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In 1992 I did an internship in Tokyo, twelve years later I have finally returned. As I had really enjoyed Japan at the time the surprising thing for me is that it took so long to come back.

Impressions of Japan and Nagasaki's history

Odv
2006-04-13 19:50:39

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tucked away in a corner).

The high number of US casualties during to battle for Okinawa, and the even higher number of Japanese casualties, who fought to the death and preferred suicide over surrender, led to an estimate that a conventional invasion of Japan, would have cost another 100.000 U.S. soldiers their lives as well as 1 million Japanese soldiers and civilians. Furthermore every day that the war continued was going to cause more people to die at the hands of Japanese Imperial forces (as for example in Kanchanaburi). One of them would have been my own grandfather.

Japanese imperial crimes, such as the Nankin massacre, in which anywhere from 100.000 to 300.000 people were killed (depending on the source) and the use of Chinese prisoners for live target practice, are not mentioned either. Neither are the Japanese concentration camps of which my family was a victim.

Entering the peace park, confronts you with prominently placed statues from such "peace loving" countries as the Soviet Union, given to Nagasaki in 1985 while it was still oppressing, Eastern Europe, the Baltic States and several other countries that had been forced into the Soviet Union against their will. Another "peace loving" country the German Democratic Republic donated a statue in 1981, while it was shooting any person who dared to try to escape from this communist paradise. In the beginning of the 80s these same two "peace loving" countries pointed short range nuclear missiles at Western European cities, kicking off a continental nuclear arms race. Which seems rather contradictory with Nagasaki's aim to create a world free of nuclear weapons.

More sincere donations such as statues from two of Nagasaki's sister cities, St Paul in the U.S.A. and Middelburg in The Netherlands unfortunately have a much less prominent placing.

Given my family's history in Japanese concentration camps and the result it had on me, you may wonder ...