Historical Dictionary of United States-Japan ... - Bakumatsu Films

cruisers, 150 destroyers, and 140 submarines. As one observer has
noted, any advantage Japan had gained by ending the era of naval limitation
was undermined—and would eventually be swept away—by
American construction.
LUCKY DRAGON INCIDENT (DAIGO FUKURYUMARU INCI-
DENT). The Lucky Dragon (Daigo Fukuryumaru) Incident occurred
on 1 March 1954. The United States exploded the largest hydrogen
bomb as part of a test conducted on Bikini Island in the Marshall Islands.
The crew of a Japanese tuna fishing boat that was fishing in
waters near the test site, the Daigo Fukuryumaru, suffered adverse
health effects as a result of explosion to radiation fallout from the
bomb. Before the test explosive was conducted, the United States had
failed to give prior warning to Japan’s Coast Guard and Fisheries
Agency. On 14 March, the Daigo Fukuryumaru returned to Japan and
all 23 crewmembers were found to be in need of medical attention.
They were admitted to hospitals in Tokyo, but on 23 September 1954,
the oldest member of the boat’s crew died. The remaining 22
crewmembers were eventually discharged, but they continued to experience
health problems. By 2003, 12 more crewmembers had died.
It was later discovered that vast sections of the Pacific Ocean had
been contaminated by substantial amounts of radiation spread by the
1 March and additional test explosions, resulting in serious damage
to the fishing industries of Japan and other Pacific island countries.
Because not only the Daigo Fukuryumaru but also approximately
900 tuna fishing boats fished in areas near the Marshall Islands, close
to 20,000 people ended up suffering from radiation poisoning. The
Daigo Fukuryumaru incident led to the birth of the anti-nuclear peace
movement in Japan and in other countries, which coalesced into a
worldwide ban-the-bomb movement.
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MACARTHUR, GENERAL DOUGLAS • 167
MACARTHUR, GENERAL DOUGLAS (1880–1964). Douglas
MacArthur was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on 26 January 1880.
In 1903, he graduated top in his class from West Point Military Academy.
MacArthur commanded the 42nd Division on the Western Front