And speaking of news and posts from 2010, "M" (who is from Kansai) just sent me the above BBC snippet (via YouTube) with only the following message:
It is sad that BBC treated the victim of the atomic bomb as a joke.Indeed, I wrote about Tsutomu Yamaguchi just over a year ago, when he passed away and the above clip was broadcast. With my most recent trip to Hiroshima Peace Park still fresh in my head at that time, I don't imagine I would have found the BBC piece all that amusing.
I watched this episode and for some reason it didn't quite offend me. I think because these people specifically, as well as their nation in general, had nothing to do with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and so may not treat it with the same solemnity that we do in the States.
ReplyDeleteIf this had been a US show, the section never would have aired, the subject never brought up or it would have been treated with the usual somber tones this event strikes with most Americans. I just thought it was interesting (quite interesting) to see how another country views that particular bombing. True, this may not be how everybody in Britain feels but I think it's probably a fairly good indication that they're somewhat removed from it.