Could the Hiroshima bomb have been helped?
hat will be the question former defence minister, Fumio Kyuma (right), will be asking himself after he today 
resigned from his position under public pressure. Kyuma was rebuked by the Prime Minister yesterday for his comments (most probably because of public criticism rather than whether he agreed with Kyuma) but it appears that wasn’t enough. Already, A-bomb survivors are saying that he got what he deserved by losing his position.
The reason for this resignation was due to comments made by Kyuma about the A-bomb attack on Hiroshima and his own city of Nagasaki. He stated that these bombings were “something that couldn’t be helped”. He said that the US understood that the bombings would have caused suffering, but that they, “could prompt Japan’s surrender, thus preventing the Soviet Union from declaring war against Japan”.
This prompted outrage among the Japanese people, and especially the A-bomb survivors in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Japanese rarely mention the A-bomb attacks for fear of upsetting relations with the USA. Even if you go to the Hiroshima A-bomb museum, there is very little about why the attack took place and the people and aircraft which did it. It’s almost as if they are saying, “an atomic bomb dropped out of the sky and killed many Japanese people in a highly sorrowful event”.
The thing is, his comments are more than likely true. If you read the excellent book, Tennozan (tough to get hold of, but I have a copy if you want to borrow it), it will give you a very good understanding of why the atomic bomb attacks took place. But to say this would be against the grain of promoting the Japanese as being merely victims of a vicious American attack.
Would be interested to hear your thoughts on this one.
or Discuss this Article
“Racing the Enemy”, by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, is a detailed investigation of the reasons for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and shows clearly that the principal reason was the desire to keep the Soviet Union out of postwar Japan. Truman had tried to persuade Stalin to drop his commitment to enter the Pacific War within three months of the end of the European war, without success; Stalin was determined to have a part in any postwar dealings with Japan. The date for the Soviet entry into the Pacific War was mid-August; hence, the rush to use the atomic bomb in early August, before the Russians were ready.
It was all about keeping the Russians out of postwar Japan, quite as Mr Kyuma said.
– Jack McKay
Washington, DC
Hi Jack,
Thanks for sharing this info, that’s new to me and sounds interesting.
Do you happen to have more info on the book?