12 reasons the atomic bombings of Japan should be taught

Tomorrow, Aug. 9, marks the 67th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in Japan, the second of two atomic bombings with which the United States hastened the end of World War II.

The bombings were one of the seminal events of the 20th century — a century full of unprecedented events of inconceivable devastation as well as incredible triumphs.

The century’s innovations are changing us and our societies as much as did the switch to agriculture marking the advent of the Neolithic age, the developments of bronze, writing and printing. We hardly begin to understand what we are doing to ourselves.

This makes the study of history more important than ever. Yet we don’t teach about the atomic bombings. If we do, it’s very rarely.

I have spent my life studying and teaching about Japan. I am stunned by the number of educators — at all levels of instruction — who avoid teaching about these bombings, who even teach courses about World War II, or war, or Japan, or Japanese film about World War II, yet tell me they do not teach about the atomic bombings.

I find 12 compelling reasons we must teach this material.

» It is part of the truth of human history.

» It is crucial to understanding contemporary Japan’s politics, art and identity.

» It is also crucial to understanding ourselves. The cynicism and despair threaded through the lives of our young people and "baby boomers" was founded here — along with the Holocaust and the world’s indifference to it — even before the environmental crises and more recent genocides.

» As human beings, we need to honor the victims, both living and dead. Caring for our dead is one of the first things that human beings started to do as we began distinguishing ourselves from other animals; it ill behooves us to reject this foundation of humanity.

» It contributes to the resuscitation of the shattered dignity of survivors. (This differs from the point above, in that it focuses on the victims, rather than our ability to strengthen our own humanity.)

» This teaches us a lot about trauma that is generalizable to other traumas that are large-scale and/or technologically produced, government-sponsored, racially motivated or genocidal, etc.: what survivors did that worked or didn’t, what human beings are capable of (in a positive sense). As a society we need to learn these things — to advance our understanding in psychology, chemistry, diplomatic history, etc. But individuals also need to learn this, for their own well-being.

» Similarly, students can then apply skills and knowledge learned to other study (and to life), and transmit them to others. Everyone deserves to know the heroism and failures under duress.

» Learning about such events allows us to face our own terror and horror, of ourselves being victimized by nuclear warfare or accidents, and of recognizing our own potential to act badly.

» We must study the bombings in order to understand the world the bombs produced, including political decision-making, the international art world, the peace movements, behavior of governments after disasters.

» Such study allows us to reassert our own dignity and take our place in the chain of history without cowering in denial or self-delusion.

» Avoiding such topics continues a dangerous pattern of identifying only with winners, never those who are are acted upon. Identifying with those who are not winning (as well as the victorious) is a skill we need; this pattern of avoidance weakens us.

» Finally, our history with atomic/nuclear power is relevant today as we face accidents such as Chernobyl and Fukushima.

Avoiding teaching about the atomic bombings is a betrayal of all sides, and of our students, who deserve knowledge about the world they inherited and how it got this way.