[POD] Impact of Going to Both Hiroshima & Nagasaki 80th

[POD] Impact of Going to Both Hiroshima & Nagasaki 80th

Hi everyone, JJ Walsh here from Hiroshima and creator of Seek Sustainable Japan. I’d like to talk a little bit about uh this year, no more Hiroshima, No More Nagasaki, the 80th anniversary uh in both of these cities. Now 2025 is the 80th year since the 1945 nuclear bomb attacks on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And as a longtime resident of Hiroshima, it was really an honor to attend both events this year. It was a wonderful opportunity in fact to meet such incredible people as well as learn many new wonderful stories about peace, resilience, and respect. I grew up near Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and have lived in Hiroshima City near the Hyper Center since 1996 when the Abam Doma Ruins became a designated world heritage site. Nagasaki is just under 4 hours away using a combination of Shinkansen bullet train and local trains and it cost about $30,000 yen which is uh just over $200 for the round trip. While doing this journey, I was really reminded of the incredible story of Sutsumu Yamaguchi, who is recognized as Niju Hibbaka by miraculously surviving both the little boy and the fat man bombings. Yamaguchi was a young engineer who luckily survived 3 kilometers from the Hiroshima blast and he uh was temporarily blind and deaf from the Hiroshima blast. Um but he traveled back to his hometown of Nagasaki and he actually went to work in Nagasaki three days later and he recounts that he was telling his co-workers what he had experienced in Nagasaki but his boss like many people did not believe him and his boss said there’s no way one bomb could have done so much damage and then on that same day soon after the Nagasaki bomb exploded above him and he said, “I thought the mushroom cloud had followed me from Hiroshima,” he told the U uk newspaper reporter from the Independent. Talking about Hiroshima Day, uh, since 1996, I’ve been to Hiroshima’s annual ceremonies many times, but I knew the Hiroshima event on August 6 would be important, but also challenging to navigate. Uh larger crowds were expected more than usual. Usually they get 50,000 people coming. I heard on uh August 6th this year it was over 55,000. Uh and since 2024 they’ve had heavier security restrictions. Uh so checking bags and uh keeping certain areas uh away from public access until certain times in the day, which is understandable. They’re trying to keep us safe. Um, but it does make getting around on August 6, a little bit more challenging, especially if you’re trying to do live stream video, which I was trying to do to include people who couldn’t come to Hiroshima and be part of the event in person on August 6th. Um, so on August 3rd, I did a walkthrough video of the most meaningful monuments and stories that I often tell when I’m doing guiding in the Peace Memorial Park. And then on August 6th, I did do a live stream um, but outside the restricted zone from the area called the TA Bridge, uh, which was actually the sighting point for the pilots. And standing on the tea bridge there at 8:15 was really powerful. As the clock tower chimed at 8:15, the time of the nuclear explosion, and we observed a minute of silence to pray or to look up at the sky. It was really incredible to look up uh into the sky to where the bombers had aimed the little boy nuclear bomb from the Anola Gay B29 bomber on that fateful day. It was even more incredible after uh doing the live stream and walking down the bridge into the peace park uh to run into journalist Ari Beaser whose grandfather was actually one of the pilots on that plane. Aries wrote the book the nuclear family a powerful book that shares Hibbakia survivor testimony as well as gives insights about his own family. He has also written so many insightful articles and is a talented photographer. In fact, Ari’s grandfather was the only American pilot to fly on both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions. Ari’s latest book in Japanese is titled stories from above and below the atomic mushroom cloud a collaboration with Kosuzu Harada the granddaughter of a Hibbaka who like Sumu Unamaguchi had miraculously survived both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. It is an unlikely but inspiring collaboration between these two ch grandchildren who inherited these dark family histories. I look forward to reading the book and learning more about how they have reconciled to share a unified voice against nuclear weapons. After the live stream, I walk through the children’s monument. Always a powerful place to walk through. such a wonderful tribute uh to all the children who died, but also a real tribute to the power of grassroots activism. as the classmates of Sedako Sasaki who stands at the top of the monument holding a crane. Uh her classmates raised funds and got petitions signed to put this monument here for all the children who died in connection to the nuclear blast. And it has become a real focal point for young people around Japan and around the world who are drawn to this place uh by reading and learning about the story of Saddaku Suzaki. She inspired uh the folding of cranes and hoping for peace connection which we see now so much in Hiroshima Nagasaki. She was 2 years old at the time of the blast and she seemed okay. She was very active in elementary school. She had lots of friends, very sporty. But 10 years later, like so many other children, she developed leukemia and went to the hospital. And everybody was folding cranes in hopes that she would get better because in Japanese culture, if you fold a thousand cranes, you get a special wish. She was also folding cranes, but she was giving them away because she realized she wasn’t getting better. And even at the end, she had so much kindness for other people. So that is a beautiful place to to go in Hiroshima Peace Park. And you often see groups of students especially who come with their thousand cranes that they folded together as a school as they do peace education, talking