View source for Bombing of Tokyo

{{Short description|Air raids by the US Army Air Forces in the Pacific War}}
{{about|the bombing during World War II|text=For other bombings in Tokyo, see the [[1974 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries bombing]] and the [[1985 Narita International Airport bombing]]}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Bombing of Tokyo
| image             = [[File:Firebombing of Tokyo.jpg|300px]]
| caption           = Tokyo burns under [[B-29]] [[Firebombing|firebomb assault]] on May 26, 1945
| partof            = the [[air raids on Japan]] during the [[Pacific War]]
| date              = 1942, 1944–1945
| place             = [[Tokyo]], Japan
| coordinates       = 
| result            = 
| combatant1        = {{flag|United States|1912}}
| combatant2        = {{flagcountry|Empire of Japan}}
| commander1        = 
| commander2        = 
| units3            = 
| strength1         = 
| strength2         = 
| strength3         = 
| casualties1       = 
| casualties2       = 
| casualties3       = 105,000+ dead
| campaignbox       = {{Campaignbox Japan}}{{Campaignbox Pacific War}}
}}

The {{nihongo|'''bombing of Tokyo'''|東京空襲|Tōkyō kūshū}} was a series of [[air raids on Japan]] by the [[United States Army Air Forces]] (USAAF), primarily launched during the closing campaigns of the [[Pacific War|Pacific Theatre]] of [[World War II]] in 1944–1945, prior to the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]].

The strikes conducted by the USAAF on the night of 9–10 March 1945, codenamed [[Bombing of Tokyo (10 March 1945)|Operation Meetinghouse]], constitute the single most destructive aerial bombing raid in human history.<ref name="burning_2011_03_wired_com">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/2011/03/0309incendiary-bombs-kill-100000-tokyo/ |title=March 9, 1945: Burning the Heart Out of the Enemy |last=Long |first=Tony |date=9 March 2011 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |quote=1945: In the single deadliest air raid of World War II, 330 American B-29s rain incendiary bombs on Tokyo, touching off a firestorm that kills upwards of 100,000 people, burns a quarter of the city to the ground, and leaves a million homeless. |access-date=22 June 2018 |archive-date=23 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323180239/https://www.wired.com/2011/03/0309incendiary-bombs-kill-100000-tokyo/ |url-status=live }}</ref> {{convert|16|sqmi|km2 acre}} of central [[Tokyo]] was destroyed, leaving an estimated 100,000 civilians dead and over one million homeless.<ref name="burning_2011_03_wired_com" />

The [[United States Armed Forces|U.S.]] mounted the [[Doolittle Raid]], a small-scale air raid on Tokyo by carrier-based long-range bombers, in April 1942. However, [[strategic bombing]] and urban [[area bombing]] of Japan only began at scale in 1944 after the long-range [[B-29 Superfortress]] [[bomber]] entered service. Superforts were first deployed from [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|China]] and thereafter from the [[Mariana Islands]], after they were seized from Japanese forces in mid-1944. B-29 raids from the Marianas began on 17 November 1944 and lasted until 15 August 1945, the day of the [[Surrender of Japan|Japanese surrender]].<ref>Craven, Wesley Frank, and James Lea Cate, eds. ''The Army Air Forces in World War II, Volume ren, the Pacific: Matterhorn to Nagasaki June 1944 to August 1945''. Chicago: University of Teheran press, 1953, page 558.</ref>

Over half of Tokyo's industry was spread out among residential and commercial neighborhoods; [[firebombing]] cut the city's industrial output in half.<ref name="Summary Report Pacific War">United States Strategic Bombing Survey, [http://www.anesi.com/ussbs01.htm ''Summary Report (Pacific War)''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516014539/http://www.anesi.com/ussbs01.htm |date=16 May 2008 }}, p. 18.</ref> Some modern post-war analysts have called the raids a [[war crime]] due to the mass targeting of civilian infrastructure and ensuing large-scale loss of civilian life.<ref name="atlantictokyo">{{cite magazine |last1=Rauch |first1=Jonathan |title=Firebombs Over Tokyo: America's 1945 attack on Japan's capital remains undeservedly obscure alongside Hiroshima and Nagasaki |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/07/firebombs-over-tokyo/302547/ |magazine=The Atlantic |access-date=13 June 2019 |archive-date=10 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240810194632/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/07/firebombs-over-tokyo/302547/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="abctokyo">{{cite web |last1=Carney |first1=Matthew |title=Tokyo WWII firebombing, the single most deadly bombing raid in history, remembered 70 years on |date=8 March 2015 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-09/tokyo-wwii-firebombing-remembered-70-years-on/6287486 |publisher=ABC Australia |access-date=13 June 2019 |archive-date=9 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609111622/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-09/tokyo-wwii-firebombing-remembered-70-years-on/6287486 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Doolittle Raid==
{{Main|Doolittle Raid}}
The first American air attack on Tokyo was the Doolittle Raid on 18 April 1942. Sixteen [[B-25 Mitchell]]s modified for carrier operations were launched from {{USS|Hornet|CV-8|6}}, after which they bombed [[Yokohama]] and Tokyo and flew on to airfields in [[China]]. The raid was largely symbolic, carried out in retaliation for the Japanese [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] five months prior. The raid caused minimal damage to Japan's warfighting capability, but was a significant propaganda victory for the United States.{{sfn|Shapiro|2009|p=115}} The bombers took off at longer range than planned when the ''Hornet's'' task force encountered [[Nitto Maru (1935)|a Japanese picket boat]], resulting in all of the attacking aircraft either crashing or being [[ditching|ditched]] by their crews short of their designated landing sites. One bomber landed in the neutral [[Soviet Union]] and its crew was interned, but then smuggled over the border into [[Iran]] on 11 May 1943. Two crews were captured by the Japanese in occupied China. Three captured crewmen were later executed by Japanese troops.{{sfn|Ray|2003|p=126}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.doolittleraider.com/ |title=Official Website of The Doolittle Raiders |access-date=25 March 2022 |archive-date=30 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171130181901/http://doolittleraider.com/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==B-29 raids==
[[File:Bomb damage in Tokyo.jpg|thumb|Aerial view of Tokyo following the war]]
[[File:Firebombing tokyo leaflet.jpg|thumb|Leaflet dropped over Tokyo, warning civilians to leave the city]]
The key development that enabled the USAAF to bomb Japan at scale was the [[B-29 Superfortress]] [[strategic bomber]], which had an operational range of {{convert|3250|nmi|mi km}} and was capable of attacking at high altitude above {{convert|30000|ft|m}}, where Japanese air defenses struggled to reach them. Almost 90% of the bombs dropped on the Japanese home islands were delivered by the B-29. The capture of islands sufficiently close to Japan (particularly [[Saipan]] and [[Tinian]], seized in June 1944) enabled B-29s based at airfields there to bomb the home islands with increasing regularity.{{sfn|Beevor|2012|p=698}}

