May 27, 2016

Earlier today, Barack Obama became the first sitting United States president to visit Hiroshima, Japan, site of the world’s first atomic bombing in 1945. Accompanied by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the president visited the haunting Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum before laying a wreath at the Memorial Cenotaph at the center of the Peace Memorial Park. The park—situated near the bombing’s hypocenter (area immediately below the atomic explosion)—was once the site of the city’s bustling commercial district. The saddle-shaped cenotaph bears the names of people killed in the attack.

U.S. President Barack Obama, right, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shake hands after laying wreaths at the cenotaph in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan on May 27, 2016. President Obama was the first sitting president to visit the site of the world’s first atomic bomb attack. Credit: © Kimimasa Mayama, Pool Photo/AP Photo

President Obama then addressed a large, somber, and silent crowd: “Seventy-one years ago, on a bright cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed,” he began. “A flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a city, and demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself.” He later added: “We come to mourn the dead, including over 100,000 Japanese men, women and children, thousands of Koreans, and a dozen Americans held prisoner. Their souls speak to us.” The president did not apologize for the bombing, which was done by the United States near the end of World War II. He painted the Japanese as neither victims nor aggressors, but merely called for an end to senseless wars. He also reiterated the need to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

Following his speech, President Obama met with survivors of the bombing. He embraced a visibly moved Shigeaki Mori, a 79-year-old survivor who helped create a memorial to the 12 American prisoners of war killed in the bombing.

On Aug. 6, 1945, a U.S. Army plane, the Enola Gay, dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The explosion and aftermath killed an estimated 140,000 people. Three days later, on August 9, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. These were the first and last times that nuclear weapons were used in warfare. The United States dropped the bombs to convince Japan to surrender—and it worked. World War II unofficially ended a few days later with Japan’s agreement to stop fighting on August 14. The official surrender came on September 2.

August 14, 2015

Today, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave a speech in which he stopped short of actually issuing his own apology for Japan’s aggression in World War II (1939-1945). Abe said he was filled with “deepest remorse” and stated he felt “profound grief” for all those who died in the war. But, he never actually said, “I am sorry.” Why does this matter to people in the countries allied against Japan in the war?

Representatives of Japan signed the official statement of surrender, shown here, aboard the United States battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. U.S. President Harry S. Truman declared September 2 as V-J Day, or Victory over Japan Day. (National Archives)

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in the Pacific. (Much of the world marks today as Victory over Japan, or V-J Day. In the United States, September 2 is commemorated. On that date in 1945, representatives of Japan signed the terms of surrender aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.) On anniversaries of the agreement to surrender, Japanese prime ministers sometimes issue an apology for the nation’s role in World War II. Experts closely listened to the speech given today by current Prime Minister Abe. He has drawn close scrutiny over this issue because of some of his previous statements and opinions, but also because of his family.

Abe is the grandson of Nobusuke Kishi, a Japanese leader who served as prime minister of Japan from 1957-1960. Kishi’s attitude about World War II and Japan’s role in it was mixed. He was jailed as a war criminal for his role in China in World War II, but released by the Allies. He engaged in revisionist history, as is common among nationalist Japanese politicians. (Such revisionist history in Japan tends to diminish the nation’s role as the aggressor in World War II.) The seeds of today’s anger may be seen in Kishi’s obituary from the August 7, 1985, New York Times. The Times stated that Kishi was  “…an ardent nationalist who opposed the war-renouncing Constitution imposed on Japan by the United States in 1947.” Later in the obituary, the paper stated: “That Mr. Kishi had risen to his country’s highest office in 1957, only 12 years after the end of World War II, offered testament to the relative lack of postwar self-recrimination among Japanese – certainly when compared with the internal debates that still hound their wartime allies, the Germans. It would be difficult even now to imagine an accused war criminal, as Mr. Kishi has been, assuming the leadership of either of the Germanies.”

The feeling that Japan has never really come to terms with its role as an aggressor in the conflict of World War II still exists, and Mr. Abe has perhaps encouraged this feeling. He has downplayed the role of Japan in its use of Comfort Women (women from other Asian nations, especially Korea, held in brothels as slaves for use by Japanese soldiers). He has worked for a constitutional change that would allow the Japanese military to play a role in overseas conflicts. Like many of his predecessors in the office of prime minister, Abe has visited a shrine that recognizes former Japanese war criminals as patriots and heroes. All of these acts have Abe’s critics wondering about his goals and motives.

World Book Back in time articles

• Japan 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1992