[KuriousKrow]

I'm currently living in Aichi Prefecture in Japan my home is in a small town called Fuso about 30 minutes from Nagoya. I've been here for six months living with my Uncle (a Canadian) and I can say without a doubt that the fear of nuclear contamination is everywhere here. People won't buy food grown in areas that might be affected by radio-activity, kids who have relocated from Fukushima are bullied in school for being 'irradiated mutants' and Japanese people themselves are furious about the lack of care and attention at their nuclear facilities. It's a nerve wracking time for the only Country to ever have first hand experience at the recieving end of nuclear warfare.

I've been to Hiroshima, it's an amazing place. Despite the tranquil gardens and beautiful scenery of the city it feels like something wrong has happened there. Wreckage from the blast still lies near the marked drop point (as part of a memorial) and there certainly isn't any question of forgetting what happened. They may in a few hundred years but especially now in the wake of reactor issues the memories of the survivors and their children vivid and terrifying.

On the subject of the Hiroshima bombing, if anyone has really looked into the history of the actual event or studied closely the events leading up the bombing it's quite obvious that dropping the bomb(s) (if we include the 'fatboy' dropped at Nagasaki 3 days later) was completely unnecessary. It was just a combination of propaganda and fear tactics designed to cow Soviet Russia at the end of the war.

The Potsdam Declaration was heavy handed and terrifying for the average Japanese person. Not allowing the nation to keep their emperor (which the Allies did AFTER bombing them) was akin to denying them their religious freedom of course they refused to surrender. Can you imagine if America was on the losing side of a war and it's people were told:

'okay it's time to surrender, unconditionally with no guarantee or promise of safety, don't look at what we've done to Germany or Tokyo too closely we aren't normally like that... ahh and oh yeah you have to give us Jesus or face total annihilation'.

[martin14]

KuriousKrow KuriousKrow:

On the subject of the Hiroshima bombing, if anyone has really looked into the history of the actual event or studied closely the events leading up the bombing it's quite obvious that dropping the bomb(s) (if we include the 'fatboy' dropped at Nagasaki 3 days later) was completely unnecessary. It was just a combination of propaganda and fear tactics designed to cow Soviet Russia at the end of the war.

... religious freedom ...

'okay it's time to surrender, unconditionally with no guarantee or promise of safety, don't look at what we've done to Germany or Tokyo too closely we aren't normally like that... ahh and oh yeah you have to give us Jesus or face total annihilation'.

I was tempted to jump on this, but I won't waste my time.


It's enough to say I don't remember the Japanese surrendering on Aug.5,
to think about the St. Stephen's Massacre for a moment,
remember the almost 300 Canadian POWs who died after Hong Kong as a result
of abuse, mistreatment, and straight out executions,
and I'll stop there.

[GreenTiger]

martin14 martin14:

KuriousKrow KuriousKrow:

On the subject of the Hiroshima bombing, if anyone has really looked into the history of the actual event or studied closely the events leading up the bombing it's quite obvious that dropping the bomb(s) (if we include the 'fatboy' dropped at Nagasaki 3 days later) was completely unnecessary. It was just a combination of propaganda and fear tactics designed to cow Soviet Russia at the end of the war.

... religious freedom ...

'okay it's time to surrender, unconditionally with no guarantee or promise of safety, don't look at what we've done to Germany or Tokyo too closely we aren't normally like that... ahh and oh yeah you have to give us Jesus or face total annihilation'.

I was tempted to jump on this, but I won't waste my time.


It's enough to say I don't remember the Japanese surrendering on Aug.5,
to think about the St. Stephen's Massacre for a moment,
remember the almost 300 Canadian POWs who died after Hong Kong as a result
of abuse, mistreatment, and straight out executions,
and I'll stop there.

Exactly Martin,
I was going to mention a few other incidents to Illustrate why the bomb NEEDED to be dropped, but I get the feeling it isn't worth the time to try to explain how Japan was a whole hell of a lot different now than it was in 1945.