Home : World War II : The Axis :The Second Atomic Bomb
If it weren't for the shaded acres known as Peace Park, this Japanese port city surrounded by jutting mountains may well be a resort town, or at least a busy, productive trading hub. Its tree-lined streets bustle with cable cars and residents maneuvering through traffic. The lush mountains and wellkept buildings conceal a past so horrid that it is tough to remember and impossible to forget. It was in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that the world learned exactly how the threat of nuclear bombs would play out. On Aug. 9, 1945, a U.S. B-29 bomber named Bockscar circled over Kokura, a Japanese city that was the initial target of the second atomic bomb drop on Japan during World War II, just days after the United States bombed Hiroshima. Smoke over the target prevented a visual bombing, so Bockscar headed to Nagasaki, whose Mitsubishi arms factory had put that city on the list. Cloud cover almost forced the, bomber to turn around, but at 11:02 a.m., a sudden break allowed the drop. The plutonium nuclear bomb's force marred the city for generations. Urakami Branch of Nagasaki Prison was the closest facility to the blast. All 134 of its employees and inmates were killed. Only the kitchen chimney remains. Nicknamed "Fat Man," the bomb killed 73,900 of the city's 263,000 residents. An additional 74,000 were injured and maimed. Others died later of disease, presumably caused by the radioactive fallout. It was a horrible day - and one that effectively ended World War II. The same day, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. Soon after, the Japanese surrendered aboard the USS Missouri, and rebuilding of cities and relationships began. Today, Nagasaki holds close its pledge to rid the world of nuclear bombs. Marking this pledge and the day that propelled it into history is Peace Park, dominated by the mammoth statue of a woman in a Buddhist pose, erected 10 years after the bombing. One arm is outstretched to symbolize peace; the other points upward to where the bomb came from. Her closed eyes means she's praying for peace. Nagasaki has its own way of telling this story; it is different than what most Americans learn. Some U.S. citizens who visit Peace Park and tour the Atomic Bomb Museum are offended because there's no mention of Pearl Harbor, no reason given for causing the devastation that killed more women, children and elders than it did men and military. Peace Park statues are randomly placed along its leafy walkways. Each monument portrays peace or horror, or sometimes both. Each captures a cameo interpretation of the same life-changing day. At the black granite monolith that represents the "hypocenter" where the bomb hit are thousands of paper cranes knitted together as a symbol of peace. Nearby are the brick-and-mortar remnants of a cathedral that was under construction when the bomb hit. Nagasaki was Japan's most Christian city. This cathedral, the largest in East Asia, was near completion when the bomb struck. The Atomic Bomb Museum is in stark contrast to the peaceful park. It uses a detailed timeline that begins in 1943 and graphic exhibits to tell what happened after the mushroom cloud dissipated, leaving citizens charred and horrified. The disturbing story is backed up with displayed artifacts. Photos of disfigured survivors, ceramic roof tiles that boiled from the heat, glass pop bottles that melted together - all demonstrate what such an incredible heat blast can do. No one survived within about a mile of the explosion, which occurred about 1,600 feet above the ground. Witnesses told of people's skin peeling off in sheets, of relatives who simply vaporized. The museum is strikingly familiar, with videos of survivor accounts and preserved pieces of the day. Nagasaki emphasizes its roles as a thriving port for trade with the West and its bastion of Christianity. It was home to Madame Butterfly. The city also housed a prisoner-of-war camp, which it said the United States knew about. Though only noted on a map, the city also had an arms factory, making it second to last among 17 targets. The buildup to the bombing is spelled out step-by-step. Nagasaki's account notes that a U.S. committee agreed the atomic bombs' on Hiroshima and Nagasaki should be used without warning. They point out a letter signed on behalf of 69 scientists protesting that decision. President Truman's justification for the first bombing on Hiroshima, three days earlier, was quoted: "We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans," Truman said. Americans are taught that Truman agonized over this decision and that it did not come lightly. But to the residents of Nagasaki, the decision was brutal and altered their course indefinitely. The blast produced heat in the thousands of degrees and wind twice the velocity of the fiercest typhoon. Trees turned into charred sticks. Radiation from the plutonium-based bomb is blamed for cancer and keloid scarring years later. "Ah, that unforgettable day, in an instantaneous blast of indescribable heat, the bodies of tens of thousands of men and women, mothers and children, were hideously torn and burnt to death," says a statement on display. Overall, the interpretation is an intriguing study in perspectives. No one can deny what this weapon of mass destruction did. But to Nagasaki, the Pearl Harbor attack didn't justify this retaliation. It didn't even register. Little is said about the city's reconstruction, which has been remarkable considering the passage of two or three generations. Without Peace Park, might the bombing have been forgotten? Young camphor trees now line city streets, and the only military display is a helicopter on a street corner. The city's population has more than doubled since 1945. On Mount Inasa, Nagasaki's highest mountain, a gondola takes guests upward to a panoramic' view of this striking city, where ballparks, buildings and homes appear in harmony below. It is here where alliances are subtly noted. Cities worldwide adopted Nagasaki after the bombing, and those friendships continue. Among them are Fuzhou, China; Santos, Brazil; Porto, Portugal; Middelburg, Netherlands; and St. Paul, Minn.
Nuclear Japan?Recent reports of a North Korean underground nuclear test prompted speculation that if the North continues developing atomic bombs, then maybe Japan should go nuclear, too. Understandably, that's a touchy subject in Japan, where sensitivities are forever linked to the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II. Indeed, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso quickly declared his government had "no position at all to consider going nuclear." Yet maybe Japan should give it more thought, and maybe the United States shouldn't object. Surely, the growing North Korean nuclear threat is too close for comfort in Japan, where they haven't forgotten the missiles Pyongyang launched over their territory in 1998. Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer makes a good point in arguing the threat of a nuclearized Japan would help China focus on bringing the North Koreans to heel. "The Japan card remains the only one that carries even the remote possibility of reversing North Korea's nuclear program," Krauthammer wrote last week. Makes sense, even if it also makes folks at the U.S. State Department nervous. As Krauthammer notes, Japan has been a strong U.S. ally for more than half a century, yet many people in Washington reflexively cringe at the thought of a Japan with a muscular military, much less one with nuclear capabilities. The United States has learned the past few years the value of friends in the world — especially those who will take care of their own security. In that light, Japan is in stark contrast to South Korea, which keeps acting as though America is the major problem in the region, not North Korea. It might be time to give Japan the leeway it needs to be the key counterweight to Pyongyang's reckless nuclear ambitions.
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