My Visit to Nagasaki

[Alexander L 80]

Some photos from the visit.

 

 

The Hypocentre. Bomb exploded 500m above this spot. What would be called ground zero now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The clock in the museum showing the time it happened

 

Bockscar delivered it

 

 

 

11:02am

 

Shadows on a wall

 

 

 

No more

[gozaimaas 61]

fascinating

[surfarthur 22]

very interesting WV.

[muikabochi 208]

Would like to go, one day

[frannyo 2]

Been to Hiroshima, not here.

thanksvforbsharing

[Alexander L 80]

If I get to Hiroshima, I'd definitely go to the museum.

[Wizz 11]

It was very... thought provoking.

[BagOfCrisps 24]

Definitely on the list (Hiroshima).

[Metabo Oyaji 71]

I've been to both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki museums.

They will both make one feel very depressed and angry.

 

The depressing aspects do not need elaboration. Humans suck -- amply demonstrated.

 

Particularly angering were the depictions of measurement packages that were dropped by parachute before the bomb drops, to measure things like blast-wave pressures and temperatures.

"FFS, this is not some kind of science experiment," screams the modern sensibility (even well-aware of the total-war sensibility that was prevalent at the time).

 

But, highly recommended.

[Alexander L 80]

 

It will go down as one of the most inspiring survival stories ever to emerge from a horrific war. Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in his twenties when he found himself in Hiroshima on the morning of 6 August 1945, as a single B-29 US bomber droned overhead. The "Little Boy" bomb that it dropped from its payload would kill or injure 160,000 people by the day's end.

 

Among them was the young engineer – who was in town on a business trip for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries – who stepped off a tram as the bomb exploded.

 

Despite being 3km (just under two miles) from Ground Zero, the blast temporarily blinded him, destroyed his left eardrum and inflicted horrific burns over much of the top half of his body. The following morning, he braved another dose of radiation as he ventured into Hiroshima city centre, determined to catch a train home, away from the nightmare.

 

But home for Mr Yamaguchi was Nagasaki, where two days later the "Fat Man" bomb was dropped, killing 70,000 people and creating a city where, in the words of its mayor, "not even the sound of insects could be heard". In a bitter twist of fate, Yamaguchi was again 3km from the centre of the second explosion. In fact, he was in the office explaining to his boss how he had almost been killed days before, when suddenly the same white light filled the room. "I thought the mushroom cloud had followed me from Hiroshima," Mr Yamaguchi said.

 

His is a truly remarkable story, all the more so because, for years, its protagonist was determined to play it down. But now, at the age of 93 and dying from cancer – probably caused by the atomic bombs that almost killed him, twice – Mr Yamaguchi has finally been awarded the recognition his life deserves. This week, the Nagasaki and Hiroshima governments recorded Mr Yamaguchi as a double- hibakusha, acknowledging that he was exposed to both blasts that incinerated the cities in 1945. "As far as we know, it is the first time that a dual exposure to atomic bombings has been entered into an A-bomb survivor's ID," officials said.

 

Living out his final days in the rebuilt Nagasaki, where he resides with his daughter, Toshiko, the old man is happy his tale is reaching people around the world. "After I die, I want the next generation of hibakusha and the children after that to know what happened to us," he told The Independentin a telephone interview.

 

Like many of the roughly 260,000 survivors of the atomic explosions, Mr Yamaguchi suffered agony for much of his life, as his daughter explains. "Until I was about 12, he was wrapped in bandages for his skin wounds, and he went completely bald," says Toshiko, now 60. "My mother was also soaked in black rain [the famously radioactive rain that fell after both bombings] and was poisoned. We think she passed on that poison to us."

 

Yamaguchi's children, like many second-generation hibakusha, have also been plagued by health problems. His son, Katsutoshi, died of cancer in 2005 aged 59. His daughter Naoko has, in Toshiko's words, been "sickly" all her life. His wife died last year, aged 88, of kidney and liver cancer after a lifetime of illness. "I suffer too from a terribly low white blood cell count, so I worry about what will happen to me," Toshiko adds.

