The Hiroshima-Nagasaki
Peace Study Course

広島・長崎講座

2012

Hiroshima and Peace

Dr. Chisato Hotta

The primary objective of this course is to strengthen students’ knowledge of the atomic bombings, and to gain a greater understanding of them by critically examining diverse narratives. This class will provide students with an opportunity not only to consider how Hiroshima’s message can speak to the people who suffered under the brutal Japanese occupation in Asia, but also to contemplate the meaning and impact of the events in the contemporary world.

The course will explore the atomic bomb experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and its significance, which is nothing short of an unprecedented change in human history. We will begin with examining the forces which culminated in the atomic bombings and discussing why America dropped them. Then, we will explore the power of the atomic bombs by evaluating their physical, medical, and social effects on these two cities and their citizens. Moreover, we will investigate these issues while paying attention to survivors’ accounts of the agony and destruction of the atomic bombings. This course, furthermore, discusses the situation of Korean atomic bomb victims, whose voices have long been suppressed. By reading historical studies, poems, novels, and studying cartoons, films, and photographs, we will attempt to comprehend the realities of what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Through this course, by recognizing the long-lasting impacts of the atomic bombs on human beings and society, we hope to understand anew their implications for the whole world at present.

Required reading:
John Hersey, Hiroshima
Michael J. Hogan (ed.). Hiroshima in History and Memory

Films and Cartoon:
ABC Special: Hiroshima: Why the Bomb was Dropped. Narr. Peter Jennings. 1996.
Nakazawa, Keiji. Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima.
Okazaki, Steven. White Light Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Xeroxes of all other assigned reading will be distributed in class the week before they are due.

The format of the course will be short lectures followed by discussions and presentations. Students will be expected to read all the assigned articles and books thoroughly before class, and prepare questions for class discussions.

Students should write an 5-8 page paper based on themes relevant to this course. Each student is required to deliver a short presentation (10-15 minutes) based on her/his final paper. The final paper is due on July 17.

Students should write a one-page reflection paper: How has your view of Hiroshima changed (or remained unchanged) after taking this course? The reflection essay is due on July 17.

Attendance: 20%
Class participation: 10 %
Discussion questions: 5 %
Oral presentation: 20 %
Final paper: 35 %
Reflection essay: 10 %
The class participation grade will be based on students' preparation for and contribution to class discussion.

• Week 1 (4/10): Introduction
• Week 2 (4/17): The Origins of the Asian Pacific War: The Road to PearlHarbor

  Readings:
  Irie, Akira. “ Toward Pearl Harbor,” Across the Pacific. pp.200-226.
  Gordon, Andrew. Japan: A Modern History of Japan. pp. 204-212.

• Week 3 (4/24): Documentary Film: “Hiroshima: Why the Bomb was Dropped”

  Readings:
  Walker J. Samuel, “The Decision to Use the Bomb,” Hiroshima in History and Memory. ed. Michael Horgan. pp. 11-37.
  Takaki, Ronald, “ A Matter of Moral Importance,” Hiroshima: Why American Dropped the Atomic Bomb. pp.131-140.

• Week 4 (5/1): The Decision to Use the Bomb: The Official Narrative vs. Revisionist Accounts

  Readings:
  Walker J. Samuel, “The Decision to Use the Bomb,” Hiroshima in History and Memory. ed. Michael Horgan. pp. 11-37.
  Takaki, Ronald, “ A Matter of Moral Importance,” Hiroshima: Why American Dropped the Atomic Bomb. pp.131-140.

• Week 5 (5/8): Reporting from Hiroshima:The First American Account of the Aftermath of the Atomic Bomb (I)

  Readings:
  Hersey John. Hiroshima.

• Week 6 (5/15): Reporting from Hiroshima: The First American Account of the Aftermath of the Atomic Bomb (II)

  Readings:
  Hersey John. Hiroshima.
  Yavenditti, Michael J., “ John Hersey and the American Conscience: The Reception of “Hiroshima.” Pacific Historical Review 43(1974):24-49.

• Week 7 (5/22): The Power of the Atomic Bombs: The Physical, Medical and Social Effects of Atomic Bombings

  Readings:
  The Committee for the Compilation of Materials on Damage Caused by the Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “Hiroshima A City Laid Waste,”The Impact of the A-Bomb: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 1945-85. pp.7-58.

• Week 8 (5/29): Who are the Victims?: The Diversity of the Target (1)

  Readings:
  Hoom Kwi Kuak. “ Father and Son Robbed of Body and Soul,” pp. 200-204. & Kim In Jo. “Koreans…and Americans and Chinese Are Also Victims,” pp.205- 214. The Atomic Bomb Voices: From Hiroshima and Nagasaki.eds. Kyoko Selden and Mark Selden
  Toyonaga Keisaburo. “Colonial and Atomic Bombs: About Survivors of Hiroshima Living in Korea, “ trans. Eric Cazdyn and Lisa Yoneyama, Perilous Memories: The Asia-Pacific War(s). eds. Takashi Fujitani, Geoffrey M. White, and Lisa Yoneyama, pp.378-409.
  Suggested Reading:
  Palmer, David. “The Straits of Dead Souls: One Man’s Investigation into the Disappearance of Mitsubishi Hiroshima’s Korean Forced Laboures.” Japanese Studies 26 (2006):335-349.

• Week 9 (6/5): Who are the Victims?: The Diversity of the Target (II)

  Readings:
  Yoneyama, Risa. “Ethnic and Colonial Memories: The Korean Atomic Bomb Memorial,” Hiroshima Traces: Time, Space, and the Dialectics of Memory. pp. 151-186.

• Week 10 (6/12): Witnesses to Atomic Bombings-I: Cartoon, “Barefoot Gen”

  Readings:
  Walker J. Samuel, “The Decision to Use the Bomb,” Hiroshima in History and Memory. ed. Michael Horgan. pp. 11-37.
  Takaki, Ronald, “ A Matter of Moral Importance,” Hiroshima: Why American Dropped the Atomic Bomb. pp.131-140.

• Week 11 (6/19): Witnesses to Atomic Bombings-II: Novel,“Summer Flowers” by Tamiki Hara and Poem, “Give Back the Human” by Sankichi Toge.

  Minear Richard,ed., Hiroshima: Three Witnesses (selections).

• Week 12 (6/26): Documentary Film: “White Light Black Rain
• Week 13 (7/3): Hiroshima Field Trip: Visiting the Peace Memorial Museum
• Week 14 (7/10): Hiroshima in American Memory: The Smithsonian Controversy of 1995

  Readings:
  Hogan J Michael. “The Enola Gay Controversy: History, Memory, and the Politics of Presentation, ” Hiroshima in History and Memory. ed. Michael Horgan. pp. 200-232.
  Treat, John Whittier. “The Enola Gay on Display: Hiroshima and the American Memory, “ Positions: East Asia Cultures Critics. Vol.5, No.3, (Winter 1997), pp.863-878.

• Week 15 (7/17): Student Presentations and Discussion

  Wrap-up:
  The Legacy of Hiroshima and The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Incident