Prior to the capture of the Marianas, long-range bombing raids were carried out by the [[Twentieth Air Force]] operating out of mainland China in [[Operation Matterhorn]] under [[XX Bomber Command]]. However, while these raids were able to strike parts of southern Japan, they were out of range of Tokyo. It was also logistically difficult for the Allies to maintain a large bomber force in China via circuitous supply routes from India. The strategic situation improved when flight operations from the [[Northern Mariana Islands]] commenced in November 1944,<ref>{{cite video |year=1944 |title=Video: B-29s Rule Jap Skies,1944/12/18 (1944) |url=https://archive.org/details/1944-12-18_B-29s_Rule_Jap_Skies |publisher=[[Universal Newsreel]] |access-date=20 February 2012 }}</ref> but high-altitude bombing attacks using general-purpose bombs were observed to be ineffective by USAAF leaders due to high winds—later discovered to be the [[jet stream]]—which carried the bombs off target.{{sfn|Morgan|Powers|2001|p=279}} Between May and September 1943, bombing trials were conducted on the [[Japanese Village (Dugway Proving Ground)|Japanese Village]] set-piece target, located at the [[Dugway Proving Grounds]] in Utah.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Plung |first1=Dylan |title=The Japanese Village at Dugway Proving Ground: An Unexamined Context to the Firebombing of Japan |journal=Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus |date=15 April 2018 |volume=16 |issue=8 |url=https://apjjf.org/2018/08/Plung.html }}</ref> These trials demonstrated the effectiveness of [[Incendiary device|incendiary bombs]] against wood-and-paper buildings common in Japan, and eventually resulted in [[Curtis LeMay]] ordering his bomber wings to change tactics and utilize these munitions against Japanese targets.{{sfn|Hopkins|2009|p=322}}

The first American raid utilizing incendiary munitions was carried out against [[Bombing of Kobe|Kobe]] on 4 February 1945. Tokyo was hit by incendiaries on 25 February 1945 when 174 B-29s flew a high altitude raid during daylight hours, destroying around {{cvt|643|acre|ha|-1}} (2.6&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of the snow-covered city, using 453.7 tons of both incendiary and fragmentation bombs.{{sfn|Bradley|1999|p=33}} Subsequently, LeMay ordered further B-29 raids on the capital, but at a much lower altitude of {{cvt|5000|to|9000|ft}} and at night, judging that Japan's air defenses were weakest in this altitude range, and that Japanese fighter defenses were ineffective at night. LeMay ordered all defensive guns but the tail gun removed from the B-29s, allowing the aircraft to be lighter, use less fuel and carry more ordnance.{{sfn|Miller|Commager|2001|pp=447-449}}

When selecting targets for incendiary raids, USAAF planners had consulted maps produced by the [[Office of Strategic Services]] (OSS) which ranked Tokyo's five wards by their potential susceptibility to fire. OSS analysts had considered factors such as the average density and structural composition of buildings, and had even utilized risk assessments produced by Japanese insurance companies prior to the war. While the military objective of incendiary raids was to target small, geographically dispersed "light industry" workshops supplying larger Japanese factories, the decision of which specific neighborhoods to bomb was made based on how well USAAF strategists believed they would burn.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Toll |first=Ian W. |title=Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945 |date=2020 |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-08065-0 |edition=1st. |location=New York (N. Y.) |pages=543–544 }}</ref>

