Tag: Imperial Japan

This is ironic coming from a country that since World War II ended has invaded Tibet, tried to destroy South Korea, fought border skirmishes with both India and Vietnam and is currently in the process of bullying their neighbors to take over the entire South China Sea:

China told Japan on Wednesday that Tokyo should not repeat its history of militarism as U.S. President Barack Obama plans to visit the Japanese city of Hiroshima later this month.

Obama would become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima since it was hit by an American nuclear bomb in 1945. Along with a second nuclear bombing on Nagasaki, these attacks forced Japan to accept unconditional surrender that ended World War II.

The visit by Obama to Hiroshima will be closely watched by Japan’s neighbors, including South Korea and China, at a time when Japan’s revisionists deny its wartime atrocities, including the sexual enslavement of women by the Japanese Imperial Army.

China’s foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters that, with Obama’s upcoming visit to Hiroshima, “The Japanese side would show to the world that it will never again travel the path of militarism.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

The photo, released on Nov. 24, 2015 by a soon-to-open local museum, shows a replicated coal mine on exhibit that was worked by South Koreans mobilized for labor by Japan during the colonial years. The museum, hosted by the southeastern port city of Busan, is South Korea’s first that chronicles the forced laborers. It will open on Dec. 10 to coincide with the World Human Rights Day. (Yonhap)

A pedestrian looks at photos taken during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula on Aug. 29, 2015, in Seoul. (Yonhap)

Below is an account from a former Japanese pilot during World War II who discusses his love for Korean “comfort woman” while stationed in New Guinea.  What I find interesting about the account is that this account sounds just like the love many US soldiers had with juicy girls in modern times:

Lt. Tsunoda (1918–2013) was a fighter pilot in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. On Aug. 14, 1945 he was ordered to sortie in a Kamikaze suicide squad. When he was about to take off the next day the suicide squad was told to wait on the ground. When they were informed Japan had surrendered, the warriors shed tears on the tarmac not knowing if they were for joy of survival or mortification.

He wrote his memoir, “The Wings in Pandemonium” in which the old soldier reflected on his blooming love for a Korean girl, a member of the “Women’s Volunteer Corps,” at Rabaul in Papua New Guinea. This love story blossomed in the pandemonium of the battle field.

“After having suffered from the pains of gunshot wounds at the base hospital, I was finally able to stand up when two of my fellow pilots rushed into the room; “You’ve got to come with us! Wakamaru (her Korean name was Kim) refuses to accept other soldiers. She believes you were killed in action and refuses to eat.” The guys carried me to the comfort station. “Hey, Tsunoda is alive!” the boys shouted in the corridor and several girls peeped out of their rooms and clapped their hands. The boys dumped me in Wakamaru’s room. Her face was soiled by tears and uncombed hair. She bumped into me, cried out, “You are alive!” Her cheek and breasts were soft and a tinge of sweet woman’s scent hit me. She was beautiful.  [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link.

Shown is the military headquarters of the Korean exiled government in the western Chinese city of Chongqing during the Japanese colonial rule of Korea in the early part of the 20th century. The Chinese government said on Dec. 19, 2014, it had decided to preserve the building as a historic site. (Yonhap)

The CCP Didn’t Fight Imperial Japan; the KMT Did http://t.co/0NR6wqhcZT

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) September 5, 2014

The atomic bombing of Nagasaki

The city of Nagasaki during World War II was one of the largest sea ports on the southern island of Kyushu. Along with the seaports the city was also home to many important industrial companies. During the course of the war for whatever reason the city had escaped the B-29 bombings that were ravaging other areas of Japan. However, on August 9, 1945 the bombing the city received would more than make up for the prior lack of bombing.

On August 9, 1945, the crew of the American B-29 Superfortress “Bockscar,” flown by Major Charles W. Sweeney and carrying the nuclear bomb nicknamed “Fat Man,” found their primary target, Kokura, and it was obscured by heavy clouds. After three runs over the city and running low on fuel Major Sweeney decided to head for the secondary target, Nagasaki.

The aftermath of the Nagasaki bombing.

At 11:02, a break in the clouds over Nagasaki allowed the bombardier, to visually sight the target. The weapon, containing a core of 8 kg of plutonium-239, was dropped over the city’s industrial sector. It exploded 1,540 feet above the ground between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works, in the south, and the Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works (Torpedo Works), in the north, the two main targets in the city.

Some 75,000 of Nagasaki’s 240,000 residents were killed, followed by the death of at least as many from resulting sickness and injury.

Nagasaki before and after the bombing

I haven’t had a chance to travel to Nagasaki, but I would really like to in the future. The city actually has a very colorful history despite the nuclear bombing. The city was the first port to be visited by and opened up to European traders in the late 1500’s.

Nagasaki today

A very interesting book about this period of time and the city of Nagasaki is the book Samurai William, by Giles Milton. Judging by the above picture the city appears to have remarkably recovered since the atomic bombing. The big question is if the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary? That is something we will look at tomorrow.

Next Posting: The Decision to Drop the Bomb

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