Hiroshima and Nagasaki at 65 – A Reflection
Norimatsu Satoko
 |
| Memorial Monument for Korean victims of the Nagasaki atomic bomb, situated at the corner of Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Park. |
On countless occasions this year, sixty-five years after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, I have heard and read that hibakusha (atomic-bomb survivors) are dying away, and that we need to eliminate nuclear weapons from the face of the earth, for the future of humanity, to be sure, but also so that their dying wishes are fulfilled. Indeed, hibakusha are not getting any younger. The average age of the 227,565 hibakusha who hold atomic-bomb health books as of March 2010 is 76.73.2 On August 6 this year, the names of 5,501 hibakusha who had died during the past year were added to the Hiroshima Cenotaph, making the total number of deaths of Hiroshima’s hibakusha 269,446.3 In Nagasaki on August 9, 3,114 names were added to make a total of 152,276. Adding the death tolls from both cities, the total of Hiroshima/Nagasaki deaths as of August, 2010 was 421,722. The total number of hibakusha, including the living and dead, is at least 649,287, and keeping in mind those unaccounted for, it is probably more. Simply put, approximately, one third of hibakusha survive, speaking and living on behalf of all.
... Read the rest of the article HERE.
... See all of Satoko's articles on Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus HERE.
... Satoko and her colleagues on the Hiroshima/Nagasaki peace study tour co-produced “Hiroshima, Nagasaki e no genbaku toka saiko – nichibei no shiten 『広島長崎への原爆投下再考―日米の視点』(Rethinking the atomic-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – Japan and U.S. perspectives),” co-authored by Kimura Akira and Peter Kuznick, translated by Norimatsu Satoko, columns contributed by Fujioka Atsushi and Norimatsu Satoko (2010, Horitsu Bunkasha ２０１０年 法律文化社). See HERE for more information about the book and a review from Chugoku Shimbun.
No comments:
Post a Comment