LOCAL SPACE
Source: United States Civil Defense National Security Resources Board 1950, pg. 50
United States Urban Planning: Sprawl and Bomb Shelters as Survival
After WWII, the Strategic Bombing Survey noted that Nagasaki had significantly less casualties than Hiroshima. This was in part due to urban design: Hiroshima was a city built around the city center and everyone wanted to live near the middle. In comparison, Nagasaki existed in densely populated pockets dispersed around the city (Kargon and Mollela, 2004).
Source: United States Civil Defense National Security Resources Board 1950, pg. 119
As such, when the bomb dropped in Hiroshima, it killed most of the people there and destroyed many services like hospitals and medical personnel. This catalyzed a flurry of activity in American urban planning as city planners advocated for dispersed city designed and suburban environments as a way to survive nuclear attack. As William Fielding Ogburn put it, “the countries with the most factories (and hence the most cities) have been the greatest military powers. But in the atomic age the very concentration of this urban population becomes a weakness” (Ogburn, 1946).
One of the first calls for post-war urban sprawl was spearheaded by Edward Teller (the father of the H Bomb) Marshak, and Klein:
In a 1946 article published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, they suggested that cities have only 100-1000 households and that neighbors live a quarter mile apart from each other (Marshak et. al, 1946).
In 1947, the National Security Council advocated for the dispersal of industrial sites in their report NSC 17/3. In 1950, the Council justified the dispersal to ‘reduce vulnerability to bombing’ in NSC 68 (Tobin, 2002).
These fears worsened once the Soviet Union began testing their own nuclear weapons. When President Eisenhower signed the 1956 Federal Highway Act, he mentioned that a new road system would allow quick escape in case of an attack (“Congress Approves the Federal-Aid Highway Act”). And it was through the building of these highways that it became easier to build suburbs connected to cities. This brings an interesting point to nuclear deterrence as the fear of nuclear weapons seems to have indirectly caused American cities to become less concentrated and more suburban.
“The time to start is now. In the coming months, I hope to let every citizen know what steps he can take without delay to protect his family in case of an attack. I know you would not want to do less.”
Films such as “Duck and Cover” and drills were taught to children and adults. Trucks circulated around the country, passing out informational pamphlets that taught Americans what to expect in case of a nuclear attack and how to build a fallout shelter. Cities opened nuclear fallout shelters, amassed supplies such as food, and installed emergency broadcast systems (McBirney, 2016).
The United States had limited policy focused on potential air raids. Libraries were offered as alternative air raid shelters. In The Protection of Cultural Resources Against the Hazards of War, a document by the United States National Resources Planning Board, suggested that libraries work with local agencies to craft disaster plans, reinforce library structures, and to have something to smother fires rather than use fire extinguishers (in order to not damage the books and other archived works in libraries). The manual also suggests using five inches of reinforced concrete on attics to protect libraries from incendiary bombs (National Resources Planning Board, 1942).
Interestingly, bomb shelters after the 1950s (specifically shelters against a nuclear bomb) were only built for elites and affluent communities rather than for everyone. In comparison, Switzerland has enough bomb shelters for its entire population. This can be partially explained by the 1957 Gaither Report which said that it would be more cost-effective to invest in an air defense system rather than bomb shelters (Security Resources Panel, 1952). The report also noted that citizens would significantly benefit from having fallout shelters instead, which is different in that these are meant to shelter from nuclear fallout. but unable to sustain a direct hit from a bomb. Fallout shelters were not built from the ground up in the United States, but were constructed out of existing sites and stocked with supplies.
Contemporary bunker in Las Vegas
Source: Realtor.com
Instead of building fallout shelters across the country that would be available to all citizens, the US Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization distributed half a million booklets teaching Americans how to build their own shelter (Bishop, 2022). Survival Under Atomic Attack, a film by the Civil Defense Administration, claims that with preparation, Americans will be better prepared than those in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It goes on to instruct viewers on how to turn their cellar into a bomb shelter and to duck under a table in their basement.
These sorts of government materials shifted responsibility and cost away from the government and left it on the individual. This also reflected a remarkable assumption that with enough preparation, an American family could survive a nuclear attack.
The United State’s shelter program ended in the 1970s. Today, many government-designated bunkers are abandoned, some still with food and sanitation kits from the 60s though the Smithsonian has a bomb shelter that was taken from a home in Fort Wayne, Indiana (though it is currently not on view) (Olito, 2020). There is, however, a multimillion private bunker industry. A wealthier example of a bunker can be found in Las Vegas: The Underground House was a subterranean, 15,000 sq ft home that was 25 feet below a normal-looking suburban home, currently on sale for $5.9 million (Latu and Meisenzahl, 2023).
