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Hibakusha

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For the short film, see Hibakusha (film).
A victim of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, she suffered severe burns; the pattern on her skin is from the kimono she was wearing at the time of the bombing.

The surviving victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are called hibakusha (被爆者), a Japanese word that literally translates as "explosion-affected people" and is used to refer to people who were exposed to radiation from the bombings.

Official recognition

The Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Law defines hibakusha as people who fall into one of the following categories: within a few kilometers of the hypocenters of the bombs; within 2 km of the hypocenters within two weeks of the bombings; exposed to radiation from fallout; or not yet born but carried by pregnant women in any of these categories.[1] As of March 31, 2013, 201,779 hibakusha were recognized by the Japanese government, most living in Japan.[2] The government of Japan recognizes about 1% of these as having illnesses caused by radiation.[3]

Hibakusha are entitled to government support. They receive a certain amount of allowance per month. About 1%, certified as suffering from bomb-related diseases, receive a special medical allowance.[4]

The memorials in Hiroshima and Nagasaki contain lists of the names of the hibakusha who are known to have died since the bombings. Updated annually on the anniversaries of the bombings, as of August 2013 the memorials record the names of almost 450,000 hibakusha; 286,818 in Hiroshima[5] and 162,083 in Nagasaki.[6]

Panoramic view of the monument marking the hypocenter, or ground zero, of the atomic bomb explosion over Nagasaki.
Citizens of Hiroshima walk by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, the closest building to Ground Zero to have survived the city's atomic bombing.
A photograph of Sumiteru Taniguchi's back injuries taken in January 1946 by a U.S. Marine photographer.

Korean survivors

During the war, Japan brought many Korean conscripts to both Hiroshima and Nagasaki to work as forced labor. According to recent estimates, about 20,000 Koreans were killed in Hiroshima and about 2,000 died in Nagasaki. It is estimated that one in seven of the Hiroshima victims was of Korean ancestry.[7] For many years, Koreans had a difficult time fighting for recognition as atomic bomb victims and were denied health benefits. However, most issues have been addressed in recent years through lawsuits.[8]

Other foreign survivors

While one British Commonwealth citizen[9][10][11][12][13] and seven Dutch POWs (two names known)[14] died in the Nagasaki bombing, at least two POWs reportedly died postwar from cancer thought to have been caused by the atomic bomb.[15][16] One American POW, Joe Kieyoomia, was in Nagasaki at the time of the bombing but survived, reportedly having been shielded from the effects of the bomb by the concrete walls of his cell.[17]

Double survivors

People who suffered the effects of both bombings are known as nijū hibakusha in Japan.

A documentary called Twice Survived: The Doubly Atomic Bombed of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was produced in 2006. The producers found 165 people who were victims of both bombings, and the production was screened at the United Nations.[18]

On March 24, 2009, the Japanese government officially recognized Tsutomu Yamaguchi (1916–2010) as a double hibakusha. Tsutomu Yamaguchi was confirmed to be 3 kilometers from ground zero in Hiroshima on a business trip when the bomb was detonated. He was seriously burnt on his left side and spent the night in Hiroshima. He got back to his home city of Nagasaki on August 8, a day before the bomb in Nagasaki was dropped, and he was exposed to residual radiation while searching for his relatives. He was the first officially recognised survivor of both bombings.[19] Tsutomu Yamaguchi died at the age of 93 on January 4, 2010 of stomach cancer.[20]

Discrimination

A hibakusha, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, tells young people about his experience and shows pictures. United Nations building in Vienna, during the NPT PrepCom 2007.

Hibakusha and their children were (and still are) victims of severe discrimination due to public ignorance about the consequences of radiation sickness, with much of the public believing it to be hereditary or even contagious.[21] This is despite the fact that no statistically demonstrable increase of birth defects/congenital malformations was found among the later conceived children born to survivors of the nuclear weapons used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or found in the later conceived children of cancer survivors who had previously received radiotherapy.[22][23][24][25] The surviving women of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that could conceive, who were exposed to substantial amounts of radiation, went on and had children with no higher incidence of abnormalities/birth defects than the rate which is observed in the Japanese average.[26][27]


Studs Terkel's book The Good War includes a conversation with two hibakusha. The postscript observes:

There is considerable discrimination in Japan against the hibakusha. It is frequently extended toward their children as well: socially as well as economically. "Not only hibakusha, but their children, are refused employment," says Mr. Kito. "There are many among them who do not want it known that they are hibakusha."

