How Kyoto Avoided The Nuclear Bombs

World War II continues to be an interesting subject for historians and writers alike. The events that occurred can, and have been, the backbone of engaging stories and explanations to current events. However, if these stories and documentaries are anything to go by, what didn’t happen is as interesting. I could, for example, talk about the genre of “alternate universe,” or, as I know it, Uchronia. What if the Nazis won? What if the US didn’t enter the war? These questions are, however, not purely for entertainment. As some excellent writers have proven (like Philip Roth and Philip K. Dick), they can be an engaging exercise for much bigger issues. Today, we examine one such question: Why was Kyoto not bombed?

Image credit: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. “Koyasu-kanon at south garden Kiyomizutera.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1915 – 1930.

Kyoto, the ancient and cultural capital of Japan, was high in the list of the US nuclear bomb targets. As a matter of fact, it was of much higher priority than either Hiroshima or Nagasaki. However, as we all know, it didn’t suffer the terrible fate its fellow Japanese cities did.

Moreover, the short time frame in which the decision was made, makes Kyoto’s removal of the list all the more intriguing. As far as we know, the Target Committee was established in April 1945, and the US authorized the use of atomic bombs on August 3 of that year. What changed the US decision in such a short amount of time? These questions have an answer, and we at Japan Nakama want to tell you all about it.

Why Was Kyoto Considered?

Image credit: A Nuclear History Blog, Target map of Kyoto, June 1945.

Before we begin, we need to examine why Kyoto was considered in the first place. So, what made for a good Atomic Bomb target for the United States? This question is tricky, but luckily extensive documentation has been released over the years. We know, for example, that a total of six Japanese cities were considered: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata, Nagasaki, Kyoto and Yokohama. What did all these cities have in common? Well, according to the Target Committee, they were important military targets that were relatively undamaged.

The first reason is obvious, but the second might need some explaining. Japan, like many countries that participated in WW2, was subjected to attacks on its cities with conventional artillery. These Strategic Bombing campaigns had two primary purposes. The first was to destroy military-related targets, like factories that supply the army. The second had to do with the enemy’s morale. In theory, these bombings would cause a decline in civilian morale, leading to political pressure, and creating demand for a swift conclusion to the war. In England there’s the famous Blitz Campaign, and in Japan there was the Bombing of Tokyo.

The nuclear bombs were part of a Strategic Bombing campaign. Their aim was to force Japan into unconditional surrender, so, to influence a political decision. For that reason, they needed to be impressive. And this is where we return to the two criteria the Target Committee established. The target couldn’t just be a place with factories and army-related enterprises. No, it needed to be a place that wasn’t already destroyed by conventional artillery, so the bomb impact could be felt. Tokyo was, thus, off the table, and that’s how we arrived at the list of six cities presented at the beginning.

Kyoto, The Perfect Target

Image credit: Harrington&CO, The Kawarachyo Street, Kyoto, Japan (Colourized)

By now, I hope you spotted the contradiction the Target Committee was struggling with. If the cities were important military targets, how come they were relatively undamaged? Why didn’t the US target them before with conventional bombs? I don’t know the answer to these questions, but I do know what they imply in this context. Whatever the nuclear bombs were to destroy, the effect the US was looking for was mostly on the morale side of things.

Here’s where we finally arrive at Kyoto. After all, what could be more demoralizing than seeing the cultural capital of the nation destroyed? This is further supported by the Target Committee documents that have been released over the years. In a summary of their meeting (which took place on 10 and 11 of May, 1945) the following quote can be found: “From the psychological point of view there is the advantage that Kyoto is an intellectual center for Japan.” According to the committee, Kyoto residents will be “better able to appreciate the significance of the weapon.” This, in my opinion, illustrates that the US wanted the bombs to be something to behold. Something so impressive, the rival nation had to surrender. And Kyoto, as part of this psychologically devastating spectacle, was the perfect target.

Now we must return to the primary question of this article: why was Kyoto not bombed? It was, as we’ve examined, the perfect target for the US purposes. So, why aren’t we reading about the Kyoto WW2 bombings in the history books? Well, it all has to do with one man. A man whose appreciation for Kyoto ended up convincing president Truman to remove the city from the list. We’re talking about Henry Stimson.

Henry Stimson

Image credit: GRANGER Historical Picture Archive , HENRY STIMSON (1867-1950). American statesman. Photograph, 1921.

Henry Stimson is an interesting figure whose political career I would encourage you to investigate further. However, for the purposes of this article, only two of his positions are relevant. The first is as the US Secretary of War (1940-1945), and the second is as Governor-General of the Philippines (1927-1929).

