Mar 9, 2015

On March 10, 1945, U.S. B-29 bombers flew over Tokyo in the dead of night, dumping massive payloads of cluster bombs equipped with a then-recent invention: napalm. A fifth of Tokyo was left a smoldering expanse of charred bodies and rubble.

Today, a modest floral monument in a downtown park honors the spirits of the 105,400 confirmed dead, many interred in common graves.

It was the deadliest conventional air raid ever, worse than Nagasaki and on par with Hiroshima. But the attack, and similar ones that followed in more than 60 other Japanese cities, have received little attention, eclipsed by the atomic bombings and Japan’s postwar rush to rebuild.

Reporting by Elaine Kurtenbach and Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press

: This combination of two photos shows initial destruction and reconstruction after the March 10, 1945 firebombing. The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows survivors commute through destroyed Nakamise shopping street after Tokyo firebombing. The bottom photo taken 70 years later on March 7, 2015, shows a visitor prays toward Sensoji Temple at the start of the Nakamise shopping street in Asakusa district in Tokyo. (AP Photo/The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, Eugene Hoshiko)

: This combo of two photos shows initial destruction and reconstruction after the March 10, 1945 Tokyo firebombing. The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows an incendiary bombed-devastated Azuma Bridge area after the firebombing. The bottom photo taken 70 years later on March 7, 2015, shows people walk on Azuma Bridge in Tokyo. (AP Photo/The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, Eugene Hoshiko)

: This combo of two photos shows initial destruction and reconstruction after the March 10, 1945 firebombing. The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows an incendiary bombed Matsuya Asakusa department store, center, after Tokyo firebombing. The bottom photo taken 70 years later on March 7, 2015, shows still-in-use Matsuya department store in Asakusa district in Tokyo. (AP Photo/The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, Eugene Hoshiko)

: This combo of two photos shows initial destruction and reconstruction after the March 10, 1945 firebombing. The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows survivors commute near an incendiary bombed Kamiya Bar, left, and Matsuya Asakusa department store, right after Tokyo firebombing. The bottom photo taken 70 years later on March 7, 2015, shows commuters walk past still-in-use Kamiya Bar and Matsuya department store in Asakusa district in Tokyo. (AP Photo/The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, Eugene Hoshiko)

: This combo of two photos shows initial destruction and reconstruction after the March 10, 1945 firebombing. The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows an incendiary bomb-devastated Matsuya Asakusa department store, seen from Azuma Bridge after Tokyo firebombing. The bottom photo taken 70 years later on March 7, 2015, shows Matsuya department store partially is seen among newer buildings in Tokyo. (AP Photo/The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, Eugene Hoshiko)

: This combo of two photos shows initial destruction and reconstruction after the March 10, 1945 firebombing. The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows an incendiary bomb-devastated Azuma Bridge after Tokyo firebombing. The bottom photo taken 70 years later on March 7, 2015, shows a man walks near Azuma Bridge in Tokyo. (AP Photo/The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, Eugene Hoshiko)

: This combo of two photos shows initial destruction and reconstruction after the March 10,1945 firebombing. The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows an incendiary bomb-devastated area and Sumida-gawa Bridge after Tokyo firebombing. The bottom photo taken 70 years later on March 7, 2015, shows trains run over Sumida-gawa Bridge with Japan’s tallest building “Tokyo Skytree” in Tokyo. (AP Photo/The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, Eugene Hoshiko)

: This combo of two photos shows initial destruction and reconstruction after the March 10, 1945 firebombing. The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows incendiary bomb-devastated area of Kameido district after Tokyo firebombing, seen from Kameido Tenjin Bridge. The bottom photo, taken 70 years later on March 7, 2015, shows people walk at Kameido District seen from the bridge in Tokyo. The B-29s flew much lower on March 10, in the dead of the night, dumping massive payloads of incendiary bombs on both residential areas and military targets. (AP Photo/The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, Eugene Hoshiko)

: This combo of two photos shows initial destruction and reconstruction after the March 10, 1945 firebombing. The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows damaged Matsuya department store after Tokyo firebombing. The bottom photo taken 70 years later on Feb. 27, 2015, shows the structure still in use as train station and shopping mall complex in Asakusa district in Tokyo. (AP Photo/The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, Eugene Hoshiko)

: Haruyo Nihei speaks at a room depicting the situation at that time of WWII under the blackout order at the Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage. Nihei was only 8-years-old when the biggest attack of the war, the firebombing of central Tokyo, killed over 100,000 people and left hundreds of thousands more homeless. She fled with her family and watched as many others were burned alive. As the flames swept over her, she was sheltered by her father and many others who piled on top of them who suffocated or burned to death.(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

: Yoshitaka Kimura sits at his toy store at the Asakusa Nakamise shopping area in Tokyo. Kimura, sixth generation heir to the familyís toy business, was just seven when his family fled during the firebombing from their shop near Asakusaís famous Sensoji Temple, heading toward the Sumida River. The blast from a falling bomb blew him under the half-closed shutter of the Matsuya department store, one of the few buildings left standing after the attack. He and others crowded inside survived. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

: Michiko Kiyo-oka, 91, holds a banner read as Tokyo Firebombing lawsuit at the riverside of Sumida river near the Asakusa district in Tokyo. Kiyo-oka, a city government worker and daughter of traditional entertainers, ran with her parents and sister toward the Sumida river, crowding with many others under the Kototoi Bridge. Kiyo-oka managed to avoid being pushed into the deep water, and her mother also survived at the waterís edge. But her sister swam for a wooden post that caught fire and her father died trying to save her. Hundreds of people drowned, suffocated or were burned to death as the waterís surface, slick with napalm, caught fire. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

: Yoshitaka Kimura speaks near Asakusa Station in Tokyo. Kimura, sixth generation heir to the familyís toy business, was just seven when his family fled during the firebombing from their shop near Asakusaís famous Sensoji Temple, heading toward the Sumida River. The blast from a falling bomb blew him under the half-closed shutter of the Matsuya department store, one of the few buildings left standing after the attack. He and others crowded inside survived. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

70 Years Later: March 10, 1945 firebombing in Tokyo, Japan

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