“Passing On the Spirit of Hiroshima

Hiroshima – a city in which 8,200 seventh- and eighth-grade students were mobilized as laborers, of which 6,300 passed away on the morning of August 6.

As a legacy successor, I pass on the stories of those who survived, those who have carried guilt for their entire lives because they did not share the same fate.

My father lived on an island off the Seto Inland Sea and entered Hiroshima for three days immediately after the bombing as part of the relief effort. I was not able to hear his story.

I hope to continue telling the story of how  広島 (author’s note: ‘Hiroshima’ in kanji, as it is traditionally written) became ヒロシマ (author’s note: ‘Hiroshima’ in katakana, an alphabet system reserved for foreign words. This indicates the rising ubiquity of Hiroshima among non-Japanese speakers as it has become synonymous with the atomic bomb), the many individuals that lost their lives in an instant and the many more individuals that suffer, to this day, due to radiation sickness. I hope to relay the messages of the hibakusha who have provided their testimonials in hopes that no one ever has to experience what they went through.”