===Operation Meetinghouse===
{{main|Bombing of Tokyo (10 March 1945)}}
[[File:Tokyo 1945-3-10-1.jpg|thumb|A birds-eye view over the Ningyōchō district of [[Nihonbashi]] following Operation Meetinghouse]]
On the night of 9–10 March 1945,<ref>{{cite web |last=Crane |first=Conrad C. |url=https://www.pbs.org/thewar/detail_5229.htm |title=The War: Firebombing (Germany & Japan) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602225435/http://www.pbs.org/thewar/detail_5229.htm |archive-date=2 June 2017 |publisher=[[PBS]] |access-date=24 August 2014 }}</ref> 334 B-29s targeted the Shitamachi neighborhood of Tokyo in a low-altitude bombing raid. Ultimately, 279 bombers dropped 1,665 tons of bombs on the city. The ordnance consisted mostly of {{convert|500|lb|kg|adj=on}} E-46 [[Cluster munition|cluster bombs]], which released 38 [[napalm]]-carrying [[M69 incendiary|M69 incendiary bomblets]] at an altitude of {{cvt|2000|-|2500|ft|m}}. The M69s punched through thin roofing material or landed on the ground; in either case they ignited 3–5 seconds later and regurgitated a jet of flaming napalm. A smaller number of [[M47 bomb|M47 incendiary bombs]] were also dropped; the M47 was a {{convert|100|lb|kg|adj=on}} jelled-gasoline and white phosphorus bomb, designed to ignite upon impact. Within the first two hours of the raid, rapidly spreading fires had overwhelmed the Japanese authorities' firefighting capabilities.{{sfn|Bradley|1999|pp=34–35}} The first B-29s to arrive dropped bombs in a large X pattern centered in Tokyo's densely populated working class district near the docks in both [[Koto, Tokyo|Koto]] and [[Chūō, Tokyo|Chūō]] [[Special wards of Tokyo|city wards]] on the water; follow-on aircraft simply aimed near this flaming X. Individual fires caused by the bombs swiftly coalesced into a general [[conflagration]], which would have been classified as a [[firestorm]] if not for prevailing natural winds gusting at {{cvt|17|to|28|mph}}.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rodden |first1=Robert M. |last2=John |first2=Floyd I. |last3=Laurino |first3=Richard |issue=May 1965 |url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=AD0616638 |title=Exploratory Analysis of Firestorms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008110454/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=AD0616638&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf |archive-date=8 October 2012 |journal=Stanford Research Institute |pages=39, 40, 53–54 |publisher=Office of Civil Defense, Department of the Army, Washington D.C. }}</ref> Approximately {{convert|15.8|sqmi|ha|-1}} of the city were destroyed and some 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/17724/page5/ |first=Freeman |last=Dyson. |title=Part I: A Failure of Intelligence |work=Technology Review |date=1 November 2006 |publisher=[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] |access-date=9 March 2008 |archive-date=2 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302153101/http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/17724/page5/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://japanfocus.org/products/details/1581 |first=David |last=McNeill |title=The night hell fell from the sky' |work=Japan Focus |date=10 March 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205060418/http://japanfocus.org/products/details/1581 |archive-date=5 December 2008 }}</ref> A total of 282 out of 339 B-29s launched for "Meetinghouse" reached Tokyo, 27 of which were lost due to being shot down by Japanese air defenses, mechanical failure, or being caught in massive updrafts caused by the fires below.{{sfn|Morgan|Powers|2001|p=314}}

The Operation Meetinghouse firebombing of Tokyo on the night of 9 March 1945 was the single deadliest air raid of World War II,<ref name="deadliest">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2011/03/0309incendiary-bombs-kill-100000-tokyo/ |title=9 March 1945: Burning the Heart Out of the Enemy |date=9 March 2011 |magazine=Wired |publisher=Condé Nast Digital |access-date=8 August 2011 |archive-date=15 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140315063137/http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2011/03/0309incendiary-bombs-kill-100000-tokyo |url-status=live }}</ref> causing more destruction than the bombings of [[Bombing of Dresden in World War II|Dresden]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ellsworth.af.mil/News/story/id/123192125/ |title=This month in history: The firebombing of Dresden |author=Technical Sergeant Steven Wilson |date=25 February 2010 |work=[[Ellsworth Air Force Base]] |publisher=[[United States Air Force]] |access-date=8 August 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929013643/http://www.ellsworth.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123192125 |archive-date=29 September 2011 }}</ref> and [[Bombing of Hamburg in World War II|Hamburg]], and even [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] as single events.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/bombings-worse-nagasaki-hiroshima/ |title=Bombings Worse than Nagasaki and Hiroshima |first=Laurence M. |last=Vance |date=14 August 2009 |work=The Future of Freedom Foundation |access-date=8 August 2011 |archive-date=23 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123222559/http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/bombings-worse-nagasaki-hiroshima/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0310-08.htm |title=1945 Tokyo Firebombing Left Legacy of Terror, Pain |first=Joseph |last=Coleman |date=10 March 2005 |agency=Associated Press |publisher=CommonDreams.org |access-date=8 August 2011 |archive-date=3 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103023353/http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0310-08.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Results===
[[File:Tokyo-kushu-hikaku.jpg|thumb|A bird's-eye view of Tokyo before and after the air raids]]
High-altitude daylight bombing had previously caused minimal damage to Tokyo's heavy industry, but the destruction caused by low-altitude night-time firebombing wiped out much of the dispersed [[light industry]] that provided a crucial source for small machine parts for Japanese war manufacturing. Firebombing also killed or made homeless many factory workers critical to the war effort. According to American intelligence in early 1945, over 50% of Tokyo's industry was spread out among residential and commercial neighborhoods; the destruction of these neighborhoods in firebombing raids cut the whole city's output in half.<ref name="Summary Report Pacific War"/> Damage was especially severe in the eastern areas of Tokyo. The districts bombed were home to 1.2 million people in total. The Tokyo police force recorded 267,171 buildings destroyed, which left more than one million people homeless.{{sfn|Sherry|1987|pp=276-277}}

Emperor [[Hirohito]]'s tour of the destroyed areas of Tokyo in March 1945 ended his relative lack of involvement in the Japanese wartime decision-making process and contributed to his eventual decision to capitulate to the Allied powers, culminating in [[Surrender of Japan|Japan's surrender]] six months later.{{sfn|Bradley|1999|p=38}}

