On this day August 8th 1955 at 11.02 a.m.,a second atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese port city of Nagasaki.The bomb which used plutonium 239, was dropped by parachute at 1102 by an American B29 bomber. called the Fat Man.
Unlike Hiroshima, Nagasaki lied in a series of narrow valleys bordered by mountains in the east and the west. The bomb exploded above the ground and directly beneath it was a suburb of schools, factories and private houses.
Among the 270,000 people present when this criminal act occurred were 2,500 labour conscripts from Korea and 350 prisoners-of-war. Nagasaki was completely destroyed. About 73,884 people were killed and 74,909 injured, with the affected survivors suffering the same long-term catastrophic results of radiation and mental trauma as at Hiroshima.
Exposing the true extent of human barbarism for years to come, never again should this ever happen.Let us commit ourselves to making sure Nagasaki is the last place on earth to suffer nuclear devastation..
On August 10th a day after this attack Yosuke Yamahata a Japanese army photographer began photographing the devastation and hibakusha survivors. Over a period of about twelve hours he took around a hundred exposures; by late afternoon, he had taken his final photographs near a first aid station north of the city. In a single day, he had completed the only extensive photographic record of the immediate aftermath of the atomic bombing of either Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
Yamahata’s photographs were published in the Mainichi Shinbun issue of August 21 and in 1952, his photographs of Nagasaki appeared in the September 29 issue of Life. The same year, they appeared in the book Kiroku-shashin: Genbaku no Nagasaki.
Yamahata became a casualty himself in 1965 and on his 49th birthday and the twenieth anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima he died of terminal cancer, probably caused by the effects of radiation, received at Nagasaki.
Today his images, still resonate with the truth, and the shocking tragedy of this atrocity.
Hibakusha is a term widely used in Japan, that refers to the victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it translates as 'explosion effected Survivor of Light.'. These survivors speak of the deep, unabating grief they felt in the days, months and decades since the attack They have described the shame of being a survivor , many were unable to marry, find jobs, or live any sort of normal life.
They have said that many Hibakusha never speak of the day, instead choosing to suffer in silence. They told what it was like to be suddenly alone in middle age, to lose their parents, spouses, children, and livelihoods in a single instant. In memory of them, we should make sure that the misery and devastation caused by nuclear weapons is never forgotten.
Even if Japan was not fully innocent, the people of Japan did not deserve to pay the price for their nations wrongdoing, and there was absolutely no moral justification in obliterating these two cities and killing its inhabitants in what was clearly a crime against humanity and murder on an epic scale. Hiroshima and Nagasaki held no strategic importance. Japan were an enemy on the brink of failure an members of the country's top leadership were involved in peace negotiations. Many believe that these two atrocities were a result of geopolitical posturing at its most barbaric, announcing in a catastrophic display of military capability, of inhumane intention showing America's willingness to use doomsday weapons on civilian populations.The bombings serving as warnings and the first act of the Cold War against its imperialist rival Russia. A message to the Russians of the power of destruction and technological military capability that the US had managed to develop.
The bombs dropped were of a indiscriminate and cruel character beyond comparison with weapons and projectiles of the past. Lets not forget that in our our current dangerous times, many world leaders remain recklessly committed to their nuclear arsenals. There are an estimated 16,000 nuclear weapons in the world at the present time with over 90% held by USA and Russia, but also by the UK, France, India, Pakistan, Israel and lately North Korea. This is more than enough to wipe out most of the human race and most other life.
For Nagasaki Day let us echo the call of the Hibakusha, and press our leaders to take the actions necessary to ensure these immoral, illegal weapons are never used again.
Further reading:-
Nagasaki Journey; The Photographs of Yosuke Yamahata.
Robert Oppenheimer -
Now I become death , the destroyer of worlds
Further reading:-
Nagasaki Journey; The Photographs of Yosuke Yamahata.
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