Entwined Atrocities

Numerous books on the topic of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been published hitherto. Yet, no one has written about the fire and atomic bombings in the context of the U.S. justification of the crime of indiscriminate bombings and its relationship to Japan's political exploitation of the atomic bombing to cover up Hirohito's war responsibility. Further, no one has analyzed the fundamental contradiction in Japan's peace constitution between the concealment of Hirohito's war crimes and the responsibility of the U.S. Readers will learn how Japanese and U.S. official war memories were crafted to justify their respective wartime performances, exposing the flaws and failing of present-day democracy in Japan and the U.S. This book also explores how Japanese people could potentially create a truly powerful cultural memory of war, utilizing various forms of artwork including Japan's traditional performing art, Noh. It should appeal to many readers-historians (both modern American and Japanese history specialists), constitutional scholars, students, peace and anti-nuclear activists, intellectuals as well as general readers.

Foreword - Acknowledgments - Author's Note - List of Illustrations - Prologue: The U.S. and Japan's Complicity of Denial of War Responsibilities - Indiscriminate Firebombing by the U.S. Forces and the Air Defense System of Japan's Emperor- Fascism State - Mystification of the Atomic Bombing- Tacit Complicity Between the U.S. and Japan - The Atomic Bombing, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal and the Shimoda Case - The Insoluble Contradiction Embedded in the Peace Constitution- The Preamble and Article 9 versus Chapter 1 - Veiled Political Power of the Emperor as the Symbol of Japan - Challenging the Emperor's Power of Symbolic Authority- Struggles to Humanize the Emperor - The U.S.- Japan Collaboration in Remembering War Atrocities- in Comparison with the German Case - Photographer Fukushima Kikujiro- Confronting Images of Atomic Bomb Survivors - Memories and Symbolism: For Establishing Japan's Culture of Remembrance - Epilogue: The Nature of Japan's Postwar Democracy and Its Future - Index.