Hiroshima and Nagasaki

At the close of World War II, the United States conducted atomic bombings against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The events served as tests for nuclear technological experimentation and military action to end combat in the Pacific Rim. The sheer magnitude of these attacks has not only given rise to global and international peace movements but also acted as a symbol for religious movements geared toward pacifism and the safeguarding of life in general. In particular, the Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai International has made antinuclear proliferation a central feature of its religious objectives. Indeed the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki elicited a variety of critical responses from religious leaders abroad, including the theologian and member of the Federal Council of Churches Reinhold Niebuhr, who called the events “morally indefensible.”

A technological development enterprise called the Manhattan Engineers District, also known as the “Manhattan Project,” was commissioned by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada to create the first nuclear bomb. Under the direction of [Page 527]General Leslie R. Groves and the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project continued for 5 years between 1941 and 1946. The output of the project was considered a viable option in ending World War II by dropping nuclear bombs on the Empire of Japan. In spite of extensive admonition about the development of nuclear weapons from prominent figures such as Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard, President Franklin D. Roosevelt allowed the project to continue.

In 1945, U.S. President Harry S. Truman authorized the use of nuclear weapons on Japan. At 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, a U.S. B-29 bomber, dubbed the “Enola Gay,” released a uranium-based bomb over Hiroshima. The bomb, known as “Little Boy,” killed an estimated 140,000 people. The subsequent radiation and lack of immediate medical attention may have increased this toll by another 60,000 in the years that followed.

After the Hiroshima bombing, Emperor Hirohito had yet to react under the Potsdam Declaration, which outlined the conditions of Japan's surrender. At 11:01 a.m. on August 9, 1945—just 3 days after the Hiroshima bombing—the United States released yet another bomb, this time over Nagasaki. This plutonium-core bomb, named “Fat Man,” killed an estimated 80,000 people from either the impact itself or the ensuing radiation.

On August 13, 1945, Emperor Hirohito accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and formally surrendered on September 2, 1945. After the surrender, Japan was occupied from 1945 to 1952 by the Allied Powers, led by General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers.

Today, the hypocenters (ground zero sites of the explosions) of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been designated as monuments that include museums full of artifacts and interactive educational material as well as parks and a variety of landmarks that memorialize the devastation caused by the events while reminding the world of the dangers of war and mass destruction. In addition to prayer vigils during each anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, attendees practice Tōrō Nagashi, a spiritual ritual of floating illuminated lanterns in the water to honor the memory of the deceased.

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