The atomic bomb : voices from Hiroshima and Nagasaki

318 Pages·2015·10.786 MB·English

by  Kyoko Iriye, Mark Selden

The
ATOMIC BOMB
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The
ATOMIC BOMB
Voices from
HIROSHIMA and NAGASAKI
Editors: Kyoko & Mark Selden
An East Gate Book
RO Routledge
U
TLED Taylor & Francis Group
G
E
LONDON AND NEW YORK
An East Gate Book
First published 1989 by M.E. Sharpe
Published 2015 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Ox.on OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint oft he Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © 1989 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by
any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Notices
No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to
persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise,
or from any use of operation of any methods, products, instructions or ide as
contained in the material herein.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and
knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or
experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should
be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for
whom they have a professional responsibility.
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Atomic bomb : voices from Hiroshima and Nagasaki I editors,
Kyoko and Mark Selden.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-87332-556-7 (cloth) ISBN 0-87332-773-X (paper)
1. Hiroshima-shi (Japan}-History-Bombardment, 1945.
2. Nagasaki-shi (Japan}-History-Bombardment, 1945. 3. Atomic
bomb victims-Japan. 4. World War, 1939-1945-Personal narrative,
Japanese. 5. Atomic bomb-Blast effect-Literary collections.
6. Japanese literatur~20th century-Translations into English.
7. English literatur~Translations from Japanese. I. Selden, Kyoko.
II. Selden, Mark
D767 .25H6A87 1989
940.54'25---dc20 89-36635
CIP
ISBN 13: 9780873327732 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 9780873325561 (hbk)
CONTENTS
Foreword Robert Jay Lifton Vll
Acknowledgments lX
Introduction: The United States, Japan,
and the Atomic Bomb Mark Selden xi
Novellas
August 6 Agawa Hiroyuki 3
Two Grave Markers Hayashi Kyoko 24
Residues of Squalor Ota Yoko 55
Stone's Sleep Nakayama Shiro 86
Photographs
Hiroshima and Nagasaki After the Bomb
Poetry
Poems by Atomic Bomb Survivors 117
Tanka 131
Haiku 141
Photo Essay
The Boy Who Was a Fetus: The Death
of Kajiyama Kenji Doman Ken 159
Citizens' Memoirs
My Husband Does Not Return Tada Makiko 173
No Place to Go Tsujimoto Tora 182
The Memory of Nutrias Ishii /chiro 188
Father and Son Robbed of Body and Soul:
A Record of Ryu Choon Seung and
His Son Kuak Kwi Hoon 200
Koreans . . . and Americans and Chinese
Are Also Victims Kim In Jo 205
Pictures by Atomic Bomb Survivors
Children's Voices
Children's Voices 219
Reiko Shoda Shinoe 234
Bibliography of Atomic Bomb Literature 243
The Authors, Photographers, Artists,
and Their Work 247
FOREWORD
Robert Jay Lifton
During a recent, early fall visit to Hiroshima, I walked through the
Peace Park and found it to be a very gentle place. Couples strolled
leisurely, young mothers and fathers pushed baby carriages, chil
dren ran about, and there was much feeding of pigeons. To be sure,
some people stopped at the Cenotaph to leave flowers and pray, and
one had only to enter the Atomic Bomb Museum to be jarred into
grotesque nuclear truth. But in the park itself, there was indeed
peace, and the atmosphere could be said to have been pastoral, even
bucolic.
While experiencing, like others, the pleasantness of the scene, I
felt myself to be a bit troubled by it. Was that the way to memorial
ize the atomic bomb and its victims? The problem is that the atomic
bomb defies memorialization. There is no adequate way of repre
senting an event of that magnitude to future generations. Perhaps the
Peace Park, including the museum and its many monuments, does
so as well as could be expected.
The world is insufficiently aware of the terrible value of Hiroshi
ma and Nagasaki. As the two cities in which atomic weapons have
been used on human populations, they alone can convey to us certain
human truths. These truths serve us well, even though we are aware
of how "tiny" the explosive power of the weapon used on each city
is in comparison to our present nuclear stockpiles. And that value is
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viii FOREWORD
well captured in this volume, focusing as it does on specific, individ
ual voices from both cities.
I have made it a principle to refer to such voices whenever I write
or speak about nuclear threat. I do so precisely because they are
ignored by the overwhelming body of discourse on the subject. That
discourse tends to focus on "scenarios" of nuclear attack and re
sponse, on ''nuclear exchanges,'' on ''throw-weights'' of particular
missiles, on "hard-target kill capability." The discourse, that is, is
almost exclusively about weapons. That is true even when all is
subsumed to the ostensibly peaceful goals of' 'deterrence.'' And the
seemingly innocuous phrase ''should deterrence fail'' is usually put
forward to represent-that is, cover over-the virtually unimagina
ble human suffering that would result from the use of the weaponry.
That suffering, in nuance and complexity, is expressed by the
voices in this book. Although I have read hundreds of accounts of
the experience and many short stories, novels, and poems, the
voices in this book moved me profoundly and greatly expanded my
knowledge of those two dreadful events. To really listen to them-to
absorb them in ways that deeply affect one's view of the world and
actions in it-is the beginning of nuclear wisdom.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
John Dower, Hayashi Kyoko, Richard Minear, and Tsukui Nobuko
shared their extensive knowledge of the atomic bomb and its litera
ture and art. Bill and Nancy Doub, Rebecca Jennison, Victor
Koschmann, and especially Brett de Bary and Sato Hiroaki helped to
improve the translations. Helen Redding and staff members of the
Peace Resource Collection at Wilmington College introduced us to
important works in the atomic bomb literature. Herbert Bix, Noam
Chomsky, John Dower, Edward Friedman, Terence Hopkins, Akira
Iriye, and Michael Klare provided perceptive comments and sug
gestions on drafts of the introduction.
Doug Merwin skillfully guided and encouraged this project from
its inception. We thank Anita O'Brien for professional editing of the
manuscript, Sonja Godfried for cover and graphic design, and
Dornon Ken for providing the dust jacket photograph.
We have followed East Asian practice in writing surnames first.
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