Prof.Tanaka's lecture

The Atomic-Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: A Crime Against Humanity

Description:
On the 6th of August 1945 an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and on the 9th of the same month another was dropped on Nagasaki. The blast, heat rays and radiation caused by the explosion devastated both cities. Residents, including the elderly and children living in the affected areas were killed instantly. However, the victims of the bombs were not only Japanese nationals, but also Koreans and Chinese who were forced to live in Japan, and prisoners of war from the Allied forces captured by the Japanese military. Tens of thousands of people also died soon after the bombs were dropped. It is estimated that by the end of 1945 one hundred and forty thousand people had died in Hiroshima and seventy thousand in Nagasaki. Even today, many victims of the atomic are still suffering from the effects of radiation and are living in constant pain.

Following Japan's defeat at the end of World War II, Japanese war leaders and war criminals were prosecuted before the International Military Tribunal of the Far East (the so-called 'Tokyo Tribunal'). At this tribunal, Ben Bruce Blakeny, one of the American defending lawyers, argued that the atomic bomb was a weapon banned by the Hague Convention, and there by attempted to point out the criminality of the bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yet, the tribunal dismissed his argument, claiming that the issue was outside the jurisdiction of the tribunal. Since then, some efforts have been made, both in Japan and overseas, to appeal to the court to plead the criminal nature of nuclear arms, but so far none have been successful.

Objective:
This lecture examines the criminality of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the responsibility of a group of American political and military leaders who were closely involved in the decision-making and executing the order to drop the bombs. The criminality is examined in accordance with international law effective at the time that the bombs were dropped and in the light of the Charter of the Tokyo Tribunal.

Recommended Readings:
Tanaka, Yuki. 'Fire Bombing and Atomic Bombing: An Historical Perspective on
Indiscriminate Bombing' posted at Japan Focus (http://japanfocus.org/products/details/1582)
May 2005, and 'Indiscriminate Bombing and the Enola Gay Legacy' posted at Japan Focus
(http://japanfocus.org/products/details/1807) December 2003.

Name:Yuki TANAKA

Present Post and Title: Professor, Hiroshima Peace Institute, Hiroshima City University

Final Education: University of Western Australia, Ph.D.

Specialized Field: War Crimes and War History

Recent Publications:
*Bombing Civilians: A Twentieth-Century History co-edited with Marilyn Young, New York, New Press, 2009
*Japan's Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery and Prostitution during World War II and the US Occupation (with Foreword by Susan Brownmiller). London: Routledge, 2002.
*Hiroshima: A Tragedy Never To Be Repeated (Translation with Jo King of work by Nasu Masaomi with illustration by Nishimura Shigeo) (Tokyo: Fukuinkan Shoten, 1998. This book is available at the bookshop in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.)

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