A siren wailed and a bronze bell rang out Tuesday as Nagasaki
marked the moment 60 years ago when an American plane dropped a
plutonium bomb, killing tens of thousands and sealing Japan's
defeat in World War II.
About 6,000 people, including hundreds of aging bomb survivors,
crowded into Nagasaki's Peace Memorial Park, just a few hundred
yards from the center of the blast, for a solemn remembrance and
moment of silence.
When the silence ended, Nagasaki Mayor Iccho Itoh had some angry
words for the leaders of the nuclear powers, and especially the
US.
"To the US citizens: We understand your anger and anxiety over
the memories of the horror of the 9/11 terrorist attacks," he said.
"Yet, is your security enhanced by your government's policies of
maintaining 10,000 nuclear weapons?"
Itoh also urged Japan to get out from under the US "nuclear
umbrella." About 50,000 US troops are deployed throughout Japan
under a post-WWII mutual security pact.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi placed a wreath before the
monument to the dead, and bowed deeply. "This is an occasion to
remember the victims and pray for world peace," he said.
Tuesday's remembrances began just after sunrise, hundreds of
Catholics joined in a special Mass at Urakami Cathedral, which at
the time of the bombing was the largest in Asia with 12,000
parishioners -- 8,500 of whom are believed to have been killed.
When the cloudy sky lit up in a sudden flash at 11:02 AM in
1945, two priests were hearing confessions inside the cathedral and
30 faithful were inside. Everyone in the church died and the
statues around them turned black because of the intense heat.
Nagasaki was not the primary target in the US military
plans.
Three days after the Enola Gay dropped the "Little Boy" bomb on
Hiroshima, killing at least 140,000 in the world's first atomic
bomb attack, another plane took off to deliver the second A-bomb to
the nearby city of Kokura.
Kokura was hidden under a thick cover of smoke. The plane
circled three times, then changed course for Nagasaki, where it
also encountered thick clouds.
With dwindling fuel, the pilot nearly turned around -- but then
the clouds broke. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, ending
World War II.
Nagasaki's devastation has been overshadowed by Hiroshima, where
some 55,000 people swarmed into that city's Peace Memorial Park to
mark the 60th anniversary of the attack last week.
The people here, however, have not forgotten.
"Together with some 260,000 A-bomb survivors ... I swear in the
presence of the souls of the victims of the atomic bombing to
continue to tirelessly demand that Nagasaki be the last A-bomb
site," said Fumie Sakamoto, who represented the survivors at
Tuesday's memorial. Sakamoto was a junior high school student when
Nagasaki was bombed.
The remains of thousands of the dead have never been found.
Japanese estimates of the death toll itself range from 60,000 to
80,000. Nagasaki officials on Tuesday used 74,000 as the death
figure.
Throughout the worst-hit parts of town, thousands of colorful
paper cranes, which are believed to ease the pain of the dead, were
draped over stone monuments dedicated to the victims.
A steady stream of tourists also flowed into Nagasaki's A-bomb
museum, where horrific reminders of the attack cover the walls; a
broken clock with its twisted hands stopped at the instant of the
blast, photos of the dead or the burned.
In sharp contrast with the museum at the controversial Yasukuni
war shrine in Tokyo, which has been widely criticized as one-sided
in favor of Japan's wartime leadership, the Nagasaki museum is
careful to place the attack firmly in its historical context.
Visitors see a timeline of Japan's own military adventures, and
exhibits note Tokyo's alliance with Nazi Germany. The final hall is
taken up by appeals for the abolition of all nuclear weapons.
Other than the many small monuments around town, few signs of
the devastation remain.
A scenic port city with a population of about 420,000, Nagasaki
is today a popular tourist destination known for its Chinatown, one
of the largest in Japan, and its vaguely European flair.
(Chinadaily.com.cn via agencies, August 9, 2005)