65 Years Since the Nagasaki Bombing

Today was the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. As it was not the first city hit by nuclear weapons and its death toll was not as large as the Hiroshima bombing, its anniversary tends to get a lot less attention.

Whereas the United States sent its ambassador to the Hiroshima ceremony a few days ago, it apparently did not attach the same importance to Nagasaki:

The ceremony started on August 9 around 11:02 a.m., the time of the 1945 bombing, in the southern city of Nagasaki, AP reported on Monday.

Representatives from 32 countries attended the ceremony. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Nagasaki a day before the Hiroshima anniversary. However, the United States did not send a delegation to the event.

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11 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - August 9, 2010 at 7:37 pm

Categories: General Japan Tags:

ThinkingMonkey

I do not have a problem with the US ambassador attending the Hiroshima ceremony.
(or not attending the Nagasaki one)

At least the US can face up to the things it did 65 years ago. People can debate
for another 100 year about the atomic bombings. IMHO, it was the right thing to
do and it was also the wrong thing to do. It was a war. A bloody war that claimed
the lives of thousands of civilians and soldiers on all sides.

Here’s my question…. does the Japanese governemnt have the cojones to dispatch
the Japanese ambassador to Nanking during China’s memorial ceremony for the victims
of the Nanking Massacre? No, there’s no need for apology, not when it’s 65 years
late. No apology is going to bring back the dead.

Everyone should realize that war is a terrible thing, whether your country is the
winner or loser. (come to think of it, there is not such thing as a true “winner”
in a war… all participating countries are losers one way or another) Preventing
wars and keeping the peace is more important than anything else.

Nora

Very well said! God Bless

Rob A

“What have you learned from Hiroshima and Nagasaki?”

Well, this year I learned that Japan holds a grudge against pretty much everyone that it can, like a butt-hurt teenage girl who didn’t like the ending of one of the Twilight movies.

–

It happened 65 years ago. I wasn’t alive. My parents weren’t alive. Our President wasn’t alive. Most of congress/the senate weren’t alive. Most of the people involved in the bombing in any way aren’t alive.

Stop trying to blame people and expecting people to take responsibility for things their country did in the distant past. Grow up, and move on.

helical

How is holding a memorial service for a group of people who died in a particular way in a war equivalent to holding a grudge or blaming someone else? Are you only able to think in those terms?
Perhaps some of the participants who lost a loved one many years ago personally cannot forgive America … I can’t speak for them. But the tone of the ceremony itself that I have seen broadcast on television in the recenet years has been of rememberance, mourning, and praying that it won’t happen to any one else. I haven’t seen any accusatory rhetoric or condemnation against the Untied States.

Suddenly getting all defensive and calling that “butt-hurt” sounds like one might not be feeling as confident as one often likes to say they are about how the bombing was justified and necessary.

Rob A

It’s not the memorial service that exemplifies the grudge I speak of, but the constant “The US apparently did not attach the same importance to Nagasaki” passive-agressive “news”.

“Oh, they wore hats! They wore sunglasses! Don’t they realize, this is THEIR fault?”

Just sick of it.

ponta

I am not sure which Japanese “news” article you are talking about.
I googled but so far I’ve found no news article saying “The US apparently did not attach the same importance to Nagasaki”

And as for wearing sunglass, I’ve also searched for news articles, I’ve found none.

Do you mean you are sick of a few people tweeting about it?
http://www.japanprobe.com James

Rob A, if you don’t want to read about ceremonies that mourn those who died in the atomic bombings and the official American response to them, just avoid this blog every time the Hiroshima and Nagasaki anniversaries come around.

Nagasaki doesn’t get as much attention as Hiroshima. It would be pretty hard to argue otherwise. The name “Enola Gay” is pretty well-known in the United States. A lot of people have probably heard of Paul Tibbets as well. A lot less people know the name of the plane that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki (Bockscar), and the crew members of the Nagasaki B-29′s never got the same fame as the Enola Gay’s crew. Even in Japan it tends to get less attention than Hiroshima. Pointing that out is not an attack on the United States.

At both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the speeches delivered were pacifist messages against nuclear weapons in general. They aren’t “let’s remember how Americans are evil” ceremonies, they are ceremonies to mourn those who died and hope for a peaceful future. The official mourning ceremonies are not about blaming America or asking for apologies.

The United States, Great Britain, and France sent an official representatives to the Hiroshima ceremony. At the Nagasaki ceremony, Britain and France sent representatives, but I heard nothing on the news about any American officials being present. If the United States government considered the Nagasaki ceremony to be equally important, it would have sent someone. It didn’t. I don’t know what their motivations were, but it does apparently show that America did not attach equal importance to both ceremonies. I don’t see the harm in pointing out the obvious absence of America at the ceremony, which is a pretty strange thing when you consider the fact that they went through the trouble of sending somebody to the Hiroshima ceremony.

As for the sunglasses post, I put a disclaimer at the bottom of it clearly stating that it was not an important news story. I’m also not sure where you got the “Don’t they realize, this is THEIR fault?” line from.

Ponta:

I think Rob A thinks that anything posted on this blog is automatically “news.”
ponta

Thanks James.

To be fair,

共同
米大使、長崎は都合が付かず欠席　大使館広報がコメント

　在日米国大使館の広報担当者は９日、長崎市で開かれた原爆犠牲者慰霊平和祈念式典にルース大使が参加しなかったことについて「スケジュールの都合で参加しなかった」とコメントした。ルース大使は最近、田上富久長崎市長に電話し、将来、長崎を訪問する希望を持っていると伝えたという。

The U.S ambassador　called the mayor of nagasaki recently , saying that he hoped to visit nagasaki in the future. The U.S. embassy commented that he couldn’t visit due to a schedule conflict.

Nora

65 years ago is such a short time… I wasn’t alive either…but I will never understand how people can forget such a evil act so quickly! More so, how can Americans get all puffed up about the actions of terrorists and act as if we are any better as a group of people? Truth be told, America has always seemed to over react to any little action taken against them with overkill! God have mercy on us all for our arrogance and ignorance!

Jack

Why would the US send anyone in an official capacity? The US should not feel shame. The Japanese regime was brutal during WWII. Their atrocities equate with that of Nazi Germany. Just ask the Chinese. The US ended a war it did not start. It is too bad that civilians died, but rather Japanese civilians than American soldiers. Again, Japan brought it upon itself.

Nora

Wow Jack… are you for real? Better Japanese Civilians rather than American Soldiers?????? I prefer to look at it like this… you live by the sword, you die by the sword… so while I am saddened that soldiers feel it is ok to kill one another… they know and accept that… but civilians???? well Japanese or American… should never die because little boys like to play war!

Men are the cause of so much pain and suffering, all because they have such huge ego’s and too much pride… and for what??? I’m surprised that the world is still standing with men in charge of so much! Women go to so much trouble to bring life into this world and men so carelessly snuff it out… and for what???

65 Years Since the Nagasaki Bombing

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