A Japanese Christian Who Survived the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb

This is an outstanding documentary from NHK, Japan's public television station. It revolves around Koko Kondo, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bomb drop of August 6, 1945. Kondo was eight months old when that happened. A Christian, Kondo was the daughter of a pastor. She is the wife of a pastor.

She is a thoughtful woman who lives with a hard-earned cheerfulness.

Her perspective on nuclear weaponry and her personal journey to forgiveness, reconciliation, and love moved me.

By the way, for those who may be interested: I am aware that the Japanese military under Emperor Hirohito initiated the Pacific Theater of World War 2. That notably began with Japan's invasion and brutal rule over China, even before the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The record also includes the savage treatment to which American POWs were routinely subjected by their Japanese captors.

Little of that is mentioned here. But I still think it's worth watching and that you'll find it interesting.

This was released a few weeks ago and appeared on NHK World-English.



[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]

Today's 11:11, August 8, 2017

Pictured above, at the top, is the mushroom cloud arising from the atomic bomb dropped at Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945.

Below it, is a picture of what was left of Nagasaki after the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later.

President Truman believed that the bombs needed to be dropped in order to force Imperial Japan to surrender, avoiding the death of tens of thousands of Americans and others. I've always believed he was right.

But it cannot be easily dismissed that at least 129,000 died as a result of the bombings. It was the worst humanly-produced conflagration in history.

That fact made the current president's statement earlier today regarding North Korea's apparent development of miniature nuclear weapons that can be projected via ICBMs. He promised that if North Korea didn't back down from its nuclear weapons program, it "will be met with fire, fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before."

Never been seen before? Does that anticipate a use of force that is bigger than Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

North Korea's regime needs to be dealt with and restricted. But I pray that doing so won't require anything like Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]