about peace. And then when they come to the monument, they usually sing a song or they uh read a poem or they talk about Saddako’s story before they hang their thousand cranes uh behind the monument. So it’s always changing depending on who’s donating the cranes and seeing their beautiful messages. So it’s a beautiful place to walk through. After the monument, heading across the bridge uh past the Abomb survivors rest house, which is also an Abomb survivor building in the park, uh we passed a group uh ushering Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba on his way to make a speech at the main event in front of the Senate. Now, Ishiba’s leadership has been challenged uh this year by the rising of the anti-forigner right-wing and also challenged by the US uh with the latest leadership stepping back from the defense of Japan and Asia and stepping back from uh usual trade and good relationships uh for trade between Japan and the US. Uh so it’s really been pushing Ishiba and Japan leadership into this question about changing the constitution and maybe developing their own military again which uh after the war they have a peace constitution and article 8 where they are not allowed to have their own military um but were really at a pivotal time. So, it was really interesting um to hear what Ishiba and other politicians were saying at the peace uh ceremonies this year. And then passing in front of the Abam Dome, I saw a group of dancers uh dancing for peace next to a group which was calling for a stop to the killing of innocent people in Gaza. Killing children is a war crime, uh it said on their poster. And this is a spot where I regularly see local peace activists uh lighting candles and campaigning against all war. Uh some may think it’s completely naive to believe in the possibility of peace, but isn’t it also a powerful and beautiful thing to really believe peace is actually possible? Uh then passing out of the Peace Park, we’re heading for a retro coffee shop that I like because of their siphon coffee. Uh you have to check it out if you come to Japan and try this bubbling siphon uh boiling style of retro coffee in Japan. And just by chance, we met up with a Zen Buddhist monk named Soken Danjo who shared his story of praying and dancing in front of the Gandhi monument in Peace Park from the early morning. So Ken Danjo said Gandhi is a great mentor for all of us even now a little bit of um guidance in how to create positive change, peaceful protest and how to dedicate our lives uh to being part of uh positive change. And my son just happened to have translated for Soen Danjo when he visited the Netherlands. So, it was wonderful to be able to meet him with my son on this day. I guess my expectation of the 80th Hiroshima commemorations was high. And so, I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more emphasis about the work of the Nobel Peace Prize winning hibaka group Hidango. There also could have been more information highlighting Hiroshima’s stories in meaningful ways. The museum facility for the last two years has really been overcrowded. Uh especially packed on holidays and commemoration day. It’s somewhere everyone wants to go when they come to Hiroshima Peace Park. facility, although fabulously laid out, is too busy and there’s too many people in there for you to take in all the meaningful information. So, an outdoor installation of some of the exhibits under the shade of the trees in the park would work really well to help raise awareness and persuade more many more visitors to the park against the use of nuclear weapons. and really promote the whole philosophy of the peace park. The whole idea to give people a place to come and think about the horrors of what happened in history in efforts that it never happens again. U memorial park museum is so beautifully and tragically uh laid out showing the stories of those who survived as well as those who did not survive. we can connect on this human level. Uh visitors can uh empathize with their stories just uh feeling similarities uh to their own lives and their own loss and their own struggles. Uh this really could have been recreated throughout the peace park to honor the dead as well as to pass on testimonies uh to encourage visitors never to allow it to happen again. And it’s not too late. Uh it would be wonderful to see uh this kind of thing expanding more in Peace Park uh to share the information more widely. It’s estimated that up to 80,000 lives were lost immediately in the Hiroshima nuclear bombing of August 6th and 140,000 lives were lost by the end of 1945, the same year. But each year names are still added to the books in the vault uh below the senotap of those who died even years later who were registered at being in the blast zone within the first two weeks. In two 2025 this year, the hundreds of books have just been returned to the vault with an updated number of names announced on August 6th. This year the new total is 349,246 people who have died since August 6, 1945. These are the names of Japanese, Koreans, and even some Americans who were officially registered as being within the 2 km blast zone anytime from the 6th to the 20th of 1945 when they were exposed to the radiation from the little boy bomb. The question now many people are asking is is Hiroshima and Nagasaki still relevant? It is tragic to realize that in 2025 we may be losing the battle to keep the lessons of Hiroshima Nagasaki relevant for modern people in Japan and beyond. Uh this is essential in order to avoid re repeating the same mistakes and using nuclear weapons again in the future. They are not the same as conventional weapons. Now, according to the Japan Times, there are now less than 100,000 Hebakia, a bomb survivors alive 80 years later. A new survey also shows how the information is being lost as only one in four Japanese in the survey said they knew when World War II ended with Japan’s surrender on August 14th, 1945. They also didn’t know the dates of the Hiroshima or Nagasaki bombing. Fortunately, we have seen increased interest in visitors to