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 […]
Hibakusha haunted by survivor’s guilt 75 years after the atomic bombings
July 30, 2020 by Leave a Comment
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 […]
Hiroshima survivor trees planted at S.F.’s Japanese Tea Garden
September 26, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Two saplings, descendants of ginkgo biloba trees that survived the 1945 nuclear blast over Hiroshima, were planted Sept. 20 at the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. The trees were planted during a ceremony that also honored former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and Dame Charlotte Malliard Shultz for their advocacy around nuclear […]
What my grandma left behind
August 2, 2018 by Leave a Comment
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. […]
Japanese ICAN member congratulates ‘hibakusha’ for Nobel Peace Prize
October 12, 2017 by Leave a Comment
TOKYO — A key Japanese member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons congratulated the survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Oct. 9 for the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the Geneva-based organization. “It is an award for everyone who has worked to eradicate nuclear arms,†Akira Kawasaki, an […]
Obama reiterates call for world without nuclear in historic Hiroshima visit
June 9, 2016 by Leave a Comment
HIROSHIMA — U.S. President Barack Obama on May 27 became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, where he reiterated his call for a “world without nuclear weapons†during his speech at the Peace Memorial Park in the city devastated by the world’s first atomic bomb 71 years ago. “Among those nations like my […]
Kerry becomes 1st U.S. sec. of state to visit Hiroshima A-bomb park
April 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment
HIROSHIMA — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on April 11 visited a peace park marking the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing in the western Japan city of Hiroshima, the first top U.S. diplomat to do so, focusing attention on whether President Barack Obama will follow suit when he visits Japan later in the year. In […]
U.S. designates WWII nuke projects sites as nat’l park
November 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — The United States on Nov. 10 designated three sites related to its nuclear weapons program in the 1940s as a national park, stepping up preparations to open it to the public over the next few years. Some U.S. officials told a designation ceremony that the National Park Service, the operator of the park, […]
Protesters rally across Japan against controversial security bills
September 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
TOKYO — Students, mothers and other protesters staged rallies at more than 200 locations across Japan on Aug. 30, calling for the scrapping of controversial security legislation that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to enact to strengthen the role of Japanese forces abroad. A major rally in front of the Diet building in central Tokyo […]
Eliminate inhumane nuclear weapons now!
Editor’s Note: The following is the text of the speech Rev. Nobuaki Hanaoka gave Aug. 6, 2019 at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. On Aug. 9, 1945, three days after the first atomic bomb was detonated in the sky above Hiroshima, the second and hopefully the last nuclear bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. I was […]