Haeeah deWeever, contributor

On Oct. 3, a bomb from World War II that had been buried at Miyazaki Airport in Japan for over 80 years exploded. According to CBS News and Japanese officials, “the bomb caused a large crater in a taxiway and the cancellation of over 80 flights.” No one was injured as a result of this explosion. An investigation by the Self-Defense Forces and police confirmed that the explosion was caused by a 500-pound bomb from the United States, and there was no further damage beyond a crater created in the taxiway that was about seven meters (around 22 feet) in diameter and one meter (3 feet) deep.

Many undetonated American bombs remain in Japan today, buried underneath the ground. The Self-Defense Forces of Japan removed “a total of 2,348 bombs weighing 37.5 tonnes were disposed of during fiscal year 2023,” according to Al Jazeera. Miyazaki Airport was originally a military airbase where some kamikaze pilots took flight. Two bombs have been found at the airport in the past in 2011 and 2021, but they did not detonate.

Other, buried World War II bombs have detonated in the past and are also a concern across Europe. A bomb was found in Great Yarmouth, England in 2023 which resulted in what authorities called an “unplanned detonation,” according to CBS News. A contractor discovered the bomb when doing dredging work in the River Yare. Emergency services and local authorities called to the scene declared it a “major incident” and activated emergency plans. 

An Explosive Ordinance Team was also summoned to the area, the roads nearby were closed, and the immediate area was evacuated promptly. The following Friday, work began to disarm the explosives remaining on the device, but somehow it detonated, causing a large explosion that was caught on camera through a police drone. No one was injured in this explosion. In a news release, officials said that a protective sandbox had been built by the Explosive Ordinance Team around the bomb in case of an unexpected detonation. “This has been an unsettling time for many people, most of all for those who were evacuated from their homes,” Sheila Oxtoby, Great Yarmouth Borough council chief executive, said in a news release.

Over time the explosives and the fuses within a bomb begin to deteriorate making it more unstable and sensitive to disturbances. As these bombs begin to degrade they release toxic compounds into the soil and water around them, contaminating the area with heavy metals and other toxic substances. In an interview with Smithsonian Magazine, Garren Mulloy, an international relations scholar at Daito Bunka University in Japan, said “these bombs are usually safe, although if they are disturbed or their inner workings get wet then they can become more unstable.” According to ABC News, “hundreds of tons of unexploded bombs from the war remain buried around Japan.”