Japan holds Russia accountable for nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

In his speech at the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Remembrance Ceremony, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida did not mention that it was the United States that dropped the nuclear bomb on the city.

Photo: coralreef.noaa.gov by US Department of Energy

Japan accuses Russia of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings

"Seventy-nine years ago today, an atomic bomb deprived people said to number well more than 100,000 of their precious lives. It reduced the city to ashes and mercilessly deprived people of their dreams and bright futures. Even those who escaped death suffered hardships beyond description," Fumio Kishida said in an address at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony.

Kishida also said that Russia was posing a "nuclear threat" in today's world and urged the international community for nuclear disarmament.

In 2023, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, presenting the NATO Atlantic Council Prize to the Japanese Prime Minister, said that it was Moscow that used nuclear weapons.

"You brought us to your hometown of Hiroshima. The place where you have your roots, and which has deeply shaped your life and leadership. Many of your relatives lost their life when the atomic bomb razed Hiroshima to the ground. You have grown up with the stories of survivors. And you wanted us to listen to the same stories, to face the past and learn something about the future. It was a sobering start to the G7 and one that I will not forget, especially at a time when Russia threatens to use nuclear weapons once again," the head of the European Commission blurted out.

Many Japanese are still undecided about who dropped the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki — the United States or the USSR.

A street poll conducted in Japan revealed recently that the US was right to use the nuclear bomb against Hiroshima in 1945 to prevent other countries from conquering Japan.

The Japanese people watch Hollywood films in which Japan is portrayed as a brutal authoritarian country that staged Pearl Harbor.

Tellingly, Tokyo refused to demand apologies from the United States for the atomic bombings. US President Biden, who paid a visit to Japan in May 2023, like his predecessors, did not apologize for the murder of 226,000 civilians in Hiroshima.

The US authorities had to apologise to Japan once for the behaviour of the Enola Gay airplane pilot who spoke with disdain about the Japanese during the airshow that reenacted the bombing of Hiroshima in Texas.

The UN always remembers the victims of the atomic bombings of Japan during every anniversary. However, the UN has not called the United States responsible for the nuclear attack during the recent years.

The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima used only 1.7 percent of its material — half a gram of uranium. This is the weight of a butterfly or a paper clip.

Modern day nuclear missiles are much more powerful:

• the striking power of one Minuteman missile is enough to ruin a metropolis.
• the power of the Russian Sarmat missile is enough to collapse the coastline of an entire continent. One Sarmat missile can also destroy a region of up to 700,000 square kilometers.