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Unexploded WWII shell found in Tokyo's Kita Ward

11 Comments

Construction workers in Tokyo's Kita Ward found a piece of unexploded ordnance, thought to have been dropped on the capital during World War II, police said Saturday.

The shell was discovered in Akabanekita on Thursdsay by workers at a levee protection construction site on the Shingashi River. TBS reported the shell was 160 cm in length, 60 cm in diameter and weighing a ton. It is believed to have been dropped by the U.S. during World War II.

Police say the bomb has been covered with sandbags by Self-Defence Force personnel and is to be defused and disposed of at a later date.

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11 Comments
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It's not called a "shell", it's an Unexploded Bomb or UXO/UXB. If it's really a 2000 pound bomb from a B-29, if it goes BOOM! it will destroy everything within a wide area. They better put a lot of sandbags on top of it! Maybe they can put a live video link, this could be interesting....

BTW, who else would have dropped a 2000 pound bomb on Tokyo except the USA?

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Look for the "Made in USA" mark.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Don't forget the adjustment. Since Japanese industry was so dispersed & by then quite.....basic, it was about area destruction via firebombing & other small ordnance.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Not cool. I live only a few minutes from there

1 ( +3 / -2 )

I am amazed that they are still finding these unexploded bombs from WWII. With the size of this one, I think they need way more than sandbags to muffle a possible accident. How about an evacuation plan for the nearby residents?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The Doolittle Raid?

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Thousands & thousands of bombs were dropped on Tokyo after the essentially meaningless Doolittle raid. The biggest question is to wonder why Japan took so long to surrender. it may be startling to learn that 800 B-29s were sent over Japan on bombing missions a few days AFTER the atomic bombs were dropped. Because even those two earth-shattering events didn't work right away to secure a surrender.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

again! How many more there? There are surely more unexploded ones all over. Watch out!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

JeanValJeanJul. 07, 2013 - 08:57AM JST

Look for the "Made in USA" mark.

If you find it, stare at it & cherish the moment, because "made in America" is a rarity nowadays.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@ultradork wrote:

Thousands & thousands of bombs were dropped on Tokyo after the essentially meaningless Doolittle raid.

The Doolittle raid may have been many things, including fairly ineffective from the point of damage inflicted, but it was most assuredly not meaningless. It created a huge morale boost in the U.S., caused the Japanese to commit more of their forces to homeland defense and inspired them to make their disastrous strike at Midway.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The Japanese STILL haven't figured out the meaning of American bombing raids....

As in "It would be best to surrender now". Look, after two atom bombs the Japanese still didn't want to surrender. And after all of these years, people still describe the Doolittle raid as "meaningless".

The Doolittle raid proved that the USA could strike Japan EVEN with B-25s from an AIRCRAFT carrier! The USA was already working on the B-29 at the time and it was only a matter of time before the mighty Superfortress would be pounding Japan with impunity.

BUT, the arrogant Japanese didn't believe that Americans could prevail in a long war across the Pacific. And today they can't even make a show of force for an uninhabited rock in the middle of nowhere.

Pathetic....

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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