The Atomic Bomb and the Abolition/Renunciation of War, 1945-1946

Abstract

The "Russell-Einstein Manifesto" issued in 1955, a year after the Bikini incident, called upon the world for the abolition of nuclear weapons and war. It is well known that a similar assertion was made in a journal article in 1946 by Yoshio Nishina, one of Japanʼs prominent nuclear physicists who officially studied the damage of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This paper shows that there were a wide range of arguments in Japan for the abolition and/or renunciation of war in the immediate aftermath of the atomic bombings. Naruhiko Higashikuni, the first Prime Minister after Japanʼs surrender, suggested the idea of "Peaceful Country Japan [Heiwa kokka Nippon]." Tanzan Ishibashi, an influential journalist and future Prime Minister in the 1950s, witnessed a drastic change in international relations caused by the atomic bomb, calling for Japan to become a "warrior for world peace [Sekai heiwa no senshi]." Kanji Ishihara, a former Army lieutenant general and military philosopher, understood that the emergence of atomic bombs and the pursuit of world peace under the United Nations after World War II as a sign of "world political unity [seijiteki sekai toitsu]" that he had anticipated prior to the war. Realizing that the atomic bomb had changed the way of war, Kijuro Shidehara, Prime Minister after Higashikuni, spoke to Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces Douglas MacArthur of the necessity of abolishing and renouncing war. MacArthur incorporated this idea into his demands concerning Japanʼs constitutional revision. All these individuals foresaw the meaning of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution in the context of the nuclear age, hoping that Japan would be a pioneer of war abolition and renouncement.