In 1951 Dr. Arata Osada, a professor of education at the University of Hiroshima, sponsored a project in which young Japanese from primary grades through the university level were asked to write down their memories of the August 6 bombing and its aftermath. Moved by their recollections, he arranged to have published a sample of their compositions in 1951. His stated purpose was to reveal the horrors of nuclear war and thereby encourage nuclear disarmament. An English translation appeared in 1980. You can read the statements of Iwao Nakamura and Atsuko Tsujioka by clicking here. You can also read the statement of Yamaoka Michiko, who was a high school student in Hiroshima in 1945 and recalls the sunny August day when the atomic bomb hit her city, by clicking here. Her memories were recorded by two American researchers at the end of the 1980s, and they encourage us to really ponder the larger meaning of World War II. Finally, the BBC has an EXCELLENT page regarding this and so much more, and you can access it by clicking here.Rarely am I at a loss for words, but I truly am after reading these documents. Still, I’d like you all to discuss a couple of major points here. First, what memoires of the atomic blast are important to those who were interviewed that you read? In your opinion, did Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor justify the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Your thoughts…
20 comments:
Those documents were horrific... To think that human beings could create such weapons of destruction and use it on each other is unbelievable. I didn't think that we were capable of this but I'm obviously wrong. I don't think that any attack is justifiable for the use of atomic weapons, including the attack of Pearl Harbor. And middle school teachers said the industrial revolution was the best thing that ever happened to us. Thank you industrial revolution, now we can kill hundreds of thousands of people instantenously without a second glance...
i agree with nelson. this was horrific to read about, i could not imagine being in the situation. i jsut did not think we were capable of this destruction. i mean we even tried to cover up our tracks after. everyone knew it was the US so why didnt the government just fess up to their wrongdoing? Your right Mr. Prill! thank you INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.
Oh my goodness...I'm extremely flabbergasted...
How could anybody ever even think about intentionally killing people with so much force? United States said it was imminent and needed to bomb Japan as soon as possible and they couldn't let Germany be the first to use atomic weapons. Hearing these personal experiences is extremely heartwrenching. I almost cried, especially when Iwao Nakamura said he saw those people with their heads int he water tank and how all of these mothers were still holding on to their dead babies. What was even worse was how they described their city as Hell. They weren't even on earth anymore, but entered this completely mutated world with burnt, red people. This is extremely horrendous...
These documents are horror stories. This put a whole new perspective on a "civilian war". At first I didn't really think to much about it...but now I understand how corrupt and wrong it is. Where are the good guys in this war?
All the fire must have made it seem like hell... and the burned people walking around.. this really does seem like a mini-opening to hell. people screaming, crying, dead, walking, grotesque, alive people, even so close to the center, still alive. How was the blast able to BLOW them back?! And the people in white who helped them= serious "angel" refrence. I'm glad the 2nd girlon the 1st doc. seems to be positive about it and her future. ah! The 2nd girl..wow. She has really strong feelings of nationalism. I don't think I would have thought of that as "dying for my nation", but maybe I'm just not as strongly influenced by the war as whe was at that time, hearing planes go by all the time that you know are carrying bombs. All of these people's descriptions are so detailed that I have a horrid mental picture of this, quite like I was there. It's terrible!! At least it must such a shock, suprise, and SO HOT that they couldn't feel TOO much physical pain, but mental anguish was horrendous.
One thing that stuck out to me that Michiko said was that the Japanese were under the impression that they were winning the war. She was even ready to die for Japan, a lot of ultranationalism. All three also talked a lot about the blast itself, the flash of light and getting thrown backwards. To be honest I thought that bombs throwing ppl many yards was only a movie effect. The attack on Pearl Harbor was definitely not justification for this. This is awful.
That was so disturbing and horrific...the way each of them described the scenery and people was horrible. i can't imagine how they survived with all the injuries and things happening to them. i just dont know what else to say...ofcours pearl harbor is nothing compared to this, i mean pearl harbor was serious but there were more who died in japan and most wer civilians who had nothing to do with the war directly. The desperatness of the whole situation was so heartbreaking because of the mother trying to recorver their kids, people burning up alive in buildings...how can humans do this?!
I cant beleive the US did this. The documents show that. I believe that the Japanese may have been too harsh with their attack on pearl harbor, but it didnt give they US an excuse t do this. THe only reason the Japanese attacked us is because we stopped supplying them with the raw materials they needed to keep up their military.