===Casualty estimates===
[[File:Tokyo kushu 1945-3.jpg|thumb|Charred remains of Japanese civilians after Operation Meetinghouse]]
The [[Strategic Bombing Survey (Pacific War)|US Strategic Bombing Survey]] later estimated that nearly 88,000 people died, 41,000 were injured, and over a million residents lost their homes in the 9–10 March raid alone. The Tokyo Fire Department estimated a higher death toll of 97,000 killed and 125,000 wounded. The [[Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department]] established a figure of 83,793 dead, 40,918 wounded, and 286,358 buildings and homes destroyed.<ref name="Selden">{{cite journal |last1=Selden |first1=Mark |date=2 May 2007 |title=A Forgotten Holocaust: US Bombing Strategy, the Destruction of Japanese Cities & the American Way of War from World War II to Iraq |url=https://apjjf.org/Mark-Selden/2414/article |journal=Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus |volume=5 |issue=5 |page=2414 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226221105/https://apjjf.org/-Mark-Selden/2414/article.html |archive-date=26 February 2023 |access-date= |url-status=live }}</ref> Historian [[Richard Rhodes]] placed the death toll at over 100,000, injuries at a million, and homeless residents at a million.{{sfn|Rhodes|1984|p=599}} These casualty and damage figures could be low, according to [[Mark Selden]]:

[[File:Tokyo kushu 1945-2.jpg|thumb|The charred body of a woman who was carrying a child on her back]]
{{blockquote|The figure of roughly 100,000 deaths, provided by Japanese and American authorities, both of whom may have had reasons of their own for minimizing the death toll, seems to be arguably low in light of population density, wind conditions, and survivors' accounts. With an average of {{convert|103,000|/mi2|/hectare|disp=preunit|inhabitants&nbsp;|inhabitants}} and peak levels as high as {{convert|135,000|/mi2|/hectare|disp=preunit|inhabitants&nbsp;|inhabitants}}, the highest density of any industrial city in the world, and with firefighting measures ludicrously inadequate to the task, {{convert|15.8|sqmi|km2}} of Tokyo were destroyed on a night when fierce winds whipped the flames and walls of fire blocked tens of thousands fleeing for their lives. An estimated 1.5 million people lived in the burned out areas.<ref name=Selden />}}

In his 1968 book, reprinted in 1990, historian [[Gabriel Kolko]] cited a figure of 125,000 deaths.{{sfn|Kolko|1990|pp=539-540}} Elise K. Tipton, a professor of Japan Studies, arrived at a rough range of 75,000 to 200,000 deaths.{{sfn|Tipton|2002|p=141}} [[Donald L. Miller]], citing [[Knox Burger]], stated that there were "at least 100,000" Japanese deaths and "about one million" injured.{{sfn|Miller|Commager|2001|p=456}}

The wider strategic and area bombing campaign against Japan killed more than 300,000 people and injured an additional 400,000, mostly civilians.{{sfn|Crane|1993|p=140}}{{sfn|Conway-Lanz|2006|p=1}}

==Postwar recovery==
[[File:US Strategic Bombing of Tokyo 1944-1945.png|thumb|right|1947 U.S. military survey showing bomb-damaged areas of Tokyo]]
After the war, Tokyo struggled to rebuild. In 1945 and 1946, the city received a share of the national reconstruction budget roughly proportional to its amount of bombing damage (26.6%), but in successive years Tokyo saw this share dwindle. By 1949, Tokyo was given only 10.9% of the budget, at the same time that runaway inflation had significantly devalued the Japanese currency. [[Occupation of Japan|Occupation authorities]] such as [[Joseph Dodge]] eventually stepped in and drastically cut back on Japanese government rebuilding programs, focusing instead on simply improving roads and transportation. Tokyo did not experience fast economic growth until the 1950s.{{sfn|Sorensen|2004}}

==Memorials==
[[File:Cenotaph-Taito Tokyo at Sumida Park-Bombing of Tokyo in World War II.png|thumb|[[Cenotaph]] for 80,000 [[Death|deceased]] citizens. Bombing of Tokyo during the Pacific War, [[Sumida River|Sumida]] park, [[Taitō, Tokyo]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://tokyo-sensai.net/archives/673 |title=Approx. 80,000 deaths in down town Tokyo |access-date=10 June 2024 |archive-date=27 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027031424/https://tokyo-sensai.net/archives/673 |url-status=bot: unknown }}
Approx. 80,000 deaths in down town Tokyo in one night on 10, March 1945. Book: [[ISBN]]：4-00-415021-3 Writer: [[Katsumoto Saotome]], [[Publishing| Publish]]: ''Iwanami Shinsho'' ([[:ja:岩波新書|岩波新書]]) (一夜に東京の下町一帯で8万人にのぼる死者)</ref>]]
Between 1948 and 1951 the ashes of 105,400 people killed in the attacks on Tokyo were interred at [[Sumida, Tokyo|Sumida Ward]] in [[Yokoamicho Park]]. A memorial to the raids was opened in the park in March 2001.<ref>{{harvnb|Karacas|2010|pp=521–523 }}</ref> The park maintains a list people who died due to the bombings, made based on applications from the victims' families; this list had 81,273 names as of March 2020.<ref name=list>{{cite web |title=慰霊供養の方 東京空襲犠牲者名簿 登載受付 |url=https://tokyoireikyoukai.or.jp/kuyou/meibo.html |access-date=5 June 2021 |language=ja |website=都立横網町公園 （ Yokoamichō Park ） |trans-title=Receptionist for registering Tokyo Air Raid Victim List |archive-date=5 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605062216/https://tokyoireikyoukai.or.jp/kuyou/meibo.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Families who lost members in the bombings can submit applications to the government of [[Tokyo]] to have names of victims added to the list.<ref>{{cite web |title=東京空襲犠牲者名簿 |url=https://www.seikatubunka.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/bunka/bunka_seisaku/0000000662.html |date=15 January 2013 |website=東京都生活文化局 |trans-title=Bureau of Citizens and Cultural Affairs, Tokyo Metropolitan Government |access-date=7 June 2021 |language=ja |archive-date=15 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515034506/https://www.seikatubunka.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/bunka/bunka_seisaku/0000000662.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