Fallout shelter for cows – In rural areas, there were few fallout sites though there was a fallout shelter for cows near Elkhorn, Nebraska. Source: Civil Defense Museum
Japanese Air Raid Shelters
and the Ongoing Struggle
Earth and Pole Shelter in Hiroshima. Source: Atomic Archive’s United States Strategic Bombing Survey Gallery
Shelter built into the hillside in Nagasaki. Source: Atomic Archive’s United States Strategic Bombing Survey Gallery
During WWII, Japan realized it was unprepared for the mass bombings from the Allied Army as there were very few concrete shelters. Thus, most citizens were left on their own. Following the recommendation of their government, some civilians gathered under or in cupboards. Others dug “bokugo,” or little holes beside their home or between street and sidewalk. These holes were usually 2-5 meters long, 1 meter across, and 1-2 meters deep. They were covered with a few poles or bamboo and a thin crust of earth on top (“Bokugo”).
In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, shelters were very different. In Nagasaki, individual households initially built bokugo near their homes. Eventually, neighborhood associations banded together and built shelters in hills while companies built underground shelters. According to the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, “Citizens also dug tunnel-type and trench-type shelters at public offices, companies and schools” (“Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Damage Records”).
The hundreds of people who were in tunnel shelters built on the side of hills survived the blast. The shelters themselves held up relatively well. However, these shelters unfortunately did not protect occupants from heat and radiation. In Hiroshima, close to the ground, an earth and pole shelter 5,000 feet away from the epicenter survived when buildings around it were completely destroyed.
Shelters are better preserved in Japan, though it depends on the city. Preservation is more effective in Nagasaki since the structures are made of concrete, while it is harder in Hiroshima and Tokyo given that shelters were made of dirt. There are efforts to not only educate Japanese visitors but those who do not speak Japanese. The effort to preserve shelters in Nagasaki is also due to the shelters being concrete. Hiroshima’s earth and pole shelter unfortunately were not preserved.
Several of Nagasaki’s tunnel shelters have been saved and are open for public viewing:
Tateyama Air Raid Shelter sits behind the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture (“Tateyama Air Raid Shelter”). It is built into a cliff and is a tunnel lined with concrete (“Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Damage Records”). Tateyama Air Raid Shelter was where Nagasaki’s city officials convened to discuss the Hiroshima bombing when the bomb hit Nagasaki. The officials inside the tunnel survived. Today, it is open to the public though many of the documents related to the shelter are gone. Several corridors and passageways are blocked off due to the possibility of a collapse.
Sumiyoshi Tunnel (the tunnels connected to the Mitsubishi Nagasaki Arms Factory) is partially open. Two of it’s six tunnels are open to the public. Each year, during UN Disarmament Week (October 24-30) and Nagasaki Peace Day (August 7-10), tunnels 1 and 2 of the six tunnels are opened to the public (“Mitsubishi Weapons Sumiyoshi Tunnel”). There is a torpedo displayed that showed what the arms factory was assembling at the end of the way. The signs explaining the history of the place are in Japanese.
Yamazoto Air Raid Shelters were for school children and dug next to the Yamazoto Elementary School (“Yamazato Air Raid Shelters: Nagasaki City”). The site is marked with informational plaques in Japanese and English. Similar to the Tateyama Air Shelter, the tunnels have exhibits and rubble-filled tunnels.
Today, Japan faces regular missile threats from North Korea. It is also close to two other nuclear-possessing states: China and Russia. In recent years, China conducted military patrols close to the Senkaku islands, Russia labeled Japan as an ‘unfriendly country’, and North Korea sent a missile over the country. However, a Kyodo News Survey conducted in March 2023 found that only 4% of Japan’s missile shelters are underground (“Only 4% of missile shelters in Japan located underground”). This is due to few buildings having basements.
According to Nikkei Asia, “As of April [2023], Japan has 52,490 designated temporary evacuation facilities considered strong enough to provide some protection against missile blasts. Only 1,591 were located underground. The country has no requirement for buildings to set up their own shelters” (Shiozaki, 2023).
Snapshot of
Two "Nuclear” Cities
Aerial imagery of Las Vegas (left) and Tokyo (right). Sources: Library of Congress
Las Vegas and American Nuclear Tourism
Location: Nevada (Southwest)
Population: 646, 790
The largest city in the Mojave desert, Las Vegas is known for its gambling casinos, quick marriages, and vibrant nightlife. The city is located 65 miles away from the Nevada Test Site where a nuclear bomb was tested once every three weeks for 12 years starting from 1951 until 1992. Las Vegas officials and inhabitants did not know that the tests would be conducted until 2 weeks before testing began. Local communities had to drastically change their lifestyle due to the proximity to testing: government officials gave schoolchildren dog tags on the off chance testing went poorly and bodies needed to be identified.
