Do the Boston staff know what happened when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan?

[just another fan]

Yesterday, 8/6/2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the United States dropping nuclear bombs on Hiroshima. Does anyone else think it's weird that the current first place show: 

• Depicts its members running and falling in a way that emulates the firsthand accounts of Japanese people running away from the atomic bombs
• Ends the show holding up one of the Asian (I think) guard members as an effigy (sacrifice?) in the center of the field
• Has a countdown to the bombing in Japanese
• Has Japanese guard members twirling batons, which was a practice during Japanese internment in America meant to assimilate internees into American culture

During the time period that BOOM! depicts, Japanese Americans were designated "hostile aliens" by the United States. We were removed from our homes, forced to abandon many of our possessions, and crowded into internment camps, all simply because of the color of our skin. And even darker than the shadow cast by internment over Japanese Americans, the dropping of the atomic bombs is the most tragic, horrifying, apocalyptic thing to happen to the Japanese as a people in living memory. As a Drum Corps fan, I want to cheer for the incredible performers who have worked so hard to put on their best show. But as a Japanese American, it is incredibly saddening to see our heritage used as set dressing in a way that treats the most tragic time in our history as entertainment. Listening to everyone else in the theater clap today at Big, Live, and Loud! all I could think was, "Have you no soul? Is this what we are to you?"

[Ashontheinternet]

1 hour ago, just another fan said:

Yesterday, 8/6/2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the United States dropping nuclear bombs on Hiroshima. Does anyone else think it's weird that the current first place show: 

• Depicts its members running and falling in a way that emulates the firsthand accounts of Japanese people running away from the atomic bombs
• Ends the show holding up one of the Asian (I think) guard members as an effigy (sacrifice?) in the center of the field
• Has a countdown to the bombing in Japanese
• Has Japanese guard members twirling batons, which was a practice during Japanese internment in America meant to assimilate internees into American culture

During the time period that BOOM! depicts, Japanese Americans were designated "hostile aliens" by the United States. We were removed from our homes, forced to abandon many of our possessions, and crowded into internment camps, all simply because of the color of our skin. And even darker than the shadow cast by internment over Japanese Americans, the dropping of the atomic bombs is the most tragic, horrifying, apocalyptic thing to happen to the Japanese as a people in living memory. As a Drum Corps fan, I want to cheer for the incredible performers who have worked so hard to put on their best show. But as a Japanese American, it is incredibly saddening to see our heritage used as set dressing in a way that treats the most tragic time in our history as entertainment. Listening to everyone else in the theater clap today at Big, Live, and Loud! all I could think was, "Have you no soul? Is this what we are to you?"

i hear you on much of this. i also have a japanese heritage, very recent japanese heritage as well. my great grandmother immigrated to america a couple decades after the war had ended. in the state i live in, japanese internment camps still stand as harrowing relics of a time bygone. 

i think there is something to be said about boston's program this season. when i first saw the ending i felt a lot of emotions, so much so it made me cry. and as time has gone on, certain moral questions have begun to raise in my head. things like, "this feels insensitive" and "is there a better way to convey this message?" 

i've toiled with it. one part of me thinks im insane for feeling this way, like i shouldn't be bothered. after all, i'm sure the designers at boston had no intent of the potential insensitivity and alienation. the other part of me feels like it's in poor taste, especially now with the way the ending progresses. it's intense, it's emotional, and it's effective at conveying the message. i just can't help but feel conflicted on it.

you're likely to catch some pushback on your post, but i truly appreciate you speaking up about it. it's a hard topic, and i think boston, accidentally mind you, created something that may read as in poor taste to those asian-americans out there. of course that won't be universal, maybe i'm too sensitive, but i understand exactly what you are saying. 

