[.ca] Hiroshima (ISBN 0394548442)

From Amazon.com:
When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, few could have anticipated its potential for devastation. Pulitzer prize-winning author John Hersey recorded the stories of Hiroshima residents shortly after the explosion and, in 1946, Hiroshima was published, giving the world first-hand accounts from people who had survived it. The words of Miss Sasaki, Dr. Fujii, Mrs. Nakamara, Father Kleinsorg, Dr. Sasaki, and the Reverend Tanimoto gave a face to the statistics that saturated the media and solicited an overwhelming public response. Whether you believe the bomb made the difference in the war or that it should never have been dropped, "Hiroshima" is a must read for all of us who live in the shadow of armed conflict.

Value your time and sanity (don't read the book):
This book - Hiroshima - is yet another book about the disastrous events which occurred in August of 1945 in Japan when the United States' atomic bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Only one aspect makes this book unique: the point of view. Focusing on a third person point of view, the author tells the many survivors' stories from a bystander-like perspective. Other than that, it's the same as everything else, but that I truly enjoyed. Overall, the book is alright; hell, who am I kidding? The book is horrible. It starts out fairly dull, but then becomes moderately exciting as you read into it. Towards the last quarter of the book, it sucks to put it kindly. It's like somebody is slowly driving a railroad spike through my cranium from 11:15 A.M. - 12:40 A.M. every other day, as I watch the seconds hand on the clock slowly creep past the six, hoping that it will reach the seven, then the eight, and maybe if I am lucky, the nine. When in fact, the clock finally reaches 12:40 and I hear the bell ring for my next class, it's like the angels of heaven are peeing liquid gold into my ears. So, do yourself a favor (a big favor), and don't buy this book.

The problem with this book:
...is that teachers usually give it as an assigned read to their students without balancing it with other realities of WWII. Hiroshima is an accurate account of the after effects of atomic weaponry - however, it must not be forgotten that Japan was the agressor in the Pacific war. When teachers assign this book to their students, they should also give them an assigned reading that puts into perspective this event in the context of that era. I suggest that students be able to read something on the Nanjing Massacre, The Thai-Burma Death Railway, the Bataan Death March, the plight of "comfort women", the colonization of Korea by Japan, the forced starvation of Vietnam, or any other event connected to Japanese aggression. Too often, the facts get lost in the effort to portray Japan as "victim" of the war. One really interesting topic to research might be Japan's race to build an atomic bomb, as illustrated by the book "Japan's Secret War: Japan's Race Against Time to Build Its Own Atomic Bomb". Japan was a highly feared and brutal empire - after the bombing they all suddenly became experts on peace. Does this make any sense at all? I lived in Japan for nearly a decade and was astounded at how little the average Japanese knew about Japan's wartime atrocities. This is due, no doubt, in part to the fact that the war is little mentioned in Japanese school textbooks. Moreover, the Hiroshima "Peace" Museum has absolutely no information on Japan's aggressive actions during the war. While I feel for the victims of the bomb, I also feel for the victims of the Japanese Army. It saddens me that the average Japanese has forgotten the victims of Japan's war campaign and instead chooses to wallow in self-pity over losing the war.

DRAMA AND EXCITEMENT:
A stunning and compelling (MUSTREAD) story of 6 different people (Toshinki Sasaki, Masakzu Fujii, Hatsuyo Nakamura, Wilhelm Kleinsorge, Terufumi Sasaki, and Kiyoshi Tanimoto) who's lives are heavily affected by the atomic bomb USA dropped on the city of Hiroshima on August 6 1945. World War II was a war not to be forgotten and niether will this book when you read it. A little hard to follow however, when you get it, a wonderfully written story. John Hershy gives very factual details of the war, and handles the characters point of view well. He is a genious.

Collateral Damage:
I picked this tattered, yellowing paperback up at a yard sale, years and years ago for $0.25. It disappeared and re-surfaced over the years, still unread, until I grabbed it as a quick read on a business flight a couple years ago. If there is one book that describes - powerfully, the horror, this is it. Simply put, it's a must read. Our nation is once again, engaged in a war. We are exposed to dehumanizing military-speak designed to make clinical the atrocities we perpetrate on our nation. Everytime I hear a phrase like, "collateral damage" I think of Hershy's Hiroshima. Effecting and surreal, reading Hiroshima is equivalent to Shindler's List for its imact. Unforgetable.

