Records of the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey

(Quoted from an article in Nagasaki Newspaper, 9 August 2001)

 

A half-century after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki a plan to translate a part of the survey report which had slept in the National Archive in Washington D.C. into the Japanese language was executed.

 

I was one of those who had been given a rare opportunity to work as a translator.

 

It took about one year to translate approx. 2,000 pages of English texts as well as tables and drawings in English into a typewritten Japanese translation work. The work was made into two thick books, the fruit of work done by a team of about ten translators and computer workers.

 

Immediately after the World-War II a large number of military personnel as well as more than 120 experts (engineers, architects, fire specialists, economists, medical doctors, photographers, draftsmen, etc.) came to Nagasaki and spent more than two months to thoroughly verify the outcome of atomic bombing in the city.

 

The study team members conducted interviews of some victims. The American interviewers took it for granted to face expressions of hate and anger by the Japanese and yet they were seemingly surprised to see a substantial number of interviewees who responded, “It could not have been helped (shikata-nai).” That shikata-nai expression has a link to the Buddhist sense of abandonment and was difficult to be translated into English. Thus, that expression remained in a Romanized as “shikatanai” with an annotation.

 

According to the Nagasaki Newspaper article a nearly 50% of the respondents to a recent questionnaire survey on the A-bombing chose the answer, “It could not have been helped (shikata-nakatta).”

 

I wonder if abandonment has become a sort of virtue for a Japanese.

In 1967 I was in charge of the congress organizing of International Conference on Nuclear Structure in Tokyo. I heard Prof. Jerry Brown saying at his closing remark a very sincere apology, “After I came to Japan I was impressed by a good national character of its people. I am truly sorry for our A-bombings on such people.” (Translator’s Note: Back translated from a Japanese text. The original text is missing.)

“Records of the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, Entry 41: Pacific Survey Reports and Supporting Records 1928-1947, esp. Vol. 3: The Effects of Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, IV-B-5 Conclusion” includes the following statement:

 

“In the pursuit of peace and for the purpose of constructing an international structure for peace there is nothing more persuasive than the dreadful destructions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As the developer and user of these abominable weapons the United States bears an unavoidable responsibility to play a leadership role to establish and implement an international system of security and control to prevent the use of A-bombs in future.

(Translator’s Note: Back translated from the Japanese text, as the original English text was not readily available.)

 

I hope the above becomes cherished as an expression to pass on between the outgoing Presidents and incoming Presidents of the United States.
 
Akiko Gono

President, Bilingual Group

Born and grown up in Nagasaki

(Quoted from an article in Nagasaki Newspaper, 9 August 2001)

Translation by Yoshio Hida