Recently I had the privilege to travel to Japan- as well as two other countries- as a late 16th gift. Amongst trying out the food, experiencing culture, and sightseeing, our main goal in traveling to Japan was to immerse ourselves in its rich history; including the atom bombs. We spent a day in Hiroshima- visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome, along with the other memorials surrounding the two locations. Here’s what I’ve learned.
Museum Overview
The overall purpose of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, based on the name, is to bring awareness of peace. The way they present this is by walking you through the severity of the atomic bomb on August 6th, 1945.
Walking into the exhibition you are first met with life. Black and white photographs of Hiroshima before the bombing: an ordinary city with bustling busy markets, thriving villages, and interactions between familiar residents. A picture of a young school group and their teacher stands. 8:15 in the morning destruction hits.
You move to the next room- a projected video onto a 3D table. What figures and shapes of buildings you could previously see were all wiped out after the bomb made contact? Almost wiping out all existence, as if there was no trace of human life at any point except for the frail dilapidated Atom Bomb dome and a few buildings. You move to the next room- gaining a message of caution and warning- an image of a young girl bandaged and slightly scarred stands before you.
The next few rooms are more devastating than anything, but necessary entirely to convey the message established from the beginning. Artwork of reds, yellows and oranges stands out on the white canvas and black walls they hang from. Dark purples, blacks and greens are mixed into the images giving some distinction. Red Hot figures with melted skin of orange and yellows run in fear; screaming, crying. Peeling skin hanging down like costumes, swollen faces from burns, blood everywhere. An eye is held in one’s hand, thinly connected by a string of nerves as they try to push it back into their face. Mutilated and disfigured bodies and faces, burning clothes and skin, collapsing buildings and melted statues. Displays of the charred and tattered clothes of killed school children stand in the middle while ones of broken plaster, walls and bricks, melted Buddha statues, and warped glass surround them. A shadow of a man sitting along the porch of a building remains permanently imprinted into the stone. A black sticky rain fell upon the land that day- a deadly drink consumed by many due to the intense thirst filling their senses. The rain blackened their clothes, their skin, buildings, and the ground. Drawings of people dying- dead- in rivers, being pulled out with hooks and stretchers, lying dead in fore cisterns, their bodies limp and ghastly as they attempt to soothe the scars. Images of people with permanent purple spots and marks peppered across their faces, of a mutilated tongue grown in size and in distorted shape. Testaments of family members of those who died, who suffered even after surviving, who tried to live their lives again but for a short period before their symptoms grew worse and fatal. Of people who faced later symptoms, of leukemia and diarrhea, of hair loss, and bleeding. Written out dialogue, of pleading children to their mothers, family members to their loved ones, aching for water to soothe the burning heat, pleading to die and escape the tortuous pain, crying out apologies for being unable to save the other.
The Museum asks for peace- for no more Hiroshimas and to prevent the usage and possibility of a nuclear war as it could lead to the end of our civilization and extinction of mankind For this reason Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been rebuilt to serve as reminders of the past, as well as to send a message and a call of action to the international community to have total abolition of nuclear weapons.
Outside the museum they have also built three separate memorials: one for Sadako, one for the students that took on labor service, and one for those who died during the bombings, as a peace memorial.
I’ve heard the story of Sadako before in a passage from the Kumon Reading program. Sadako Sasako, is a real story, of a Japanese girl who was a victim of the radiation following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She was diagnosed with leukemia, and a friend told her that if she folded 1,000 paper cranes she would be granted a wish. In her determination, Sadako spent her time at the hospital folding paper cranes nonstop. Unfortunately, she only got to 644 before she passed away. Her friends however helped her complete the 1,000, and buried them with her. A memorial stands dedicated to her, with thousands of paper cranes displayed in glass boxes surrounding a statue of her holding a golden paper crane.
The Memorial Tower to the Mobilized Students was dedicated to the students who, during the Student Labor Service Act, took up labor services to tear down homes and other buildings to limit the expansion of fire or air attacks. About 6,300 of the 8,400 national upper level students died the day of the bombing. The names of those students are written into the memorial, with the Goddess of Peace and 8 doves.
Lastly, the Memorial Cenotaph is a monument to memorialize the victims of Hiroshima, carrying the epitaph “please rest in peace, for [we/they] shall not repeat the error”.
Was the atom bomb necessary?
What devastation was faced on August 6, 1945, is only truly known by the Japanese. 79 years ago, an unseen level of destruction and death swept over the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The levels of radiation and the effects it had not only at the time of the bomb exploding but also decades later are harrowing. It begs the question, was the nuclear bomb necessary?
U.S. interests have always revolved around American lives. The Mexican-American War, War of 1812, 9/11, Pearl Harbor even- these have all had U.S. involvement in a war or have had wars started because of the loss of American lives.America has always acted with its best interests in mind before anything else- regardless of the situation. It makes sense that they would do the same in this situation.
