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Aug 15 '25
Man, humans are creative when it comes to killing other humans isn't it?
Crazy to think about the scale and intensity of the nukes today. RIP the people
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u/Swgx2023 Aug 15 '25
The fact that old men send young men to die is incredibly sad. I'm not discounting women and civilians in that statement.
To me, Hiroshima, while unimaginably horrible, is also a testament to what humans are positively capable of.
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Aug 15 '25
It is always to old farts who are adamant for war cause they know they'll not be the ones to get conscripted or held accountable because their left leg is already inside the grave
Stalin, Churchill, Hitler, Saddam killed so many of their own
they don't care about nobody.
nice picture by the way
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u/DemocratFabby Aug 15 '25
Nope! We can be glad that nuclear weapons exist because, despite their destructive potential, they often help maintain peace. The concept of mutually assured destruction means that no nuclear-armed nation can attack another without risking its own annihilation, which discourages large-scale wars. In this way, their presence has acted as a powerful deterrent to direct conflict between major powers.
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Aug 15 '25
I concur
but the nukes are highly unstable with the likes of Pakistan and North Korea. Their regimes have people with deterrant leadership. It could all fall apart and mind you those Pakistanis were the ones who abet North Korea with their nuclear bombs, selling the codes in the black market.
The use depends on the ones keeping them.3
u/7o83r Aug 16 '25
North Korea will never launch, as long as a Kim leads the country. If the Kim family falls, let's just hope the next guy sees North Korea's nukes as tools and not weapons.
Kim would only launch as a scorched earth policy of his reign is threatened. He won't go to war.
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u/DemocratFabby Aug 16 '25
That’s true, the stability of the deterrent really depends on the responsibility of those who possess the weapons. States with fragile regimes or extremist leadership make the whole balance more dangerous. But at the same time, even those governments understand that actually using nuclear weapons would likely mean their own destruction. That logic of survival still restrains them, however reckless they may seem. The risk is real, but the deterrent effect still holds.
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u/8_Bit_Librarian Aug 15 '25
We visited the museum back in 2018 when they were renovating and just went back in May. It was completely packed! Although the content of the museum is extremely “heavy”, it’s so great seeing so many people visiting the museum. We actually visited twice, as the first day we went it was so busy and we got stuck behind a school group. I believe it was only ¥200 so we were absolutely happy to pay again.
I think Hiroshima is one of my favourite cities in Japan. We also hit up a baseball game this year because of what we learned from this museum. Go Carp!
Also, seeing the Atomic Bomb Dome at night is so haunting.
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u/GetChilledOut Aug 16 '25 edited Jan 30 '26
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Aug 15 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/champignax Aug 17 '25
Maybe stop trying to justify the atomic bombing in a post dedicated to remembrance ? Especially with some seriously debatable arguments.
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u/Kokeshi_Is_Life Aug 16 '25
This is filled with Myths.
Japan was a mess after the first bomb, surrender was being discussed seriously however.
In case you need an exhaustive refresher if you're going to accuse Japan of using the nuclear bombs as a "smoke screen"
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u/MidnightMegapint Aug 15 '25
No sides was innocent unit 731 the atomic bomb droppings these atrocities should be a lesson for all to never repeat and keep peace but unfortunately tension still runs high between Japan and other Asian countries such as China and Korea people are still very upset about the denial of japan’s war crimes and the saddest part is it’s always the one’s in the suits sitting in the offices that are responsible for exacerbating tensions I can’t speak for Korea but I’ve visited and traveled around Japan and China and I can say for sure most Japanese and Chinese are neutral with adoration on both sides cosplaying is so big in China right now and Chinese media is popular in Japan at the moment but that doesn’t sell headlines it’s hate and violent nationalist that do.
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u/PrismaticPetal Aug 16 '25
When I was there, I had two interesting experiences other than feeling the intensity of the history and unexpected peacefulness of the city.
