Brian Klaas

It involved twice meeting with President Truman, the American president at the time overseeing this choice, and convincing him to take Kyoto off the bombing list. So it's an extraordinary intervention by a government official who is basically going out on a limb to overrule the decision of the committee that has deeply thought about the strategic value of various bombing targets.

Yeah, so the first target is taken off the list, Kyoto. So they go to the secondary target on August 6th, 1945, the other one that was very highly rated, and that was Hiroshima, which as we all know, was destroyed by the first atomic bomb. The second target that was of significance that was deemed to be one of the top value targets was a place called Kokura.

Yeah, so the first target is taken off the list, Kyoto. So they go to the secondary target on August 6th, 1945, the other one that was very highly rated, and that was Hiroshima, which as we all know, was destroyed by the first atomic bomb. The second target that was of significance that was deemed to be one of the top value targets was a place called Kokura.

Yeah, so the first target is taken off the list, Kyoto. So they go to the secondary target on August 6th, 1945, the other one that was very highly rated, and that was Hiroshima, which as we all know, was destroyed by the first atomic bomb. The second target that was of significance that was deemed to be one of the top value targets was a place called Kokura.

And that was where the second atomic bomb on August 9th, 1945, three days after the Hiroshima bombing, was supposed to go. So the second B-29 boxcar is approaching Kokura, ready to drop its payload. And the city is obscured by unforecasted fog and clouds and haze. So basically, they can't see the bomb site.

And that was where the second atomic bomb on August 9th, 1945, three days after the Hiroshima bombing, was supposed to go. So the second B-29 boxcar is approaching Kokura, ready to drop its payload. And the city is obscured by unforecasted fog and clouds and haze. So basically, they can't see the bomb site.

And that was where the second atomic bomb on August 9th, 1945, three days after the Hiroshima bombing, was supposed to go. So the second B-29 boxcar is approaching Kokura, ready to drop its payload. And the city is obscured by unforecasted fog and clouds and haze. So basically, they can't see the bomb site.

And as a result of this, they think to themselves, well, we can't risk dropping an atomic bomb and missing. Right. So they circle a few times and eventually they decide to divert to the secondary target as they're running low on fuel. And that is Nagasaki. And so around 1045 in the morning, they dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. And of course, nobody in Kokura was aware of this.

And as a result of this, they think to themselves, well, we can't risk dropping an atomic bomb and missing. Right. So they circle a few times and eventually they decide to divert to the secondary target as they're running low on fuel. And that is Nagasaki. And so around 1045 in the morning, they dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. And of course, nobody in Kokura was aware of this.

And as a result of this, they think to themselves, well, we can't risk dropping an atomic bomb and missing. Right. So they circle a few times and eventually they decide to divert to the secondary target as they're running low on fuel. And that is Nagasaki. And so around 1045 in the morning, they dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. And of course, nobody in Kokura was aware of this.

And so there's a term in modern Japanese culture called Kokura's luck, which is basically when you unknowingly escape disaster. Because for potentially 100,000, maybe even more people living in that city, they were spared by a passing cloud. And for the people of Kyoto, they were spared by a 19-year-old vacation of one pivotal government official who was at the right place at the right time.

And so there's a term in modern Japanese culture called Kokura's luck, which is basically when you unknowingly escape disaster. Because for potentially 100,000, maybe even more people living in that city, they were spared by a passing cloud. And for the people of Kyoto, they were spared by a 19-year-old vacation of one pivotal government official who was at the right place at the right time.

And so there's a term in modern Japanese culture called Kokura's luck, which is basically when you unknowingly escape disaster. Because for potentially 100,000, maybe even more people living in that city, they were spared by a passing cloud. And for the people of Kyoto, they were spared by a 19-year-old vacation of one pivotal government official who was at the right place at the right time.

This is the nature of luck is that it's in the eye of the beholder because one person's luck is somebody else's misfortune. Certainly it's the case that with Nagasaki, you know, if there had been a decision to drop the bomb on Kyoto, then the secondary target probably would have been Hiroshima. And so there's this sort of cascade of effects, this vacation, which is intersecting with this cloud.

This is the nature of luck is that it's in the eye of the beholder because one person's luck is somebody else's misfortune. Certainly it's the case that with Nagasaki, you know, if there had been a decision to drop the bomb on Kyoto, then the secondary target probably would have been Hiroshima. And so there's this sort of cascade of effects, this vacation, which is intersecting with this cloud.

This is the nature of luck is that it's in the eye of the beholder because one person's luck is somebody else's misfortune. Certainly it's the case that with Nagasaki, you know, if there had been a decision to drop the bomb on Kyoto, then the secondary target probably would have been Hiroshima. And so there's this sort of cascade of effects, this vacation, which is intersecting with this cloud.

All these things had to come together, not to mention the timing of when they discovered the atomic bomb, the discovery of uranium, all of them connected to create that moment of intense misfortune for the people who were unfortunately killed in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

All these things had to come together, not to mention the timing of when they discovered the atomic bomb, the discovery of uranium, all of them connected to create that moment of intense misfortune for the people who were unfortunately killed in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

All these things had to come together, not to mention the timing of when they discovered the atomic bomb, the discovery of uranium, all of them connected to create that moment of intense misfortune for the people who were unfortunately killed in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Yeah, and this is something that, you know, when you get to these highly consequential events of warfare, of mass destruction, weapons being used and so on, there is obviously a moral component. And yet I think there's also an aspect of this that shows the amoral components of some of these interconnecting factors.