gautrek Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 Japan has certified a man aged 93 as the only known survivor of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both hit by atomic bombs towards the end of World War II. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7963581.stm 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Field Marshal Blücher Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 Quite unlucky. Of course, you could also argue that he's extremely lucky to have survived both! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnergoz Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 And it only took them 64 years to find this guy? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanonier Reichmann Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Perhaps he was deliberately trying to keep a low profile in case a 3rd one was dropped! Regards Jim R. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clavicula_Nox Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 He kept trying to have his status recognized and the Japanese government kept ignoring him, it's a fairly tragic example of how they view their A-Bomb survivors. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dietrich Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 In my understanding, the Japanese have a much more highly developed sense of shame than people from other regions (i.e., the West). In the case of Mr. Yamaguchi, I reckon it was a matter, not of ignoring him out of disdain or carelessness, but rather of the implicit shame. Being so roundly defeated -- how can one hope to prevail against an opponent that can destroy an entire city (or most of it) with a single bomb? -- would, I suppose, make them disclined to recognize reminders of that defeat. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnergoz Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Well, don't go starting wars then, eh? So they are not shamed by the Rape of Nanking, destruction of Manila and treatment of prisoners, but just by their own defeat? Nice. (Said with a grain of salt given, er, certain unfortunate events of the past 8 years in the US of A.) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 "My double radiation exposure is now an official government record," Mr Yamaguchi told reporters. "It can tell the younger generation the horrifying history of the atomic bombings even after I die." Er, you made it to 93... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dietrich Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Well, don't go starting wars then, eh? So they are not shamed by the Rape of Nanking, destruction of Manila and treatment of prisoners, but just by their own defeat? Nice. (Said with a grain of salt given, er, certain unfortunate events of the past 8 years in the US of A.) I did not mean "the Japanese have a highly developed sense of shame because they started the PTO half of WW2". I meant that an acute sense of shame in intrinsic to their culture, and evidence of it can be found throughout their existence as a people. Ever wondered why Japanese have a reputation for suicide? (And no, I'm not referring to kamikaze-type attacks.) If an American high-school got Ds and Cs, he probably wouldn't sweat it. If a Japanese high-school student got Ds and Cs, he would be so overwhelmed with shame that he would quite possibly kill himself. Also, I did not mean to imply that the Japanese feel shame only about being defeated. But now that you mention it, what particular "unfortunate events of the past 8 years in the US of A" were you referring to? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnergoz Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 I did not mean "the Japanese have a highly developed sense of shame because they started the PTO half of WW2". I meant that an acute sense of shame in intrinsic to their culture, and evidence of it can be found throughout their existence as a people. Ever wondered why Japanese have a reputation for suicide? (And no, I'm not referring to kamikaze-type attacks.) If an American high-school got Ds and Cs, he probably wouldn't sweat it. If a Japanese high-school student got Ds and Cs, he would be so overwhelmed with shame that he would quite possibly kill himself. Also, I did not mean to imply that the Japanese feel shame only about being defeated. But now that you mention it, what particular "unfortunate events of the past 8 years in the US of A" were you referring to? Oh, say, the demonization and totally unnecessary invasion of Iraq, for one. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zwobot Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 You mean this man survived both bombings, I mean he was present in Nagasaki AND Hiroshima when the actual bombs were dropped or only in one of them (which doesn't make it any better for him nevertheless...)? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Field Marshal Blücher Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 You mean this man survived both bombings, I mean he was present in Nagasaki AND Hiroshima when the actual bombs were dropped or only in one of them (which doesn't make it any better for him nevertheless...)? He was on a business trip in Nagasaki when the first bomb fell. He received severe burns, but was able to make it back to Hiroshima in time for the second. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 He was on a business trip in Nagasaki when the first bomb fell. He received severe burns, but was able to make it back to Hiroshima in time for the second. FARK. So he had a time machine too? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalins Organ Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 Or, possibly, Blucher's memory isn't that hot & you could just read the article to check out what happened...?? Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip on 6 August 1945 when a US plane dropped the first atomic bomb. He suffered serious burns and spent a night there before returning to his home city of Nagasaki just before it was bombed on 9 August. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 Or' date=' possibly, Blucher's memory isn't that hot & you could just read the article to check out what happened...??[/quote'] Or possibly (nay, certainly) your sense of humour isn't that hot? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuirassier Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 Time machine?? So he got nuked 3 times?? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalins Organ Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 My sense of humour is scorching......that's how I can spot things that aren't funny:cool: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Field Marshal Blücher Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 God d*** my memory. I'm not even old! This can't be happening to me! My (bad) excuse is that whenever I'm reading/watching anything about the PTO I lose a lot of my interest after the last land actions. A-bombing isn't particularly interesting to me: one plane flies in and drops a single bomb. Boom, down goes city, plane flies back. Horrifying and extremely tragic, but militarily uninteresting. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 God d*** my memory. I'm not even old! This can't be happening to me! You need to look up "galloping senility". That is, if you can remember a two word phrase long enough to enter it into Google. My (bad) excuse is that whenever I'm reading/watching anything about the PTO I lose a lot of my interest after the last land actions. A-bombing isn't particularly interesting to me: one plane flies in and drops a single bomb. Boom, down goes city, plane flies back. Horrifying and extremely tragic, but militarily uninteresting. But scientifically it is fascinating. If you haven't yet read Richard Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb or its sequel Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, you should do so. Great reads, both books. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Field Marshal Blücher Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 But scientifically it is fascinating. If you haven't yet read Richard Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb or its sequel Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, you should do so. Great reads, both books. Michael Agreed, the science is quite interesting. I don't remember that other stuff you were saying. Something about horses? Oh well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Speaking of horses, why is it that the movies always depict a cavalry charge as a headlong gallop that goes on for several minutes, long after real horses would be blown? To answer my own question, because the makers of action movies believe it is more cinematically exciting and the ignoramuses who make up the bulk of the movie going audience don't know any better anyway. And in that they are most likely correct. But it galls, galls I tell you, the cognoscenti! Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dietrich Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Movies aren't the only medium in which cavalry charges are (over)dramatized. Nineteenth-century paintings of battle scenes, for one, typically depicted cavalry charging too fast and heading directly at the 'square' they're attacking (rather than 'lapping' around the edges of the enemy formation and circling around to attack again). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnergoz Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Who wants to pay a bunch of money to see a cavalry trot? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Who wants to pay a bunch of money to see a cavalry trot? Dietrich and Emrys. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Who said anything about paying...other than GG that is? Anyway, "the cavalry trot" sounds like it could be the name of a hot new dance. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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