The first one should be self-explanatory. As Secretary of War, Stimson was heavily involved in any decision surrounding the nuclear bombs. As a matter of fact, General Leslie Groves, head of the Manhattan Project, reported directly to him. His involvement and importance in the Target Committee, then, should come as no surprise. He may not have had the final say, that corresponds to the president, but his influence was undeniable.

Image credit: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. “Fushimi Inari, Kyoto.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1901 – 1907.

As for the second position, Governor-General of the Philippines, many historians point to this as the moment his appreciation and understanding for Asian culture rose. Around this time, Henry Stimson travelled to Kyoto twice, in 1926 and 1929 respectively. Many have speculated he fell in love with the city during these trips. Furthermore, there’s a common myth stating that he and his wife spent their Honeymoon in Kyoto. As a side note, this appears on the hit 2023 Christopher Nolan film Oppenheimer. Despite the lack of evidence for the honeymoon trip, it’s clear the trips to Kyoto had an impact on him. At the Target Committee meetings, Stimson was completely set on his position: Kyoto should be off the list.

Kyoto for Stimson, an Important Cultural Treasure

Whether you want to believe Stimson’s motivation was sentimental, political, or both, what we can’t deny are his words. According to him, the city of Kyoto was an important cultural treasure worth preserving. This isn’t to say that, in Stimson’s mind, Hiroshima or Nagasaki were devoid of culture. Rather, something about Kyoto’s importance to the nation, the same reason that made it an ideal bomb target, captivated him. Was it because it was beautiful? Was it because he knew diplomatic relations with Japan would sour indefinitely if they bombed it? What did he see?

Back in the 1920s, the period Stimson visited Kyoto, the city was undergoing a transformation that turned it into the place we know today. The Cultural Heart of Japan, as some have put it, Kyoto was (and is) a center for traditional crafts, arts, philosophy and religion.

Image credit: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. “The Togetsu bridge, Kyoto.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1900 – 1940.

In the 1920s, amidst the early modernization brought about by the Taisho Period, Kyoto residents became acutely aware of their fascinating heritage.

Image credit: Old Photos Japan, 1. Kita-ku; 2. Clock Tower of Murata Watch Shop (村田時計店の時計台); 3. Honnoji; 4. Kyoto Dento (京都電燈株式会社); 5. Kyoto Municipal Office; 6. Takasegawa; 7. Kyoto Hotel.

This led to the city being careful and cautious about its development, gradually embracing it while preserving their culture. The result was a city that, even back then, blended the old and the new. Temples, shrines and theatres became connected through new transportation infrastructure. Additionally, many universities were inaugurated, leading to the city becoming an intellectual hub. There was, in short, no place like it.

Image credit: Old Photos Japan, 1928 (Showa 3) Map of Kyoto: 1. Kyoto City Hall; 2. Honnoji temple (Oda Nobunaga was forced to commit suicide here); 3. Tenshouji temple; 4. Kawaramachidori avenue; 5. Kyoto Hotel; 6. Kyoto Dento; 7. Kamogawa; 8. Nijobashi bridge; 9. Sanjo Ohashi bridge; 10. Shijo Ohashi bridge; 11. Yasaka Jinja shrine.

Stimson got to see this version of Kyoto. What he saw was not only a beautifully preserved city, but also a city with a bright future ahead of it. The joy and pride of Japan. We will never fully know how he felt about Kyoto, but, when the time was right, he knew it had to be preserved.

Stimson, Truman and Russia

Image credit: History.com, Potsdam Conference,1945

This all being said, It would be misleading from our end not to mention what we do know about Kyoto from Stimson’s diary. In many entries, he tells us about his determined posture to keep Kyoto off the list of targets. Furthermore, he details how this inquiry made it all the way to the top, that is, president Truman.

Perhaps the most revealing entry of the diary comes on July 24, 1945, a few days after the Potsdam Conference. For those unaware, this is the conference where the three big powers (Russia, the UK, and the US) negotiated what to do after the war. According to Stimson’s diary, the president agreed that bombing Kyoto would sour US relations with Japan, and, crucially, made it more susceptible to Russia’s influence. He states, and I quote, “might make it impossible during the long post-war period to reconcile the Japanese to us in that area rather than to the Russians.”

So, even though we can’t, and never will, understand the true intent of Stimson’s determination, we know Truman’s. He wanted Japan to unconditionally surrender to the US, not the Russians, as the threat of the Cold War was already rearing its eyes through the window. For him, it was a matter of Geopolitics.

Nevertheless, it can’t be denied that Stimson is the man responsible for why Kyoto was not bombed in WW2. Truman had the final say, but he would’ve never arrived at his geopolitical conclusion without Stimson’s influence. He is, without a doubt, the person that avoided the nuclear bombing of Kyoto.

A Japan Without Kyoto

Image credit: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. “The Shijo Street, Kyoto.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1915 – 1930.

If you’ll allow me, dear reader, I’d like to return to one of the first things I mentioned in this article: speculative fiction. Picture an alternative world, one where we do read about the Kyoto Bombings of WW2. What would such a world look like? If you find this question difficult, don’t worry, many writers do. To this day, there’s no piece of fiction that has attempted to answer it. Furthermore, describing this world would be a task too ambitious for this article. What we can do, however, is go over some of the things Kyoto did during Post-War Japan, as then we can more easily imagine a world without it.

Kyoto and Post-War Japan

If the US bombed Kyoto during WW2, the nation would’ve lost one of their most important diplomatic assets. As a place that was both relatively undamaged, and an intellectual hub, Kyoto became a model city for Japan’s future. During reconstruction, Japan was moving away from its militaristic philosophies, something best showcased by their 1947 Constitution. In article 9, for example, war, as a means to settle international disputes, was outlawed. Pacifism and cultural preservation, thus, were embraced as part of Japan’s new identity. And Kyoto embodied this new philosophy perfectly, with its shrine and temples in almost pristine conditions.

Furthermore, Kyoto was key in developing the cultural diplomacy of Japan. The city, for one, became an important tourism center during occupied Japan. As an excellent article by Riichi Endo shows, this allowed the city to create a narrative of cooperation rather than animosity, which greatly increased the US perception of Japan. As Riichi himself puts it: “an exceptional response to defeat.” This, in turn, allowed for a smooth transition into other international affairs, with the most notable being Japan’s new relationship with UNESCO. Kyoto’s monuments, unsurprisingly, were among the first to be deemed World Heritage Sites.

How would Japan look without Kyoto? I hope these things have given you an idea.

The Weather Explanation

Before writing this article, I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to say. This was, after all, a topic I’ve found particularly fascinating for a long time. However, while researching, I stumbled across an alternative explanation that caught my attention: the weather. According to meteorologist Gary Stephenson, the weather was an important factor when deciding the atomic bomb targets. As a matter of fact, it has been confirmed by the WW2 Museum that the second bomb was delayed because of weather conditions.

Now, I want to clarify that this weather explanation has nothing to do with Kyoto. If weather played a role in any way, it would have been in choosing between Nagasaki or any other of the cities on the list. But not Kyoto. The evidence overwhelmingly points to Stimson getting Kyoto off the list way before the use of the bombs were authorized. So, why am I mentioning it in this article? Well, because this is an explanation some Kyoto residents tell themselves.

In a fantastic article written by Law professor Leslie Griffin, she recalls a Kyoto tour guide assuring the city was spared from the bombs because it is cloudy. I would encourage you to read her entire article, as she arrives at some very interesting points. However, what interests me is this tour guide. He, and presumably more Kyoto residents, are convinced that their city wasn’t bombed because of its weather. As I stated before, this is false. But, perhaps believing it is more comforting than knowing the truth. If it was the weather, Kyoto’s survival could be attributed to a strategic mistake on their enemies’ end, like invading Russia in the winter. But, if it was Stimson’s unknown motivations, a whole world of moral dilemmas suddenly opens up.

Final Words

I’m not a WW2 expert, nor a philosopher. I’m just a writer who feels passionate about Japanese culture and history. Moreover, this isn’t the article to discuss the moral implications of Stimson’s decision, or even if dropping the nuclear bombs was the right choice to make. Nevertheless, this article is a starting point. What I hope, as a writer, is that I’ve sparked that curious light in you. That light that makes you want to know more and research further. On that front, I can give you some good directions.

If you want to learn more about this topic, I highly recommend you read the Nuclear History Blog by Alex Wellerstein. His work is excellently researched, and was instrumental in writing this article. Additionally, I would encourage you to watch Shaun’s fantastic video of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It’s a long video essay carefully detailing the events that lead to the nuclear bombings, accompanied by a tone that can occasionally make the heavy subject feel light.

The original question of this article has been answered. Now you know why there was no Kyoto bombing during WW2. Nevertheless, new questions have appeared that go beyond the possibility of a WW2 Kyoto bombing. We hope, dear reader, that if you decide to tackle them, you do so carefully and intelligently. We, at Japan Nakama, have no doubts you will.