 

But his children's illnesses aside, Mr Yamaguchi seemed determined to live his life as normally as possible. After recovering from his burns and radiation sickness, he returned to work as a ship engineer in the local port, and rarely discussed what happened to him. "Afterwards he was fine – we hardly noticed he was a survivor," recalls Toshiko. Her father raised his family and declined to play any part in the anti-bomb activities that fill the lives of some survivors because "he was so healthy, he thought it would have been unfair to people who were really sick".

 

Mr Yamaguchi must have watched the world outside his city with alarm. Six decades after his horrific experiences, the US alone has 8,000 active or operational warheads, each carrying on average about 20 times the destructive power of Hiroshima. The once-select nuclear club of America, Russia, China, France and Britain has been swelled by new recruits Israel, Pakistan, India and probably North Korea. Even conservative Japanese politicians hint that they might one day need the bomb.

"I can't understand why the world cannot understand the agony of the nuclear bombs," he says, speaking through his daughter. "How can they keep developing these weapons?"

 

Along with thousands of others, Mr Yamaguchi applied for hibakushastatus with Nagasaki when the government finally began to provide health assistance (and later other benefits) in 1957. His government-issued ID stated he was exposed to radiation only in Nagasaki, thereby neglecting his unique status as a double survivor. And he saw no need to draw attention to it.

 

But as he got older, things changed. In his eighties, he finally wrote a book about his experiences, and was invited to take part in a documentary called Nijuuhibaku ( Twice Bombed, Twice Survived), about the handful of double A-bomb victims. The film shows him weeping bitterly as he describes watching bloated corpses floating in the city's rivers and encountering the walking dead of Hiroshima, whose melting flesh hung like "giant gloves".

 

Three years ago, the film was screened at the UN in New York, where Mr Yamaguchi, by then wheelchair-bound, pleaded with the audience to fight for the abolition of nuclear weapons. "As a double atomic bomb survivor I experienced the bomb twice, and I sincerely hope that there will not be a third," he said.

 

His friends, including local journalist Masami Miyashita, told him he should make his status official. "I've never met anyone like him," says Mr Miyashita. "There are other people who suffered in both bombings, but nobody I know who was so close to the blasts. To survive once is agony; twice is a miracle. But he has never made a big deal about it."

 

Today, Mr Yamaguchi believes that God "planted a path" for him. "It was my destiny that I experienced this twice and I am still alive to convey what happened," he said. So in January this year, he filed a request for double recognition.

 

Very late in life then, and much to his surprise, the retired engineer finds himself making a small piece of history, and seeing his face in newspapers and on TV across the world. Some have called Mr Yamaguchi the luckiest man alive, but his daughter says he rarely considers such things. "He laughs when asked why he was so lucky," says Toshiko. "He just doesn't know it"

 

[NoFakie 45]

I went to both in quick succession on a trip when I had the JR rail pass. I thought the Nagasaki museum made more of an impression because there are more photos. There is only one surviving photo from the same day in Hiroshima, of a policeman with a bandaged head trying to collect names. All air raids are horrible and it shouldn't be forgotten that most Japanese cities were napalmed, but there is an extra horror in what atomic bombs do to people and I think photos are the clearest indication of what that can be. More than melted coins or bottles or shadows of people burnt into stone steps anyway.

 

If you're in Nagasaki at the right time, they'll let you ring the peace bell. Also check out the wacky must-see temple that's shaped like a turtle carrying the goddess Kanon.

[OzOzOz 2]

heard about that temple too.

[Chriselle 158]

I always have and always will wrestle with my feelings on the dropping of the bombs. I think way, way, way.. too much attention is given to them considering the big picture.

 

Carry on though..

[snowdude 44]

I have been to Hiroshima saw the dome and went to the museum.

