I think its just juvenile ignorance and didn’t actually mean any offense. Since they’ve apologized already it seems pretty moot now.

Remarkably insensitive and ignorant, but probably representative of today’s typical college student in JPland.

Yet, a part of me wonders just how morose young people should be. They are not in front of the dome, but across a river from it. If the camera were pointed at a different angle, would that have been OK? I presume there are snacks and drinking establishments equally near the dome (though Hiroshima is not known for nightlife). Aren’t drunken revelers with a hostess on their lap being equally insensitive?

Should we have no-smiling zones everywhere a tragedy strikes? Maybe that’s why they are so dour in many parts of Europe.

The girls should have know better, and are quite possibly only dimly aware that a big bomb was once dropped on their hometown. But, on the other hand, life goes on.

I’m torn here. They sure are cute, aren’t they?

diamondback: I guess I was trying to convey what ghoti said in his comment, but was not as eloquent.

Ghoti’s good, isn’t he?

I don’t think it’s that big a deal. When I was in Hiroshima, the park was a pretty happening place, with people having picnics and kids running around and playing and laughing and their parents not bothered in the least.

And it’s not as if it’s just kids that have no respect. I saw japanese couples take pictures of themselves smiling and doing the victory sign in front of the dome (which I guess is hilariously ironic).

Maybe I missed something, but I didn’t really see anything that offended me, or that I found tasteless. Yeah the dome is in the background, but it isn’t the focus of the video.

and I suppose if it was performed to a backdrop of Yasukuni you would be falling over yourselves in rave comments.

(*!*)

Before making pronouncements one way or the other, did anyone think to ask any hibakusha whether they found this offensive or not?

I don’t know whether it was intended or not when it was designed, but the park as a whole appears to be laid out in such a way as to invite celebrations of the joy of living in a way that transcends the horrors that transpired here. That said, I found the dancing to be rather dull. But at least they looked like they were having fun. Certain forms of political expressions might very well be offensive in this setting, but this was quite harmless, I figure.

I think that the location *within* Hiroshima is the issue. Of course there are places within the city to shop and have fun, but not right by ground zero and the atomic dome – the very symbol of the devastation and tens of thousands of deaths. While the analogy isn’t exact, no thoughtful person would consider making a dance video in front of the Auschwitz gate.

As this video suggests, “Hiroshima” will be forgotten. If someone dances in front of the 9/11 site 50 years from, I am quite sure there will be no outcry about it.

Wars are a fact of life. It says something about how peaceful the world has become that we can make every scene of violent death into hallowed (and mirthless) ground. In the past, people just rebuilt and went on with life – maybe they were less self-important and more practical.

For the record, those girls are welcome to dance on my grave, however I die.

“Is that rigor mortis setting in, or are you just happy to see me?”