President Truman, upon gaining office abruptly, had little information previously given to him regarding the Manhattan Project. He essentially went into operation with little, weak knowledge and tremendous pressure. The decision was made- especially on bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki- to not only stop the persistent Japanese empire but also to stop the death of American lives and prevent a greater number from being shed more than necessary. Japan has never been successfully invaded inland. Upon visiting, I finally saw why. Japan is entirely- or mostly- mountainous from all sides. It would take much too much time, resources, and energy to get through those mountains before one could make it out, and yet, they would still be unable to know what lies in the mountains and could be ambushed as well. With this, there would be a far greater loss of American lives to continue fighting this way, compared to the usage of nuclear bombs to put an end to the war. Furthermore, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were selected as they had no prisoners of war and were the biggest ports and military holders in Japan at the time. However, the bigger problem with this is that Japan was decided as the country to face the nuclear bomb, even before the war was coming to an end and Germany surrendered.
According to History, the Manhattan Project began after the discovery of nuclear fission by scientists working in Germany and Switzerland. There was greater concern about the possibility of Nazi Germany using this development and developing a nuclear bomb, leading to Albert Einstein writing a letter to President Roosevelt, eventually prompting the “tentative beginning of the U.S. nuclear program”. Roosevelt also approved the research and development of a nuclear bomb and said he would find a way to secure funding to build it. It should be kept in mind that this was near the beginning of the World War, and far before the United States got involved. (It was only a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor that the Manhattan Project was approved to be created.)
The biggest driving factor, as I said, for beginning this research and development was the fear that Nazi Germany would create a nuclear bomb first. However, German attempts had been futile, never getting too far. Furthermore, as the war was nearing its end, there were greater concerns about the impacts of the bomb on the world. Niels Bohr, a Danish physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, discussed his fears to FDR that the bomb could lead to a nuclear arms race, allowing countries to be able to “annihilate each other”- suggesting a plan to control nuclear weapons after the war. Winston Churchill, however, was unmoved, strongly disagreeing with Bohr; ‘s idea. Einstein even wrote a letter regarding Silzard- a scientist working on the bomb who was concerned about its effects- to FDR, bringing up the concern of how the bomb should and would be used.
Following FDR’s death, Truman finally learned of the project, including that before FDR’s death, he and Churchill had decided that ‘’when a bomb’ is finally available’ it would be used against the Japanese. However, in terms of actual usage of the bomb, there were no plans left for Truman- such as documentation or policy directives. Secretary of War Harry Stimson had suggested to FDR that the bomb’s power could be used in a demonstration at first as a warning to the Japanese, but Truman was against it. It is with this we must ask, why did FDR possibly not provide any instructions regarding the bomb? It could be that with his late passing, he simply didn’t have time to, or perhaps he had a relative idea as to the amount of power the bomb held, and felt against its usage. Maybe he saw that the bomb could lead to an arms race in the future. But it is with this that the question of what to do with the bomb was left unanswered, and up to President Truman to decide. It is with this that Japan faced two nuclear bombings.
Furthermore, in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, they have written that “The United States believed that ending the war with an atomic bombing would help prevent the Soviet Union from extending its sphere of influence. It would also help the U.S. government justify to the American people the tremendous cost of atomic bomb development.” Now, prior to the war, the Soviet Union and United States had serious tension between the two, and created a temporary alliance during the war against the Axis powers. With this, there was the rise of the Cold War immediately after the second world war, with a tense nuclear arms race leading to the brink of another war.
So we must ask, would Japan have surrendered even without the nuclear bombs? Not exactly. Japanese honor and loyalty to their country is heavily unmatched. Samurais used to cut out their stomachs rather than return. The Japanese would not have surrendered as a surrender would have been dishonorable more than anything. They would have rather kept fighting, even if there was no Japan left.
My problem lies in the fact that Japan was considered to be bombed much before the war even ended, and even very early on into the war. Why not Nazi germany? Nazi Germany was the primary opponent for which the bomb was initially made ‘against’. Furthermore what exactly would ‘mature consideration’ be that led to the decision of Japan being bombed. It seems fairly unreasonable. Furthermore, would a warning have been better rather than immediate action? Yes, Japan did refuse to surrender, however, the immediate change into using a nuclear weapon was too much. The United States could have warned the Japanese about the nuclear bombs, possibly provided a warning rather than immediate action?
The United States needed a different course of action rather than invasion to defeat the Japanese. I agree. But the unprecedented deployment of the nuclear bomb, an unprecedented unknown weapon with such severe effects was abrupt. It completely changed the course of the world. It began a nuclear arms race, and further heightened tensions for another war that could have been a nuclear war between two countries. Up to today, there are 9 countries with nuclear weapons, these all being major world players that could wipe out nearly the entire human race and existence if it escalates to a world war. With this, we are much closer to being on the verge of a war rather than being able to maintain peace with these weapons. So was the nuclear bomb necessary? No. With Truman’s best interests to keep more Americans alive by keeping them from invading Japan, there were several other options he had to use these weapons rather than bombing Japan immediately. One is a warning using the bombs, or even just warning Japan of the power of the bombs.
So no, the nuclear bomb was not necessary.
