[credit: War Memorial Peace Park,http://www.flickr.com/photos/omaikane/509248666/in/set-72157600182554736/]
THIS IS OFF-TOPIC, BUT...
"The atomic bomb does not discriminate. It kills everyone from little babies to old people. And it's not an easy death. It's a very cruel and very painful way to die. I think that this cannot be allowed to happen again anywhere in the world. I don't say this just because I'm a Japanese atomic bomb survivor. I feel that people all over the world must speak out."
-Isao Kita (credit: http://www.inicom.com/hibakusha/index.html)
tens of thousands of people were killed by each of the bombs, not counting those seriously injured or that died a while afterwards from radiation or whatever. it's estimated that around 70,000 people died in hiroshima and 64,000 in nagasaki immediately. but counting people who died from serious injuries, cancer caused by radiation, etc., later, the number can go all the way to 200,000 for hiroshima. (credit: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Deaths_from_the_atomic_bomb_on_hiroshoma
http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/MED/med_chp10.shtml)
i usually try to avoid talking about depressing things here, but i thought i'd make an exception this time (anytime i feel the topic is important enough that the more ppl that know/think about it, the better!). recently, august 6 and 9, was the 64th anniversary of the days that the atomic bomb was dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki. i saw the news on BBC and in the newspaper. most of you already learned about this in school-- the usa did it in order to force japan to surrender during WWII. but of course, it is definitely a controversial topic-- whether or not ending the war justified using these bombs, killing all that people.
reading about the events and the information of the destruction and number of people that died is one thing....but to actually read personal eye witness accounts of the chaos, of people's pain and suffering that immediately followed the explosion of these bombs is....it's very very disturbing and sad and shocking....but it really makes you realize anew that war is hell. (of course, even without atomic bombs, it always has been, though...full of painful, horrible deaths.) and it makes me scared that at least 9 countries now have nuclear weapons. i hope that in my lifetime at least (and hopefully i'll live a loooooong time! :P), no nuclear bomb will be able to destroy/kill cities/people. this is the reason i always sign those anti-nuclear weapons petitions from Greenpeace or whatever. i will post the link here next time there's any petition like this, so everyone here can sign it too.
READ about people's eye witness accounts of what happened when the bomb dropped! (**WARNING** A LOT OF THEM ARE VERY UPSETTING TO READ. PEOPLE REALLY GOT BURNED AND INJURED VERY BADLY...but really, they are all people with loved ones, with their own hopes and dreams, that died that day. some of the accounts made me cry rather than sick (cuz of the terrible ways ppl died):
http://www.inicom.com/hibakusha/index.html
actually, this kinda relates to toma, in that No Longer Human was published in 1948 (and dazai also died that year), 3 yrs after the war ended, but occupation of japan by the allied powers continued until 1952. those were tough times, dark times...
well...here's some interesting info about japan post-war, and info about the bombings and nuclear weapons in general, too. please do take a look. onegaishimas! =T
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2124.html
[how life was in japan, post-war. wow. kyoto was only large city not devastated by the war!]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_army
[japan had to promise never to start a war again. literally FOREVER. can't wage war. why didn't they make germany promise that too, though?! but there are some loopholes...]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_nuclear_weapons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
-"An unknown number of survivors from the Hiroshima bombing had made their way to Nagasaki, where they were bombed again." [JESUS!! SO UNLUCKY!!]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_Yamaguchi
[Tsutomu Yamaguchi!! Double survivor of the bombings!!!!! AMAZING!]
http://www.examiner.com/x-12202-Offbeat-Places-Examiner~y2009m8d6-The-Hiroshima-Peace-Memorial-Museum-Japans-answer-to-war-and-the-dropping-of-the-atomic-bomb
[info about the peace park & museum in hiroshima and also a short video clip of the area, with the burnt items recovered from the destruction]
http://travel.nytimes.com/frommers/travel/guides/asia/japan/hiroshima/frm_hiroshima_2935027794.html
[detailed article about the peace memorial park. oh, they have a statue of Sadako
(have u read the book Sadako and the Thousand Cranes?) there! the girl that died from leukemia because of the radiation. i think the first time i ever heard about the atomic bomb was when i read a book about her life when i was in elementary school...=(]
"Needless to say, visiting Peace Memorial Park is a sobering and depressing experience, but it's perhaps a necessary one. Every concerned individual should be informed of the effects of an atomic bomb. We should be aware that what was dropped on Hiroshima is small compared to the bombs of today (in 1961, the Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb 3,300 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima)."
[good grief!! 0__0 well, the good news is that this might mean more people will die INSTANTLY when it goes off, instead of having to suffer a slow, painful death.]
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