1. How did the Japanese people feel about McArthur?
I was mortified by losing the war and felt so miserable about the Japanese surrender. I thought we Japanese people had to obey McArthur as people of an occupied country. However, I later found out that he allowed Dr. Marcel Junod, the chief representative to Japan of the Red Cross International Committee, to help victims with15 tons of medical supplies.
I thanked McArthur for allowing Dr. Junod to conduct his relief activities. If McArthur had not allowed him to do so, many more victims would have perished.
2. What actually happened during the 2 seconds when the bomb went off?
How did you feel?
The bomb exploded 580 meters over the city with a blinding flash,
creating a fireball that blazed like a small sun. More than a million
degrees Celsuius at its center, in one second the fireball reached a maximum diameter of 280 meters, and the surface temperatures in the
vicinity of the hypocenter rose to 3,000 – 4,000 degrees C.
Fierce heat rays and radiation burst out in every direction, expanding the air around the fireball and creating a high-pressure blast.
Some 70,000 people were estimated to have been killed by the A-bomb on that day. The entire city was damaged and over 90% of its building either burned or collapsed.
3. How long did it take to restore Hiroshima and the economy?
Right after the bombing, survivors salvaged what materials they could from the burnt ruins of their houses and built shacks. They endured food
shortage and managed to find something to eat day by day.
The infrastructure for a new Hiroshima began to take shape under the
Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law enacted in 1949.
The Korean War created special demand and in the mid-1950’s，Japan
moved into a period of rapid economic growth. The city and economy
had recovered by 1955, ten years after the bombing.
4. Were the Japanese happy with the new constitution?
It seemed that McArthur forced the new constitution on the Japanese people but I’ve heard that he made Japanese people write it. The constitution is expressly worded to renounce war, which, I believe, brought about the present peace in Japan. In that sense, we were happy about it.
5. How did McArthur get the Japanese to make the changes he wanted?
McArthur spent 10 years in Japan. He prohibited by means of a press code the publication of results of the study of A-bomb damage. A-bomb survivors could not speak out about the bomb freely. I suppose that he didn’t want to refer to the matter.
6. Would the Japanese still have a war if they had an army?
I think it would have been unavoidable for the Japanese to get involved
in a war in some ways by demands from other countries, if we had continued the course of militarism. Also, the possibility to send military forces to other countries would certainly be present.
7. Does the ceremony put on by the Folded Crane Club still exist and who does it?
Yes. Mr. Ichiro Kawamoto, the representative of the Folded Crane Club holds the ceremony on Children’s Day, which is May 5th, every year.