Double nuclear bomb survivor dies

I don't normally write about a person's death, but a recent Japanese man's death has prompted me to write about his spectacular life. Tsutomu Yamaguchi, a double survivor of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, recently past away at the age of 93.

Yamaguchi had the spectacular experience of living through both the bombing in Hiroshima, where he was living and working on short assignment, and the bombing in Nagasaki, where he returned home from Hiroshima only a few days later by crossing a river of carbonized bodies on the way. Shortly after reaching Nagasaki, he felt the second atomic bombing while reporting to work. The second blast blew off his bandages, but he was saved by a stairwell. His atomic bomb physical scarring? A deaf ear, weak legs and, later, cancer. His mental scarring? Surely too much for words.

Reading about his death reminded me of the trip to Hiroshima that the ICU Peace Fellows and I took last spring. It brought back pictures of Hiroshima before and after the blast; of the images of Japanese running through the streets with charred bodies; of the personal stories we heard from other survivors about their experiences.

Yamaguchi lead a rather ordinary life after this remarkable event—working as a translator, teacher and "salary man" (business man in plain English). It wasn't until after his son's death from stomach cancer because of the bomb's radiation that he decided to begin speaking out against nuclear weapons. His wait to raise his voice did not diminish its acuteness. Since 2005, he has been featured in a documentary and reached out to students, the United Nations in New York and even President Obama. Yamaguchi's life experience teaches us that it is never too late to start fighting for justice and peace!

Of course, much work must still be done to make sure that another nuclear bomb is never detonated again and that no one is ever to suffer the physical and mental anguish that Yamaguchi had to endure because of what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Work must especially be done in the Asian region now that North Korean has nuclear weapons. And it puts my own work as a peace studies student into perspective to help lead these efforts.

I hope that Yamaguchi's incredible life story inspires you to reaffirm your efforts to fight against nuclear weapons. We don't need his life to teach us that nuclear weapons should never be used again, but his life experience does give us a stark and personal reminder of just how badly nuclear weapons can affect human life. That only makes arguments against nuclear weapons that much stronger!

Read more about his life here and here.

Read more poetry (tanka in Japanese) by Tsutomu Yamaguchi below.

Best,
JRG

Thinking of myself as a phoenix,

I cling on until now.

But how painful they have been,

those twenty-four years past.

Carbonised bodies face-down in the nuclear wasteland

all the Buddhas died,

and never heard what killed them.

If there exists a GOD who protects

nuclear-free eternal peace

the blue earth won't perish