As you read the account of what the bomb did to Nagasaki, consider that 96,000 people died OVER THE COURSE OF A YEAR from the bomb and radiation effects. Five months earlier, on the night of March 9-10, 1945, 100,000 people died in Tokyo IN ONE NIGHT when the B-29s made the first fire raid. The 500 attacking bombers created a firestorm that burned out 18 square miles of the city. My “astral twin” (born the same day) Yoshiko Tsuruta, then a baby almost nine months old, survived because her mother took her in her arms and jumped into a ditch full of sewage to escape the fire. My aerobatics instructor back in 1976, the late Tom Bell, was one of the pilots of those B-29s; he could never eat or be around barbecue because he could never forget the smell of burning human flesh that filled his bomber as they flew 6,000 feet above the city.
I read with bated breath, you are such a compelling writer, carrying the reader along upon an astounding compilation of information. Horrified and transfixed. Thank you for this work. And blessings upon you for what you must know to write these texts.
It is often said that those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it. Hopefully this lesson has been well learned and will never be forgotten but what passes for political leadership in the major military powers seems impervious to any lessons from the past.
And yet amazingly: "The United States considers Japan to be one of its closest allies and partners. Japan is currently one of the most pro-American nations in the world, with 67% of Japanese viewing the United States favorably, according to a 2018 Pew survey; and 75% saying they trust the United States as opposed to 7% for China."
That's entirely due to the one great thing Douglas MacArthur did when he became the American Shogun in Japan after the war. The reforms he introduced transformed the country. They're also very happy we didn't complete "de-nazify" them as happened in Germany. Many of the people who were involved in going to war and running the war were later among the founders of the "Liberal" Democratic Party which ran the country for 50 years. Also Big Mac's decision leaving Hirohito in power to die of old age. And only prosecuting the big war criminals (whose ashes were then smuggled into Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo). The Japanese "history" of the war and the actual history of the war live on two different planets.
Ahh, the aftermath! So World War II begot the "Liberal" Democratic Party, wow. I see you do clarify in Chapter 4 that "we" allowed Hirohito to stay in power. A good thing, no?
Given that it "broke the logjam", leaving him on the throne (while MacArthur turned the position into a "constitutional monarchy") was indeed a good decision. This decision, rather than the decision to drop the bombs, was the decision that saved lives. Had it been done before August 6, the bombs would likely not have been dropped.
I read with bated breath, you are such a compelling writer, carrying the reader along upon an astounding compilation of information. Horrified and transfixed. Thank you for this work. And blessings upon you for what you must know to write these texts.
It is often said that those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it. Hopefully this lesson has been well learned and will never be forgotten but what passes for political leadership in the major military powers seems impervious to any lessons from the past.
Too true, unfortunately.
What do you say to something like this? A chain of mistakes still leading to an utter nightmare …
So well-written and absolutely heartbreaking!
And yet amazingly: "The United States considers Japan to be one of its closest allies and partners. Japan is currently one of the most pro-American nations in the world, with 67% of Japanese viewing the United States favorably, according to a 2018 Pew survey; and 75% saying they trust the United States as opposed to 7% for China."
That's entirely due to the one great thing Douglas MacArthur did when he became the American Shogun in Japan after the war. The reforms he introduced transformed the country. They're also very happy we didn't complete "de-nazify" them as happened in Germany. Many of the people who were involved in going to war and running the war were later among the founders of the "Liberal" Democratic Party which ran the country for 50 years. Also Big Mac's decision leaving Hirohito in power to die of old age. And only prosecuting the big war criminals (whose ashes were then smuggled into Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo). The Japanese "history" of the war and the actual history of the war live on two different planets.
Ahh, the aftermath! So World War II begot the "Liberal" Democratic Party, wow. I see you do clarify in Chapter 4 that "we" allowed Hirohito to stay in power. A good thing, no?
Given that it "broke the logjam", leaving him on the throne (while MacArthur turned the position into a "constitutional monarchy") was indeed a good decision. This decision, rather than the decision to drop the bombs, was the decision that saved lives. Had it been done before August 6, the bombs would likely not have been dropped.
OH!