Nagasaki 80 Years Later, World 'More Dangerous Than Cold War,' Says Author

Newsweek

06-08-2025

Author MG Sheftall and book jacket of Nagasaki: The Last Witnesses
Author MG Sheftall and book jacket of Nagasaki: The Last Witnesses
Dutton Adult HC 2005
While the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki helped hasten the end of World War II in 1945, they also unleashed devastation so horrific that the weapon has not been used in warfare since. On the 80th anniversary of this tragedy, M.G. Sheftall, an historian at Shizuoka University in Japan, reflects on the impacts of the bombing that are still felt in Japan—and the rest of the world. In his new book, Nagasaki: The Last Witnesses, Sheftall uses survivor stories to recount the events of that fateful day and share the lessons that can be learned from them. In this Q&A, Sheftall discusses one of the most horrifying facts about the effects of the bombing, its long-term political and societal implications for Japan, what effect the U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear sites will have on nuclear proliferation, the lessons of Nagasaki and more.
Q _ Last year you published Hiroshima. Why did you choose to write about Nagasaki separately?
A _ Not long into the actual writing process, I realized that treating these subjects to the level of detail that they deserved was simply too much material for one book.
Was it difficult to get people to share their experiences?
A Hiroshima survivor once told me, in effect, that for every hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor in Japanese) willing to talk to a white American male about their bomb experiences, there are many more whose resentment and trauma regarding the bomb(s) are still too intense to do so. I think what he was trying to tell me is that I was only encountering the hibakusha who were OK with talking about this, and he was warning me against buying into the widespread and comforting postwar myth that the hibakusha, as a group, uniformly embrace a sort of Gandhi-like acceptance of what happened to them, and to their loved ones, in 1945, and that all is forgiven toward the greater good—and in the hope—of world peace. Yes, there are hibakusha like that, and they are the ones that tend to get all of the media attention. But—at least according to this particular gentleman—those hibakusha are in the minority and, in that sense, my interview subjects should not be considered to be completely representative of the hibakusha experience in toto. In fact, in my own field work experience, I did have several cases of hibakusha who had initially agreed to be interviewed, but who had gotten cold feet about it at the last minute.
Is there a story that you found especially compelling?
It is almost impossible to narrow that field down to a single episode that merits special mention. But if forced to do so, I think it would be the horrifying fact—brought to my attention by a research colleague and Nagasaki hibakusha, Dr. Masao Tomonaga—that no one in Hiroshima or Nagasaki was "instantly vaporized" by the bombs, not even someone standing at Ground Zero, directly under the explosions. Rather, they were blowtorched alive by thermal rays, at temperatures of 3,000-4,000°C [5,432-7,232°F], for a minimum of a few seconds before the shock wave from the explosion blew them to pieces. If any human beings have ever experienced eternity in a second, it was certainly such victims who were caught out in the open in the respective zones of total destruction of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. But in many ways, the victims who took longer to die—for example, from acute radiation syndrome—had it much worse, because they suffered that much longer, in some cases succumbing weeks or months after the events.
How has the fallout affected health in the surrounding cities?
There are almost 80 years' worth of data from rigorous longitudinal studies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors which prove, beyond doubt, that their exposure to the radiation from the bombs has had lifelong health consequences for them, most typically in terms of leukemia and other bomb-related cancers. This was because of the damage caused to the DNA in the cells of their bodies. These same longitudinal studies have yet to turn up any conclusive evidence that this radiation exposure has had transgenerational genetic consequences for the offspring of hibakusha.
The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan three days after dropping one on Hiroshima. Japan would surrender five day later, ending World War II. | Location: Nagasaki, Japan.
The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan three days after dropping one on Hiroshima. Japan would surrender five day later, ending World War II. | Location: Nagasaki, Japan.
Bettmann / Contributor/Getty
As for the physical environments of the two cities themselves, ambient radiation there has for all intents and purposes returned to "normal" levels, although it is said that there are still some slightly "warm" spots in the northern part of Nagasaki, due to the incomplete fission of the plutonium core of the bomb dropped on that city. Certain precautions have to be taken in these areas, for example, [for] construction projects involving significant excavation.
What are the long-term political and societal implications in Japan?
First and foremost, there is a quite understandable moral aversion to nuclear weapons among the general populace, and this has been consistent throughout the entirety of the postwar period. That said, there has been talk of late from certain politicians and other public figures—openly, for the first time in Japanese history—promoting the idea that, because of America's changing strategic stance on the world stage, Japan can no longer rely on the traditional postwar "American nuclear umbrella" for its national security, and thus should begin developing its own nuclear weapons. But I think it would take a years-long, dedicated campaign of active opinion-influencing on the part of the Japanese state to get even a slight majority of the populace on board with such a proposal.
How do you think the U.S.'s June bombing of Iranian nuclear sites fits within the history of nuclear proliferation? Will it deter Iran and other non-nuclear countries?
I think many of the countries that do not yet have nuclear weapons may be looking at what just happened to Iran, then comparing that to what has not happened—for example, to nuclear-armed North Korea—then drawing from that observation natural conclusions about the future of their own national security policies. As a result, we may be entering a phase of out-of-control nuclear proliferation posing risks to the world that are, in their way, even more dangerous than the prospect of nuclear Armageddon the world endured during the worst phases of the Cold War confrontation between America and the former Soviet Union.
What do you want readers to understand about nuclear weapons?
That these horrific, inhuman and potentially civilization-, or even species-annihilating, weapons must never, ever be used in anger again.