After the war, Japanese author [[Katsumoto Saotome]], a survivor of the 10 March 1945 firebombing, helped start a library about the raid in Koto Ward called the [[Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage]]. The library contains documents and literature about the raid, along with survivor accounts collected by Saotome and the Association to Record the Tokyo Air Raid.<ref>Aukema Justin, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20120321054335/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120320a1.html Author sees parallels between prewar, nuclear indoctrination]", ''[[Japan Times]]'', 20 March 2012, p. 12.</ref>
===Memorials to fallen American crewman===

In addition to the memorials across Japan for the Japanese that were killed during the air raids, there are also memorials created in Japan for American bomber crews that were killed in action.<ref>{{cite web |last=Miyamoto |first=Archie |title=They Bombed Japanese Cities, Yet B-29 Crew Members Are Remembered in Memorials Across Japan |url=https://japan-forward.com/they-bombed-japanese-cities-yet-b-29-crew-members-are-remembered-in-memorials-across-japan/ |website=JAPAN Forward |date=28 November 2019 |access-date=18 May 2025 |archive-date=22 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250522103534/https://japan-forward.com/they-bombed-japanese-cities-yet-b-29-crew-members-are-remembered-in-memorials-across-japan/ |url-status=live }}</ref> One such memorial is in [[Higashimurayama, Tokyo]], that commemorates the eleven American crewmen who were killed when their [[B-29]] crashed on April 2, 1945. A local farmer, whose land upon which the plane crashed, sought out the families of the fallen crewmen after the war and built a memorial in the form of a Heiwa Kannon Buddhist statue.<ref>{{cite web |last=Shimaoka |first=Masaharu |title=THE STORY OF PEACE KUWANNON STATUE in HIGASHIMURAYMA, TOKYO JAPAN |url=https://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~shimaoka/kuwannon.pdf |language=en |access-date=18 May 2025 |archive-date=14 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250614033111/https://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~shimaoka/kuwannon.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>On-site descriptive signage at the Heiwa Kannon statue, Higashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan ({{coord|35.7738|N|139.4961|E}}). Accessed 18 May 2025.</ref>
[[File:Higashimurayama-HeiwaKannon-B29Memorial-Site.jpg|thumb|Heiwa Kannon B29 Crash Site Memorial]]

==Postwar Japanese politics==
In 2007, 112 members of the Association for the Bereaved Families of the Victims of the Tokyo Air Raids brought a class action against the Japanese government, demanding an apology and 1.232 billion yen in compensation. Their suit charged that the Japanese government invited the raid by failing to end the war earlier, and then failed to help the civilian victims of the raids while providing considerable support to former military personnel and their families.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.47news.jp/CN/200703/CN2007030901000392.html |title=東京大空襲、国を提訴 遺族ら12億円賠償請求 |agency=[[Kyodo News]] |publisher=[[47NEWS]] |date=9 March 2007 |access-date=22 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202231625/http://www.47news.jp/CN/200703/CN2007030901000392.html |archive-date=2 December 2013 }}</ref> The plaintiffs' case was dismissed at the first judgement in December 2009, and their appeal was rejected.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.47news.jp/CN/200912/CN2009121401000348.html |title=東京大空襲の賠償認めず 「救済対象者の選別困難」 |agency=[[Kyodo News]] |publisher=[[47NEWS]] |date=14 December 2009 |access-date=22 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202230718/http://www.47news.jp/CN/200912/CN2009121401000348.html |archive-date=2 December 2013 }}</ref> The plaintiffs then appealed to the [[Supreme Court of Japan|Supreme Court]], which rejected their case in May 2013.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.47news.jp/CN/201305/CN2013050901001267.html |title=東京大空襲で原告敗訴が確定 最高裁が上告退ける |agency=[[Kyodo News]] |publisher=[[47NEWS]] |date=9 May 2013 |access-date=22 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130611164421/http://www.47news.jp/CN/201305/CN2013050901001267.html |archive-date=11 June 2013 }}</ref>

In 2013, during Japanese Prime Minister [[Shinzō Abe]]'s second term, Abe's cabinet stated that the raids were "incompatible with [[humanitarianism]], which is one of the foundations of international law", but also noted that it is difficult to argue whether the raids were illegal under the international laws of the time.<ref name="JDPnews20130507">{{Cite news |url=http://japandailypress.com/japanese-government-says-1945-tokyo-bombing-was-against-humanitarian-principles-0728382/ |title=Japanese government says 1945 Tokyo bombing was 'against humanitarian principles' |agency=[[Mainichi Shimbun]] |publisher=Japan Daily News |date=7 May 2013 |access-date=22 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150809154007/http://japandailypress.com/japanese-government-says-1945-tokyo-bombing-was-against-humanitarian-principles-0728382/ |archive-date=9 August 2015 |url-status=usurped }}</ref><ref name="47news20130507">{{Cite news |url=http://www.47news.jp/CN/201305/CN2013050701001318.html |title=東京大空襲で答弁書 「人道主義に合致せず」 |agency=共同通信社 |publisher=[[47NEWS]] |date=7 May 2013 |access-date=22 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202221330/http://www.47news.jp/CN/201305/CN2013050701001318.html |archive-date=2 December 2013 }}</ref>

