August 9th in Nagasaki
Nagasaki is a charming and attractive city. I’ve been there several times—one of my brothers-in-law lives in the suburb of Isahaya. With a population of 447,000, it has all the appeal of a city without the disadvantages of a megalopolis. If San Francisco can be described as convex, because it has sharply rising hills in the downtown area, then Nagasaki could be described as concave, because it lies at the bottom of a basin-like area. Irregardless of the direction of the curves, both cities have steep hillsides that make it difficult to maintain your balance when walking, particularly down hills.
Tourists love Nagasaki. There are several excellent views overlooking the city, particularly from Glover Garden and another accessible by ropeway up the side of a mountain. It has the same sort of ambience seen in some San Francisco neighborhoods that makes one think the date is 1925 instead of 2005. Both have a Chinatown district, though Nagasaki’s is much smaller and almost exclusively commercial. Decades-old streetcars are still used for public transportation on cobblestone streets downtown. The authorities are in the process of restoring Dejima, a former artificial island built during the Edo period that from the 1630s to 1856 was the only place in Japan where foreigners could legally reside and was Japan’s sole connection to the West for trade and cultural exchange. (It’s no longer an island—Nagasaki Harbor was later rebuilt and Dejima was then connected to the city by landfill.) If my wife suggested we move to Nagasaki—and she just might—I’d agree on the spot.
As pleasant and attractive as it is today, however, you wouldn’t want to have been there 60 years ago today, particularly at 11:02 a.m., when the second atomic bomb fell.
What was it like to be in Nagasaki that day? The Nagasaki Broadcasting Co., or NBC, (a small regional TV and radio network), has placed translated excerpts of interviews with survivors on their website, here. (I translated Number 8, for Chiyoko Egashira, and several more that the NBC staff hasn’t gotten around to posting yet.) Here’s a sample of what happened to some of the people:
“…we made our way through the ruins to the site of our house, only to find a man from the neighborhood, Mr. Matsumoto, lying dead at a gateway. His eyeballs were hanging out, and his tongue was stretching from his mouth. His presence here indicated that we had found the approximate location of our house. In front of the entrance we found a corpse under the broken remains of a cart. When we turned the corpse over, we recognized the face of our sister, which alone had escaped the flash of heat. Her body was so thoroughly burned that her black flesh crumbled at the slightest touch…”
Or
“As time passed my burned flesh began to rot and fall away. I was lying on my front, so the flesh fell down at my sides and piled up there. Every day they had to come time and time again to clean that up. I think I suffered a lot more of this loss of flesh than the others. When you get a serious wound like the one I had, you would usually expect insects to gather. But at the worst stage, not even flies would come near me. My body smelled of burns and rot. Even now I can still recall that smell; it is always in the back of my mind. Every day I called out in pain and agony for someone to kill me…”
Or
“As my own wounds were on my head, from the face to the neck, and upper body, I had many layers of bandages that had to be changed over and over. The pain I had when they would peel off two or three layers was so great that I couldn’t think straight. By the time they came to wrapping on the new bandages, I had lost all my strength and felt like an empty shell. For about two hours I would be screaming because it was so painful, and then it would be time for another treatment. This was repeated over and over again. The gauze had been soaked in Lybanol and when it dried it would shrink up, forcing the burnt flesh up through the holes in the mesh. The treatment from the nurses at the naval hospital was rough. They would grab the edge of the gauze with tweezers and rip it right off, causing so much pain that I cried out, ‘Just kill me!’ over and over. Just hearing the call ‘Treatment!’ was enough to start some of the patients crying. If there was some way that experience could be replayed, exactly as it was and without hiding anything, I would really like everyone to see what it was like.”
Whether you want to ban the bomb or think the type of weapon used isn’t the problem…whether you think the decision to drop the bomb was entirely justified or driven by racism…and in particular, if you’re one of those people who thinks Japan didn’t learn anything from the war—and especially if you’re from China and South Korea…
You owe it to yourself to read these stories.
