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 Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 3:28 pm
I think It's horrible that we bombed Japan. I think the most horrible thing about it was all the innocent people who got killed. But for a counter remark I do think what Japan did u Pearl Harbor was awfull too. to quote a famous guy "there's never been a good war or a bad peace." I think this saying is very true. When it comes to war contries go to extremes. I cannot say that I support or am completely against the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What I am against though is poor innocent people getting killed for living in a certain area under certain conditions. On both sides of the Japan/America & America/Japan bombing and Pearl Harbor attack innocent people were killed in both countries so I will have to say that we were both unfair to each other. But I think its unfair that because of what the people of my country did that I should be stereotyped and "shunned" by Japanese people. the bombing happened before I was born so we should not be blamed for the attack.
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:37 pm
Akira_Hoshino Sachi_x I don't think we ever warned them. I was researching the Hiroshima attack for a historical fiction project, and I found that they were debating whether or not to tell them. If I remember correctly (which I may or may not have), we never told them.[/rant] We definitely warned them. We gave them an ultimatum. But the Japanese government didn't believe we were serious (or actually had the technology, or whatever). Let's remember that the reason the American scientists invented the A-bomb was because we were competing to get it before Germany. If Germany had it, they would have dropped it right away, no doubt about that, and at us. The sequence of events would have been incredibly different, if it hadn't been for a Jewish scientist, Heidenberg, who was working on the A-bomb in Germany. Heidenberg was one step away from completely the atomic bomb before the U.S., but because he forgot to do a simply diffusion equation, he thought the project was impossible and would take far too much time to complete. The American scientists figured it out and, not knowing that the Germans had just abandoned the project, constructed the atomic bomb. There is a theory that Heidenberg purposely left out the A-bomb because he could see how horribly destructive its power would be. However, that is only speculation - we have no idea what was going on in Heidenberg's mind. But as a Jew, he had plenty of reasons for wanting to prevent the Nazis from getting their hands on such power. The U.S. did not know the project had been dropped; we thought we still had to race with Germany, and so the bomb was developed. After V-E day, we gave Japan the ultimatum, and their reply was translated as a refusal. I once read that the actual reply included the word 黙殺 "mokusatsu," which means "to ignore." The story stated that the Japanese reply to the ultimatum was translated to say "We choose to ignore your ultimatum," when really it was another word very similar to mokusatsu, which meant something like "we need more time" or something to that effect. I have no way of knowing if this story is true, but it is something I read. (Either way it doesn't really matter - you're not supposed to ask for "more time" after an ultimatum. ^0^") I'm not vouching for the use of the bomb. I think it's a terrible invention that has done nothing but cause more and more horrible problems in the entire world since. Now every nation wants nukes, and we can't get rid of them because if we did, we would be suspicious that some other nation hadn't and that they would use them on us. It's become a problem of national security. And of course there is no denying the innumerable innocent people who died needlessly when the bomb was dropped, or suffered severe aftereffects. But I still think the leaders of the U.S.A. did what they thought they had to, with no ill intentions. They wanted the war to end as much as anybody, but the Japanese government was relentless. That doesn't mean the use of the bomb was the right decision, but it certainly wasn't one made in pure cold-hearted hatred. I totally understand what you're saying, and I do agree, mostly. Of course, I don't know history as well you do, so my posts won't be as accurate or anything, but I'll do my best. What I don't like is the attitudes of those idiots back on YouTube. The government may have had every right to set off the bomb, but they wanted to stop the military. I think it unfair that to stop the military, the innocent were mainly targeted. But really, it's such a controversial topic. It may have ended the war much sooner, but it also did so many bad things. There are just so many conflicting pros and cons. Personally, I'm against it, but the past is the past. We have to watch out for the future now. Edit: To further clarify my post, I am not in favor of what the Japanese government used to be--certainly not. But I think that to end the war, we went about it the wrong way. There may have not been any other way, but I still don't like it.
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:33 pm
I did a report just last year about WWII, and here's some of what I found in my research:
During the war, Japan started losing somewhat, so they started using any means to win. They started sneak attacks (Pearl Harbor as an example), gassings, and they even started to send little to untrained citizens out to war, especially for suicidal attacks (such as kamikaze). Besides Germany, Japan killed the most civillians in war (most were Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos, Indochinese, and Western prisoners of war)
Our leaders warned Japan to surrender and forfeit, or one by one, they'd A-bomb each of Japan's largest cities, but they ignored us and kept going.
