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Kimimasa Mayama / EPA
A survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bomb offers a prayer for victims of the world's first atomic bombing at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan, on August 6, 2012.
Arata Yamamoto, NBC News reports from Tokyo — As dignitaries from 71 countries joined a crowd of 50,000 on Monday to mark the 67th anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bomb attack, Japanese officials vowed to revamp energy policies in the wake of the devastating Fukushima nuclear accident.
On Aug. 6, 1945, about 140,000 people were killed by an American atomic bomb that hastened the end of World War II. Another blast in Nagasaki three days later killed 70,000 more. Read the full story.
Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP - Getty Images
Paper lantern floats are released into the water during a ceremony for the victims of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima at Ibirapuera park in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 5, 2012. The ceremony was synchronized at the same time as 8:15 am Japanese time - the hour that the bomb exploded over Hiroshima 67 years ago. According to the Brazil Hibakusha Association for Peace, 115 victims are said to live in Brazil.
A peaceful gathering in Hiroshima, Japan, as the city commemorates the 67th anniversary of the atomic bomb that was dropped there during World War II. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
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During WW2 and inspired by their ambitious and wicked emperor, Japanese turned themselves into animals to conquer its neighbors.
Their shameful terms are 'The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere' and 'Comfort Women'. Imagine capture your women and force them to be sex slaves for their army. What kind of civilization the Japanese folks came to? It is worse than the Germen at WW2. At least they did not rape openly.
They had a contest of two Japanese generals on how many Chinese heads were cut with their swords. After cutting down over a hundred, one competitor said it was not fair as his blade was dull. They started all over again. Did they have any conscience and how could they value the life of a Chinese less than an ant?
These soldiers are war criminals killed innocent folks, tossed babies to the sky, looted, and raped girls openly. They killed anyone taking pictures. Many of these criminals are being paid respect by high officials in the 'shrines'. It is as disguising as paying homage to Hitler.
These war criminals should be tracked down like animals and prosecuted like the German war criminals. Instead, they bragged on how they raped young girls as described by these soldiers without remorse in the documentary Nanjing, which you can rent from Netflix. Another teenager 'wanted' to be raped to save her grandpa. The lowest of the lowest human beings and the lowest of all cultures past and present!
One A-bomb should have been dropped on the Imperial Palace in Kyoto and the other one on the 'shrine' instead of killing innocent citizens. Even this punishment is too small for the crime. I'm sorry for the recent Tsunami especially on the suffering of the current generation who has nothing to do with the war. The Tsunami must be formed by the tears of the victims crying for justice. It could be a late punishment from God on these war crimes especially when they did not feel sorry, did not compensate their victims, and ignored/changed this shameful history in their text books. In today’s internet era, how can you cover the truths unless you’re really stupid?
The ignorant Japanese mayor said Nanjing Massacre never happened. Japanese, young and old, please use Wikipedia and search for 'Nanjing Massacre' or read Iris Chang's book which the documentary is based on.
We should not spread hatred especially from one generation to another. However, if we do not learn from history, most likely we will repeat history. I wrote this blog for no fame and fortune but trying to give a voice to millions of victims who never have a voice.
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Bombing Kyoto's Imperial Palace would have been rather pointless if you're suggesting the Allies should have gone after the Emperor, as he didn't live there. One of the reasons Kyoto wasn't bombed at all was because the Allies wanted there to be a place for a Japanese government to rebuild if it came to bombing Tokyo - leaving that kind of infrastructure intact was a lesson learned after WWI. A lot of consideration went in to where the A-bombs were dropped, and they gave the Emperor the popular support to override the generals who were insistent that Japan fight to the very end.
Japanese students DO learn about the less pleasant things done by their country during the time of Japanese Imperial expansion. It drives the right wingers in Japan nuts and they try to silence it, but some of it does get through.
We have learned from the past, and so has Japan. There's a cultural divide in how we interpret those lessons, but the lessons have been learned. Bringing up the actions that led to Japan "deserving" the atomic bombings at a time when we should all be remembering the dead, from all nations, and swearing to never allow another nuclear bomb to go off is rather disingenuous.