“Whether you want to ban the bomb or think the type of weapon used isn’t the problem…whether you think the decision to drop the bomb was entirely justified or driven by racism…and in particular, if you’re one of those people who thinks Japan didn’t learn anything from the war—and especially if you’re from China and South Korea…
You owe it to yourself to read these stories.”
No one owes it to themselves to read these stories especially because Japan got what they deserved. All these playing the victim of atomic bomb mentality is getting annoying now. Japan waged war all over Asia and attacked Pearl Harbor first. So they got pounded in the butt in return. At least those things happened because of direct reaction to Japan’s militaristic actions. China and Korea didn’t even do anything to Japan and got just as bad or even worse result out of it. Dropping of the bomb is entirely justified by prior Japanese actions. Also Japan should feel lucky that they got out of WWII without much punishment. Hilter would have been hanged if he had been caught, where as Hirohito got off without a punishment at all. So I guess Japan had it easy. It was to hang every single war criminals including the leader or just have two bombs on their cities, which still wasn’t as bad as what happened to those Chinese people who suffered under Japanese rule. I am sure Hirohito would agree that bombs were not that bad since it ended the war quicker and saved his butt and didn’t have Russians coming into divide up the country like they did in Korea. In a way, Japan should thank US for ending the war quickly in that manner.
August 9th, 2005 at 12:53 pm“You owe it to yourself to read these stories.”
And of course we’ll also want to read stories of survival from the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March, and myriad other tragic episodes of the war. While we’re at it, let’s not forget the London Blitz, because war is Hell everywhere, no?
Racism? I’m sorry, but that’s just a self-serving canard conjured up by the Japanese leadership to absolve themselves of any responsibility. We’re all “victims,” see?
Frankly, I’ve never really understood all the hand-wringing over Hiroshima and the A-bomb.
One bomb that kills 80,000 is deplorable, yet the fire-bombing of Tokyo five months earlier, with 150,000 civilian dead overnight is somehow okay? Well no, of course not, yet hardly anyone even seems to remember it. And I have yet to encounter a Japanese national who has any idea of what happened to Dresden and other German cities.
One plane with one bomb versus lots of planes with lots of bombs. It’s a simple matter of efficiency. One would think at least the Japanese could get behind that idea.
August 9th, 2005 at 2:22 pmWhat you forgot about the bombing of Tokyo with conventional weapons is that they don’t have the after-effects of a nuclear weapon. One nuclear bomb may have “only” killed 80,000 outright, but the aftermath claimed about another 60,000, and still affected many many others that had to live with it.
August 9th, 2005 at 3:39 pmYou folks concentrating on the “you owe it to yourself” sentence should reread the paragraph preceding it. You don’t get it.
Yes, we all know war is hell. Yes, we all know Japan behaved wickedly. I’ve seen photos of heads rolling next to bodies at Nanking, and even showed them to students in Japan to get their reactions.
Yes, we all know that a sound thrashing had to be administered to make sure they never tried anything like that again. Yes, we all know how using nuclear weapons shortened the war. Living in Kyushu for 20 years myself, I can’t begin to imagine the carnage an invasion would have caused, especially after Okinawa and Iwo Jima. We know that nuclear weapons are “efficient” and that the Tokyo fire bombing and Dresden were horrible too. (Curtis LeMay designed the bombing patterns to cut off civilian escape routes.)
And yes, I know Nagasaki was a military target. I just translated the account of an ordnance inspector at a Nagasaki shipyard where they were in the process of building a carrier, a destroyer, and two cruisers on August 9.
But you be the one to approach some guy who laid in a hospital and watched the flesh melt off his body into piles every day for months, stinking so bad the flies stayed away, and tell him, “yeah, tough luck pal, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you had it coming anyway.”
Paul Tebbits, the man who piloted the Enola Gay, thinks that way, but at least he has met and talked to hibakusha at length.