They still ignored us when the first one was dropped. It was only until Nagasaki was bombed, when finally Japan surrendered.
I don't think the A-bomb was a good invention at all, and it was a horrible way to end the war. So many innocent died, it's very sad. The thing is, many more innocent people would've died if the war had kept on going.
I think all countries did wrong during the war. Some countries were worse than others, but every country involved did kill and such.
I just think that it's time for forgive each other. Besides, our generation wasn't the one who started the war, fought in the war, or anything. No one is to blame but the people of generations ago.
Let's just hope that history never repeats itself.
Eh... I'm done with this rant. xD;
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 8:58 pm
Quote: "There was a flash of light in the sky, and a blast that sent me flying. When I regained consciousness, there were blackened corpses all around me." At Shiroyama Elementary School, about 500 meters from the epicenter of the atomic bomb blast that devastated Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, Sakue Shimohira spoke to a group of sixth graders on Oct. 5 visiting from Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture. Shimohira, 71, has dedicated her life to telling people too young to have personal wartime memories what she went through that awful day 61 years ago. I first heard Shimohira speak 17 years ago. I was in sixth grade. In autumn of that year I had transferred to Shiroyama Elementary from a school in Saitama Prefecture. I raised my hand. "What are keloids?" I'd come across the word in a book, and I thought it would make a good question. Keloids are thick scars caused by the hot wind of an atomic blast, Shimohira explained. Then she told us about the pain the very mention of the word can trigger in the heart of a hibakusha, an atomic bomb survivor. "I'm sorry," I said, unable to hold back tears. "Well, you didn't know," she said reassuringly. "How could you? This is a good a place to start learning." Shimohira has been telling her story for 30 years. She has addressed tens of thousands of children and adults on what it means to be a hibakusha. She delivers five hour-long lectures a day, weekends and holidays included. The after-effects of the blast required removal of her uterus, her ovaries, her gallbladder. She contracted hepatitis C from a blood transfusion to remove her uterus. Every week she must go for a shot of Interferon. She lost teeth; her hair fell out. "My body is empty," she says. "I feel sluggish all the time. It's all I can do just to get out of bed." But she has a story to tell, and she is determined to keep telling it. Not long ago a senior high school student asked her, with a straight face, "Was an atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki?" "The truth about the bombing is disappearing among young people," she says. "It's fading away. We have no time to lose. How much time do we hibakusha have left?" In the wake of North Korea's announced nuclear bomb test on Oct. 9, South Korea is considering going nuclear, reported Reuters on Oct. 12. "Let us be the last hibakusha," is Shimohira's appeal. "How loud do I have to shout it before the message gets through?" How can the world, and Japan, bear to turn a deaf ear to this 71-year-old woman spurring her broken body on to challenge its indifference? (By Kazuki Kuraoka, Mainichi Shimbun) Quote: Black Rain (黒い雨; Kuroi ame, ISBN 0-87011-364-X) is a novel by the Japanese author Ibuse Masuji, first published in 1965 and translated into English by John Bester in 1966. It tells the story of hibakusha (Japanese atom bomb survivors) struggling with discrimination and social isolation due to radiation poisoning, as well as accounting for the events in Hiroshima around the time of the bombing. Probably one of the most well-known of Japanese novels among western readers, Black Rain deals with the bombing from a human perspective, mostly ignoring the political context and focusing on the issue that no matter why the bombs were used, they created endless amounts of suffering for decades to come. The story The book contains stories from the everyday life in a village near the city of Hiroshima, where one of the survivors lives. She can't get married because of her illness, and in a desperate attempt to prove to the society that their niece has not been exposed to the dangerous radiation, her uncle and his wife start copying her diary from the time of the bombing. The reader follows the events as they are written down by the book's characters. Quote: Testimony of Akira Onogi Mr. Akira Onogi was 16 years old when the bomb was