Wednesday, August 31, 2016

The Month of Atomic Bombs

     It was in the month of August, 1945, that the two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on 6 and 9, respectively.  This is the last day of August, so I feel obliged to write a few things on the subject to pay my tribute to the dead.

     On these days this year, the commemoration ceremonies were performed as usual in these cities.  The mayors, some hibakusha(radioactivity-affected persons), some guests of honour including the Prime Minister, addressed the audience, and the list of the names who had passed away during the past year was dedicated to the Tomb of the dead.  In Hiroshima the number of those newly dead was 5,511, making the total 300, 3195.  In Nagasaki the number was 3, 487, bringing the total to 172, 230.  One may say, therefore, that the number of the nuclear victims is approaching half a million.  The surviving hibakusha, on the other hand, has naturally been on the decline, at present numbering about 174,000.  Their average age is 81.

     Among the addresses those by the two Mayors are far more important.  They are known as the Proclamation for Peace.  Naturally there are some overlapping points in their speeches.  Both referred to the Constitution of Japan, which is under attack by some conservatives in the country, as embodying the ideal of peace.  Both have highly evaluated the visit of President Obama to Hiroshima earlier this year, and have invited others to come and visit their cities.  Both have stressed the need for the legal framework for prohibiting the nuclear weapons.  And both have expressed their apprehension on the dwindling number of hibakusha who are still able to tell their experience to the coming generations.

     Besides, three points put forward by the Mayor of Hiroshima are worth noting.  First, he said that there were Koreans, Chinese, Southeast Asians and even American POWs among the victims.  Second, he referred to the discrimination the survivors had to go through from their radioactive injuries. Third, he demanded that the 'black-rain region' as recognized by the Government should be expanded so that more people might be certified as victims.  In Hiroshima, shortly after the explosion, heavy black rain fell over a wide area and thereby contaminated many persons.  So far the Government has recognized a fairly narrow region as such to help certify the hibakusha.  Recent researches have shown, however, that the actual region may well be three to four times as wide.      

     It was, however, the Mayor of Nagasaki who emphasized much more strongly what should be done by Japan and other countries to move forward to the abolition of nuclear weapons.  He not only stressed the need for an international legal framework for such an action.  (By the way, on 19 August a UN working group voted by a majority a recommendation to the UN General Assembly that a discussion on such a framework should commence in 2017.  All the African, Latin American-Caribbean and Southeast Asian countries voted for it. Japan, I am ashamed to say, abstained.  All the nuclear powers, including DPRK, did not participate.  The DPRK acted in the same way as the 'imperialists' that she criticized.  The NATO countries opposed.  The voting also shows the unequal character of the NPT, and the futility of the military alliances like NATO and Japan-US alliance.)

     The Mayor of Nagasaki also criticized the nuclear powers which are trying to replace the existing weapons with more capable ones.  He further said that the Japanese Government is contradicting itself by following the policy of nuclear deterrence, and stressed that the idea of the 'Nuclear-free Northeast Asia' be seriously considered.    

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