering Taiwanese and Koreans to meet the same fate."

74 comments so far. People really love this topic. Has posting comments helped reduce your guilty conscience?

cardsfan5

It is Wallaroo or something who said.

Why doesn't Abe do the same?

Maybe as Wallaroo said what the Japanese are .

It has been estimated that the Japanese invasion of China resulted in the deaths of over 20 million Chinese, mostly civilians.

It is lie. Even China who keep increasing the figure says now 300,000 or 500,000. And when Japan submit contradicting circumstantial evidence, they say the number is not important. They were in civil war when Japan entered, they are including something else.

Learn to read sarcasm,

It's no sarcasm. I wasn't born yesterday.

it's stupid to think that means that all Americans, or America as a whole feels that way.

It's consistent with US action. I'm not blaming the Americans who say the Japanese are their slaves. I just said Americans thinking hasn't changed. If anything getting worse.

cardsfan5 - I think his comment "More like slaves-you are allowed to domineer over other slaves as long as you are following our directions" suggest he thinks Japan is US slave. Only that Japan does not have any slaves.

If Japan is truly a slave to America, how are Japanese politicians allowed to Yasukuni?

So not complete yet.

The US certainly does not approve of such visits.

It was no problem before but recently US started interfere, which is one of reasons I can not blame Wallaroo and I think Americans thinking is detereorating . I wish US did not interfere the visits because it has hurt the Japanese people and many Japanese stopped being American fans.

Here's something most people don't know. There were many influential US Senators who, with support from Gen. LeMay and others were pushing for Truman to accept no surrender. They wanted every nuclear bomb produced to be dropped on every Japanese city. Their goal was to eliminate all Japanese men, women and children, the entire population, from earth. They also wanted all of the Japanese held in camps ot be executed.

They were no different than the Nazis. There's an old saying that people become what they hate.

In the months following the war, Gen LeMay had a plan to take the next 50 nuclear weapons produced and drop them on the largest 50 cities in the Soviet Union in one giant raid. He had support from the Senate also.

When you read Truman's diary, you see that he, in essense, changed his mind, and did not have the stomach to kill more women and children. He would not have ordered more weapons be dropped on Japan. This was after he received reports of the damage.

Americans at that time and years to come did not consider Japanese to be human. I went through the occupation of Okinawa (prereversion) as a child and we were treated as animals. At best we were treated as second class people on our own island. Do not forget the steel typhoon as it was directed against civilians not Japanese military. I worry one day someone will nuke an American city and they will use the same excuses as the Americans.

Cowards and Chickens attack women and children. The Imperial Army did in Najing.

Najing was grossly exaggerated decades after war ended by a Chinese American woman who later commited suicide.

70 years ago, there existed strong racial discriminations in the world. It was a white supremacy time. Soon after the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japanese people rumoured that America used the atomic bombs to Japan but not in europe because of racial discriminations.

afjp330 Aug. 04, 2015 - 09:19AM JST U.S. did have the bomb prior to May of 1945 so how could America use the A-bomb in Europe? In May 8, 1945, the Allies accepted Germany’s surrender, about a week after Adolf Hitler had committed suicide. A-bomb was successfully tested in July 16, 1945 in New Mexico.

Even if America came up with A-bomb before Germany's surrender, they must have hesitated using the bomb in Europe. They have their ancestors and relatives in Europe and they share the same religion. They would be morally blamed for ever.