Thus, Las Vegas had an unusual cultural reaction to nuclear testing. It billed itself as “Atomic City” and advertised hotel rooftops where visitors could see atomic mushroom clouds. Atomic box lunches were popular, or where people would picnic as close to the testing grounds as possible and watch the bombs detonate. Residents and visitors were exposed to nuclear fallout as a result. The city held an atomic pageant where the winner was chosen based on how attractive she looked wearing a mushroom cloud. Stores sold children's toys branded with nuclear weapons or mushroom clouds. There was an atomic hairdo and an atomic cocktail.
Las Vegas schools include additional education about nuclear testing. Operation Clean Desert is a series of informative activities geared towards school children that teaches them about radioactive waste disposal and contaminated groundwater. Around 24,000 students have used this curriculum. The local Atomic Museum archives the history of nuclear testing, which many students visit and study during class field trips. The Center for Radiological Nuclear Training offers on-site and online training for first responders and others in the case of a terrorist attack involving radiological or nuclear weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. government still plans to use Nevada for further nuclear-related purposes such as leaving more radioactive materials buried in the desert up the road from Las Vegas. In 2022, the government acknowledged that it sent 13,625 cubic meters of radioactive material to the Nevada Test Site.
Tokyo and the Symbolic/Religious Significance of Nuclear Weapons
Location: Kanto (Center of Japan)
Population: 13.96 million
(38 million if including the greater Tokyo metro area)
The largest city in the world, Tokyo is famous for the blend of modern and old architecture, adorable cartoon and anime aesthetics, and cuisine. During WWII, the city was firebombed multiple times, leading to immense casualties. It was in Tokyo that the Emperor Hirohito broadcast Japan’s surrender to the Allied army. Tokyo also functions as the political epicenter of Japan. The Diet (Japan’s parliament) meets in the city. Every year, various nuclear disarmament events are held such as the International Group of Eminent Persons for a World without Nuclear Weapons (IGEP) (Takahashi, 2023). However, Tokyo also best represents Japan’s ambiguous position on nuclear weapons on a world stage. After all, it is the politicians here who must worry about nuclear-possessing Russia, China, and North Korea nearby. The politicians also rely on America’s nuclear umbrella and America’s overall support.
Based on interviews with several Japanese nuclear activists based in Tokyo, politicians and urbanites alike are generally ambivalent or supportive of nuclear weapons. A majority of the interviewed mentioned that many citizens of Tokyo justify the existence of nuclear weapons as a deterrence, and that it is important for nuclear weapons to exist as a form of national security. This is interesting as many of the activists interviewed came from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, prefectures which are staunchly anti-nuclear. The activists also mentioned the difference in education in Tokyo versus Hiroshima and Nagaski (the first of which has a required peace studies textbook and the latter of which has a widely adopted peace studies curriculum for children). Tokyo education does not have a peace studies requirement. Trips to Hiroshima and Nagasaki are dependent on the school and the teacher. Education concerning nuclear weapons is largely relegated to whatever is mentioned in a Japanese or world history textbook.
Politics aside, Tokyo is also the home of many of Japan’s major publishing houses, anime studios, and art galleries. This includes publishing houses behind creations like Godzilla and Grave of the Fireflies. The influence of nuclear imagery is built into various parts of the city. Shibuya station (the largest subway station in the world) has the restored mural, The Myth of Tomorrow, by Taro Okamoto (“Myth of Tomorrow”). At Waseda University, one of the best universities in Japan, students can buy t-shirts with Astro Boy on it. At the Daigo Fukuryu Maru Exhibition Hall, visitors can see the fishing boat that was affected by atomic testing that ultimately led to the creation of Godzilla. Near the museum, a mound memorializes the dead, contaminated fish caught at the time. Some of the fish was buried underneath Tsukiji fish market (Parker, 2017). A giant statue of Godzilla occasionally roars outside a cinema (“Toho Cinema Godzilla”).
Buddhism and Shintoism’s relationships with nuclear weapons can also be seen in the city. Ofunakannon-ji Temple (near the famous Taya Caves) has a constantly burning flame meant to remember those who died in Hiroshima. The temple also contains stones from ground zero of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The temple also contains origami cranes woven into strands. According to Jonathon Watts, Buddhism’s ethical system is based on it’s first precept: to do no harm, or in positive terms, to help sustain life. Naturally, Japanese Buddhists were against nuclear weapons. This belief became part of new denominations such as Soka Gakkai and Rissho Koseikai (“Which Way to Peace?”). A small denomination, Nipponzan Myohoji, actively expresses their faith through various marches and protests for peace. Interfaith Forum for the Review of National Nuclear Policy consists of Buddhists, Christians, and Shintoists who work across Japan for a future without nuclear weapons (“Interfaith Forum for the Review of National Nuclear Policy”).
