this week's TIME magazine has articles which include 'The global impact of a rising yuan', world war 2 accounts from the witnesses and most importantly, 'The men who dropped the bomb tell their story'.

so being a history freak, read the articles about the war.  one question i have always been asking myself, what was in the mind of the soldiers who dropped the bomb?  were they told that they were carrying an atomic bomb? did they know the long and short term consequences the bomb could bring? did they think that it was an ordinary bomb? or were they just told to throw the bomb?

apparently they knew that they were carrying atomic bombs with them.  before they left from their great mission which would forever last in modern history, Theodore Van Kirk, navigator on the Enola Gay, was assured by Colonel Paul Tibbets that if the bomb worked, "it will end or significantly end the war." controversies sprung up among many historians who examined the real cause for the japanese surrender.  were the japanese afraid that the americans may bomb their capital, harming the emperor? or were the japanese' resources strained to the maximum that they could not contine fighting? already seen in the case of singapore, where the japanese were on the verge of giving up her thirst for singapore against the british.  her ammunition for her soldiers were insufficient to sustain her fight against the british.  was it time for japanese to surrender after its long war? i think the first would support the argument best.

japanese were loyal to their king.  schools in singapore during the japanese occupation had to face the east (if i'm not wrong) and give a bow.  This showed respect for the Japanese emperor.  the japanese had the 'never-say-die' spirit in them.  it gave them the motivation to push forward in its conquest for more power. 

while i was in new zealand last year, i was a discovery channel programme about the treatment the chinese received from the japanese.  the japanese were heavily influenced by gengis khan, the mongolian warrior.  he was merciless, showed no humanity to his enemies.  it was this kind of attitude the japanese carried with them in thier war against china. 

coming to a close, would the war have ended without the use of the atomic bomb? would the war stretch on till the japanese became tired? did the americans consider the consequences of the bomb?  the use of radiation could impair future generations of japanese.  war survivor, mr Toru Mitoya, now 79, witnessed the death of his 2 children due to brain cancer.  The children unfortunately inherited their father's nuclear-influenced genes.  were the americans thinking in a wider perspective, that the bomb would do all other nations good?  were they infuriated that they no longer appeared as super power with the fall of pearl harbour, thus seeking revenge?  these are the unsolved mysteries that would make history interesting.  it makes me want to find out.