dropped. He was at home 1.2 km away from center of explosion. The house was under the shade of the warehouse, which protected him from the first blast. All five members of the Onogi family miraculously survived the immediate fire at their house. MR. ONOGI: I was in the second year of junior high school and was mobilized work with my classmates at the Eba Plant, Mitsubishi shipbuilding. On the day when A-bomb was dropped, I happened to be taking the day off and I was staying at home. I was reading lying on the floor with a friend of mine. Under the eaves I saw blue flash of light just like a spark made by a train or some short circuit. Next, a steamlike blast came. INTERVIEWER: From which direction? ANSWER: Well, I'm not sure, anyway, when the blast came, my friend and I were blown into another room. I was unconscious for a while, and when I came to, I found myself in the dark. Thinking my house was directly hit by a bomb, I removed red soil and roof tiles covering me by hand and for the first time I saw the sky. I managed to go out to open space and I looked around wondering what my family were doing. I found that all the houses around there had collapsed for as far as I could see. INTERVIEWER: All the houses? ANSWER: Yes, well, I couldn't see anyone around me but I heard somebody shouting ``Help! Help!'' from somewhere. The cries were actually from underground as I was walking on. Since no choose were available, I'd just dug out red soil and roof tiles by hand to help my family; my mother, my three sisters and a child of one of my sisters. Then, I looked next door and I saw the father of neighboring family standing almost naked. His skin was peeling off all over his body and was hanging from finger tips. I talked to him but he was too exhausted to give me a reply. He was looking for his family desperately. The person in this picture was a neighbor of us. I think the family's name was the Matsumotos. When we were escaping from the edge of the bridge, we found this small girl crying and she asked us to help her mother. Just beside the girl, her mother was trapped by a fallen beam on top of the lower half of her body. Together with neighbors, we tried hard to remove the beam, but it was impossible without any tools. Finally a fire broke out endangering us. So we had no choice but to leave her. She was conscious and we deeply bowed to her with clasped hands to apologize to her and then we left. About one hour later, it started raining heavily. There were large drops of black rain. I was wearing a short sleeve shirt and shorts and it was freezing. Everybody was shivering. We warmed ourselves up around the burning fire in the middle of the summer. INTERVIEWER: You mean the fire did not extinguish by the rain? ANSWER: That's right. The fire didn't subside it at all. What impressed my very strongly was a 5 or 6 year-old-boy with his right leg cut at the thigh. He was hopping on his left foot to cross over the bridge. I can still record this scene very clearly. The water of the river we looking at now is very clean and clear, but on the day of bombing, all the houses along this river were blown by the blast with their pillars, beams and pieces of furniture blown into the river or hanging off the bridges. The river was also filled with dead people blown by the blast and with survivors who came here to seek water. Anyway I could not see the surface of the water at all. Many injured people with peeled skin were crying out for help. Obviously they were looking at us and we could hardly turn our eyes toward the river. INTERVIEWER: Wasn't it possible to help them? ANSWER: No, there were too many people. We took care of the people around us by using the clothes of dead people as bandages, especially for those who were terribly wounded. By that time we somehow became insensible all those awful things. After a while, the fire reached the river bank and we decided to leave the river. We crossed over this railway bridge and escaped in the direction along the railway. The houses on both sides of the railroad were burning and railway was the hollow in the fire. I thought I was going to die here. It was such an awful experience. You know for about 10 years after bombing I always felt paralyzed we never saw the sparks made by trains or lightning. Also even at home, I could not sit beside the windows because I had seen so many people badly wounded by pieces of glass. So I always sat with the wall behind me for about 10 years. It was some sort of instinct to self-preservation. http://www.inicom.com/hibakusha/ http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/virtual/VirtualMuseum_e/visit_e/est_e/build/buildtop.html NOW TELL ME HOW WE WILL FORGIVE!
