It seems to me that August is a month for Japanese people to remember that Japan had a war, victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, We remember that so many people of the world were sacrificed in order that Japan are able to enjoy freedom and peace.
Newspapers and TV have special articles and programs every summer. On August 6th 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima in human history. On August 9th the second in Nagasaki. On August 15th the World War Ⅱ( Pacific War)was ended. It’s the end of Imperial Japan ended and the beginning of democracy. That day was celebration for people ruled under Imperial Japan.
I would like to write my memories about Hiroshima and Nagasaki : Beautifully revived cities now.
As an elementary student I went to the museum in Hiroshima. I saw dummies burnt to death and injured I just scared. I couldn’t sleep at night. As a middle school I went to Nagasaki. A picture of a girl whose whole face was burnt. That one picture made me imagine how terrible it was. How hot it was! How much suffer! How sad as a girl!
As a college student I visited Nagasaki with friends. This time I was as sad to know more about the lives after the bomb as before. However I was more impressed how people in Nagasaki survived and tried to live their lives fully under grieves and hardship. I was amazed to see people’s ability to persevere and try to live with hope and wish for their families and future generation.
As a teacher I learned many different things and stories about the bombs and 被爆者Hibakusha. They don’t hate America at all. Their wish is “No more Hiroshima. No more Nagasaki.” They don’t want anybody to become a victim of a nuclear war. They want to the last Hibakusha, victims of nuclear weapon. They have never thought of making a nuclear weapon for a war. Strong desire of Hibakusha and all Japanese sharing same desire have kept Japan form developing nuclear weapon since 1945.
I heard that radiation from the bomb still exist in Hibakush’s body.That’s what I was asked to tell my student from an old Hibakusha gentleman I met in Nagasaki for my first school trip in 1988. I had kept his promise.
This is very personal experience and opinion. Now I am in the U.S. I have met a veteran who served in South Pacific and saw Enola Gay leaving the base. He served and injured twice.
I thought it’s important to look and thing from both sides when we see history. I should not forget those people who sacrificed themselves believing in better and peaceful world, wishing for happiness of their families and next generation.
はだしのゲン Hadashino Gen is a well known comic of a boy who experienced atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Its cartoonist Kei Nakazawa also experienced the bomb. This Manga is his message to us and future generation. It has English translation.It has bee n loved by children and they can receive his message. Unfortunately these days, some groups and board of education say the description and pictures are too cruel to let children to read.
#Hiroshima #Nagasaki #NomoreHiroshima
#Hibakusha # A-Bomb #August
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