both Hiroshima and Nagasaki over the past two years thanks to the work of great local organizations, wonderful tour guides, UNESCO certification, the G7 summit and other international events, even the moving the movie Oppenheimer, um the sister historical site relationship with Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima which was initi iated by US Ambassador Rahm Emanuel and Hiroshima Mayor Matsui Kazumi among many other efforts. But we need to keep improving and evolving to raise awareness and keep uh the memory and the stories and the learnings from Hiroshima and Nagasaki relevant to modern people. But every day I’m encouraged by the international visitors I meet who are really seeking out answers to the past by visiting Hiroshima and Nagasaki and making parallels to the relevance of this tragic yet hopeful story in their own lives. As I returned to the Hiroshima Peace Park on the evening of August 6th to float a lantern with my family, I was really moved by the chanting of groups of monks who were standing in front of the unknown victim’s A-bomb memorial mound, a beautiful grassy mound with a vault below that contains the ashes of 70,000 people who were cremated in this central area of the city. Amazingly, they have been able to reunite thousands of ashes to families of loved ones with DNA testing. But many people still have never been reunited. When I learned that the monks were from different sects and different temples, different shrines, and had come together to chant at the grassy mound for the soul of these victims. I was so impressed. We absolutely need collaboration like this across religions, political affiliations, cultures, and countries in order to unite in a singular voice. If we are to have any chance for peaceful negotiation of our differences, starting with collaboration and mutual respect is a really great step forward. visiting Nagasaki for the 80th commemorations. On the 8th, we made our journey to Nagasaki from Hiroshima. I had visited Nagasaki before, but never for the commemorations on August 9th, and I was really interested to see it. As we climbed up the steep steps to our hillside Airbnb, I was reminded how even though both cities are surrounded by mountains, which acted as a buffer to contain the blast, Nagasaki’s neighborhoods around the center are up much steeper slopes. This steep hill geography of Nagasaki uh provides great views now, but was a reason the nuclear blast intensified into the lowland areas along the central rivers, killing more than 74,000 people in the first month. And like Hiroshima, the numbers have been updated every year. And on August 9th this year, they now include 21,942 names in the books below, kept in the vault under the epicenter marker in the Nagasaki Peace Park. On this visit, I was really struck by how many thousands of PS were killed by the Fat Man bomb. And as they were forced laborers in factories in the city, uh many from Australia, the UK, the US, and the Netherlands, of course, also alongside Koreans who were forced laborers and comfort women who were forced into sex slavery. Uh they should all be included in our history books and in our memorials as double victims. They were slave laborers as well as a bomb victims. It has been a struggle for PS and Koreans who returned home after the war to get apologies, recognition or compensation for their wartime treatment. According to Ian, when the United States attacked Hiroshima Nagasaki with nuclear weapons on August 6, 1945, it was not only Japanese citizens they killed. There were tens of thousands of Koreans in the two cities and it is estimated by survivors organizations that more than 50,000 Koreans were numbered amongst those killed. In total, 215,000 had died. Result of the attacks by the end of 1945. Most were civilians, including many children. That’s according to the ICAN uh international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons organization website. The accounts of P Hibbakia survivors like Dutch Yoan Sham is powerful to read about their expected anger for the Japanese military leadership. I will never bow to the Japanese, Johan said. But yet he still had so much sympathy for the poor local people around him who he said suffered as much as they did from horrible wartime conditions. Yan said not all Japanese are guilty. Many were victims themselves. He wrote his account and it was published in English, Dutch and Japanese called Yan’s story. Nagasaki Hibaka survivor Tyo Kazu Ihara added the importance of accountability for the Japanese government as well as for Japanese people even important for Hibbakia survivors like him. I can’t talk of my own suffering without talking of Japan’s aggression overseas. He said, “When giving testimony overseas,” he added, “the broader context is key to get a response.” In both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Memorial Parks, there is a Korean victim’s monument, but in Hiroshima, there is no separate monument for the PS that died in the blast. However, the 10 American soldiers who died in the Hiroshima Abomb, their names are included in the books under the Senate. However, having a P memorial, which is separate, helps raise awareness of visitors as well as it shows ownership, transparency, and accountability of the historical significance that the Abum victims were not just Japanese. Nagasaki Day on August 9th. For the August 9th ceremony, the Nagasaki Peace Park entry was limited to a small group of a thousand dignitaries and politicians, hibakia, journalists, specially invited members of the community, and those who won a pre-registration lottery. I appreciate the effort to maintain.

Grateful this year to have had the rare opportunity to attend both the Hiroshima 80th and Nagasaki 80th commemoration events this year – may these two cities be the last places on earth to experience such horror, suffering and devastation from a nuclear weapon attack.

Read article on MEDIUM @medium https://medium.com/@jjwalsh/no-more-hiroshima-nagasaki-80th-8d4c808638b7

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