[Drumcorpsgal]

1 hour ago, Ashontheinternet said:

i hear you on much of this. i also have a japanese heritage, very recent japanese heritage as well. my great grandmother immigrated to america a couple decades after the war had ended. in the state i live in, japanese internment camps still stand as harrowing relics of a time bygone. 

i think there is something to be said about boston's program this season. when i first saw the ending i felt a lot of emotions, so much so it made me cry. and as time has gone on, certain moral questions have begun to raise in my head. things like, "this feels insensitive" and "is there a better way to convey this message?" 

i've toiled with it. one part of me thinks im insane for feeling this way, like i shouldn't be bothered. after all, i'm sure the designers at boston had no intent of the potential insensitivity and alienation. the other part of me feels like it's in poor taste, especially now with the way the ending progresses. it's intense, it's emotional, and it's effective at conveying the message. i just can't help but feel conflicted on it.

you're likely to catch some pushback on your post, but i truly appreciate you speaking up about it. it's a hard topic, and i think boston, accidentally mind you, created something that may read as in poor taste to those asian-americans out there. of course that won't be universal, maybe i'm too sensitive, but i understand exactly what you are saying. 

Apologies from an alumni. I don’t think the intent was there to insult anyone. Perhaps the ending will be a learning moment for many and actually increase their knowledge of what happened. The ending goes from what seems to be a bomb blast but then there is the music from the movie “Interstellar “. Plus they have the star nebula flags. I think they connect past and future. Deadly explosions to nuclear space travel. Maybe I read to many Sci if novels!

[TOC]

Your first post and you come up with this thought after the first night of finals.  I imagine you have already seen videos of most of the corps shows.  Maybe the corps designers should have done a Pearl Harbor theme which led to Hiroshima.  

[TheOneWhoKnows]

While I sympathize with Japanese history regarding their experiences of atomic bombs, would the reactions of those involved in an atomic bomb be different if it was any other nationality? I would probably say not. And sure we only have one account of events in history to go off of. 
 

I look at this show as more of a reminder of the aftermath effects of nuclear war in a time where the world appears to be inching closer to its use again. 

[mrk]

45 minutes ago, TOC said:

Your first post and you come up with this thought after the first night of finals.  I imagine you have already seen videos of most of the corps shows.  Maybe the corps designers should have done a Pearl Harbor theme which led to Hiroshima.  

Wow. So instead of respectfully engaging with someone’s perspective — especially from a community directly affected by the imagery in question — your instinct is to double down with a historically loaded “Pearl Harbor” jab? That’s not clever, it’s callous. You don’t have to agree with the critique, but dismissively mocking the cultural and generational trauma behind it isn’t a winning argument.

Edited August 8, 2025 by mrk

[Ashontheinternet]

3 minutes ago, mrk said:

Wow. So instead of respectfully engaging with someone’s perspective — especially from a community directly impacted by the imagery in question — your instinct is to double down with a historically loaded “Pearl Harbor” jab? That’s not clever, it’s callous. You don’t have to agree with the critique, but dismissively mocking the cultural and generational trauma behind it isn’t a winning argument.

it's so beyond disrespectful. my great grandma lived through this. though most who experienced the moment of the bombs dropping have now passed on, millions of people still feel it's impact.

[craiga]

Boston's show is about the atomic age during the POSTWAR era, from 1950s optimism through 1960s fear.  The ending is an allegory on the conflict between those two extremes and the lessons which have been learned, and if you ask BAC'S five Japanese members, they will tell you they love performing this show.

[OldCorpsGuy]

Some of you need a history lesson. 
 

Lesson 1. Read about Nanking, Section 731 and the Bataan Death March. 

[mrk]

5 minutes ago, OldCorpsGuy said:

Some of you need a history lesson. 
 

Lesson 1. Read about Nanking, Section 731 and the Bataan Death March. 

And some might benefit from a Cognitive Distortions lesson 

Lesson 1. Whataboutism / False Equivalence – Instead of addressing the original concern, redirect to a different historical atrocity. Follow up with Minimization and Straw Man.