Cory's Journal 7

The most interesting character in my opinion would be Mr. Tanimoto. He has been very heroic so far. He started ferrying sick and injured people across the flowing river to safety. He took water to thirsty people. He has truly put others before himself. Once he found out his family was safe he went to help others. However he felt very shameful for being unhurt, I think he was trying to somehow make it up to the injured for his luck. His response was very honorable, many chose to help themselves in the same situation but he did not. After his return from one of his trips he sees fire starting to close in on the park, then he jumps into action: “On touching the bank, he went up to investigate, and when he saw the fire, he shouted,  “All the young men who are not badly hurt come with me!”(Hersey 37).  He springs into action to save lives thinking nothing of his own safety. He is truly a heroic man in a time of chaos and terror.

After Japan had surrendered did any allied assistance come for their people? Sad to say but from my research I found very little aid sent to Japan, most was from Japan its self. Strong national feelings raised money and aid to help rebuild the over 100 cities destroyed by the War, including Nagasaki and Hiroshima. President Truman did create the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission(ABCC) and sent Americans to Hiroshima to study the side effects of the bomb on native citizens of Hiroshima. However the aid simply stopped at observation, this organization gave no aid. On the other hand the Japanese people raised several hundred million Yen in an attempt to rebuild post-war Japan. Some money was given by The United States but again not enough to make a dent in post war destruction. Below I found a very helpful website that goes into this topic more in depth. 

http://www.atomicbombmuseum.org/4_ruins.shtml  

The ABCC headquarters in Hiroshima.