Kokura's fortune, the Japanese city that was saved twice from being the white of the atomic bomb

But the devastating weapon never launched there, since a combination of factors forced the US Air Force to attack Nagasaki. It is estimated that the bombings killed 140,000 people in Hiroshima and 74,000 in Nagasaki. Thousands more suffered the effects of radiation for years.

“Kokura's fate” became a Japanese expression to describe the fate of escaping a terrible destiny.

But what really happened?

In mid -July 1945, US military authorities had selected 12 cities in Japan that could be attacked with atomic bombs due to the presence of objectives such as factories and military bases.

Kokura took second place behind Hiroshima. It was a weapons production center and housed one of the huge arsenals of the Japanese army.

On August 6, the city would have been the objective of the first atomic bomb if, for some reason, the US army could not have launched it on Hiroshima.

Three days later, B-29 bombers flew to Kokura at dawn. One of them, the Bockscar, transported the “fat man” bomb, a plutonium pump even more powerful than the uranium previously launched on Hiroshima.

But Kokura was wrapped in clouds that morning. The lack of visibility could have been aggravated by the smoke that rose from the fires caused by the conventional bombing of neighbor Yawata the previous day.

Some historians have also claimed that Kokura factories burned intentionally to create a smoke curtain over the city at a time when air attacks were frequent throughout Japan.

According to US military documents and William Laurence's report, a journalist of The New York Times that was traveling aboard one of the airplanes that participated in the mission on August 9, the B-29 fly over Kokura three times.

It was only ordered to launch the bomb after the visual confirmation of the objective to maximize its destructive power.

It was then that the greatest Charles Sweeney, under the Bockscar, decided to go to Nagasaki, since the airplanes also consumed fuel during the wait.

Kokura had been saved. For the second time.

American airplanes attacked Japan without rest since March 1945, using incendiary bombs that reduced cities to ashes.

It is estimated that a single attack in Tokyo, on the night of March 9, caused the death of more than 83,000 people and left more than one million homeless.

But for when the B-29 arrived in Kokura in August, the city was practically intact.

It had been saved from incendiary attacks, along with other possible objectives of atomic bombs. The US military authorities wanted these cities to preserve themselves as much as possible before the attacks to better study the damage caused by atomic weapons.

Nagasaki did not appear on the original objective list, but was included by Harry Stimson, the then Secretary of War of the United States.

Stumbson successfully convinced the then US president Harry Truman that the destruction of Kyoto, ancient capital of Japan, would greatly hinder the reconciliation between Tokyo and Washington after the war.

But American historians have indicated since then that Stimson also had a personal interest in preserving Kyoto. He had previously traveled to Japan several times and, it is said, he spent his honeymoon in the city.

Japan's unconditional surrender was announced by Emperor Hirohito on August 15, 1945.

Kokura, now Kitakyushu, had escaped destruction, but not to dismay.

When it was learned that the bomb launched on Nagasaki was originally intended for the city, relief was mixed with sadness and empathy.

Kitakyushu has a commemorative monument of the Nagasaki atomic bomb, located in a park built on the land of the old arsenal.

The salvation of the city and the difficult situation of Nagasaki are described in the monument, the scene of an annual commemoration every August 9 since 1973.

The Peace Museum of the city of Kitakyushu also opened its doors in 2022.

Both cities cultivated friendship ties throughout the decades and their intertwined destinations are publicly recognized.

But Kitakyushu also experienced changes: during the reconstruction of Japan, the industrial city was contaminated so much that the waters of Dokai Bay were practically lifeless.

Today, after decades of investment in renewable technologies, it is recognized as one of the most green cities in Asia: a city that will never forget the past, but that advanced firmly towards the future.