Journal Six - Betsy Lyons

The character profile that has been the most interesting so far is Kiyoshi Tanimoto. He was educated in America ad had deep American ties. He is also the leader of the Neighborhood Association. On the day that the bomb exploded he was helping someone move a cabinet and he hid between rocks. This character is by far the most interesting because he was one of the ones who had a major impact in helping others who were wounded. He did everything he possibly could after the bomb struck to help those around him. He helped transport many people across the river to safety including the priests. I felt that he had so much passion in helping those that were injured that he kept on going. Even when he found his wife and baby, and knew that they were safe, he did not join them in Ushida. He stayed back to help his church and Neighborhood Association. I think the fact that he had what we call "survivors guilt" helped motivate him because he was guilty that he could walk and talk and did not have severe burns. It is clear that Tanimoto's response to the bombing was to make sure that everyone was okay in the best way possible. "He had thought of his wife and baby, his church, his home, his parishioners, all of them down in that awful murk. Once more he began to run in hear-toward the city." Instead of guaranteeing his safety, he ran toward the city in order to help others. That is very honorable and selfless of him in my opinion.


The research question that I wanted to know more about was why Japan even joined the axis powers during World War II. Germany was a strong superpower, with Hitler in command, they were unstoppable. Hitler got away with mostly everything leading up to the war, he practically overturned completely the Treaty of Versailles which marked the end of World War I. France and Great Britain, not wanting to start another war, kept on allowing Hitler to get away with everything that was clearly spoken for in the Treaty of Versailles. So why did Japan join Germany and Italy? Upon researching I found that Japan joined because they thought they would win. They saw all that Germany and Italy were capable of and they thought it would be an easy battle. Japan was incredibly isolationist and imperialistic. The Japanese were not in love with the Germans but they did agree with the attitudes that Nazis had toward the war. Japan despised the European imperialists that tried to come and take them over. They figured the best way to destroy the British and French empires was to join the war effort against them. Japan being apart of the Axis powers allowed them to dominate over East Asia and the Pacific.


https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005177

The Japanese uniting with the Nazis in order to take down the British and French empires