Shintoism, Japan’s indigenous religion, can also be seen everywhere. The iconic red shrine gates that Japan has become known for can be seen in neighborhoods and forests and even in the ocean. These gates mark the dwelling of a kami, or a spirit. As Shannon Mewes argues, some of Japan’s most popular pop culture anime essentially mythologizes the atomic bomb into a sort of modern kami, fusing the weapon with shintoism. He points out that Godzilla emerges from the subterranean in a vengeful path of destruction, much like the kami Izanami coming back from the dead (Mewes, 2019).
Atomic Tourism
Throughout this research, we have circled around this idea that nuclear memory can be hollowed out. Dark tourism hits the very heart of this question. There is a difference in meaning between a local group who preserves a sight of tragedy versus a foreigner who comes for entertainment. On a local level, the preservation is done as a memorial, as remembrance for what happened. The upkeep and continued education of a site is because of a desire to educate future residents about what happened. Dark tourism functions as a signifier of the value of a site and the international worth of a tragedy. But it also serves as a sort of corruption to the original purpose of preservation because it invites foreigners to view macabre pageantry which brings up the question of what is the line between remembrance and spectacle. Dark tourism can serve as a genuine avenue of education and remembrance. But it can also serve as a way to whitewash a place, and remove the local value of a site when only tourists go to these areas. Does spectacle make for a long-lasting narrative? Is it a culture that educates and preserves or does it become a hollowed, touristy ghost of what was there? In Japan’s case, the vast majority of visitors are western and there are many issues locals have with the crush of tourists every year. This question about how much a site leans into this dark tourism becomes more pressing every year as hibakusha age and Tokyo moves further into discussing more active nuclear capabilities.
Several historic sites in the United States, including Los Alamos National Laboratory, University of Chicago, and the Nevada Test Site, host tours as a way to educate the public of significant milestones in creating nuclear weapons. The Atomic Heritage Foundation lists dozens of sites across the United States and the world that were integral to the production of the nuclear bomb including labs and car plants turned diffusion plants. Much of the history and archaeology related to nuclear weapons such as bunkers and laboratories are rarely discussed. Despite this, the legacy of these programs lives on.
One example is Purdue University. Every year, career fairs are sprinkled with tables from the likes of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, the CIA, and other vaguely Pentagon-related groups. Many students aim for these lucrative internships that offer steady employment after college. Purdue has a strong nuclear engineering program. The Atomic Heritage lists Purdue University as one of the project sites where the nuclear bomb was developed. During the early part of World War II, the university operated a cyclotone that contributed to nuclear research. The scientists working on this were transferred to Los Alamos to continue their work (“Purdue University”). In the 1980s, it educated Deng Jiaxian, the father of China’s nuclear bomb. His dissertation can be accessed online in the Purdue archives. Purdue has a nuclear reactor though it is no longer open to the public. The previous university president, Mitch Daniels, attempted to bid for control of Los Alamos labs. These nuclear connections are rarely spoken about on campus.
Japan has its own nuclear tourism culture, albeit with a different focus. Starting from 1976, teachers promoted and organized school field trips to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In 1985, 40% of visitors to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum were students (“Peace Education”). There are countless memorials of those lost; they can be found in streets, around schools, in offices, and on the hills overlooking the cities. Both cities have preserved many sites that were affected by the bombing such as tunnel shelters in Nagasaki and the A-bomb dome in Hiroshima (the only building left standing near the hypocenter where the first atomic bomb exploded).
Hiroshima and Nagasaki attract hundreds of thousands of tourists, many of whom are American. They partake in dark tourism, or purposely going to sites related to violence and death. Commonly listed dark tourism places in Hiroshima include the A-bomb dome, the Peace Memorial Museum, Peace Memorial Park, Honkawa Elementary School Peace Museum, and Fukuromachi Elementary School Peace Museum (“Japan”). Areas in Nagasaki include the Atomic Bomb Museum, Oka Masaharu Memorial Peace Museum, Sumiyoshi WWII tunnels, and Gunkanjima Digital Museums. However, the cities try to be places of pacifism and powerfully illustrate this by origami peace art being placed nearby. Origami cranes are an international symbol of peace and are often folded by schoolchildren from around the world. They are often found in strands of a hundred or arranged into words.
Outside of Hiroshima and Nagasaki cities, various museums around the country display hibakusha art and various household objects and rubble preserved after the bombings such as in the Kyoto Museum for World Peace and the Osaka International Peace Center. Langdon Warner, an American art expert often mistaken for being the man who convinced the American military to avoid bombing Kyoto, has two memorials in Nara and Kamakura (“Otis Cary Saving Kyoto”).