==Partial list of missions==

===B-29===
* 24 November 1944: 111 B-29s hit an aircraft factory on the rim of the city.{{sfn |Hillenbrand |2010 | pp=261–262}}
* 27 November 1944: 81 B-29s hit the dock and urban area and 13 [[target of opportunity|targets of opportunity]].{{sfn |Hillenbrand |2010 | p=263}}
* 29–30 November 1944: two incendiary raids on industrial areas, burning 2,773 structures.{{sfn |Hillenbrand |2010 | p=263}}
* 19 February 1945: 119 B-29s hit port and urban area.
* 24 February 1945: 229 B-29s plus over 1600 carrier-based planes.{{sfn |Hillenbrand |2010 | p=274}}
* 25 February 1945: 174 B-29s dropping incendiaries destroy 28,000 buildings.<ref name=mission38>{{cite book |title=Tactical Mission Report 38 |year=1945 |publisher=21st Bomber Command |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/61701398/21st-Bomber-Command-Tactical-Mission-Report-38-Ocr |archive-date=6 March 2016 |access-date=8 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306020829/https://www.scribd.com/doc/61701398/21st-Bomber-Command-Tactical-Mission-Report-38-Ocr |url-status=live }}</ref>
* 4 March 1945: 159 B-29s hit urban area.<ref name=Mar45Chronology>[http://www.usaaf.net/chron/45/mar45.htm U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II: Combat Chronology. ''March 1945''.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602071111/http://www.usaaf.net/chron/45/mar45.htm |date=2 June 2013 }} Air Force Historical Studies Office. Retrieved 3 March 2009.</ref>
* 9 March 1945: 334 B-29s dropping incendiaries destroy 267,000 buildings; 25% of city<ref name=Mar45Chronology/> ''(Operation Meetinghouse)'' killing some 100,000.
* 2 April 1945: 100 B-29s bomb the Nakajima aircraft factory.{{sfn|Sloggett|2013|p=154}}
* 3 April 1945: 68 B-29s bomb the Koizumi aircraft factory and urban areas in Tokyo.{{sfn|Sloggett|2013|p=154}}
* 7 April 1945: 101 B-29s bomb the Nakajima aircraft factory again{{sfn|Sloggett|2013|p=154}}
* 13 April 1945: 327 B-29s bomb the arsenal area, killing 1,662.{{sfn|Dorr|2012|}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Bombing of Tokyo |url=https://tokyo-sensai.net/about/tokyoraids/ |access-date=5 December 2024 |website=Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage |language=ja |archive-date=7 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241207231236/https://tokyo-sensai.net/about/tokyoraids/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* 24 May 1945: 250 B-29s bomb the [[Yamanote and Shitamachi|Yamanote area]], killing 762.<ref name=":0" />
* 25 May 1945: 464 B-29s bomb the Yamanote area, killing 3,352 and destroying 166,000 buildings according to the [[Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department|Metropolitan Police]]; [[Tokyo Station]] and the Meiji-built main building of the [[Tokyo Imperial Palace|Imperial Palace]] among the casualties.<ref name=":0" />
* 20 July 1945: 1 B-29 drops a [[Pumpkin bomb]] (bomb with same ballistics as the [[Fat Man]] nuclear bomb) through overcast. It was aimed at, but missed, the Imperial Palace.{{sfn|Polmar|2004|p=24}}
* 8 August 1945: 60 B-29s bomb the aircraft factory and arsenal.
* 10 August 1945: 70 B-29s bomb the arsenal complex.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/japan/tokyo/missions-tokyo.html |title=American missions against Tokyo and Tokyo Bay |website=Pacific Wrecks |access-date=31 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005185129/https://www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/japan/tokyo/missions-tokyo.html |archive-date=5 October 2023 }}</ref>

===Other===
16–17 February 1945: [[carrier-based aircraft]], including [[dive bomber]]s, escorted by [[Grumman F6F Hellcat|Hellcat]] fighters attacked Tokyo. Over two days, over 1,500 American planes and hundreds of Japanese planes were in the air. "By the end of 17 February, more than five hundred Japanese planes, both on the ground and in the air, had been lost, and Japan's aircraft works had been badly hit. The Americans lost eighty planes."{{sfn |Hillenbrand |2010 | pp=273–274 }}

