http://www.mconway.net/page1/page15/files/Shock%20of%20Atomic%20Bomb.pdf
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1109877
The first thing I noticed about the article about the Hiroshima Maidens is the difference in attitude about the acceptance of western culture versus the traditional culture. The way the Japanese people handled the recovery and remembrance of the Hiroshima bombing and the aftermath, including the Hiroshima Maidens, showed how the country was experiencing a change in culture. Part of the nation wanted to be able to move forward with modern endeavors and rebuild the country into a economically viable world trade partner by adopting western customs and culture including constructing a modern memorial to the Hiroshima atomic bombing. Part of the nation wanted to hold on to traditional items and build a memorial based upon traditional principles. The tension between the traditionalists and the modernists was demonstrated in the decision not to use the cenotaph memorial design by Noguchi, strictly because he had American citizenship. It is interesting that even though Japan used a more traditional design for the Hiroshima Memorial, and for a decade after the war ostracized the Hiroshima maidens because of the shame that they felt about the bombing and the women’s appearance. The traditional setting was to be a wife, and because of their injuries sustained in the atomic bombing and the stigma attached to the women, they were unable to marry. The acceptance of help in getting the women surgery forecasted the expansion of Japan into the modern world economy and the success that Japan would have in building its economy through international trade. The American occupation that lasted from 1945 until 1952 helped project the Japanese culture forward by giving sustained exposure to western ideals and practices, which eventually led to the Japanese adopting all medical practices such as plastic surgery.
Based on the first article, published by the University of California- Berkley Press, Japanese historians do not conduct as much research into the reaction to the dropping of the atomic bomb on either Hiroshima or Nagasaki. I considered the possibility that this is similar to how there is not as much research conducted in the United States into the Native American Wars in the 19th Century. Japan wanted to move on as much as possible, and the best way forward was to put a memorial to those that had lost their lives and then for the living to carry on in the new world order.
