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I came across this in a book I'm reading and to say I thought it a little odd, is an understatement.

In 1945, nuclear bombed Nagasaki residents welcomed the first Americans with gifts (a doll in a glass case) given to the head of a team investigating radiation effects.

Later, the residents joined U.S. military personnel in sponsoring a "Miss Atomic Bomb" beauty contest.

Words fail me.

This is a quote from a Pulitzer prize winning book : Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
by John W. Dower :

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/273 ... earch=true

ORIGINAL: durangokid

I came across this in a book I'm reading and to say I thought it a little odd, is an understatement.

In 1945, nuclear bombed Nagasaki residents welcomed the first Americans with gifts (a doll in a glass case) given to the head of a team investigating radiation effects.

Later, the residents joined U.S. military personnel in sponsoring a "Miss Atomic Bomb" beauty contest.

Words fail me.

This is a quote from a Pulitzer prize winning book : Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
by John W. Dower :

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/273 ... earch=true

One reason among others...The U.S. was the major resource to help Japan re-build...it's called survival.

It's also a Japanese cultural thing. The Allies had proven themselves to be militarily superior and hence worthy of respect. The Japanese just adapted to the new normal.

Cheers, Neilster

This is a great book that I haven't read (yet) about the subject (Hiroshima not Nagasaki):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hiroshima-John ... hn+Hershey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima_(book)

ORIGINAL: Neilster

It's also a Japanese cultural thing. The Allies had proven themselves to be militarily superior and hence worthy of respect. The Japanese just adapted to the new normal.

Cheers, Neilster

I was quite surprised, on reading the book on Japan, how quickly the culture adapted from an authoritarian state to a benign occupation and the introduction of democracy.

The occupation and the national attitudes of countries, both in Japan and Europe in WWII is quite a complex subject. However, it seems to have been beautifully summarised :

“If you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.” - Theodore Roosevelt

Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda was mostly responsible for the economic miracle of post-war Japan. His heavy industrialization combined with the work ethic of Japanese people is truly a wonder of what a nation can accomplish. By the 1960's, Japan became the second most powerful economy in the world.. and we're talking about the only country to be nuked..

To paraphrase from any number of Cowboy/Western themed movies..."There's a new Shogun in town"

My parents (both of whom have passed) lived in Kyushu (Kitakyushu/Fukuoka)during the war. My mom told me stories of peeking out of the bomb shelter (during a B29 raid) and seeing the napalm fires dropping about and told everyone in the shelter to run for it...it took her a day to get home running from the fire and crossing train trestle bridges on foot - at the age of 13. My dad also experienced being strafed by .50s from Hellcats (he described the sound of ricocheting .50 calibre rounds in the bamboo forest).

Then I asked my mom, "what was your reaction to the end of the war?" - she replied as maybe a 13 yr old would - "I was happy I didn't have turn the lights out at night!" She later worked for the US military in Japan as a typist. My dad was an American citizen and he got the great reward of being drafted by the US Army for the Korean War. On the other hand, he was lucky, his brother (my uncle) who was in the IJA, surrendered to the Soviets in Manchuria and spent three years in a labor camp near Lake Baikal and mined coal. He returned to the US and got drafted into the US Air Force for the Korean War.

The Korean War is the spark that drove Japan's post-war economic growth. They were able to leverage war time technologies/industries (radios, optics, cameras etc.). Many of the zaibatsu companies continued to exist (large industrial conglomerates) post-war (Keiretsu) and still continue to this day in Japan/world.

Nakajima the company that brought you the Ki-84 and many other aircraft = Subaru (Fuji Heavy Industries)
Mitsubishi
Nissan
Toyoda (Toyota)
Matsushita (Panasonic)
Nikon (produced optics/lenses during the war)