— Studs Terkel (1984), The Good War.[28]

The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organization (日本被団協, Nihon Hidankyō) is a group formed by hibakusha in 1956 with the goals of pressuring the Japanese government to improve support of the victims and lobbying governments for the abolition of nuclear weapons.[29]

Health

People

Representations

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Overseas Atomic Bomb Survivors Support Program". Atomic Bomb Survivors Affairs Division Health And Welfare Department Nagasaki prefectural Government. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  2. ^ "A-bomb memorial held in Hiroshima". Yomiuri Shimbun. August 7, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-11.[dead link]
  3. ^ "Relief for A-bomb victims". The Japan Times. 2007-08-15. Retrieved 2007-10-02.[dead link]
  4. ^ "30 A-bomb survivors apply for radiation illness benefits". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  5. ^ "Peace ceremony represents Hiroshima's long struggle: Fukushima town mayor". Mainichi Shimbun. August 6, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-11.
  6. ^ "A-bomb victims remembered in Nagasaki". Yomiuri Shimbun. August 10, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-11.
  7. ^ Mikiso Hane (2001). Modern Japan: A Historical Survey. Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-3756-9.
  8. ^ Hibakusha: A Korean's fight to end discrimination toward foreign A-bomb victims, Mainichi Daily News. May 9, 2008.
  9. ^ "Nagasaki memorial adds British POW as A-bomb victim". The Japan Times. August 9, 1945. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  10. ^ [1] This reference also lists at least three other POWS who died on 9-8-1945
  11. ^ "CWGC :: Casualty Details". Cwgc.org. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  12. ^ "CWGC :: Casualty Details". Cwgc.org. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  13. ^ [2] does not tell if these were Nagasaki casualties
  14. ^ "Two Dutch POWs join Nagasaki bomb victim list". The Japan Times. August 9, 1945. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  15. ^ [3][dead link]
  16. ^ It Gave Him Life—It Took It, Too United States Merchant Marine.org website
  17. ^ "How Effective Was Navajo Code? One Former Captive Knows", News from Indian Country, August 1997.
  18. ^ "Twice Bombed, Twice Survived: Film Explores Untold Stories from Hiroshima & Nagasaki". Columbia University. August 2, 2006. Retrieved 2009-03-31.
  19. ^ Japan Confirms First Double A-Bomb Survivor
  20. ^ "Man who survived two atom bombs dies". CNN. January 8, 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
  21. ^ "Prejudice haunts atomic bomb survivors". Japan Times. Retrieved 2007-08-25. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/78218/1/9789241505130_eng.pdf World Health Organization report. page 23 & 24 internal
  23. ^ http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/268/5/661.short The Children of Atomic Bomb Survivors: A Genetic Study. 1992. No differences were found (in frequencies of birth defects, stillbirths, etc), thus allaying the immediate public concern that atomic radiation might spawn an epidemic of malformed children.
  24. ^ Teratology in the Twentieth Century Plus Ten
  25. ^ http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v88/n3/full/6600748a.html
  26. ^ http://www.rerf.jp/radefx/genetics_e/birthdef.html (RERF)Radiation Effects Research Foundation. Formerly known as the (ABCC)Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission.
  27. ^ http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2011/04/11/1
  28. ^ Terkel, Studs (1984). The Good War. Random House. p. 542.
  29. ^ "Welcome to HIDANKYO". Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organization (Nihon Hidankyo) website. Retrieved 2007-08-31. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  30. ^ Hibakusha Portraits, The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, London, 2012
  31. ^ Carl Randall Bio, www.carlrandall.com, London, 2012

Further reading

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