Japan on Sunday commemorated the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in the final phase of World War II.
Considering the growing nuclear threat worldwide, the mayor of Hiroshima Kazumi Matsui called for the abolition of nuclear weapons and described the nuclear deterrence policy of G7 as “folly.”
“They must immediately take concrete steps to move us from the dangerous present to our ideal world,” he said as a peace bell rang on Sunday at 8:15 a.m. — exactly when on August 6, 1945, US bomber Enola Gay set off the world’s first atomic bomb dropped on a population center.
This year, the G7 summit took place in Hiroshima, which happens to be Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s home constituency
“Leaders around the world must confront the reality that nuclear threats now being voiced by certain policymakers reveal the folly of nuclear deterrence theory,” Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said at the ceremony which was also attended by Kishida.
At the memorial ceremony about 50,000 people, including aging victims who survived the bombing, gathered and observed a moment of silence.
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The anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing was commemorated amid the growing threat of nuclear weapons propelled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The issue poses a tricky balancing act for Kishida. Japan is traditionally an advocate of nuclear disarmament, in no small part because of the legacy of the attacks on Hiroshima and then Nagasaki three days later.
However, it also supports the partly nuclear-armed G7’s group stance that members with atomic weapons shall retain them for as long as they’re a necessary deterrent against other nuclear powers.
“World leaders have visited this city, seen its monuments, spoken with its brave survivors, and emerged emboldened to take up the cause of nuclear disarmament,” he said in remarks read by a UN representative. “More should do so, because the drums of nuclear war are beating once again.”
The American atomic bomb which was dropped on Hiroshima was nicknamed “Little Boy.” It is thought to have killed as many as 140,000 people by the end of 1945. Three days later, the US dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki. It is believed to have killed up to 70,000 over the next four months.
A few days after the bombings, on August 15, Japan made an official announcement that it was surrendering. Soon after, on September 2, Japan formally capitulated, bringing an end to World War II in Asia.
Whether using the bombs brought about a speedier, and possibly even more bloodless, end to the war or whether it was an ultimately unnecessary show of force remains a fierce debate among historians almost eight decades on
Edit: I wasn’t saying anything about the bombing below only that if we had invaded the islands lots of American GIs would have died. Glad it didn’t happen for whatever reason(s).
My grandpa went into the US Army in 1939 and not due to Pearl Harbor. As Europe wound down they started setting up who would invade and how many would die when we invaded the Japanese home islands. I probably wouldn’t be here if that happened.
I recall reading but now can’t find it that the body bags manufactured for this invasion and then not used are the ones that were used for Korea, Vietnam, and even more recent.
I strongly encourage doing a bit of research on the bombings.
The traditional American and UK (once we gave them the tech) stance is “We had no choice. We needed to strike decisively to prevent a bloody invasion. The Japanese were fighting to the last man in every other battle”. The (modern) Japanese stance largely being “The war was already over and America just wanted to show off to Russia” with generally no reference to WHY Imperial Japan was the kind of nation that people would be able to sell unleashing literal hell on.
The reality is obviously very murky with a lot of revisionist history and many of the common statements like “Even Eisenhower was opposed to it” ignoring why military commanders would be opposed to “technology” potentially taking the “glory” of winning the war away from them. But basically all historians agree the war was largely “over” by that point. Japan was the last major power of the Axis that was still standing and their air force and navy were in tatters. There likely would have been a ground invasion (or excessive coastal shelling) but it mostly becomes a question of whether more civilians and conscripted soldiers would have died than the number of civilians (and conscripted soldiers) who died in the bombings.
But Americans do like to point out that fewer Americans died through the use of atomic bombs. Which… maybe isn’t the best answer to “we did two of the most historic war crimes in human history”
One thing which has always deeply bothered me is that the argument is generally that more soldiers would have died than civilians if we had done the land invasion. Which is true. But it ignores two key aspects
Again, I am not justifying this. I believe the use of nuclear weapons is the kind of sin that stains a nation forever. I also feel that way about most things done in war. But people should understand the circumstances and the arguments for and against it.
Edited mine above as I don’t think that I did a good job of highlighting my sidebar to note the invasion didn’t happen for whatever reason(s) of which I’m thankful.
If you think Us gave UK the tech during ww2 then I question your research. The UK had independent research with “tube alloys” following the Frisch peierls memo from university of Birmingham (the original UK one not Alabama)
The UK pushed the us to use its industrial might to followup their work on uranium. The Brits were leaders on explosive lens (albeit from work of an eventual soviet traitor) among others. Los Alamos was a collaboration of UK, Canada and US plus a few other allies. The UK then used "what they learnt " at Los Alamos to carry out their “high explosives” project while locked out in late 40s early 50s and only once they showed independant build of a thermonuclear (fison fusion) bomb in 52 were they allowed back in the 1952 mutual defence agreement.
Stop right there. If the war was ‘already over’, then why didn’t Japan surrender until after being nuked?
I heard they were still.using those bags for the Iraq/afrghan wars of 2000s
Also the purple hearts and some other medals we built and didn’t need.