Asia-Pacific News
Hiroshima marks 62nd anniversary of atomic bombing
Aug 6, 2007, 4:03 GMT
Tokyo - Thousands of people from around the nation and abroad gathered on Monday at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park to commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the US atomic bombing.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was among some 45,000 to attend the ceremony and vowed to maintain the government's three non-nuclear principles, which stipulates Japan not possess, produce or allow nuclear arms into its territory.
The A-bomb, which was dropped in Hiroshima at 8:15 am today in 1945, killed at least 140,000 people and their sufferings continue.
'To ensure that no one else ever suffers as we did, the hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) have continuously spoken of experiences they would rather forget, and we must never forget their accomplishment in preventing a third use of nuclear weapons,' Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba read in Peace Declaration at the ceremony.
The Japanese government 'should take pride in and protect' the pacifist Constitution to press for a nuclear-free world, Akiba added, referring to the proposed revision of the Article 9 to give Japan the right to collective defence.
The ceremony was held this year amid former Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma's controversial remarks that the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 'could not be helped' to end the war.
Abe on Sunday apologized to the A-bomb survivors for Kyuma's remarks and pledged that he would review the government's screening of the victims to qualify for subsidies.
A series of lawsuits have been filed against the government because many hibakusha were not recognized as suffering diseases triggered by radiation of atomic bombings.
Some 251,834 hibakusha, as certified under Japanese law, were alive as of March 31, but 2,242 of them have had their illnesses recognized as caused by radiation from the atomic bombings, according to Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry data.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
why should anyone in the US atone for the japanese after what they did to pearl harbour...........
Why, does that gives them excuse to bomb and kills hundreds of thousands of people? Like 9/11 gave America excuse to bomb and kill thousands of Iraqis who had no part in the attack? You people are despicable.
Sad really that you don't read history and understand it more. Using the atomic bomb saved the life's of millions of American and Japanese soldiers and citizens. so please before you post the tripe that you have above please know your history.
Sadly I have just lost a friend who was a British habakusha. He was at Hiroshima when the atom bomb was dropped, he was working in a ship in a dry dock when the bomb exploded. It was only the iron ship in a concrete dock that saved him from the blast. Ironically the atom bomb saved his life as well because the Japanese planned to execute all their prisoners. The early and unexpected end to the war also saved many lives.
The horrors of radiation and the totally indiscriminate destruction of these bombs also showed the world that nobody can win a nuclear war. It will have far reaching consequenses for every human and animal on the planet.
I am very sorry that 140000 died at Hiroshima but their sacrifice was not in vain because the world now knows the horrors of nuclear war and only a madman would start one.
Sadly there are pleanty of those about.
How dare the Japanese attack a military base the U.S. put on an island nation it had conquered over 4 decades before. Japan had no reason to fear the U.S. military in their Pacific back yard, it was only used for exploiting the Philippines, and China.
The Japanese should realize we only killed so many Japanese, so that we could save MORE lives. We would have done the same, if by nuking two American cities, and killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, we could have ended the War sooner and saved so many more American and Japanese fatalities.
Everyone knows, the U.S. is the Good Guy. When we do something terrible, it has nothing to do with 'terror', it is just unavoidable. Fire bombing Dresden, nuking Hiroshima, invading the Philippines, fixing elections in Western Europe.. we HAD to do these things, fighting some larger evil.
But the Japanese, they are just evil. They started it.
i'm really disturbed by the attitude of some of the posters who think it's ok to destroy the village in order to save it. The Japanese attack on Pearl-Harbor will forever remain a day in infamy but so will the destruction of Hiroshima & Nagasaki, which are still suffering from a higher level of radiation than normal because of the dropped A-bombs.
