Hiroshima and Nagazaki: The Hardest Tales of History.

Lately I have been surrounded by difficult times, not in personal terms but regarding what has been around me in the country. My apologies to my readers for not writing anything different for the last weeks. Times have been a bit tough due to professional reasons, nevertheless I am hopeful for positive news soon. Regarding this wonderful human sentiment called hope, and in view of the anniversary of the atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagazaki, I decided to write my thoughts about the issue. 

My perception about Japan, as many might have already guessed, is positive in general terms. Japan, in many ways, has served as an example of the kind of country I wished I lived in, not only because of technology, or fashion, or manga, but because of how people regard themselves, their country, their potential, and most importantly, how they regard their past and how they have learned from it, and still keeping their essence and values against all odds. 

My posture regarding Japan has caused me some issues on both the intellectual and academic levels, however most of my critics are either Chinese or Korean or Westerners who have no idea of the origins of my ideas, or about the context I live in that causes my opinions to be the way it is. I have been patronised by Chinese commentators in newspapers by calling me a 'Mental Japanese' and even by Westerners calling me an idiot because 'you have no idea of what Japanese did'. These critics come to me eventhough I have lived in Asia.

Actually, and totally opposite to what my critics might think, I have seen genocide, cruelty, lived a war, seen violence and most improtantly, I have been able to get over such things and I try to continue my life without blaming others for my problems, or attempt to make others feel that I am always right about everything. This last thing is the main problem I face with my Western critics, who have no idea of what they talk about because (maybe except for post-1945 people)they have never suffered from it. In the same way that I do not write to please anybody, I do not owe any kind of expalantions to people who just do not want or do not wish to understand. I notice that in Asia, it is a big issue saying things the way they are, but truth is something that cannot be hidden, and mreover for those of us who are not from there.

China and Korea, among other countries, are continously claiming for apologies from Japan regarding Manchuria, sex slavery and Nanjing. While these atrocities were terrible and are still remembered as what they were (crimes against humanity), sadly there is not much to do to change the current fate faced by most Asian nations. Collective memory in Japan however, still carries the guilt of such atrocities and this is why they keep on apologising every single year. If Japan did not have such strong historical memory (and gut), they would not even invest their time in apologising, and the same goes for Germany, which in spite of being divided in four, and then crushed by Versailles, and then splitted by a physical and ideological wall, still keeps the guilt of World War II.

It is normal for the winners to keep on accusing the ones on the losing side, however the fact of the losing side accepting defeat and still apologising for it, says a lot regarding the value of the people from such nations. If Japan's victims seek for Japanese to humiliate themselves, they are wasting their time, because if there is a valuable lesson from Versailles Treaty, is the fact that you do not get much out of humilating people except anger and resentment. The fact of Japanese people not having hard feelings against the allied countries in spite of what they were done in Hiroshima and Nagazaki, shows that Japan resulted more compassionate than those who defeated them. Japan was crushed not only physically but also emotionally. When Japan had its honour torn apart was when it had really lost the war. This idea of tearing national integrity is not a weapon used only against Japan, but also against other nations who were victims of colonialism.

There are many arguments regarding why thebomb was dropped. Some say that it was needed (???)

others say that it was done just for putting the 'final blow' aganst Japan, and the most questonable argument I have encountered is'Was there any other way for America to avenge Pearl Harbor?' (?????). while I believe that everybody have the right to ask and offer an explanation, I do not think that the bombs were necesessary, nor do I believe that tale of 'President Truman was totally ignorant about what was going to happen with the bomb'  What kind of Head of State hesitates at the moment of commanding such a delicate order to start with? President Truman was aware of what he was about to ask his Army to do, for there is a letter written by scientists involved in the Manhattan Project who warned him against the destructive nature of the atomic bombs. There are sources that also show that Japan was already defeated before the bombs. 

While nuclear fission has proved to be an amazing discovery because it has revelaed a lot about how the universe was formed, and how the Big Bang might have been produced, and how starts are born and then die, scientists warn against the risk of it due to its destructive nature, because it is also a source for blackholes. If the strong effects of radiation and subatomic particles can be seen in the universe in the shape of forces and high temperatures on such massive volumes of matter, there is not much needed to imagine what can such reactions do to humans. 

Stories about what epople saw before the bomb and afterwards go beyond any conception of horror conceived by humans on that time. The worst is not the bomb itself, but what comes afterwards that makes damage difficult to identify and even quantify, for effects of radiation can be unpredictable and can last for many years. Since radioactive elements can produce energy for many years (around hundreds or thousands), there are many ideas to use them for sending vehicles or satellites to areas that go beyond the Milky Way and even beyond many light years. 

Opposite to satellites and space ships, radioactive energy is not good for the human body, because neutrons just penetrate and destroy human cell, either quickly or slowly in the form of diseases. The high incidence of cancer in Japan is a side effect of the bombs, even after seventy years. Nowadays, and even immediately after these horrid scenes, came the Cold War and the still alive willingness to use such dreadful means to wina game that will always bring loss.

This entry could be only about the use of atomic energy and how atomic bombs are made, but the guilt felt by scientists of the Manhattan Project never knew any kind of end, however the nation who dropped it does not know remorse either. Nowadays Japan's neighbours keep on blaming them for their under development, or in the case of North Korea, for their problems. 

In the case of both Koreas, apart from having an issue regading independent foreign policy that does not go around the deprivation or blaming 'the other'and making their own decisions without foreign intervention, the task of getting over the issue will be an obstacle for at least, the next 50 years. Japan will not move from there for sure and will not stop being Korea's neighbour. Koreans are smart and hard-working people, and if they were able to rise after a war, they should also be able to get over the past, something that is an inherent part of progress. 

China is a different story, because in between discourse and reality there is a huge gap, and the same goes for the United States. The sad truth is, Japan keeps on being asked for apologies, but are their accusers aware of the possibility that 'with the very same rod they are measuring they will be measured' one day?? 

No nation can claim for apologies when it has itself commited human rights violations, blackmailing, and even genocide. While many nations keep on committing the same or similar crimes against others, finger pointing at Japan or Germany will always be subject to scrutinity, because it will always be easier to watch and magnify the mistakes of others rather than doing self-criticism. The two countries, in spite of still having many problems within, have served as an example of successful recovery based on a strong sense of memory and also, a strong awareness of their own potential to recover and achieve their objectives. 

Indeed in many cases, humans show that memory seems to be a temporary state of mind...or something that conveniently has the 'skill' of appearing and disappearing all of a sudden. Hiroshima and Nagazaki should not be thrown to the drawer of oblivion, because lives are not supposed to be lost in vain. Let's not forget that 'Cruelty is the only resort cobards have to impose themselves on others'. 

Hiroshima (c) Japan Today

                                              

                                                                    (c) Illinois University