Very little that bothers me, blood, dead bodies, smashed up bodies, etc, etc I have seen it all, but I have to say seeing the photos and artifacts of the victims that were melted alive burned to a crisp, even roof tiles melted due to the thousands of degree temps produced in that instant that the explosion happened and just the total devastation that A-bomb caused really made me feel sad how so many innocent lives were wiped out in an instant.

And too think the technology we have today, if they did the same again it would wipe out the world not just one or two cities.

 

It is well worth going once, it will make you feel sad, but I think everyone should see just how much humans suck, that they are happy to kill so many people.

[Alexander L 80]

my son asked a lot of questions.

 

Why did America do this

Why did Japan do that

Why do people do this.

 

He's war aware now.

[oblivion 5]

Did you give him good firm answers?

[oblivion 5]

Actually. Question.

 

At Nagasaki and Hiroshima, how much do they go into the reasons why Japan was bombed?

[Metabo Oyaji 71]

Actually. Question.

 

At Nagasaki and Hiroshima, how much do they go into the reasons why Japan was bombed?

 

Don't remember at Nagasaki, but Hiroshima has an exhibit dedicated to that question.

And the text is online! Here it is:

 

投下(とうか)の要因(よういん)

ドイツ降伏(こうふく)後、ヨーロッパの戦後処理(しょり)をめぐって米ソ関係は悪化しつつあり、8月中旬(ちゅうじゅん)に予定されていたソ連の対日(たいにち)参戦(さんせん)に伴(ともな)う勢力(せいりょく)拡大(かくだい)が懸念(けねん)され始めました。このため、アメリカは原爆(げんばく)により戦争を終結することができれば、戦後の国際(こくさい)社会(しゃかい)でソ連より優位(ゆうい)に立つことができるとも考えました。さらに、20億ドルの経費(けいひ)と最大時には12万人以上を動員して開発した原爆(げんばく)が戦争終結につながったと、アメリカ国内向けに正当化する必要もありました。日本を降伏(こうふく)させることに加え、これらのことを考慮(こうりょ)し、アメリカは原爆(げんばく)投下(とうか)に向けて準備(じゅんび)を進めました。

 

ジェームズ･バーンズ戦時(せんじ)動員局(どういんきょく)長官(ちょうかん)(後の国務(こくむ)長官(ちょうかん))からルーズベルト大統領(だいとうりょう)にあてた覚書(おぼえがき)

日本語訳(にほんごやく)（抜粋(ばっすい)）

 

マンハッタン計画[原爆(げんばく)製造(せいぞう)計画]の経費(けいひ)は､生産の保証(ほしょう)がいまだ明確(めいかく)でないまま､20億ドルに達しつつあると聞いています｡

しかし､もし計画が失敗に終われば､その時は厳しい調査と批判(ひはん)を受けることになるでしょう｡

1945(昭和20)年3月3日

提供(ていきょう)/アメリカ国立公文書館

So: to force Japan to surrender, to send a warning to the Soviets, and to justify all the money that was spent developing the bomb in the first place.

(The letter provides documentation of the last point. Unfortunately illegible in the online version.)

 

As for why Japan, of course Germany surrendered before the bomb was completed, but it was apparently decided as far back as 1943 that Japan (specifically, the Japanese fleet in the harbor at Truk) would be the most likely target anwyay:

原爆(げんばく)使用(しよう)はドイツではなく日本

日本への原爆(げんばく)使用(しよう)を合意したアメリカのルーズベルト大統領(だいとうりょう)(左)とイギリスのウィンストン・チャーチル首相(右)

1944(昭和19)年9月12日

提供(ていきょう)／アメリカ国立公文書館

1943(昭和18)年5月、アメリカの軍事(ぐんじ)政策(せいさく)委員会(いいんかい)で原爆(げんばく)投下(とうか)地点(ちてん)について意見が交わされ、｢トラック諸島(しょとう)の港に集結した日本艦隊(かんたい)が最も望ましいだろう｣という意見が大半を占(し)めました。1944年9月18日には、ニューヨーク州のハイドパークで行われた会談で、アメリカとイギリスの首脳(しゅのう)は、原爆(げんばく)を日本に対して使用するかもしれないと合意しました。