It saddens me to learn yet again that the events surrounding the atomic bombing of Japan to help bring an end to WWII is getting blurred through the passage of time and what remains is the standard anti-american sentiment that the US was the only nation to have used nuclear weapons. The real sad truth is that the Japanese don't want to face the historical facts as to what kind of a nation they were before they were bombed - a nation that condoned their own brand of miliarty and human atrocites as they furthered their own ambitions in China, Burma, the Phillipines etc. Hiroshima is a lesson for the Japanese and for all nations about the insanity of war.
Once again, this proves one thing.
The government screws up and the civilians suffers for their mistakes.
Cruel world.
Let's all acknowledge the Japanese War crimes of WWII . Nanking lost 300,000 . The villagers of China who helped the Doolittle Raiders lost 200,000 . Not to mention the inhumane treatment of POW's . THe Hell ships and the lack of respect for all human life was the backbone of the Nipponese army . WE are all tired of the poor , poor Japs !!! BS !!!
Barry - VP 22nd Bomb Squadron -CBI
You are right.............................................................
Are we talking about the same Japan that refuses to acknowledge their use of comfort women during WWII? The same Japan that raped Nanking? Why don't you people ask the estimated 10-million-plus Chinese that died at the hands of Japan between '37 and '45 how much they weep for the survivors of the atomic bombings? Maybe you should interview some survivors of unit 731 and see what they think. Perhaps the people vivisected at Kyushu University have an opinion on the matter.
I would also guess that most critics have no idea what Ketsu-Go means as well.
Yes, the Japanese did start WWII in the Pacific.
Yes, the Japanese did make prisoners go on death marches.
Yes, the Japanese did rape thousands of Chinese and Koreans, force fathers to rape daughters and mothers for entertainment, force sons to rape mothers and sisters so they could watch.
Yes, they said they'd never surrender.
Yes, the estimate is still over 1MM dead for any invasion of Japan. I've never seen that number change or seriously disputed.
The only thing worse than dropping two atomic bombs, is not having the morale courage to know it was right thing to do. Sometimes, killing is the right decision. Just because its ugly doesn't mean its wrong.
One additional comment since someone brought up Ketsu-Go. From the FAS site:
From Ketsu-Go plan:
'We will prepare 10,000 planes to meet the landing of the enemy. We will mobilize every aircraft possible, both training and 'special attack' planes. We will smash one third of the enemy's war potential with this air force at sea. Another third will also be smashed at sea by our warships, human torpedoes and other special weapons. Furthermore, when the enemy actually lands, if we are ready to sacrifice a million men we will be able to inflict an equal number of casualties upon them. If the enemy loses a million men, then the public opinion in America will become inclined towards peace, and Japan will be able to gain peace with comparatively advantageous conditions.'
FAS:
It is evident by this statement that in the summer of 1945 Japanese strategists identified the will of the American people as the U.S. strategic center of gravity and a critical vulnerability as the infliction of high casualties.
ME:
Good thing some of the people writing comments here weren't there then making decisions. The Japanese would have been right on target.
Here is the link, with analysis and footnotes:
'www.fas.org/irp/eprint/arens/chap4.htm' - external site
Ever since the Japanese attacked the United States, the rest of the world has tried to make us feel bad about whipping their behinds. Tough sale here.
President Truman was presented with a choice: Attack Mainland Japan conventionally after the order had already gone out to folks like General Kuribiashi at Iwo Jima to 'take as many of us with him' as possible.
The conventional Amphibious Attack General told Truman his casualties would be 1,000,000 men, and the Japanese would lose 5-9,000,000 because they were stupidy training their women and children to fight Marines with sharpened sticks.
The Atomic General told Truman dropping the bombs would cause 250-500,000 Japanese casualties and, with luck, zero American casualties.
President Truman, who had gone from not knowing there was an Atomic Bomb to having to contemplate giving the order to drop it, well, yes he liked that zero US casualties very much, but being American, he also liked the
page: 1
JorgeAug 6th, 2007 - 04:37:50
Any efforts to acknowledge or atone for Japanese war crimes?
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