Sunday, August 9, 2015

Japan remembers those killed by Nagasaki atomic bomb

Japan is marking the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki that claimed tens of thousands of lives in one of the final chapters of World War II.
Memorial services are scheduled on Sunday in the now bustling port city, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US ambassador Caroline Kennedy expected to attend.

Bells will toll as ageing survivors, the relatives of victims and others remember the devastating blast at 11:02am local time (02:02 GMT) on August 9, 1945.

About 74,000 people died in the initial blast near a major arms factory from a plutonium bomb dubbed "Fat Man", or from after-effects in the months and years following the bombing.

The attack on Nagasaki came three days after American B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped a bomb, dubbed "Little Boy", on Hiroshima, the first atomic bombing in history.

Nearly everything around it was incinerated by a wall of heat up to 4,000 degrees Celsius - hot enough to melt steel.

About 140,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the Hiroshima attack, including those who survived the bombing itself but later died from radiation sickness.

Gums bled, teeth fell out, hair came off in clumps; there were cancers, premature births, malformed babies and sudden deaths.

The twin bombings dealt the final blows to imperial Japan, which surrendered on August 15, 1945, bringing an end to World War II.

While some historians say that they prevented many more casualties in a planned land invasion, critics counter that the attacks were not necessary to end the war, arguing that Japan was already heading for imminent defeat.

At memorial ceremonies in Hiroshima on Thursday, Abe said Japan would submit a fresh resolution to abolish nuclear weapons at the UN General Assembly later this year.

"As the only country ever attacked by an atomic bomb... we have a mission to create a world without nuclear arms," he told the crowd.

"We have been tasked with conveying the inhumanity of nuclear weapons, across generations and borders."

This year's memorials come days ahead of the scheduled restart of a nuclear reactor in southern Japan - the first one to go back on line after a two-year hiatus following the tsunami-sparked disaster at Fukushima in 2011.
 AFP
aljazeera.com
9/8/15
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1 comment :

  1. The memorial services in Hiroshima and Nagasaki should serve as an opportunity for Japan not only to commemorate the victims of atomic bombs but also to have a thorough reflection upon its history of militarism....

    Starting Thursday, Japan has held several high-profile events to mark the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only two nuclear attacks in human history.

    Hiroshima's memorial services on Thursday were attended by the city's mayor and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, both of whom had addressed a crowd of about 55,000 people, including survivors of the attack, their descendants, peace activists and representatives from about 100 countries and regions.

    Abe also attended, accompanied by U.S. ambassador Caroline Kennedy, the memorial services in Nagasaki Sunday.

    It is undeniable that the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 70 years ago are real tragedies for the whole mankind. It is worth sympathizing as hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians died in the blasts of the atomic bombs, or from after-effects in the months and years to follow.

    However, considering what has been said and done by the incumbent prime minister since he took office, a hidden context behind those commemorating events needs particular attention..............http://www.china.org.cn/world/2015-08/09/content_36261352.htm
    9/8/15

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