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 6:43 am
Actually... Less life was loss because of those atomic bombs. The Japanese citizens were instructed by leaders to get out weapons, sticks, or anything they could find to beat Americans or allies if they would dare come onto Japan's land. That would've caused massive bloodshead if Americans came in and killed civillians who wanted to honorably fight to the death to "protect their country". If the many 1000s of American troops didn't want to risk going into cities and having more innocent people lost, then the Japanese would've taken advantage of that and keep fighting with their people anyways. One of the reasons they dropped the bomb is because Japan was killing their own people and many others, because they were so determined not to lose. They would've fought until barely anyone in Japan was left if they could've, they said so theirselves. As said earlier, America gave clear warning to Japan, but they chose to ignore. So 1 bomb was dropped, and the still didn't stop. It took 2 bombs for Japan to finally surrender, that's how determinded they were. America didn't drop those bombs because they thought it was fun or something. It was to end the war, and stop the bloodshed. The bombs killed fewer people than what would've happened if all those troops infiltrated Japan, in which they'd have no choice but to kill civilians with guns and such, because the civillians would've stuck up for their country with any means possible. Many countries could say they "don't forgive" Japan. Japanese were harsh during the war, the tourtured many. They treated prisoners of war horribly, just as badly as the Germans did. Do you know about 南京事件? I know a lot of Japanese supposedly hate Chinese... but look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_of_Nanking Japan killed about 300,000 citizens of Nanking, China. They looted, raped women, used gas illegally to kill, and beheaded many, just to invade before the war. Or, look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes#The_crimes Or how about Japanese mistreating women of their own kind? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women Quote: It is indisputable that these primarily Japanese and Asian women were forced, deceived, coerced and abducted to provide sexual services to the Japanese military ... [Japan] violated customary norms of international law concerning war crimes, crimes against humanity, slavery and the trafficking in women and children ... Japan should take full responsibility now, and make suitable restitution to the victims and their families. I'm not sticking up for America only. I'm not heartless and cruel. I feel very TERRIBLE for what happened to the victims in Japan, how they suffered from the bomb. I cry for them. I don't hate Japan, either. I joined this guild because I do indeed like Japan. I just want to say that not only did America do bad things during the war. How can we forgive either? Japan attacked America first, with Pearl Harbor, killing innocents. They tortured captured Americans during the war. They killed many other nation's people. But a lot of these countries have forgiven Japan. This is a new century, but we should never forget those who died to protect each of our countries in war. We should never forget the innocent people who died in the war. But it's time to move on, forgive, and work together to make sure nothing like this every happens again. Our generations didn't do wrong, and neither did yours. Hatred won't lead to anything good.
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 10:51 am
All very good points, Suzumiko. The fact is that war is very evil, and causes great pain and strife to everyone. What I think is, perhaps we cannot forgive the acts done to us (the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for examply), perhaps we can't rationalize it (despite all reasoning, the fact that dropping the bomb feels so wrong to Americans today and even during that time period shows an emotional instinct I think people often overlook), but we do have to put these things behind us. Continuing to hate and resent people for their past actions, especially when it's their descendendents, not them themselves, who are hated, only makes international relationships more unstable. We more than sympathize with the years of pain and suffering that followed the bombing - I can say that for myself I cry every time I see a movie about it, or a read a book about it (ex. Hiroko Nakamatsu's "My Japan"). But to keep expecting us to bow our heads and slap ourselves on the rear time and time again won't give those who were killed back their lives or save those who suffered from their unbearable pain. It won't stop the war from happening and it won't eradicate the pain Americans went through too! It's not like we were sitting on our butts here in perfect comfort and luxury during the war. It was a miserable time for us, for you, for every country that participate. So really, it's something better left in the past. The dead should be honored and the lesson well-learned. But we can't keep casting blame or we will end up with WWIII. Let's not forget that the reason Hitler ever came to power in Germany was because after WWI people lay too much blame on Germany. Those are my feelings, at any rate.
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 11:05 am
Akira_Hoshino All very good points, Suzumiko. The fact is that war is very evil, and causes great pain and strife to everyone. What I think is, perhaps we cannot forgive the acts done to us (the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for examply), perhaps we can't rationalize it (despite all reasoning, the fact that dropping the bomb feels so wrong to Americans today and even during that time period shows an emotional instinct I think people often overlook), but we do have to put these things behind us. Continuing to hate and resent people for their past actions, especially when it's their descendendents, not them themselves, who are hated, only makes international relationships more unstable. We more than sympathize with the years of pain and suffering that followed the bombing - I can say that for myself I cry every time I see a movie about it, or a read a book about it (ex. Hiroko Nakamatsu's "My Japan"). But to keep expecting us to bow our heads and slap ourselves on the rear time and time again won't give those who were killed back their lives or save those who suffered from their unbearable pain. It won't stop the war from happening and it won't eradicate the pain Americans went through too! It's not like we were sitting on our butts here in perfect comfort and luxury during the war. It was a miserable time for us, for you, for every country that participate. So really, it's something better left in the past. The dead should be honored and the lesson well-learned. But we can't keep casting blame or we will end up with WWIII. Let's not forget that the reason Hitler ever came to power in Germany was because after WWI people lay too much blame on Germany. Those are my feelings, at any rate. War is just simply bad, but i wanted to point is the people did little (and that ready to beat americans thing, did happen but not as crazy as you say) and that we were bombed because of Hirohito. i hope he is never reborn. (and it is true that in hiroshima, one of the memorial sites, rest peacfully, for this mistake will not occur again)
