This is a writing a did for a debate on the bombings on Hiroshima in WWII

The bombing on Hiroshima was a tragedy, no doubt. Having your skin being burned off by nuclear radiation is not a good way to die. But let me tell you about another way to die. A small japenese boy strapping him to a bomb and throwing himself into a group of American ( or Chinese, or European) soldiers. This is what Japanese civilians were being told to do, and would do, as was their tradition. The Japanese code of bushido — "the way of the warrior" — was deeply ingrained. The concept of Yamato-damashii equipped each soldier with a strict code: never be captured, never break down, and never surrender. Surrender was dishonorable. Each soldier was trained to fight to the death and was expected to die before suffering dishonor. This code applied to Japanese civilians as well. So when people say that by bombing Japan we killed many innocent civilians you must realize the reality of the situation. Civilians were going to most likely get killed anyway. Just a few weeks after the bombs were dropped Japan surrendered, which ended Japan’s threat to the world and avoided a deadly invasion on the country’s mainland. High casualties were thought to be inevitable, but nobody knew with certainty how high. Several people made estimates, but they varied widely in numbers. study done by Adm. Nimitz's staff in May estimated 49,000 casualties in the first 30 days, including 5,000 at sea.

People who say that Japan would of surrendered and it wasn’t necessary to bomb because they were preparing to surrender, well that really doesn’t explain while they were fully engaged in attacking the allied forces, why they had bombed Pearl Harbor and other places along the Pacific, or why they had taken over half of Asia. Japan was in no way ready to surrender. In fact even after two atomic bombs had been dropped upon them they still refused to surrender until about a week later. Therefore the bombings were necessary.