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Hiroshima, August 6th, 1945 and Nagasaki, August 9th 1945
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| ogvh5150 |
We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools
Martin Luther King Jr.
As John Whittier Treat notes, apart from being "a redundant act," the Nagasaki bomb was unique in that ground zero was the largest Roman Catholic cathedral in Japan and Nagasaki itself had the largest Catholic and Christian population in Japan.(1) In an instant, 73,000 people died, over 8000 of whom were Christian. Less than one percent of the Japanese population was Christian, yet they comprised over ten percent of the bomb's victims. A larger issue for the victims, as well as for subsequent generations of Japanese and Christians, was why the West would target the most Christian city in Japan, and why would God allow His people to be so afflicted?...
...With the opening of Japanese society under the Meiji Restoration, beginning in 1873 with the legalization of Christianity, however, Nagasaki became an open center of that religion. Urakami Cathedral, the largest Roman Catholic church in Japan, was built in the city, and consecrated to the Virgin Mary. The bomb detonated directly above this cathedral...
The Cross and the Bomb: Two Catholic Dramas in Response to Nagasaki by Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr. |
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| BadBadNeil |
"those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them."
George Santayana's
A bad but I think necessary time in our history. |
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| rainbow_marble |
| impressive bomb. |
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| apostrophe |
I'm guessing the US didn't pick the city for it's religious reputation...
There was probably another reason for this target...
Why does it matter though? Is it just because they were Christians, too? They were the enemy, their religion probably wasn't thought of much. Don't get why this whole thing matters. |
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| donnybrasco |
Huh?
:conf:
That's one more way I guess the U.S. is supposed to feel guilty for ending a war Imperial Japan started?
Bombing of civilians was proven highly in-effective after the war, in both Europe and Asia. It was a mistake...but those bombs DID play a part in ending that war, that's just a simple fact, like it or not. And to this day, the shear horror of these weapons is what kept the cold war from ever getting hot. |
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| GRinLoCK |
Love the BomB i say!
it keeps countries on there toes :tongue3
especially the ones that invented it lol |
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| ogvh5150 |
| quote: | Originally posted by apostrophe
I'm guessing the US didn't pick the city for it's religious reputation...
There was probably another reason for this target...
Why does it matter though? Is it just because they were Christians, too? They were the enemy, their religion probably wasn't thought of much. Don't get why this whole thing matters. |
Where there any military installations at or near ground zero and the blast radius?
Why pick civilian targets as opposed to military targets? |
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| donnybrasco |
| Actually just saw a special on this and supposedly those cites were picked specifically because they had not been bombed before, thus the true affects of the Atom Bombs could be guaged. |
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by ogvh5150
Where there any military installations at or near ground zero and the blast radius? |
If you listen to the presidential speech (you can get hold of that in any P2P program), the president says a "military base" had been bombed, not mentioning the death of civilians.
Makes you think, doesn't it? |
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| ogvh5150 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
If you listen to the presidential speech (you can get hold of that in any P2P program), the president says a "military base" had been bombed, not mentioning the death of civilians.
Makes you think, doesn't it? |
While Hiroshima did have a military base in the city, it was not the base that was targeted, but the center of the city.
Remembering Hiroshima & Nagasaki , by David Krieger, August 1, 2003
All major factories in Hiroshima were on the Periphery of the city--and escaped serious damage
United States Strategic Bombing Survey: 'The Effects of Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki' [Chapter 4]
As the headquarters of the Second Army and of the Chugoku Regional Army, it was one of the most important military command stations in Japan, the site of one of the largest military supply depots, and the foremost military shipping point for both troops and supplies....
...On 7 August, the commander of the Second Army assumed general command of the counter measures, and all military units and facilities in the area were mobilized for relief purposes. Army buildings on the periphery of the city provided shelter and emergency hospital space, and dispersed Army supplies supplemented the slight amounts of food and clothing that had escaped destruction.
United States Strategic Bombing Survey: 'The Effects of Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki' [Chapter 2]
Apparently the civilian population was targeted if the Commander of the Second Army was able to oversee relief efforts according to that report. |
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| Lira |
By the way, I'm not saying they bombed the base rather than the city, but that it shows how innacurate the reports were.