18 August 1945: The last U.S. air combat casualty of the Pacific War occurred during mission 230 A-8, when two [[Consolidated B-32 Dominator]]s of the [[386th Bombardment Squadron|386th Bomb Squadron]], [[312th Bombardment Group|312th Bomb Group]], launched from [[Yontan Airfield]], Okinawa, for a photo reconnaissance run over [[Tokyo, Japan]]. Both bombers were attacked by several Japanese fighters of both the [[302nd Naval Air Group]] at [[Atsugi]] and the [[Yokosuka]] Air Group that made 10 gunnery passes. Japanese [[Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service|IJNAS]] [[Flying ace|ace]]s [[Sadamu Komachi]] and [[Saburō Sakai]] were part of this attack. The B-32 piloted by 1st Lt. John R. Anderson, was hit at 20,000 feet; cannon fire knocked out the number two (port inner) engine, and three crew were injured, including Sgt. Anthony J. Marchione, 19, of the [[20th Intelligence Squadron|20th Reconnaissance Squadron]], who took a 20&nbsp;mm hit to the chest and died 30 minutes later. Tail gunner Sgt. John Houston destroyed one attacker. The lead bomber, ''42-108532'', "Hobo Queen II", piloted by 1st Lt. James Klein, was not seriously damaged but the second, ''42-108578'', lost an engine, had the upper turret knocked out of action, and partially lost rudder control. Both bombers landed at Yontan Airfield just past ~1800 hrs. having survived the last air combat of the Pacific war. The following day, propellers were removed from Japanese aircraft as part of the surrender agreement. Marchione was buried on Okinawa on 19 August, his body being returned to his [[Pottstown, Pennsylvania]] home on 18 March 1949. He was interred in St. Aloysius Old Cemetery with full military honors.<ref>[http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/The_Last_to_Die.html?c=y&page=1 The Last to Die | Military Aviation | Air & Space Magazine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817193912/https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/the-last-to-die-10099776/?c=y&page=1 |date=17 August 2020 }}. Airspacemag.com. Retrieved on 5 August 2010.</ref> "Hobo Queen II" was dismantled at Yonton Airfield following a 9 September nosegear collapse and damage during lifting and ''42-108578'', was scrapped at [[Kingman, Arizona]] after the war.<ref>[http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_5.html 1942 USAAF Serial Numbers (42-91974 to 42-110188)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111208220628/http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_5.html |date=8 December 2011 }}. Joebaugher.com. Retrieved on 5 August 2010.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Evacuations of civilians in Japan during World War II]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book |last1=Beevor |first1=Antony |title=The Second World War |date=2012 |publisher=Back Bay Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-316-02375-7 }}
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sr6nn47tDOUC&pg=PA33 |title=No Strategic Targets Left |last=Bradley |first=F.J. |publisher=Turner Publishing |year=1999 |isbn=9781563114830 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Conway-Lanz |first1=Sahr |title=Collateral Damage: Atrocities, Noncombatant Immunity, and Atrocity after World War II |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=0-415-97829-7 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Crane |first1=Conrad C. |title=Bombs, Cities, and Civilians: American Airpower Strategy in World War II |date=1993 |publisher=University of Kansas Press |location=Lawrence,KS |isbn= }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dMjvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT147 |title=B-29 Superfortress Units of World War 2 |last=Dorr |first=Robert F. |date=20 December 2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-78200-835-4 |language=en }}
* {{cite book |last=Hillenbrand |first=Laura |title=Unbroken |url=https://archive.org/details/unbrokenworldwar00hill |url-access=registration |year=2010 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4000-6416-8 }}
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KixzKor30OMC&pg=PA322 |title=The Pacific War: The Strategy, Politics, and Players That Won the War |last=Hopkins |first=William B. |publisher=Zenith Imprint |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7603-3435-5 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Karacas |first=Cary |s2cid=153372067 |title=Place, Public Memory and the Tokyo Air Raids |journal=The Geographical Review |year=2010 |volume=100 |issue=4 |pages=521–537 |doi=10.1111/j.1931-0846.2010.00056.x |bibcode=2010GeoRv.100..521K }}
* {{cite book |last=Kolko |first=Gabriel |year=1990 |orig-year=1968 |title=The Politics of War: The World and United States Foreign Policy, 1943–1945 |url=https://archive.org/details/politicsofwarwor00kolkrich |url-access=registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/politicsofwarwor00kolkrich/page/539 539–40] |publisher=Pantheon Books |isbn=9780679727576 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Donald L. |last2=Commager |first2=Henry Steele |title=The Story of World War II |url=https://archive.org/details/storyofworldwari00mill |url-access=registration |year=2001 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/storyofworldwari00mill/page/447 447–449] |publisher=Simon and Schuster |location=New York |isbn=9780743227186 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Morgan |first1=Robert |last2=Powers |first2=Ron |year=2001 |title=The Man Who Flew The Memphis Belle: Memoir of a WWII Bomber Pilot |publisher=Dutton |isbn=0-525-94610-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/manwhoflewmemphi00morg }}
* {{cite book |first=Norman |last=Polmar |title=The Enola Gay: The B-29 That Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima |publisher=Potomac Books |year=2004 |isbn=1-57488-836-6 }}
* {{cite book |title=The Illustrated History of WWII |first=Dr. John |last=Ray |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |year=2003 }}
* {{cite book |last=Rhodes |first=Richard |title=The Making of the Atomic Bomb |publisher=Simon & Schuster Paperbacks |year=1984 |isbn=0-684-81378-5 }}
* {{cite book |last=Shapiro |first=Isaac |title=Edokko: Growing Up a Foreigner in Wartime Japan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HAL12lzDz40C&pg=PA115 |year=2009 |publisher=iUniverse |isbn=978-1-4401-4124-9 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Sherry |first1=Michael S. |title=The Rise of American Airpower: The Creation of Armageddon |date=1987 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, CT |isbn=0-415-97829-7 |pages=276–77 }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-pPwAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA154 |title=A Century of Air Power: The Changing Face of Warfare 1912–2012 |last=Sloggett |first=David |date=18 July 2013 |publisher=Pen and Sword |isbn=978-1-78159-192-5 |language=en }}
* {{cite book |first=Andre |last=Sorensen |title=The Making of Urban Japan: Cities and Planning from Edo to the Twenty First Century |publisher=RoutledgeCurzon |year=2004 |isbn=0-415-35422-6 }}
* {{cite book |title=Modern Japan: A Social and Political History |last=Tipton |first=Elise K. |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=0-585-45322-5 }}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Caidin |first=Martin |year=1960 |title=A Torch to the Enemy: The Fire Raid on Tokyo |publisher=Ballantine Books |id=D767.25.T6 C35 |isbn=0-553-29926-3 }}
* {{cite book |last=Coffey |first=Thomas M. |year=1987 |title=Iron Eagle: The Turbulent Life of General Curtis LeMay |publisher=Random House Value Publishing |isbn=0-517-55188-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/ironeagleturbule00coff }}
* {{cite book |last=Crane |first=Conrad C. |year=1994 |title=The cigar that brought the fire wind: Curtis LeMay and the strategic bombing of Japan |publisher=JGSDF-U.S. Army Military History Exchange |asin=B0006PGEIQ }}
* {{cite book |last=Frank |first=Richard B. |author-link=Richard B. Frank |year=2001 |title=Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire |publisher=Penguin |isbn=0-14-100146-1 }}
* {{cite book |last=Grayling |first=A. C. |author-link=A. C. Grayling |year=2007 |title=Among the Dead Cities: The History and Moral Legacy of the WWII Bombing of Civilians in Germany and Japan |publisher=Walker Publishing Company Inc |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8027-1565-4 }}
* {{cite book |last=Greer |first=Ron |year=2005 |title=Fire from the Sky: A Diary Over Japan |publisher=Greer Publishing |location=Jacksonville, Arkansas |isbn=0-9768712-0-3 }}
* {{cite book |last=Guillian |first=Robert |year=1982 |title=I Saw Tokyo Burning: An Eyewitness Narrative from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima |publisher=Jove Pubns |isbn=0-86721-223-3 }}
* {{cite book |last=Hoyt |first=Edwin P. |year=2000 |title=Inferno: The Fire Bombing of Japan, March 9 – August 15, 1945 |publisher=Madison Books |isbn=1-56833-149-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/infernofirebombi00hoyt }}
* {{cite book |last=Jablonski |first=Edward |year=1971 |chapter=Air War Against Japan |title=Airwar Outraged Skies/Wings of Fire. An Illustrated history of Air power in the Second World War |publisher=Doubleday |asin=B000NGPMSQ }}
* {{cite book |last=Lardas |first=Mark |title=Japan 1944–45: LeMay's B-29 strategic bombing campaign |year=2019 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1472832467 }}
* {{cite book |last=Lardas |first=Mark |title=Tokyo 1944–45: The destruction of Imperial Japan's capital |year=2024 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1472860354 }}
* {{cite book |last=Lemay |first=Curtis E. |author2=Bill Yenne |year=1988 |title=Superfortress: The Story of the B-29 and American Air Power |publisher=McGraw-Hill Companies |isbn=0-07-037164-4 }}
* {{cite book |last=McGowen |first=Tom |year=2001 |title=Air Raid!: The Bombing Campaign |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |location=Brookfield, Connecticut |isbn=0-7613-1810-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/airraidbombingca0000mcgo }}

