Decades Later: Surviving Hiroshima

“After the explosion of the A-bomb, I was hit on the ground for a while and it became dark. I could scarcely see the surrounding area. A moment later, I heard my little brother’s voice. I walked to my house where my little brother was crying.About one hour later, my older brother came home and […]

“After the explosion of the A-bomb, I was hit on the ground for a while and it became dark. I could scarcely see the surrounding area. A moment later, I heard my little brother’s voice. I walked to my house where my little brother was crying.About one hour later, my older brother came home and he told us that the entire city had been destroyed. We were thinking that the target was our town. We didn’t know that the entire city was burning.”  Those were the words of Keiko Ogura, our tour guide at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in Hiroshima, Japan.

a city of refugees

Ogura was eight years old when 30-year-old Paul Warfield Tibbets of the American Air Force dropped the Atomic bomb, or A-bomb, as the Japanese call it, on August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima.

A-bomb instantly destroyed close to 80, 000 lives, and by the end of December, 1945, about 140, 000 people had died.

 Little Ogura was, in her own words, on the road near the family house “in the radius of 2.4km square from the hypocentre (ground zero) to the north” of the explosion. 

In a deeply touching voice, she added that, at home, “I walked up the stone steps to the shrine on the hill. On each step, there were refugees who were severely wounded. There was no doctor, nor medicine. The second day, all the city was burned out. I thought that the Seto Inland Sea in the south end of the city seemed very near, because all the city was demolished completely and almost no building was left. The smoke of cremating the dead was coming up.

Keiko took all five of us, journalists from Africa, who were on a working visit to Japan, through the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. The memorial is dedicated to the memory of those who died as a result of the August 6, 1945 bombing and those who, to this day, continue to suffer the after effects of radiation and other diseases occasioned by the tragic event.

setting up peace memorial

The Peace Memorial also clamours for the elimination of all nuclear bombs in pursuit of a safer world and lasting world peace.

In the Peace Memorial, details of how the United States and United Kingdom governments shortlisted Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Nagasaki also suffered hydrogen bomb attack) from 17 cities initially selected are on display.  But for Japanese surrender, the port city of Yokohama and Kokura would have suffered a similar fate.

Reminders of the brutal incident, ranging from human body parts, melted bottles, stones, burnt clothes, shoes and real pictures, abound to tell the story. Life size hideously burnt dummies of human beings were also on display to encourage the elimination of nuclear bombs. 

As part of the visit, we met with HIBAKUSHA(S), which means “explosion-affected people” in Japanese, and the story of Sunao Tsuboi is profoundly compelling. He is co-chairperson of Japan Confederation of A-bomb and H-bomb Sufferers Organisations, made up of about 10,000 of the over 230,000 bomb survivors in Japan.

Eighty-four-year-old Tsuboi was a 20-year-old university undergraduate when A-bomb was dropped. He said he was close to the City Hall, about one kilometre away from the hypocentre. His face, hands, back, waist and legs were burnt by the heat rays.

Father of three daughters and seven grandchildren, Tsuboi said “my burns extended almost from head to toe. Both sleeves of my shirt and half of my pants were burnt off and the clothes that were left were tattered. Also, I was blown 10 metres by the bomb’s blast and I lost consciousness.” He said that in that state, he had no way of knowing about the effects of radiation at that time.

“When I regained consciousness, the surrounding area was pitch-dark and I could not see even 100 metres ahead. Within two or three hours, the entire city of about four kilometres in diameter was a sheet of fire” he said.

unending medical attention

Tsuboi, who has been in and out of hospitals ten times since then, added “many charred bodies were lying on the ground and the dead bodies of the people who jumped into the river seeking water to quench the fire were still floating there. There were survivors whose eyeballs had popped out and were dangling and whose skin was hanging down as well.

“Others were crying and groaning with blood all over their bodies; I was also one of them and felt that I saw a living hell on earth. The city of Hiroshima died then. I kept wandering and slept outside at night and when, about a week had passed, I became unconscious again. I didn’t know that the Second World War had ended on August 15. I do not remember anything for the next 40 days.”

He said that in the 10 times that he had been hospitalised, the worst three times were 10, 18 and 23 years after the bombing.  “I was in critical condition and saw no escape from death. The diseases were chronic aplastic anaemia, angina pectoris, large intestine cancer, prostate cancer and so on, which are typical symptoms of the after effects of radiation that are caused by destruction of cells and bodily functions.

“Throughout my life, I have had to take blood forming medicine and nitro-glycerine and I still go to the hospital every two weeks to have an intravenous drip.”

He added that due to the after effects of the radiation, “I am troubled by various diseases, and most of the A-bomb survivors have also spent their lives receiving treatment for these diseases.”

The octogenarian explained that the greatest fear of an A-bomb victim is that the destruction of their “humanity” will continue throughout their lives even if they survived.”

After meeting Tsuboi, the team of visiting journalists from Africa met with activists from different anti-nuclear bomb groups. Most are direct descendents of Hibakushas and have been calling for the abolition of nuclear bombs.

Creativity from disasters

Ms Sachi Kiraku who works for Japan Broadcasting Corporation, also known as Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) in Japanese, produces movies on Hibakushas which basically preach love and forgiveness.

Kiraku said what she and her colleagues set out to do is to build a peaceful world by telling the amazing stories of “people who are strong and tough enough to want to rebuild the peace.”

She eulogised the resilient spirit of the Japanese people, saying that “three days after A-Bomb, the train cars started moving, indicating a strong desire to rebuild the peace.

“On that day, victims were not only Japanese; they were other people in Hiroshima and that has also helped us manage the situation.” 

On her part, Nakashi Satoko, who is a housewife and peace volunteer for Hiroshima Interpreters for Peace (HIP), said the atomic bomb issue transcended the borders of Japan due to the various tests carried out in various parts of the world.

She said “atomic waste plants effects are still active in over 20 countries and I believe very strongly that we should share the problems as it affects people of the world”

Also speaking, Tomoko Watanabe who works for Asian Network of Trust (ANT) in Hiroshima said neither the US nor the UK has ever accepted blame nor given any form of financial compensation to Hibakushas.

They all agreed that survivors’ ability to overcome deep-seated hatred for the Americans was helped by a comprehensive state sponsored physical and psychological healing process, adding that Hibakushas had become voices to a global call for the elimination of all forms of weapons of mass destruction.