Part one: I think Mr. Tanimoto is the most interesting character in the book so far. Mr.Tanimoto is a Methodist pastor who voluntarily organizes defenses in case of an air-raid, in-order to prove his loyalty. During the time of the bombing he is about 2 miles away from the center of the explosion and is unhurt. Right after the bombing he starts helping the wounded. While helping the wounded, he stumbles upon his wife and child, despite being happy to see them he is emotionally exhausted by earlier events and instead of embracing his family he just says "oh, your safe", and leave to help the wounded. He is extremely committed in helping others and spends hours and hours saving people from the river and ferrying them to the shore. He also provides water from a basin to the injured people. Throughout the second chapter, he constantly apologizes to the injured and is deeply ashamed that he is not injured while hundred of others are."As a christian he was filled with compassion for those who were trapped, and as a Japanese he was overwhelmed by the shame on being unhurt, and he prayed as he ran, 'God help them and take them out of the fire.'" (Hershey pg 29, 30) . This shows how shameful Tanimoto felt when he was unable to help the trapped victims. Looking at Tanimoto's desire to help along with the shame he felt, I think in Japanese culture men would rather die as a hero than live as a coward.
Part Two: The one thing I thought would help better understand this book is: Why was Hiroshima (and Nagasaki) selected to be bombed and not any other city?
A lot went in to deciding the targets that were to be bombed.A number of experts in various fields, for example mathematicians, physicists, weather consultants, experts on the blast effects of bombs, etc, assisted in choosing the targets. The experts came up with important points to consider in choosing the targets, which are:
- Since the atomic bomb was expected to produce its greatest amount of damage by primary blast effect, and next greatest by fires, the targets should contain a large percentage of closely-built frame buildings and other construction that would be most susceptible to damage by blast and fire.
- The maximum blast effect of the bomb was calculated to extend over an area of approximately 1 mile in radius; therefore the selected targets should contain a densely built-up area of at least this size.
- The selected targets should have a high military strategic value.
-The first targets should be relatively untouched by previous bombing, in order that the effect of a single atomic bomb could be determined.
Since Hiroshima was a military communication center, storage point, and an assembly area for troops; it was considered as a city of military importance. Most of the infrastructures in the city were constructed of wood and was susceptible to fire damage.It also fulfilled most the conditions stated above and was untouched by any previous allied bombardments, making Hiroshima the ideal target to be nuked.
Source:http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/MED/med_chp6.shtml
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| Hiroshima before the bombing. |
I also wrote about Mr.Tanimoto in my journal, and completely agree with everything that you wrote about him. I truly enjoyed your quote that you used, it was very powerful. As to your second part of your journal I really liked the way you used your research to help us understand why Hiroshima was bombed. I do believe that the fact that it was a military city was a large part of it, but the other points you pointed out were also extremely interesting, and most of all I would never have thought of them.
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