Literature and Human Rights: Nagasaki- 02/29/17

Nagasaki- 02/29/17

After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the forced evacuation and internment of all people of Japanese ancestry living in the United States. The government feared that Japanese Americans would side with Japan during the war and engage in acts of sabotage and espionage against the United States. During this period, many white Americans saw all Japanese Americans as essentially the same-suspicious characters without individual identities. “The bombing of Nagasaki took place on August 9^th, 1945 (History,1), three days after Hiroshima.

The bombing of Nagasaki didn’t get executed as the first. On the American point of view, it didn’t go “as effective” as the bombing of Hiroshima. There were weather complications among others conditions that limited the success of this bombing. Nagasaki had never been subjected to large scale bombing prior to the explosion of the atomic bomb there. However, several high U.S. explosive bombs were dropped on the city killing 39,000–80,000. A few of these bombs hit in the shipyards and dock areas in the southwest portion of the city. Several of the bombs hit the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works and six bombs landed at the Nagasaki Medical School and Hospital, with three direct hits on buildings there. While the damage from these few bombs were relatively small, it created considerable concern in Nagasaki and several people, principally school children, were evacuated to rural areas for safety, thus reducing the population in the city at the time of the atomic attack.

“Nagasaki only made it to the list after Kyoto (another city in Japan) was removed from being too much of an important cultural center. The initial target on August 9 was Kokura, but there was too much cloud cover for visual targeting, so the Bockscar moved on to the backup target, nearby Nagasaki, insisted” (Nuclear Secrecy, 1).

The United States justification for both atomic bombings in Japan was wanting to limit its own casualties by forcing Japan to surrender as quickly as possible and thus “protecting American civilians”. However, many historians have also concluded that there were other motivations- as expected; At the Yalta-Conference in February 1945 the Soviet Union secretly agreed to join the war against Japan within three months of Germany's surrender, so the United States wanted to force Japan to surrender before the Soviet Union could enter the war to secure a stronger political position after the war. The United States wanted to use the weapon in war to measure its effectiveness.

During internment, the United States government rounded up many Japanese adult men for interrogation without first producing evidence that they committed any crimes. As was the case with Father from Julia Osaka’s novel, When the Emperor was Devine. Today, it is widely agreed upon that the United States actions were motivated by anti-Asian racism rather than by legitimate concerns that Japanese Americans were spaying for Japan. This culture of oppression and ferocity, continues to mar America’s history, as time indicates moments that cannot be undone, nor enduring seen.

“Eiko Taoka, then 21, was one of nearly 100 passengers said to have been on board a streetcar that had left Hiroshima Station at a little after 8:00 a.m. and was in a Hatchobori area, 750 m from ground zero, when the bomb fell. Taoka was heading for Funairi with her one year old son to secure wagon in preparation for her move out of the building which was to be evacuated. At 8:15, as the streetcar approached Hatchobori Station, an intense flash and blast engulfed the car, instantly setting it on fire. Taoka’s son died of radiation sickness on August 28. The survival of only ten people on the streetcar have been confirmed to date.”

“Ms. Akiko Takakura was 20 years old when the bomb fell. She was in the Bank of

Hiroshima, 300 meters away from the hypocenter. Ms. Takakura miraculously

escaped death despite over 100 lacerated wounds on her back. She is one of the

few survivors who was within 300 meters of the hypocenter. She now runs a

kindergarten and she relates her experience of the atomic bombing to children.”

(AJ Software & Multimedia).

Fun Fact:

"The US Airforce before dropping the A-bomb, dropped pamphlets in Hiroshima warning people of the bombing" (Kick***Facts)