 

As for why Hiroshima and Nagasaki:

 

1945(昭和20)年春から、アメリカは投下(とうか)目標都市の検討(けんとう)を始めました。投下(とうか)目標は、原爆(げんばく)の効果(こうか)を正確(せいかく)に測定(そくてい)できるよう、直径3マイル(約4．8km)以上の市街地を持つ都市の中から選び、空襲(くうしゅう)を禁止(きんし)しました。7月25日には目標都市の広島、小倉(こくら)、新潟(にいがた)、長崎(ながさき)のいずれかに対する投下命令を下しました。広島を第1目標とする命令を出したのは、8月2日。それは目標都市の中で唯一(ゆいいつ)、連合国軍の捕虜(ほりょ)収容所(しゅうようじょ)がないと思っていたためです。8月6日、広島の天気は晴れ。広島の運命は決まりました。

 

In order to accurately measure the effects of the bomb, they wanted a city with an urban area at least 3 miles in diameter, and they forbade conventional bombing of candidate cities in advance. Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata and Nagasaki were the candidate cities. Hiroshima was selected to go first because it was the only one thought not to have any POW camps for Allied prisoners.

 

(It later turned out that there was a POW camp in Hiroshima after all.)

(And of course, Kokura was chosen to be next, but bad visibility forced a diversion to Nagasaki.)

[onehunga 26]

I've been to the museum at Hiroshima and it's a very interesting, scary and sobering place. One of the things that was scary was the exhibits that were about the preparation for the expected American invasion. Everyone was expected to do their duty to the Emperor and kill American soldiers. I can understand why the Americans were reluctant to invade. The death toll would have been huge, and the American public, and the military were sick of the war, and knew it was over. None of the Allied countries wanted their men to die in what most people could see was an invasion that wasn't necessary, by this time the Japanese had lost, the Germans had surrendered, the hot part of the war was over, alliances changed and the cold war began.

 

While the Atomic bombs were horrible in there effects, and caused massive unimaginable horror, and killed thousands of people, from the point of view of the Allies, they saved thousands of lives.

 

One result of the atomic bombs was that the Soviet Union didn't get to invade mainland Japan. The Americans weren't prepared to invade, but the Soviets were. Think about what would have happened if the Soviets had invaded Hokkaido. Japan could have ended up the same as Korea, and with North Japan being the same as, or worse than North Korea.

[NoFakie 45]

Diplomacy was ongoing but Japan wasn't offered a conditional surrender that allowed the Emperor before the bombs were dropped.

 

Since the bombs were dropped before the eventually accepted offer was presented, it is impossible to state with conviction that the A bombs were necessary. It makes more sense to speculate that they weren't. The importance of the Emperor in surrender negotiations was well known to the US side, so this has nothing to do with hindsight. The original draft of the Potsdam declaration (from July 2) includes the line

 

"This may include a constitutional monarchy under the present dynasty if it be shown to the complete satisfaction of the world that such a government will never again aspire to aggression." (U.S. Dept. of State, Foreign Relations of the U.S., The Conference of Berlin (Potsdam) 1945, vol. 1, pg. 892-894.)

 

 

Truman had this line removed, seemingly against the wishes of Stimson and McCloy. It is basically what Japan was offered and agreed to after the bombs were dropped.

[DoctorOctopus 2]

Interesting.

[surfarthur 22]

Very interesting. I must admit that I do not know much about the last part of the war (apart from the 2 bombs), so its good to hear a bit more about the circumstances leading up to the bombs.

[onehunga 26]

The more I read and find out about the lead up to the bombs being dropped, the more I get confused. Based on what I have read it appears there has been a lot of "revising" done about the whys of the bombs being dropped. Each decade seems to have a different take on the why, I think more to do with the attitude at the time towards Atomic weapons than the "correct" reasons.

[grungy-gonads 54]

Yes, I feel the same.

Really need to get down there one day though and check it out.