August 9th, 2005 at 4:06 pmI agree that Japan needed an invasion of some sort to make them stop their warfare, but NOTHING justifies an atomic bomb - what happened to these people is simply inhuman. No one has something like that ‘coming’, no matter what they did. The Germans did horrible things to the people in the concentration camps, things that were beyond forgiveness, yet still the German people did not deserve to be attacked with an atomic bomb and they didn’t get one either, probably because they were white. Such actions against civilians are always wrong - and the excuse that all the Japanese were involved in the war is rubbish, because they had as much choice as any country in wartime : none. The bombs probably ended the war sooner, yes, but at what cause? The death and suffering of thousands of people, continuing for decades after the blast itself?
August 9th, 2005 at 7:35 pmHirshima and Nagasaki should be remembered as deeds that should never be repeated - and though the motives were different, they fit into the list of horrible acts against humanity, along with Auschwitz, 9/11 and so many others. No matter on who’s “side” the victims are on, such acts are NEVER justfied. It’s people who think that they are justified - be it terrorists, government leaders or just an average Joe - that keep this world a horrid place filled with intolerance!
My mother and father in law were lucky not to have died in the bombing of Hiroshima. There was an equally good chance my father and uncle would have died in any invasion of Japan. My mother-in-law thought the bomb was the best way to bring the war to a speedy conclusion. I’m going to respect her opinion. Ampontan has summarized it quite well - there wasn’t any good answer, and a lot of innocents suffered horribly. Having said that, the alternative could well have been worse - something the highly opinionated never seem to take into account.
August 9th, 2005 at 9:16 pmNuclear weapons are horrible. No doubt about it. Let us not forget chemical and biological weapons. I can’t imagine what death and destruction a biological weapon gone awry would wreck on potentially the whole world!
There isn’t a lot of value in arguing whether the atomic bomb should or should not have been dropped. It happened. What we (everyone) should do is learn from the experience. Those that don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. I for one would like to see a fairer balance of WWII in schools. (from a factual perspective) For example, Understanding why the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor would help. I don’t recall it being covered in US schools. I don’t mean they wanted to cripple the US navy and become the dominante Naval force in the Pacific. That is pretty clear. I think there were other political etc. factors leading up to that. Likewise, I wonder what is taught in Japanese schools. Is it fairly sanitized? I don’t know. War is hell, unfortunatelyt sometimes it is necessary.
August 10th, 2005 at 1:33 amBut you be the one to approach some guy who laid in a hospital and watched the flesh melt off his body into piles every day for months, stinking so bad the flies stayed away, and tell him, “yeah, tough luck pal, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you had it coming anyway.”
I will gladly tell them that in their face. If you can go to China or Korea and tell them how they shouldn’t have used the bomb so it would have prolonged their stay there so that Japan can use their citizens to test their biological weapons and use them as sex slaves. Again, Japan had it coming and they deserve every ouce of that radiation.
Yes. Atomic bomb is justifiable because it did end the war without many more american casualties. Alot of people only think about the effect of the bomb on Japanese people. But that bomb was basically a savior to alot of other nations in Asia. Japanese lives are not worth more than other Asians. I think 80k Japanese death is worth it because I don’t even want to think about what would have happened had the war been prolonged.
August 10th, 2005 at 10:25 amCollective punishment, and collective guilt–these are the underlying reasons behind “John’s” reasoning. One example of it? Islamic terrorists group together all Americans as evil and worthy of death, due to the actions of a few.
The problem I have with the underlying notion behind “John’s” reasoning of “collective guilt” is that it leads to so much irrationality, and gives an excuse to demonize entire groups.
Along the same line of logic, perhaps it is logical to kill any American for whatever perceived historical wrongdoing to (insert wronged group here). Perhaps Tibetans should murder any Chinese for the continuing destruction of their culture and people? Where does one draw the line when one chooses to believe in collective punishment and guilt? Giving way to emotional reactionism is the easy way out, but it leads to nothing except seething hatred.