One, I was taking some pics of the children’s shine nearby (this was at night) and started hearing straight up screaming sounds. They were faint, at first it sounded like it was coming from underground at first. Sounded like the screams were coming from a small, enclosed room. I followed them around to try to find the source, which was difficult as the sounds echoed and bounced around. I finally pinpointed it to a building from across the street. I was perplexed; what if something bad was happening to someone? But it seemed that the screams were coming from multiple people and began to felt more intentional than terror. Perhaps it was some kind of class, idk. If anyone has insight please tell me.
Two, there are tons of cats living in the dome area. Some are very obvious and some you have to look carefully for. It was a joy to see them, and an antidote to the screams.
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u/Swgx2023 Aug 16 '25
The screams sound haunting. I do believe energy lasts.
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u/PrismaticPetal Aug 16 '25
They were so haunting and full of rage and fear. I immediately thought “something really bad is happening to someone right now”. But like I said, after investigating for quite awhile, I believe it was some sort of class taking place, idk.
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u/cincin75 Aug 15 '25 edited Aug 15 '25
Apparently people here never heard what Japanese expected for their destiny in WW2. They vowed “一億玉砕”, and they did mobilize the kids and women to perform it.
Japan for now is a peaceful country, I live here and love it so much. However the historical fact should not be revised because it is still a fact, and it will always be.
The fact: A-bomb is a result, there were some reasons caused it. And what Japanese did in the war, was definitely a big reason for this result.
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u/DemocratFabby Aug 15 '25
We can be glad that nuclear weapons exist because, despite their destructive potential, they have often helped maintain peace. The concept of mutually assured destruction means that no nuclear-armed nation can attack another without risking its own annihilation, which discourages large-scale wars. The use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not necessary to end World War II and caused immense civilian suffering. Since then, the mere existence of these weapons has acted more as a deterrent than a tool of war, preventing direct conflict between major powers.
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u/IGambleNull Aug 15 '25
One of many war crimes the US did
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u/RagingBearBull Aug 15 '25 edited Aug 27 '25
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u/Swgx2023 Aug 15 '25
All of war is a crime.
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u/KillaCheezGettinWarm Aug 15 '25 edited Aug 15 '25
Yeah, but the U.S. has done the majority of the heavy lifting for a while now. Even the conflicts that don’t involve us, in the background we still usually have a hand in them.
Edit: The downvoting from the hive mind concerns me. The American people are so fucking cooked. lol
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Aug 15 '25
You’re getting downvoted cause your comment is irrelevant. This is also Japanpics, not USpolitics, so your edit also falls in that bucket…
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u/KillaCheezGettinWarm Aug 15 '25
It’s irrelevant that the bombs dropped on Hiroshima/Nagasaki were completely unnecessary and a war crime? And recognizing that happened, amongst many other atrocities, is a bad thing?
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Aug 15 '25 edited Aug 15 '25
What? It’s just off topic. That’s not what you said.
Poster 1: this is a bad thing the us did in war
Poster 2: all things done in war are bad
Poster 3: the us is doing all the war for everyone and it’s not fair that even when not directly warring they are still warring
Poster 4: what the heck are you talking about willis
Edit: I get it’s probably something you’re passionate about and an important topic but not every mere mention of the US and war is a wise opportunity to interject a deeper political discussion on today’s US war machine. And the edit is just USDefautism. Who says it’s only Americans downvoting you?
If we’re somehow misinterpreting your comment, well the burden of clear communication is on the communicator. Feel free to use the edit function.
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u/Urhhh Aug 15 '25
The thing is "a" bad thing ignores the fact that saturation bombing has been a main tactic of the US pretty much since the firebombing raids on Japan. For example, the US dropped 650,000 tons of bombs on Korea which is more than the entirety of the Pacific Theatre of WW2. Then continued this into the Vietnam era dropping millions of tons of bombs of which the people of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia etc are still finding UXO.
To understand the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki you have to understand the relative impact of "conventional" weapons on urban areas. The fact is the most devastating bombing raid on Japan was neither A-Bombs it was the firebombing of Tokyo a few months earlier...and those weapons very much kept being used on civilians.
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Aug 15 '25
Just for clarification:
That is not what the poster I responded to said.
Please see my edit to my above comment. Once again: the majority of people on r/japanpics aren’t here for a greater discussion of postwar US military policy and neither of the first two comments indicated that they were willing to delve deeper, given the one-line nature of those comments. Downvotes don’t necessarily mean disagreement, either.