Wow. Thats beyond awul, beyond even being able to wrap your mind around it. The first one, with the boy, wasnt even doing anything but enjoying his rice. then boom. you're hit with a bomb just bcause you're living in the wrong spot at the wrong time. An then atsuko, thank god for her father coming to ifnd her. And she was left to give up all hope. She even said her way of thinking had become pessimistic. Well I don't blame her. After that kind of attack, what are you supposed to think? The Hiroshima maiden caught my eye with somthing she said. She said she didnt mind dying or the sake of her country. But she had been thinking the whole time that Japan was winning the war, so when the bomb hit her she not only was shocked by its force, but at the aggressiveness and extremity that the Americans had gone to. She said when she came to america the people's response to why they bombed japan was "well you attacked pearl harbor!"..great excuse..
Although Akiko hadnt been as severely injured as the other four, you can see the horror caused by the bombs in the stories. Its so sad, knowing you're going to die because you can "hear the blood dripping", like the little boy Akiko was assigned to take care of. Its terrible. I can jsut picture what the scenery must have looked like, and I hope i never have to see that in person.
ahhh! These documents are disturbing and absolutely terrible. I think its unbelievable that humans would create a weapon this powerful and be able to kill thousands of people at one time. I don't know why they even started to create this because in my mind there could never be something going on that was this terrible that there was a need for this large bomb.
WOW! thats all i have to say.to be honest i never really realized how bad it was until i read these documents. The people went through torture. After reading these interviews...they all something in common. All three people were horrified. They allt laked about how the whole city became dark in a few moments. the interveiwers also decribed everyone as "monsters." All the poeple who did survive were walking around the city burnt and disfigured. In my opinion neither attack was justifying or even human. Instead of taking several factors of consideration...both countries Japan and the U.S. juts over reacted.
That was intense! I don't think that Pear Harbor should even be compared to the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. That poor girl was not even let in her own families house because they said they didn't want to catch the disease? At first i thought the US was better than to stoop down to the German And Japanese level but i guess i was completely wrong on that one!
Can you imagine if this would happen to us? These people were doing their daily routines and the next thing you know, you see a bright flash of liight and feel like your in hell. The pain and suffering these people went through was just painful to read. Everything they had was lost. Houses, friends, neighbors... All they had left were scars to remind them of that horrible past.
But i like how Atsuko Tsujioka remained optimistic and had new hope for the future. she made new goals and realized that physical beauty isnt everything and is focused on working hard with becoming one with culture and inner beauty. Despite everything being lost, she remains hopeful. If you ask me, i find this very inspiring.
I don't think I truly understood how bad this bomb hurt. I pictured the bomb going off and people just instantly dying. EVerything gone. That sounded horrible to me but I didn't think about the people who saw it or were hurt and lived through it. They are scared,-physically and mentally- I'm sure. That man that had skin like seaweed hanging off, would have been a terrible thing to see.
Sapp.
Wow. What shocking readings. How could humans do something like this to eachother. The size is huge. Its disurbing all the damage these things can do.
The one girl in the second document says it all- "But it's inexcusable to harm human beings in this way. I wonder what kind of education there is now in America about atomic bombs. They're still making them, aren't they?"
Obviously our education has NOT been good enough until now. In middle school, they made it seem like this was a good thing.. for us. And then you read these stories from people who went through this as kids, and it gives you a whole different point of view.
no miss pitt, we're not making atomic bombs anymore... what we're making is 1000x more destructive... get ready for next week, you'll be SHOCKED!
Reading these statements give a true insight to what the bomb did to individual lives. It is true that America even in this day and age still can justify what we did while knowing that there are people willing to tell their story such as Iwoa, who even 6 years later can stil give a vivid description of the peoples faces after the bomb went off. The Atomic bomb was nothing more than just a symbol of power that the United States felt like it needed to show to the USSR. Completely unnecessary and an overuse of power.
I never thought how the United States cuold get away with this. We did what we were fighting against. Its very ironic that we are fighting against powers but we are doing the right thing by bombing innocent civilians in a hope that it will destroy their governamment and make the hole thing collapse. This animosity of all Japanese people was brought into the United States creating what was said in the other document about the Japanese "internment camps". all i can say is....How horrific
its sick and very scary to see these bombs that are being made! and i cant believe that they are made to use on humans! freaky. it is just crazy that we can even make these things and it is freaky to know that these things are even made now cuz u never know whenever somethin might happen.
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