On March 10, 1945, the Tokyo firebombing, executed by American B-29 bombers, resulted in the death of approximately 100,000 civilians, marking the worst conventional bombing in World War II. As survivors, notably Shizuko Nishio, prepare for the 80th anniversary, there is a push for increased recognition of the attack, which has been overshadowed by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The assault devastated 41 square kilometers, destroying homes and leaving a million homeless, yet remains largely forgotten in Japan's collective memory.
Not even the passage of eight decades has dimmed Shizuko Nishio's memory of the night American bomber planes killed tens of thousands of people in the space of a few hours and turned her city to ash.
The Tokyo firebombing, the worst conventional bombing of the Second World War, barely merits a mention as survivors prepare to mark the 80th anniversary of the attack.
The B-29s dumped cluster bombs with napalm specially designed with sticky oil to destroy traditional Japanese-style wood-and-paper homes in the crowded Shitamachi downtown neighborhoods.
Eclipsed by the tragedies visited on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August the same year, the Tokyo firebombing has been relegated to the darkest recesses of Japan's collective memory.
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