This structure is one of the few things which survived close to the hypocentre of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. The Torii marks the entrance of the Sanno shrine, further up the hillside. The gate was about 750 metres from the hypocentre.


The One-legged Gate by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

These two Camphor trees at the entrance of Sanno shrine in Nagasaki were nearly killed by the atomic bomb, which exploded less than 800 metres from this point. The inset at the bottom left shows the trees after the bomb. However,
the trees survived and regrew.


Camphor Survivors by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

The Nagasaki hypocentre cenotaph is the point on the ground below where the atomic bomb detonated at a height of about 500 metres. The brick column on the right is a remnant of the original Urakami Cathedral. The cathedral was the pride of the descendants of the Hidden Christians, who were brutally suppressed during the Edo period.


Hypocentre by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

[RobA_Oz]

Nice work, Rob. My late father-in-law was a British PoW and forced labourer in the copper mills near Nagasaki. He certainly never forgot seeing the bomb go off.

[RobG]

Nice work, Rob. My late father-in-law was a British PoW and forced labourer in the copper mills near Nagasaki. He certainly never forgot seeing the bomb go off.

I'm sure he didn't! I can't help wondering how many POWs became statistics in the bombings of Japan. I just found out that 12 Americans died when Hiroshima was bombed, but I'm sure that other POWs would have died when the other cities were bombed and firestormed. Those people became an uncounted cost of ending the war.

One Japanese man probably qualified as the world's unluckiest (and somehow luckiest) person. Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima when it was bombed, and made his way to Nagasaki just in time for it to be bombed as well - yet survived both. He died in 2010 of stomach cancer, having already survived leukemia and other ailments caused by the radiation.

While many people remember Nagasaki, most people only remember the attack on Hiroshima. While 140,000 people died in 1945 in Hiroshima, 70,000 died in Nagasaki. The hilly terrain in Nagasaki meant that the bomb affected a smaller area than it had in Hiroshima. In either case, the death tolls are horrific, and people are suffering to this day with diseases like cancer induced by the radiation.

[Sailor]

Great series, Rob and excellent commentary on the photos.

Jer

[aslyfox]

very nice

well done

[DeadJohn]

@RobG, thanks for sharing the photos.

@Normhead, the Battle of Okinawa immediately preceded the 2 atomic bombings. Nearly 150,000 civilians died at Okinawa. A land invasion of the main Japanese islands might have been worse than atomic bombs. A blockade of the islands, rather than invasion, would have also been horrific because civilians run out of food before the army does.

[simple1]

This structure is one of the few things which survived close to the hypocentre of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. The Torii marks the entrance of the Sanno shrine, further up the hillside. The gate was about 750 metres from the hypocentre.


The One-legged Gate by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

These two Camphor trees at the entrance of Sanno shrine in Nagasaki were nearly killed by the atomic bomb, which exploded less than 800 metres from this point. The inset at the bottom left shows the trees after the bomb. However,
the trees survived and regrew.


Camphor Survivors by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

The Nagasaki hypocentre cenotaph is the point on the ground below where the atomic bomb detonated at a height of about 500 metres. The brick column on the right is a remnant of the original Urakami Cathedral. The cathedral was the pride of the descendants of the Hidden Christians, who were brutally suppressed during the Edo period.


Hypocentre by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

Disregarding anyone's lack of knowledge concerning the Geneva Convention, and (equally) obvious lack of knowledge concerning combatants/ vs "defenseless civilian" population, well done. The first and second shots are very powerful images.

---

Last edited by Blue; 06-06-2019 at 10:58 AM. Reason: edited religious comment in quoted text

[PenPusher]

Thank you for posting these photos of the forgotten city which seems to have been rebuilt and reoccupied rather quickly in comparison to the accident at Fukushima where people are still not allowed to return to their homes. I can't help wondering how much radiation was/is still around the bombed cities today.

[RobG]

Thank you for posting these photos of the forgotten city which seems to have been rebuilt and reoccupied rather quickly in comparison to the accident at Fukushima where people are still not allowed to return to their homes. I can't help wondering how much radiation was/is still around the bombed cities today.

At the time when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, there was very little understanding of radiation and therefore little fear of it. You couldn't see it, so you didn't think about it. Ironically because people now know more about it, not being able to see it increases the fear. The nature of the contamination is different. A lot of the material released by the Daiichi accident was Iodine, which binds to the thyroid, increasing the risk of thyroid cancer. Most of the radiation from the atomic bombs was at the time of the explosions as heat, x-rays, gamma rays and neutrons. I'll have to check and see if it's easy to find out what the current radiation levels are like in the bombed cities.

According to Hiroshima city, current radiation levels are close to normal background levels.

http://www.city.hiroshima.lg.jp/www/contents/1319178283612/index.html

[Racer X 69]

Thank you for posting these photos of the forgotten city which seems to have been rebuilt and reoccupied rather quickly in comparison to the accident at Fukushima where people are still not allowed to return to their homes. I can't help wondering how much radiation was/is still around the bombed cities today.

Well it has been 74 years since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

How long has it been since Fukushima? Eight years? That place will be unusable for a long time to come.

[aslyfox]

Well it has been 74 years since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

How long has it been since Fukushima? Eight years? That place will be unusable for a long time to come.

don't forget Chernobyl

http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-...-accident.aspx

just got done watching this dramatization:

Chernobyl (TV Mini-Series 2019) - IMDb

[Racer X 69]

Let's keep in mind the taboo subjects here at Pentax Forums, and try not to stray into areas of discussion that would be outside allowable conversation. Some cleanup has been done, and any other comments on certain subjects should be avoided.

Thank you everyone!
Racer

[Janse]

Great series!

[RobG]

Great series!

Thanks Janse! I suppose I should post at least one photo of the Peace Park, but I felt that those sites were more evocative. I saw groups of school kids praying at the Peace Park. I would have liked to ask them what the place meant to them. I suspect that it doesn't mean a lot to young Japanese people. They are much more focussed on now, which is fine in a way, but it's also educational to look back at the past now and then.