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 3:40 pm
Aiko_589 Akira_Hoshino All very good points, Suzumiko. The fact is that war is very evil, and causes great pain and strife to everyone. What I think is, perhaps we cannot forgive the acts done to us (the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for examply), perhaps we can't rationalize it (despite all reasoning, the fact that dropping the bomb feels so wrong to Americans today and even during that time period shows an emotional instinct I think people often overlook), but we do have to put these things behind us. Continuing to hate and resent people for their past actions, especially when it's their descendendents, not them themselves, who are hated, only makes international relationships more unstable. We more than sympathize with the years of pain and suffering that followed the bombing - I can say that for myself I cry every time I see a movie about it, or a read a book about it (ex. Hiroko Nakamatsu's "My Japan"). But to keep expecting us to bow our heads and slap ourselves on the rear time and time again won't give those who were killed back their lives or save those who suffered from their unbearable pain. It won't stop the war from happening and it won't eradicate the pain Americans went through too! It's not like we were sitting on our butts here in perfect comfort and luxury during the war. It was a miserable time for us, for you, for every country that participate. So really, it's something better left in the past. The dead should be honored and the lesson well-learned. But we can't keep casting blame or we will end up with WWIII. Let's not forget that the reason Hitler ever came to power in Germany was because after WWI people lay too much blame on Germany. Those are my feelings, at any rate. War is just simply bad, but i wanted to point is the people did little (and that ready to beat americans thing, did happen but not as crazy as you say) and that we were bombed because of Hirohito. i hope he is never reborn. (and it is true that in hiroshima, one of the memorial sites, rest peacfully, for this mistake will not occur again) Yeah... War is a terrible thing. It makes people's hearts rotten, because all they think about is killing other humans, to simply win. People need to start putting more energy into helping each other and the earth itself, instead of hating each other, because that leads to war... War is dumb.
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 3:34 pm
Aiko_589 War is just simply bad, but i wanted to point is the people did little (and that ready to beat americans thing, did happen but not as crazy as you say) and that we were bombed because of Hirohito. i hope he is never reborn. (and it is true that in hiroshima, one of the memorial sites, rest peacfully, for this mistake will not occur again) I definitely understand your point and think it's more than justified. You're absolutely correct. The main thing that makes dropping the A-bomb on Japan so controversial in America is the very fact that you mentioned - it killed so many innocent people, civilians. By that point in the war, many countries had already made the decision to disregard the loss of civilian life (that is why the Bombing of Dresden, led primarily by Great Britain and the U.S. and which killed at least 35,000 civilians, is so controversial too). But that doesn't make it the right decision. I think people were so tired and terrified that we all adopted a "get them before they get us" sort of mind-frame. It was a terrible way to think, but I wonder, if I'd been living during that time period, if I would have recognized how terrible it was anymore than the rest of the world did. But what it resulted in was the unnecessary deaths of thousands of innocent people. And for that we are truly sorry. Someday I'd like to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and pay my respects too.
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 7:01 am
UGH I read some comments and now I'm SO pissed off stressed Some people just seem to have no brain stare How could so many deaths be great? I can't understand those who say that Japanese deserved this stressed As many said before, no one deserves stuff like that. It's just horrible gonk
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Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:57 am
What it all comes down to is that humans are self-centered creatures who want everything for themselves and will go to the lengths of war to do so.
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 9:28 am
WW2 was a terrible time between the U.S. and Japan. The Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor (the attack on a U.S. naval base full of soilders caught with their pants down) and the U.S. dropped 2 A-Bombs (causing the near total annihilation of the cities) and also had "internment camps" where they made Japanese-American lives hell. I'm not standing up for either side because I don't believe what either side did was right. When you look at what each side did it seems like the U.S. over reacted (not suprising due to the strange fact that this country is overly paranoid.) but what is done is done and there is no turning back time... I think its about time that the new generation learns to get along instead of creating differences and animosity due to silly mistakes of the past. We weren't there. We couldnt stop it, but we can prevent it from ever happening again.
]War Is Over
If You Want It To Be
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 10:16 am
Sadly they only did that because the Japanese refused to surrender. It was a terrible choice that had to be made and I feel bad that America did have to do that and kill innocent lives just to end World War II. That it happened and the images that are shown from the aftermath should be a reminder of why such a terrible weapon shouldn't be used ever again
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