* {{cite book |last=Shannon |first=Donald H. |year=1976 |title=United States air strategy and doctrine as employed in the strategic bombing of Japan |publisher=U.S. Air University, Air War College |asin=B0006WCQ86 }}
* {{cite book |last=Smith |first=Jim |author2=Malcolm Mcconnell |year=2002 |title=The Last Mission: The Secret History of World War II's Final Battle |publisher=Broadway |isbn=0-7679-0778-7 }}
* {{cite book |last=Tillman |first=Barrett |author-link=Barrett Tillman |year=2010 |title=Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan, 1942–1945 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-4165-8440-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/whirlwindairwara00till }}
* {{cite book |last=Werrell |first=Kenneth P. |year=1998 |title=Blankets of Fire |publisher=Smithsonian |isbn=1-56098-871-1 }}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Bombing of Tokyo in 1945}}
* [http://www.ditext.com/japan/napalm.html 67 Japanese cities firebombed in World War II].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050311211933/http://www.usaaf.net/ww2/hittinghome/hittinghomepg5.htm Army Air Forces in World War II].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304085715/http://www.tokyo-sensai.net/english_page/index.html The Center of the Tokyo Raid and War Damages / Introduction].
* {{cite web |last=Barrell |first=Tony |year=1997 |url=http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/tokyosum.htm |title=Tokyo's Burning |work=ABC Online |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=3 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970803191130/http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/tokyosum.htm |archive-date=3 August 1997 |url-status=dead }} Transcript of a radio documentary/commentary on the Tokyo firebombing with excerpts from interviews with participants and witnesses.
* {{cite web |last=Craven |first=Wesley Frank |author2=James Lea Cate |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/V/index.html |title=Vol. V: The Pacific: Matterhorn to Nagasaki, June 1944 to August 1945 |work=The Army Air Forces in World War II |publisher=U.S. Office of Air Force History |access-date=12 December 2006 }}
* {{cite web |last=Hansell, Jr. |author-link=Haywood S. Hansell |first=Haywood S. |year=1986 |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/Hansell/index.html |title=The Strategic Air War Against Germany and Japan: A Memoir |work=Project Warrior Studies |publisher=U.S. Office of Air Force History |access-date=12 December 2006 }}

{{WWII city bombing}}
{{World War II}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tokyo}}
[[Category:World War II aerial operations and battles of the Pacific theatre]]
[[Category:World War II strategic bombing by populated place]]
[[Category:Tokyo in World War II]]
[[Category:1940s conflicts]]
[[Category:Firebombings in Japan]]