The pumpkin bomb was about three meters long and weighed nearly five tons. Apart from atomic bombs, it was among the largest bomb weapons used in the Second World War, and dropping it was unmistakably a bombing attack. It was not merely a “simulated” atomic bomb, but an exceptionally large explosive weapon. Its use was not limited to rehearsal for an atomic bombing: it was an attack on targets identified in advance.
In the special operation encompassing 52 simulated and atomic bomb drops, the Kitaibaraki mission received the first designation. In time, too, it was one of the first simulated atomic bomb drops, alongside two in Toyama. In other words, the Kitaibaraki bombing was one of the opening events in the operation that culminated in the only use of nuclear weapons in war. Recording this historical fact as accurately and objectively as possible has value in itself.
Yet I also feel that simply recording historical facts accurately is not enough to connect this history to the future.
It is vital that tragedies such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki never happen again. Honestly, living in Ibaraki, far from both cities, I had thought of the atomic bombings as events somewhere far away. But one of the first bombings in the sequence leading to Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened in Kitaibaraki. That history was close to home.
I imagine that, until just before the atomic bombs fell, people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki had lived comparatively peaceful daily lives, with relatively few air raids compared with other devastated areas. Those lives were suddenly destroyed. In a single day, places that had seemed peaceful became atomic-bombed cities.
Deciding who or what was to blame is difficult. The United States appears to have used the bombs for reasons such as bringing the war to a swift end—reasons that are not simply dismissed. Those who dropped them have said that they were only following orders and doing their jobs. They may honestly feel that way. Each person acted according to circumstances they considered unavoidable, and the result was the worst outcome: the atomic bombings.
“Everyone simply did what they believed was right, or what they felt they had no choice but to do, yet hundreds of thousands of people died.”
How can we avoid such terrible outcomes?
There is no easy answer. We might give up thinking about it, believing that an outcome as extreme as an atomic bombing is rare, and that even if it happens, an individual can do nothing.
But there is one possible way of helping prevent the worst: imagine the harm that could occur in as much detail, and as concretely, as possible. If everyone had been able to imagine the appalling suffering in Hiroshima and Nagasaki beforehand, perhaps someone, somewhere, might have applied the brakes.
Put yourself in the other person’s position and imagine the consequences for them. Yet without a personal connection, learning about atomic bombs can easily remain someone else’s story, or just another subject to study.
One of the beginnings of the atomic bombing operation was here in Kitaibaraki.
That fact may help us learn about atomic bombs and nuclear weapons as something that concerns us personally. I believe this is where the meaning of preserving the Kitaibaraki impact site’s history lies.