Things have been getting a bit interesting around here! Today we had some seminars and also some sightseeing in kyoto. My first seminar today was about this guy who basically thinks the use of the two atomic bombs by the US was both militarily unnecessary and morally unjustifiable as the entering of Russia into the war and changing of the surrender terms to allow the emperor to continue was what caused Japan to surrender. He said that the US had already proven it could destroy entire cities (100000 dead in Tokyo due to fire bombings in one day; Toyama 99.5% destroyed by area by bombings) and Japan’s navy, air force and army were all on the brink of defeat after the Saipan battle with Japan conducting studies on how to end the war. (I agree with him)
Anyways, (the other two seminars were “Martin Luther and the anti-nuclear Movement” and “New Forms of War, and Meaning of Nuclear Posture Review”) We also watched a documentary of the dropping of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs which was shown at the UN nuclear nonproliferation conference earlier this year (the producer must’ve done something right as UN secretary general purchased 2 copies of his DVD). It was also cool because we got to meet him later on in the day to ask questions about his movie.
I’m starting to realize more and more of what it means to be Canadian (Ironically as I spend time outside of Canada) as I find my role in this awesome mix of students with different backgrounds. Even within my own peace family as we have an activist, soldier, Japanese-war victim descendant, Japanese victim of war descendant, Japanese student with a bizarre tie to the west and Western student with a bizarre tie to japan (that’s me). Bridging the gap between American and Japanese students both linguistically (the other Canadian student and I have the best Japanese of the non-japanese) and culturally, I’m finding these last few days to be really interesting!
I’m starting to think that my ideas about the differences between the Japanese and Western school systems aren’t as crazy as I thought (see past blog post about my volunteer work at New Start) as I talk to more and more Ritsumeikan students about their experiences in high school. Yesterday I talked with some Japanese students late into the night while folding extra peace cranes (we want to make 2000) for the Hiroshima ceremony.
I also did some kyoto sightseeing with my group!
Tomorrow we will be going to hiroshima (and getting ready for the ceremonies!) Apparently this is when the tour actually starts so I`m looking forward to it!
Also since I didn`t get much of a response for the questions for the japanese school students here, I`m going to extend the question to today as well!
If you have any questions you want to ask the ritsumeikan students, please post below! they can be related to school, what we`re talking about related to the bombs, or life in general.
From Wiki-answers, that noted authority... "The war in the Pacific had been raging for almost four years. The two battles immediately preceeding the bomb decision were Iwo Jima and Okinawa, two battles where the Japanese fought to the death and the cost in American casualties was horrific. It was predicted that the invasion of the Japanese mainland at the Island of Kyushu -- scheduled for November of 1945 -- would be even worse. The entire Japanese military and civilian population would fight to the death. American casualties -- just for that initial invasion to get a foothold on the island of Japan would have taken up to an estimated two months and would have resulted in 75,000 to 100,000 casualties -- up to 20,000 dead! And that was just the beginning. Once the island of Kyushu was captured by U.S. troops, the remainder of Japan would follow. You can just imagine the cost in injuries and lives this would take.
ReplyDeleteEstimated US casualties for Operation OLYMPIC & CORONET were 250,000 along with 1,000,000 Japanese civilian casualties.
It is not beyond the possibility that a million or more Americans could have been killed had the Allies landed. The Japanese had correctly guessed where the Allies intended to land, and were ready and waiting for them. The casualties would have been high. One American tanker walked around the area he was to have assaulted had they landed. According to him most of the "roads" marked on his map were not roads, but simply foot paths. He felt that tanks would have played a very small part in the fighting. It would have been more fighting against caves, and suicide attacks.
The bomb was dropped with a desire to SAVE LIVES. It is a matter of math. How many Americans lost their lives fighting how many Japanese at Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa. The mathematical formula showed the closer they got to Japan the more they lost. Next, one must calculate how many Japanese military people were still in Japan. Add to that figure the fact that women were being trained to fight. Before you say the women would not fight please remember that many women on Okinawa committed suicide fearing all the stories they were told about what the Americans would do to them if they surrendered.
On August 6, 1945, there were about a million boys on the way to the Pacific. At least 50-80% of them were expected to die in the invasion of the Japanese home islands.
People can argue all they want about what the true U.S. government estimates of U.S. casualties in an invasion of Japan were. Doesn't matter. I can guarantee you that 99.9% of the soldiers, sailors and airmen involved in the actual combat, or training for the upcoming invasion were convinced that the invasion of Japan would be a bloodbath. I have never heard or read of any American military person who was involved in the late stages of fighting in the war with Japan who was not glad that the atomic bombs were dropped to end the war."
The Canada-Japan Forum has stated that the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction has become a matter which nation-states can no longer address in traditional ways. What are examples of new ways in which we should tackle this global challenge? What is different about the current initiative?
ReplyDeleteHooray for crazy and endearingly bizarre links between east and west! After you've watched all those documentaries and had so many discussions, what do you now think about the bombings? Do you entirely agree with the guy you mentioned in the first paragraph, or do you have other thoughts?
ReplyDeleteWow, theres lots of military history in japan! Sounds interesting
ReplyDeleteYay Halfers!
Sydney what is the second picture?
take a picture of the cranes!!!
oh the second pictures just me and a friend in this temple place lol.
ReplyDeleteand yes. I am of the opinion now that the ending of the war was made to correspond with the dropping of the bombs even though the two events are unrelated. (yes that american prof brainwashed me.. oh wait that doesnt make sense)
I know it might be controversial.. wikianswers says that the cost would be tremendous were the US to pursue an invasion.. which I agree with! I'm just saying an invasion really wasn't the only option.
We've spent hours and hours talking about this with other Japanese students as well as listening to various speakers... (yes they've brainwashed us all it looks like) but I'm coming to believe more and more that every textbook is biased. I just had a discussion where i was talking with japanese students and we were comparing what we each learned in school and.. its not the same in a lot of respects at all!
I think there may be a bit more to the picture than is taught from the perspective of one country. For example today I learned about the american atom bomb victims in Hiroshima (airplane pilots who were POWs) and Korean Hibakusha forced laborers. Maybe ill write it in a blog post today...