Documenting Hiroshima of 1945: Late November, mayor and city council members visit Tokyo to submit petition
Nov. 24, 2024
by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Senior Staff Writer
At the end of November 1945, a 16-member group consisting of Hiroshima Mayor Shichiro Kihara, City Council Chair Hisao Yamamoto, Vice-Chair Izumi Kawamoto, and other city council members, visited Tokyo to submit a petition. The group’s members stayed in Tokyo for around one week, requesting cooperation from the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers (GHQ), which was working on its occupation policy, and Japan’s national government for reconstruction of the city.
On November 13, the city council had formed a reconstruction committee and announced its intention to submit a petition. According to an article in the Chugoku Shimbun newspaper at the time, the petition emphasized “the distinctive nature of the damage unlike that suffered by other cities, with the destruction caused by the war in Hiroshima City enormous in terms of both human and material losses and necessitating great cost and effort for reconstruction.” It requested that, “Reconstruction subsidies and other factors be considered separately from other cities and called for consideration of the highest level of assistance.”
On November 26, the first day of the petition campaign, the group visited Japan’s Ministry of Finance, where Minister Keizo Shibusawa “promised to provide all possible cooperation and support for the reconstruction efforts” (according to an article in the December 6 edition of the Chugoku Shimbun, based on an explanation from City Council Chair Yamamoto; hereinafter, the same source). On the other hand, an aimed-for meeting with General Douglas A. MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the GHQ, was refused.
Nevertheless, the group was able to meet with Colonel F. P. Munson from the GHQ information and planning section. Involving preferential reconstruction over other cities, an issue that the Hiroshima City government had demanded, the GHQ “requested that the city submit statistical data in Japanese, as well as asked questions regarding a summary of the approximate costs required.”
City Council Chair Yamamoto returned to Hiroshima City on December 2 and explained the outcome of the petition. “In response to the kindness shown by so many people, we are determined to forge ahead with the reconstruction work,” he said. “We must commit ourselves to the rebuilding of Hiroshima as a true city of peace.”
Around the same time, in a November 22 article, the Chugoku Shimbun newspaper reported the results of a census showing the Hiroshima City population to have been 136,518 people as of November 1. The article indicated, “The dramatic decline in population clearly speaks to how great is the destructive power of modern scientific warfare.” Around one year earlier, in December 1944, the population had been 342,000 residents.
(Originally published on November 24, 2024)
At the end of November 1945, a 16-member group consisting of Hiroshima Mayor Shichiro Kihara, City Council Chair Hisao Yamamoto, Vice-Chair Izumi Kawamoto, and other city council members, visited Tokyo to submit a petition. The group’s members stayed in Tokyo for around one week, requesting cooperation from the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers (GHQ), which was working on its occupation policy, and Japan’s national government for reconstruction of the city.
On November 13, the city council had formed a reconstruction committee and announced its intention to submit a petition. According to an article in the Chugoku Shimbun newspaper at the time, the petition emphasized “the distinctive nature of the damage unlike that suffered by other cities, with the destruction caused by the war in Hiroshima City enormous in terms of both human and material losses and necessitating great cost and effort for reconstruction.” It requested that, “Reconstruction subsidies and other factors be considered separately from other cities and called for consideration of the highest level of assistance.”
On November 26, the first day of the petition campaign, the group visited Japan’s Ministry of Finance, where Minister Keizo Shibusawa “promised to provide all possible cooperation and support for the reconstruction efforts” (according to an article in the December 6 edition of the Chugoku Shimbun, based on an explanation from City Council Chair Yamamoto; hereinafter, the same source). On the other hand, an aimed-for meeting with General Douglas A. MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the GHQ, was refused.
Nevertheless, the group was able to meet with Colonel F. P. Munson from the GHQ information and planning section. Involving preferential reconstruction over other cities, an issue that the Hiroshima City government had demanded, the GHQ “requested that the city submit statistical data in Japanese, as well as asked questions regarding a summary of the approximate costs required.”
City Council Chair Yamamoto returned to Hiroshima City on December 2 and explained the outcome of the petition. “In response to the kindness shown by so many people, we are determined to forge ahead with the reconstruction work,” he said. “We must commit ourselves to the rebuilding of Hiroshima as a true city of peace.”
Around the same time, in a November 22 article, the Chugoku Shimbun newspaper reported the results of a census showing the Hiroshima City population to have been 136,518 people as of November 1. The article indicated, “The dramatic decline in population clearly speaks to how great is the destructive power of modern scientific warfare.” Around one year earlier, in December 1944, the population had been 342,000 residents.
(Originally published on November 24, 2024)
