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Changes in Japanese Culture

Decent Essays

Throughout “Hiroshima” by John Heresy, the readers are gradually exposed to Japanese culture through each of the six survivors, regardless of the survivors' nationality, as they stitch their lives back together after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 9, 1945. Japanese-style hospitals are quite different in comparison to other hospitals, gradually reforming through the book. As a Japanese, you were happy to die for your Emperor and country as shown in Tanimoto's letter to an American and in the survivors. Japanese had a resistance toward foreigners due to the war, however, after the bombing, the Japanese accepted those they rejected. Through these Japanese customs, the audience gains further understanding of the influence the …show more content…

The Emperor in Japan is “the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people,” which the Japanese give their obligation to as seen in Kiyoshi Tanimoto’s letter to an American and in the six survivors despite their nationality. When the bomb was dropped onto Hiroshima, many perished in the ruins created by the bomb. When Dr Y. Hiraiwa and his son were trapped under rubbles of their burning “two-story house,” they decided that they could do nothing but devote their lives to their country. The father and son chanted “Tenno-heika, Banzai, Banzai, Bazai,” encouraging the emperor to live long. This chanting allows the father to feel at peace and contented that he was able to taste “a beautiful spirit,” which in context is when he “decided to die for” the Emperor. Kayoko Nobutoki was walking home from school with her classmates. They rested against a “heavy fence of the Buddhist Temple,” which fell on them as the atomic bomb was dropped. “One of the girls began to sing Kimi ga yo, national anthem, and others followed in chorus and died.” Even in the midst of dying from no oxygen, the girls knew they were dying for their country, singing their national anthem even when they could barely breathe due to the heavy smoke.

The foreigners in Japan during the period of rebuilding the country experienced many new feelings and emotions due to the atomic bomb. Father Kleinsorge didn't get the same looks as other due to having a stocky build as a German

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