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.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not