Aug 25, 2009: Out of the fire.

[glatt]

The real test is to look at the other Japanese cities that weren't bombed.

I've never been to Japan, but my understanding is they all look pretty much like this.

That means the bombing had little to do with it.

[xoxoxoBruce]

We taught them a lesson... called Urban Renewal.

[newtimer]

Originally Posted by glatt

... they all look pretty much like this.

Except all of those other cities (except for Nagasaki) have power plants. Hiroshima doesn't need one because all of the fluorescent lights there tend to glow all by themselves.

[randomidea]

Originally Posted by glatt

I've never been to Japan, but my understanding is they all look pretty much like this.

The funny thing is that these shiny neon city pictures aren't even Hiroshima, they're clearly recognizable as the Yokohama skyline. Hiroshima is a lovely city, and ground zero is now a very nice park, but the city is much smaller and more sedate than the pictures above.



Photo by bht on Flickr.

Anyhow, having visited Hiroshima and spoken to people who were there when the bomb dropped, I'm pretty certain that they would much prefer to live in a "rundown, dirty city" that hadn't been nuked.

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by glatt

The real test is to look at the other Japanese cities that weren't bombed.

I've never been to Japan, but my understanding is they all look pretty much like this.

That means the bombing had little to do with it.

Well, most other cities weren't nuked, but EVERY significant city in Japan except Kyoto was bombed to buggery and totally flattened. Well, that is not absolutely true, but about 98% true. The conventional bombing campaign went on for months, and killed far more people than the nukes did.

Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, I could mention others I went to; almost every single "historical" building is a ferro-concrete post-war reconstruction.

The reason modern Japanese cities all look modern is because they were all rebuilt after the war.


Kyoto was super lucky. It had very little of military significance. It was known to have hundreds of amazing historical temples and shrines. But it's luckiest break, according to stories I heard while in Japan, was that the USAF officer in charge of selecting bombing targets had been to Japan and even spent his honeymoon with his wife in Kyoto, and his wife kept nagging him to not bomb kyoto.

Lucky break, it is an amazing and beautiful city and about half of it is now UNESCO world heritage listed.

[SPUCK]

jpc; LOL. Welcome to the cellar.

randomidea; You're totally right!! The rotten liars. (must check facts more, must check facts more)

What's even funnier is that I spent an hour checking your clarification out by pouring over Google Maps trying to line up something in those shots that matched. I finally found the ferris wheel. Only to THEN notice your "skyline link".