American WWII bomb explodes at Japanese airport, causing large crater in taxiway

Incident and immediate reactions

• Commenters note how narrowly disaster was avoided; a plane with ~100 people reportedly taxied past minutes before detonation.
• The bomb seems to have been at the runway edge, under an area normally not directly under landing gear but under fuel-laden wings.
• Some are surprised the crater (about 7 m wide, 1 m deep) is described as “large,” but others point out it was enough to shut the airport and represents a huge mass of displaced soil.

Why a WWII bomb was still there

• The airport began as a 1943 Imperial Japanese Navy airfield; many US bombs were dropped on such sites and not all were cleared.
• Ground‑penetrating radar and routine UXO surveys were not common when the civilian runway was built.
• Modern commenters expect the entire airfield will now be systematically swept.

Aging explosives and UXO hazards

• Several posts stress that old explosives often become more sensitive as fuses and detonators corrode and chemicals degrade.
• UXO from WWI and WWII is still being found in France, Belgium, Germany, the UK, Italy, Cambodia, and elsewhere; hundreds of tons per year in some regions.
• Clearing UXO remains dangerous; France alone has lost hundreds of disposal workers since 1946.

How countries handle UXO

• In dense areas like Germany, France, Japan, and the UK, known UXO is almost always removed or blown in place; liability and construction needs force action.
• Extremely contaminated training or battle areas are sometimes fenced off instead of cleared (e.g., “Zone Rouge” in France, forest ranges in Germany).
• Some jurisdictions require UXO risk assessments before construction permits; methods include historical bombing maps, aerial photos, and sometimes geophysics.

Debate on identifying this bomb

• Some question how authorities know it was a US 500 lb WWII bomb versus another source (postwar loss, deliberate planting).
• Others argue context and forensics make WWII origin overwhelmingly likely: the site was bombed in WWII, Japan hasn’t been bombed since, shrapnel and explosive residue can be type‑matched, and burying such a large bomb under an active runway in peacetime is implausible.

Broader reflections

• Many comments highlight how weapons outlive wars: mines, cluster munitions, and UXO keep killing and maiming civilians decades later.
• There is discussion of modern efforts to design self‑deactivating mines and safer explosives, but also skepticism about real‑world dud behavior.
• Some see the thread as a reminder of the enduring costs of aerial bombing; others debate strategic effectiveness and ethics of bombing civilians.