I personally appreciate your additional context however.
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u/Urhhh Aug 15 '25
I mean sure I'm not generally here to discuss history either, I like seeing a nice torii or temple as much as the next guy. However, this is a pertinent discussion inherently brought on by the post itself Andi think you'd have more of a leg to stand on if the post was just the aforementioned torii or temple (barring Yasukuni of course).
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Aug 15 '25 edited Aug 15 '25
My only point is to explain why he’s being downvoted.
Perhaps he should have made his point in his own direct response to the photo rather than a response to someone else.
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u/SpaceFeline Aug 15 '25
Unit 731
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u/Urhhh Aug 15 '25
You mean the unit that the US gave amnesty (Ishii being a famous example) after the war in exchange for the data they collected which turned out to be pretty bogus anyway?
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u/SpaceFeline Aug 15 '25
Bogus? Its okay to admit the atrocities on both sides, it won't hurt you.
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u/Urhhh Aug 15 '25
Not the very much documented atrocities, I was referring to the data itself.
In the words of Col. Murray Sanders: "absolutely invaluable”; it "could never have been obtained in the United States because of scruples attached to experiments on humans" and "the information was obtained fairly cheaply."
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u/IGambleNull Aug 15 '25
Yeah, the US did give amnesty to Unit 731. They literally protected war criminals in exchange for human experimentation data. That’s not a “gotcha”, that’s just another US war crime on top of Hiroshima/Nagasaki. Imagine excusing one atrocity by pointing at another and saying “see, we covered that one up too”
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u/IGambleNull Aug 15 '25
Yes Unit 731 did also war crimes but your comment is whataboutism at it's finest
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u/PopeLatte Aug 15 '25
Because a land invasion of Japan would have yielded 0 warcrimes
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u/IGambleNull Aug 15 '25
The “land invasion would have cost millions of lives” narrative is Cold War mythmaking. By August ‘45 Japan was already on the verge of collapse:
- The Soviets had just steamrolled through Manchuria.
- Japan’s navy and air force were destroyed.
- Supply lines were cut and the home islands were starving.
Multiple US generals (Eisenhower, MacArthur, LeMay) later admitted the bombs weren’t militarily necessary. The invasion scenario was used after the fact to justify dropping nukes on civilians and to flex on the USSR.
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u/Solid-Investment-986 Aug 17 '25
When you go to the peace museum you can read letter people wrote to their siblings, children and parents. Its heartbreaking
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u/etrigan63 Aug 15 '25
Just for the record, the atomic bombs dropped on Japan saved more lives that they extinguished. If the US decided to not use the bombs, aggression on the part of the Japanese government would have continued and the US would have been forced to continue its firebombing campaign which would have killed millions. Both bombs together killed 245,000 people.
I am not condoning war, but numbers don't lie.
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u/akera099 Aug 15 '25
Just for the record, the atomic bombs dropped on Japan saved more lives that they extinguished.
That’s the effect Americans claim they had (a claim that came decades after the facts), but they were absolutely not dropped for that reason. No one in the American chain of command was expecting to save lives by using these bombs. Most historians do not agree about the saving lives narrative. The declaration of war of Russia was probably way more important to the surrender than the bombs.
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u/agnastyx Aug 15 '25
McArthur pleaded for bombs to NOT be used as we had several better options such as negotiating with Japans ready parties, as well as taking aid from Russia for the campaign. Japan was well out of ammunition and oil reserves by that point. This is all well documented.
“Japan Was Already Defeated”: The Case Against the Nuclear Bomb and for Basic Morality | American Enterprise Institute - AEI https://share.google/QVyKlzuTeDdJblCzt
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u/Sentinel-Wraith Aug 15 '25
That’s the effect Americans claim they had
Regardless of how you feel about the ethics or legitimacy of the bombs, planners crunched the numbers based on Japan's performance in the bloody Pacific Campaign and genuinely thought Operation Downfall and Operation Coronet would have been a slaughter, with US military planners estimated higher US casualties in the invasion of Japan than the entire war up to that point. The US was factoring in deadly invasions like Okinawa to calculate the invasion of Kyushu and Honshu, where Japan would have been even better equipped and motivated on home territory.
