“May there be no more war… How long must one pray for this? My days are spent busy at work; I think less and less about the significance of a peaceful society. Perhaps people cannot come together unless a gigantic meteorite approaches the earth, threatening our very existence.

Masaharu Abe”

“When I was five years old, our family doctor told my mother that my heartbeat sounded abnormal. She took me straight to the city hospital. As it turned out, I had three holes in my heart, 1cm diameter each. The ‘abnormal’ sound was a result of blood leaking out of my heart. The doctor told her that I had until age 20 to live.

Of course, I had no idea at the time. All I remember is peering up at my mother’s sullen face on the walk back home. Shortly after, we received a notice from the (author’s note: US-funded) Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC), saying that they wished to perform tests on me for research. I was to visit their clinic for an all-day examination, once a year.

They picked me up in a jeep and fed me fancy sandwiches and coffee. There was a wooden horse at the clinic that I adored. I looked forward to the sandwiches and playing on the wooden horse every year. The annual visits continued until I was nine years old.

Shortly before my tenth birthday, I was paid a visit by Taguchi Sensei, a Japanese doctor who had recently returned from Germany. “Washi ga naoshicharu! (I’ll fix you right up!)” he said. He was one of Japan’s first pioneers of DHCA, or deep hypothermic circulatory arrest, wherein a doctor virtually ‘deep freezes’ a patient’s body to temporarily stop blood circulation for a surgical procedure. The operation took over 12 hours; my mother was worried sick. By 10pm that evening, she thought I was a lost cause. Thankfully, the operation was successful. I got 24 stitches straight down my chest.

Shortly after, my father sold his company. He likely did this to cover my operation costs, but he hasn’t admitted to it to this day. The operation, the ABCC visits, the atomic bomb – these things were never discussed in my home. I don’t drink, smoke, or do anything to harm my body. It is the least I can do to repay my parents for their sacrifices.”