Envisioning Nagasaki: from ‘atomic wasteland’ to ‘international cultural city’, 1945–1950

This article looks at the first five years of reconstruction in Nagasaki City after the atomic bombing of 9 August 1945, elucidating how the municipal vision of reconstruction shaped the city's post-war urban identity, especially in comparison to Hiroshima. From early on, city officials envisio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inUrban history Vol. 41; no. 3; pp. 497 - 516
Main Author DIEHL, CHAD R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.08.2014
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Subjects
Balancing
Bombings
Cities
Destruction
Global Cities
Hiroshima, Japan
Identity
Memory
Nuclear weapons
Postwar reconstruction
Reconstruction
Sheds
Urban Areas
Vision
World War II
Nagasaki Japan
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Summary:This article looks at the first five years of reconstruction in Nagasaki City after the atomic bombing of 9 August 1945, elucidating how the municipal vision of reconstruction shaped the city's post-war urban identity, especially in comparison to Hiroshima. From early on, city officials envisioned the future of Nagasaki as a restored ‘international cultural city’, not solely as a centre of atomic memory, while Hiroshima made the atomic experience the centre of its urban identity. This article seeks to revive Nagasaki as a subject of historical inquiry in order to balance scholarly, as well as popular, literature on the bombings, which has favoured Hiroshima for nearly seven decades. In short, the story of Nagasaki sheds a different light on bombing and aftermath, not only in comparison with Hiroshima but with other cities that have suffered mass destruction and the course of their subsequent reconstruction.
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ISSN:0963-9268
1469-8706
DOI:10.1017/S0963926813000746