Japan's Atomic Bomb

I recently found an interesting documentary on YouTube that was apparently produced by the History Channel in the USA. It is called Japan’s Atomic Bomb, and is officially introduced at the following:

A revealing look at the untold story of Japan’s atomic bomb, and how they may have detonated a nuclear device just two days before surrender. Since the end of WWII, conventional wisdom claimed that Imperial Japan was years away from building an atomic weapon–this special shatters this view. Using once secret Japanese wartime documents, we provide evidence that Japan had world- class nuclear physicists, access to uranium ore, and cyclotrons to process it. They devised an innovative way to deliver the bombs using 400-foot long Sen Toku submarines, capable of carrying and launching airplanes. Most startling–just six days after Hiroshima, Japan tested its own atomic device on a small island 20 miles off the Korean coast. The sobering conclusion is that Japan may have been just weeks behind the US in the race for the bomb.

If you’re interested in the documentary, here it is (in 5 parts of about 10 minutes each):

Was Japan actually close to making an atomic bomb? Even if the documentary’s claim that Japan may have detonated a test weapon in the final days of the war, it would have probably taken a long time for their military to produce further weapons that could be used against America. Like many documentaries aimed at creating entertainment for TV viewers, it is ultimately guilty of taking fragmented evidence to build a claim that isn’t entirely realistic. Still, it is interesting to think of the historical “what ifs” of Japan’s atomic weapons program.

One YouTube commenter had a far harsher opinion on the documentary:

What a desperate attempt to justify the cowardly slaughter of the innocent civillians in hiroshima and nagasaki. It still weighs very heavy on your concience, or am i right America ?