Bomb in the Back Yard - Common in Japan

Here is an interesting story in perspective.  I woke up this morning and read a headline on CNN via my cell phone about an evacuation in Japan after the discovery of a 1 ton WWII bomb that had not been detonated.  Apparently some constructions workers had unearthed the rusting bomb and had called in the local bomb squad to help.

Now, in the United States we rarely come across a situation where we unearth bombs in our back yards.  We've been fortunate to not have most of our landscape bombed at one time or another unlike many other areas of the world from Europe to Africa to Asia and the Pacific Rim.

A Few Recent Headlines on Unearthed Bombs

WWII US bomb forces evacuation in Japan
The Associated Press - 7 hours ago
An explosives disposal unit from Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force safely defused the rusty one-ton bomb in the crowded residential area during a 50-minute ...

WWII US bomb forces evacuation in Japan
KGAN, IA - 5 hours ago
TOKYO (AP) -- More than 5000 people have had to get out of their homes in Osaka, Japan, while army experts disposed of a one-ton bomb believed to have have ...

Mother Nature helps firefighters...Brangelina twins born...WWII ...
KXMC, ND - 7 hours ago
TOKYO (AP) More than 5000 people have been evacuated from their homes in Osaka, Japan, while army experts disposed of an unexploded one-ton bomb. ...

Saturday, July 19
International Herald Tribune, France - Jul 11, 2008
1943 - Allied air force stages first raid on Rome in World War II. 1956 - United States and Britain inform Egypt they cannot participate in financing Aswan ...

Tambun Folks To Evacuate To Allow Police Destroy WWII Bomb
Bernama, Malaysia - Jun 19, 2008
"The bomb cannot be moved as its switch system has been activated," he said, adding that 200 policemen will be on duty to ensure complete evacuation of some ...

Blast from the past: WWII bomb detonated
Malaysia Star, Malaysia - Jun 21, 2008
By IVAN LOH IPOH: The World War II bomb found at Sungai Pinji, Tambun, near here had to be detonated twice before it was completely destroyed. ...

Many people in the US this week are worried about glitches with their new IPhones or wondering if their ipods will ever have the touch functionality of the phones, but in many other countries they have slightly more dramatic day to day problems to contend with.