Sixty-two years later, the memory of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima still holds such a grip on Japan that its defense minister has had to resign simply for suggesting the attack was "unavoidable."
Now, in a sign of changing times, the task of spreading Hiroshima's message to the world has been entrusted to an American, a citizen of the country that dropped the bomb on Aug. 6, 1945.
Today's anniversary comes just a month after Fumio Kyuma was forced to quit as defense minister for seeming to implying that the bombing was inevitable, because otherwise Japan would have gone on fighting and would have lost territory to a Soviet invasion.
Not so, says Steven Leeper, the first American to head the Hiroshima Peace and Culture Foundation.
"Historically, that's not correct," he said in an interview, "And it's unbelievable that he said it."
Leeper shares the view of most Japanese: that Japan had already lost the war and that the bombing of Hiroshima, and of Nagasaki three days later, was wrong and unnecessary.
"Everybody knows on the left and the right that Japan was finished at the time the bomb was dropped," Leeper said.
Historically, the US justification was that the bombing ended the war and limited the number of US military and Japanese civilian lives that would have been lost in a land invasion.
The Japanese perspective argues that Japan was already working on negotiating a peace treaty, as well as a surrender, and that the US dropped the bomb to test its destructive power and to intimidate the Soviet Union.
Leeper says that rather than focus on fixing blame, Hiroshima will work to educate people in other countries about the effects of nuclear weapons.
The Illinois-born American, now 59, has lived in both countries and says he became interested in disarmament issues when his translation company worked with bomb survivors.
In 1999, he created the Global Peacemakers Association in Hiroshima, an organization that trains youth and elderly to travel abroad and speak about the bombings in Japanese and English.
Leeper says his appointment by Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba has been largely supported because he can bridge the language gap and foster a more "cosmopolitan" Hiroshima.
"There have been some people outside Hiroshima who have written letters complaining after my appointment got into the national press. But really very few," he said. "By far, it's mostly enthusiastic praise of the mayor for putting me here, and taking such a bold step."
His group has offered to send exhibits of survivor testimonies, films, and educational posters to libraries, universities and museums across the US.
Leeper said he will also use his translation know-how to build nuclear weapons education programs in English and encourage relationships with international peace organizations.
He is working against time, noting that as time passes the number of survivors is dwindling and their largest organization "disbanded for lack of people."
"The survivors who are really healthy or active are mostly the ones who were very young children, or came into town later, so we don't have nearly as many who were right there to feel the blast," he said. "It's a problem for us."
When school groups tour the peace park built on the wreckage of midtown Hiroshima, they are often led by bomb survivors. The city has collected photos, stories and video memories from over 118,000 survivors.
The atomic bombing, the world's first, killed more than 140,000 people in Hiroshima.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese