ABSTRACT
On August 6, 1945, the U.S. Army Air Forces detonated “Little Boy” over Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, they denoted “Fat Man” over Nagasaki, Japan. These two bombs, the former uranium- and the latter plutonium-based, were the only nuclear weapons ever unleashed on a human population. Their use not only marked the advent of the atomic age in world history but also connected the specter of nuclear holocaust indelibly to Asia. Though we imagine atomic destruction today in the language of a “nuclear universalism” that threatens the existence of all of humankind—indeed, every living creature and thing on planet earth—the Asian origins of “ground zero” should not be forgotten. 1