The Japanese-American relations have been twisted since the beginning though. First there was Commodore Perry - makes you wonder whether Pearl Harbour would've happened if Perry did not open Japan the way he did. Then, there were the atom bombs. Incredibly though, Americans are worshipped in Japan (and the Japanese are worshipped in the US in a very peculiar way, it seems). The US has Japan wrapped in its fingers but, unlike many other unsuccessful manipulations, they've become the world's second greatest economy. What if there was no communist China, would things be different? Would Japan be as wealthy as most Latin American countries?
Hmmm.... |
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| shaolin_Z |
| quote: |
Hiroshima health effects linger
By Chris Hogg
BBC News, Tokyo
Imagine what it is like to know that as a child you were doused in radioactive fallout.
It fell on your clothes and on your skin. It was in the water you drank, the scraps of food you could find. It entered the fabric of the buildings you were sheltering in.
What hidden damage was done in your earliest days?
For those who were in Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 it is a fear they live with constantly.
This is not history for them. It is an everyday concern.
Keiko Ogura was a little girl living in the suburbs of Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped.
"I don't have scars," she says, "but I do have nightmares."
Like thousands of other survivors - the hibakusha , as they are known in Japan - Keiko Ogura was given regular check ups by the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in the first few months after the bomb was dropped.
After the war, the Americans provided medical care for those affected. This also enabled scientists to study the effects of radioactive exposure on people.
"Several times the car came and took me to the research centre where they examined me," she said.
"I always had this fear. Is there anything on my body? It was a fear of the invisible. I had a little anaemia, so immediately I asked myself, is that anything to do with the bomb? And then I thought about my future, will I be able to have children normally?"
Keiko Ogura's fears are not unusual. You hear similar stories from others who were exposed to the fallout as children.
Medical study
The people who were put through the terrible events of August 1945, and their offspring, are more closely monitored than almost anyone else by doctors and scientists.
"This is the only place where we can research the effect of radiation on the human body," said Dr Saeko Fujiwara, at the Radiation Effects Research Foundation.
"We study the relation between the level of exposure and that of radiation. Ours is the only major epidemiological study that can do this. That's why we're unique," she said.
That study has helped scientists to draw up the guidelines for safe exposure to radiation that is used around the world in the nuclear industry, for example.
Charles Waldren, an American who is the foundation's chief scientist, believes that almost half a million radiation workers in the US and at least that many in Europe have benefited.
"Our research allows people to continue to work at a level of exposure which is considered safe for the general welfare," he said. "I think risk estimates from radiation used in every country in the world come from our data."
Cancer risks
But the close monitoring of Hiroshima's citizens, those who were exposed to the blast and their children and grandchildren, is not just a matter of scientific curiosity.
There is real concern about the survivors as they get older. The average age of the hibakushas is 72.
When they were exposed to the radiation, they suffered damage to their genes, with those closest to the centre of the explosion the worst affected.
In many cases their genes repaired themselves. It is possible that those repairs were imperfect, making it more likely that they will develop cancer in later life.
"Radiation induces genome damage," said Professor Kenji Kamiya, the director of the research institute for radiation, biology and medicine at Hiroshima University.
"In some people that isn't fixed correctly. So 60 years later they have problems. The highest risk for A-bomb victims developing cancer is among the youngest who were exposed to the blast. These people are now approaching an age where they would be more likely to develop a cancer anyway," he said.
Science does have some answers, but much more work is needed.
"We are trying to develop new genome technology and new methods for diagnosis and treatment," Professor Kamiya said. "Re-generative medicine offers the possibility of repairing cell damage."
The number of cancer cases among the survivors will continue to rise in the next few years, perhaps peaking in the 2020s.
"That's why we have to rush to develop new treatments for these patients," he said.
Sixty years after the bomb was dropped, science is still working hard to find ways to cope with its after-effects.
And for survivors like Keiko Ogura, that means little chance in the short-term that her anxieties will go away. |
Source: BBC News
It sickens me how some people STILL try to justify the Hiroshima Bombings. :whip: |
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