HIROSHIMA — Many atomic bomb survivors, including campaigner Setsuko Thurlow, voiced anger and disappointment at the Group of Seven nations’ summit on May 21 after the leaders released a statement that supported the possession of nuclear weapons for deterrence and failed to mention the treaty banning nuclear arms. The 91-year-old Thurlow called the G-7 summit […]
‘Remembrance for Peace’ commemorates atomic bombings
August 18, 2022 by Leave a Comment
According to an excerpt from her essay, “In Hiroshima, Japan, a Teenager Finds an Unexpected Home,” Daisy Okazaki went “to the Peace Park for the memorial of the 74th anniversary of the bombing” Aug. 6, 2019. The Aug. 9 virtual “Remembrance for Peace” event — presented by the Nichi Bei Foundation and Friends of Hibakusha […]
‘Brilliant’ work relies on oral histories of JA hibakusha
July 21, 2022 by Leave a Comment
AMERICAN SURVIVORS: TRANS-PACIFIC MEMORIES OF HIROSHIMA & NAGASAKI By Naoko Wake (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021, 408 pp., $29.95, hard cover) In 1974, Betty Mitson and I co-edited a modest and virtually self-published and crudely fabricated book titled “Voices Long Silent: An Oral Inquiry into the Japanese American Evacuation.” It was conceived and developed […]
Virtual event to remember atomic bombing victims
August 5, 2021 by Leave a Comment
Aug. 6 and 9 mark the 76th anniversary of the United States’ atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. The San Francisco Bay Area-based Friends of Hibakusha and the Nichi Bei Foundation will commemorate those dates with a virtual remembrance in collaboration with the Japanese American Religious Federation of San Francisco. The second annual online […]
Protest calls for end to nuclear weapons on 75th anniversary of Hiroshima bombing
August 13, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Bay Area nuclear war protesters held their annual rally at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory virtually on Aug. 6, the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima to call for an end to nuclear weapons. The rally started at 8 a.m. Pacific time at https://www.hiroshimanagasaki75.org/events and was part of a national event called “From Hiroshima to […]
Nagasaki A-bomb survivor determined to share memories in English
August 13, 2020 by Leave a Comment
NAGASAKI, (Kyodo) — Michio Hakariya had been trying to share his experiences of the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki with foreign audiences for some years when he began to feel that his inability to speak directly to them in their own language was blunting his message. Despite his advanced years, the response of the retired […]
LETTERS: Sobering Seventy-Five
July 30, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Dear Editor, Can you hold your breath for one minute, 15 seconds?Seventy-five seconds. One second for every year since atomic bombs were detonated over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ask yourself: Are we (all of humanity) capable of living together with respect and humility for other countries and for one another? As the U.S. and Russia continue […]
Hibakusha haunted by survivor’s guilt 75 years after the atomic bombings
July 30, 2020 by Leave a Comment
In the final days of World War II, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945, respectively, which forever altered the course of history. While the bombs immediately incinerated the two cities and vast swaths of their populations — resulting in the deaths of an estimated […]
L.A. museum opens exhibition on Japanese American A-bomb victims
November 21, 2019 by Leave a Comment
LOS ANGELES (Kyodo) — An exhibition featuring the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki opened Nov. 9 in Los Angeles, telling the stories of Japanese Americans who were in those cities when the bombs dropped in August 1945. Marking the 75th anniversary of the tragedies, the Japanese American National Museum will run the event through […]
What my grandma left behind
My grandmother and I were always very close. But she had never spoke of her experience of the atomic bomb. “It is too painful for your grandma to talk about it,” my mother once told me. My grandma lost her mom on the day of the bomb, and her husband and siblings in later years. […]