“‘Why couldn’t I save them? Why did I get to survive?’ Those who were afflicted by the atomic bomb carry these sentiments with them for the rest of their lives.

I may be the youngest hibakusha in the world; I was 24 days old at the time of the bombing. Still, my entire family was implicated by the atomic bomb. My older brother was afflicted as a student laborer; my aunt incurred severe burns and insisted on wearing long sleeved shirts during the summer. Even at 2.4km from the hypocenter, she lost part of the flesh on her arm due to radiation. Hydrogen bombs today are several hundred times more powerful than weapons we had back then. Russia has successfully conducted experiments with nuclear weapons that are 3,000 times more powerful than the ones we had back then. The earth is on the verge of utter destruction, yet only the power of people can prevent it.”