"What a Fortunate That We Are Japanese!":
First of all, I would like to dedicate this little writing to all hibakusha, victims of the atomic bombings on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The most important thing I would like to say here is not making a protest like an anti-war campaigner but urging people to understand how the people of Hiroshima died manly in extraordinary serenity. How was it possible when they were dying after experiencing such a hell on earth that is beyond description? A survivor, Mr. Tanimoto wrote to his American friend just before the anniversary: ýgI never heard any one cried in disorder, even though they suffered in great agony. They died in silence, with no grudge, setting their teeth to bear it. All for the country!ýh One of those who died after Mr. Tanimoto gave water in the first night told him: ýgLook, I lost my home, my family, and at last my-self bitterly injured. But, now I have gotted (sic) my mind to dedicate what I have and to complete the war for our country's sake.ýh ýgThus,ýh Mr. Tanimoto continues, ýgthey pledged to me, even women and children did the same.ýh Mr. Tanimoto tells in his letter of a school girl and her friends who were buried under heavy fence of a temple after the explosion of the bomb. ýgThey could not move a bit under such a heavy fence and then smoke entered into even a crack and choked their breath. One of the girls begun to sing `Kimi ga yo', national anthem, and others followed in chorus and died. Meanwhile one of them found a crack and struggled hard to get out.... They were just 13 years old.ýh Mr. Tanimoto also mentioned Dr. Hiraiwa, professor of Hiroshima University of Literature and Science, who was buried by the bomb under the two storied house with his son, a student of Tokyo University. ýgBoth of them could not move an inch under tremendously heavy pressure. And the house already caught fire. His son said, `Father, we can do nothing except make our mind up to consecrate our lives for the country. Let us give Banzai to our Emperor.' Then the father followed after his son, `Tenno-heika (His Imperial Majesty the Tenno), Banzai, Banzai, Banzai!' In the result, Dr. Hiraiwa said, `Strange to say, I felt calm and bright and peaceful spirit in my heart, when I chanted Banzai to Tenno.' Afterward his son got out and digged (sic) down and pulled out his father and thus they were saved. In thinking of their experience of that time Dr. Hiraiwa repeated; ýgWhat a fortunate that we are Japanese! It was my first time I ever tasted such a beautiful spirit when I decided to die for our Emperor.ýh ýgYes,ýh Mr. Tanimoto says, ýgpeople of Hiroshima died manly in the atomic bombing, believing that it was for Emperor's sake.ýh As Hersey says, many hibakusha have repelled by the growing political coloration of these anti-nuclear movements such as the Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs and have stayed away from the mass meeting s in Peace Park on the subsequent anniversaries. Why? I think it is clear when you see that those anti-nuclea'' weapon/ anti-war campaigners are often also of left-wing thoughts such as, particularly, as many comintern sympathisers that still survived in Japan put as their slogan, ýgAbolish the Tenno system!ýh, or even ýgKill the Tenno for the war responsibility!ýh If you are a Japanese, you may instinctively know that this ýgreligiousýh feelings of the Japanese towards Tenno is much more native than foreign communists have thought and has its roots in the depth of the Japanese spiritual culture itself that has been formulated for thousands of years in Japan's history. In Japanese mythology, the Japanese islands and other gods were ýgbornýh from a couple of gods, and those first gods were the ancestor of whole Japanese. So, in other words, the Tenno household is the head family of every household of the Japanese. To prevent misunderstanding, I must say that this is not "elitism" or emphasis of the uniqueness of the Japanese like the left wingers criticise. On the contrary, it is rather "universality" of the whole world that the father of all Tenno, or, more adequately, of all Japanese, said: "Hakko-Ichiu"___ "Let us make the whole world one family." That is, I think, one reason why the memorial of the Peace Park in Hiroshima engraved: ýgPlease rest in peace, for we will never make the same mistakeýh, not aggressive and vengeful ýgRemember Hiroshima!!ýh To justify these horrible ýgcrimes against the humanityýh, two experimental and exhibitionistic atomic bombings and 60 other indiscriminate incendiary bombings on civilian population, the U.S.A. needed to brand Japan as the evil criminal country as the Nazi Germany might be. They fabricated numerous horrible crimes that never verified in the Tokyo Trial as the Dutch judge B.V.A. Roling criticized in the book ýgTokyo Trial and Beyondýh so that the Allied Powers, especially the U.S.A. and the Soviet Russia and China, can avert their own war crimes get attention. The 7 year occupation of Japan by the Allied (the U.S.A., mainly) with a brain-washing scheme called ýgWar Guilt Information Programmeýh effectively ýgdisarmedýh the Japanese fighting spirit and by that Japan was so effectively and openly labeled as ýgFascist/Militarist/Imperialistýh country that every Japanese who try to refute those accusations are branded by the whole world as a ýgultra-right-wing revisionistýh. But, Herseyýfs book made me realise that, fortunately, the Japanese spirits were never destroyed after all these persecution for half a century. It might have been expelled to a small corner of the bottom of hearts of the Japanese, but surely it has survived. I felt it in my heart. And I believe many Japanese would feel the same when they read this great book of human spirits that never be destroyed even by the most powerful weapons on Earth.