August 10th, 2005 at 6:10 pm“it did end the war without many more american casualties” ? So that means that, as long as the Americans don’t die anymore, it’s fine? I agree that the Japanese had to be stopped and that they did horrible things during the war and that the other Asian countries invaded by Japan very much deserved to be liberated, but every nation does horrible things during a war (and I’m not even going into this any further) and the war would have ended soon anyway. I seem to recall from school that America and Russia had agreed to invade Japan together, but that America decided to drop the bombs anyway, a few days before the planned invasion. Without the bombs, Japan would have had to surrender soon anyway - their allies were already taken out, their own forces were dwindling and the enemy was knocking at the door. What I learnt in school is that the atom bombs were a quick and easy way for the Americans to end the war and a way to make sure that the Russians didn’t get too much (if any) influence in Japan – remember the Cold War that followed? Actions in war are taken for political reasons or out of vengeance, never to save people other than the own perfect nation…
August 10th, 2005 at 10:34 pmI agree with both of you that not all Japanese are “evil”. But that still doesn’t give an excuse for Japan to play the “victim” in the result of the war they waged. From US’s perspective, yes as longa s there are less American casualty that is all that matters. Don’t try to act like Japan or any other nation truly cares for enemy casualties (except when counting to see who killed more). Because it certainly didn’t look like Japan cared for humane treatment or lives of innocent people when they pillaged through China. Your argument of Japan surrendering soon is irrevelent because no one for sure has any idea when they would have succumbed to defeat. Also prolonging a war would have definitely taken more american lives as Japanese are known for kamakazi attacks. Feel lucky that Hirohito is less of coward than Hitler to surrender after only two bombs. At least this decision saved his own ass.
If US had dropped the atomic bomb for no reason, then yes it is not justifiable. But when you drop a bomb to kill your enemies during the war who attacked you first, I think its justifiable.
August 11th, 2005 at 8:32 amThat’s right, Japan had it coming! Japanese people are subhuman, and we all know America’s shit didn’t stink! Japan attacked first because they’re evil, not because of an embargo the USA imposed on them for trying to cut themselves a piece of America’s imperialism pie!:roll:
August 11th, 2005 at 9:53 am“Feel lucky that Hirohito is less of coward than Hitler to surrender after only two bombs. At least this decision saved his own ass.”
Incorrect. The decision to keep the emperor had been made before. As for surrendering after only two bombs, the US had been bombing Japan pretty much at will for a year by that time. The Tokyo fire bombing in March used conventional weapons, but still killed 300,000.
August 11th, 2005 at 10:09 am“That’s right, Japan had it coming! Japanese people are subhuman, and we all know America’s shit didn’t stink! Japan attacked first because they’re evil, not because of an embargo the USA imposed on them for trying to cut themselves a piece of America’s imperialism pie!”
Yup. That is correct. And also Jewish people have no reason to despise Nazi for wanting some of that pie too. And when other country bombs you first, you just stand there and let them bomb you more. Because attacking your enemy is so wrong. Praise Nazi and Japan for putting a small damper on US dominance in the world! Thank you Hilter and Hirohito for all the genocide!!!
August 11th, 2005 at 10:27 amMark Selden, a lecturer at Cornell, makes an interesting point: he says that one of the reasons that Japan didn’t surrender was because of the Potsdam demand of unconditional surrender, which would have meant Japan would have to do away with the Emperor system. So, Hiroshima was bombed. But the Japanese didn’t surrender. And then Nagasaki was bombed. Still no response. Then the Americans communicated that the Emperor system might be preserved. And then the Japanese surrendered on August 15, nearly a week after the Nagasaki bombing on August 9.
August 11th, 2005 at 3:12 pmThe Germans did horrible things to the people in the concentration camps, things that were beyond forgiveness, yet still the German people did not deserve to be attacked with an atomic bomb and they didn’t get one either, probably because they were white.
Ah, no. The Germans didn’t get nuked because Germany surrendered before Fat Man and Little Boy were ready. If they’d held out for a few more months, it would have been Berlin instead of Hiroshima.
August 13th, 2005 at 4:53 pm