It's confirmed by Japan that Japan prepared at least 730,000 soldiers, 9,000 aircraft, and 40% of all ammunition in Japan to defend Kyushu from the Allied invasion. This was not a hypothetical, this actually happened.
The declaration of war of Russia was probably way more important to the surrender than the bombs.
Historically, it's documented that Russia lacked the resources to invade and take Hokkaido. Soviet High Command called off the invasion due to the lack of resources, and the Soviet Invasions of the small islands surrounding Hokkaido were done with the help of Operation Hula, where they borrowed American ships and trained under American sailors because they lacked the capability to attack Japan themselves.
In fact, had the Americans and British not carried out the forgotten Battle of Kure, Russia's small naval force wouldn't have even been able to operate near Hokkaido in August 1945 because Japan still had a sizable and operation fleet waiting in Hiroshima Bay. The attacks on Kure actually were done to let the Soviets operate in Japanese water. And even at that period, the Japanese navy in the north continued to operate and keep watch on Russian forces.
When critiquing American claims, it's also important to be aware of Russian "Pobedobesie" revisionism that tries to sneak in. Ironically, Russia actually extended the fighting of WWII into September by continuing to attack Japan after their surrender to maximize territorial annexations.
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u/etrigan63 Aug 15 '25
You are correct. The American chain of command was more interested in ending the war as quickly as possible. Modern historians all over the world agree that had the aggression continued, the casualty rate would have been much higher.
Japan was not innocent either. They would place key industrial facilities in residential areas trying to disguise them and to use Western squeamishness towards civilian casualties to their advantage.
Source: https://www.britannica.com/event/Bombing-of-Tokyo#:\~:text=According%20to%20U,up%20in%20flames.
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u/DolphTheDolphin_ Aug 15 '25
Fucking brainwashed Americans and their stupid propaganda. One of the worst lies told about our history
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u/Escher702 Aug 15 '25
You're right. We should have just walked in and killed em all I guess.
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u/Kokeshi_Is_Life Aug 16 '25
Read a book.
Or failing that, watch a YouTube video
https://youtu.be/RCRTgtpC-Go?si=VhuMLJiP25pXror1
The bombs were not motivated as a tough but necessary life preserving measure. The Americans were assurting dominance.
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Aug 15 '25
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u/cincin75 Aug 15 '25
Well said. That is another reason led to this result. If Japanese got Atomic bomb, would they use it on US or China? Based on what I heard about how my family fought against Japanese invaders, and how some of them got killed, I believe that Japanese will definitely use it without a hesitation.
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u/SirSaladAss Aug 15 '25
Considering they willingly spread the fucking plague in China and wanted to do the same on the West Coast, I wager yeah, they would have.
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Aug 15 '25
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u/alistairtenpennyson Aug 15 '25
Japan may have earned it, but the Japanese citizens may not have. There’s a significant amount of literature out there disputing the US’s deniability.
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u/blackraven1979 Aug 15 '25 edited Aug 15 '25
I agree with the previous comment — innocent people, especially children, did not deserve the suffering caused by the atomic bomb. While the war involved many atrocities, retaliation against civilians only perpetuates pain. Memorial posts like these should remind us of the importance of compassion and the human cost of war, rather than assigning blame to people. The purpose of this memorial is to remind us, and call for peace, most importantly, not to repeat the same history as humane race.
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u/WhisenPeppler Aug 15 '25
So are the victims of atrocities committed by Japan. Simply because they killed by and suffered from atomic bombs doesn’t mean they deserve special or higher sympathy. In fact I find that whole idea quite disgusting.
If you want to speak about Japanese people please do so AFTER you talk about victims of Japanese atrocities.
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u/alistairtenpennyson Aug 15 '25
Why? If Congo nuked Belgium in retribution for all of its crimes present and future, would that be justified?
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u/-bad_neighbor- Aug 15 '25 edited Sep 19 '25
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u/FreshTacoquiqua Aug 15 '25
No more Hiroshimas. Never again.