It is not difficult to understand why the use of the Atomic Bomb caused unprecedented destruction due to the fact that it was a weapon of unprecedented power meant to be used in warfare. Too often the destruction from the Atomic Bomb is summed up as a number of lives lost; However, this is not the end of the destruction. The use of the Atomic Bomb at the end of World War II caused a lasting effect on the people and the state of Japan as a whole. Survivors suffered illness and disease, being shunned from the community because of their scars from radiation. Not only were they physically injured, but these people were exiled from society, causing even more psychological and social issues.
In his article “Reconstructing the Hiroshima Maidens,” David Serlin follows the story of a group of badly scarred female survivors from Hiroshima who travel to the United States to receive reconstructive plastic surgery. These women return to Japan and with their new appearances, they are able to live normal lives again and help their society move forward from a past of destruction. Serlin says that with their new look, the Maidens appear to be “merely victims of war stepping out momentarily from their daily demands of their busy lives, not living survivors of the only atomic bombing in world history” (Serlin, 67). Through erasing the scars brought on by the Atomic Bomb, the Hiroshima Maidens were able to heal and, thus, help their society and nation heal as well.
Physical trauma was not the only type experienced by survivors of the Atomic Bomb. The experience itself often caused psychological damage to individuals. In “Psychological Effects of the Atomic Bomb in Hiroshima: The Theme of Death,” Robert Jay Lifton interviews survivors about their experience seventeen years after the Atomic Bomb. Lifton states that “the most striking psychological feature of this immediate experience was the sense of a sudden and absolute shift from normal existence to an overwhelming encounter with death” (Lifton, 465, http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/stable/20026792). A brush with death is likely to have a psychological effect on whoever experiences it, and it was no different with the Atomic Bomb. Along with these psychological issues came social ones. Survivors often felt seperated from society. One stated that “to be a hibakusha thus seperates one from the rest of mankind” and for many “it means…a sense of having been forsaken”(Lifton, 481). Just as with the Hiroshima Maidens, steps were taken to rebuild Japan and adopt the survivors back into society but it was a long, slow process.
In conclusion, Japan leaned on Western powers and innovation to assist in rebuilding its people and nation. The Japanese sought to severe ties with old tradition and incorporate new Western ways to improve their society while moving forward from the destruction of the Atomic Bomb. While the damage from the Atomic Bomb will never be truly forgotten, the steps taken to rebuild Japan with help from the West were both efficient and necessary.
As far as the reconstruction of Hiroshima goes, I am surprised they wouldn’t allow a Japanese American to design the Hiroshima sculpture but then at the same time redesign the city in the style of the West. At the same time I am perplexed at how quickly the Japanese were able to build and inhabit the site of an atomic bomb, doesn’t the atomic radiation still remain?
It’s interesting that you chose a article that talked about the psychological effects of the atomic bomb. It is correct that most people don’t associate the atomic bombs with psychological problems, but more with physical problems and death. It is important to note that people probably experienced PSD as a result of the atomic bombs because it was a near death experience, not to mention extremely traumatic.