History - An Informed Opinion

History - An Informed Opinion

Kiyoshi Tanimoto and the Hiroshima Maidens

Courtesy:  Conelrad Adjacent (conrad.blog)

Aftermath is the last chapter of John Hersey’s book, Hiroshima.  The last section in that chapter is a post-Hiroshima Bombing update on Kiyoshi Tanimoto, the pastor of the Hiroshima Methodist Church.  The section focuses on his life after the bombing, particularly his work establishing a World Peace Center, and raising funds for the Hiroshima Maidens. 

Two of the Hiroshima Maidens

Courtesy: Intersections:  Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific

Issue 24, June 2010

 

According to Hersey, the Hiroshima Maidens were hibakusha girls that attended a bible class for survivors of the Hiroshima bombing.   These girls had suffered burns and scars on their faces, arms, and hands (Hersey 1946, 141).  Kiyoshi Tanimoto went on many tours to raise money for the Hiroshima Maiden’s plastic surgery.  One of these appearances was on May 11, 1955, on the American television show, “This is Your Life”.  Viewers of this show saw a highly emotional segment, with the high point of Captain Robert Lewis (co-pilot of the Enola Gay, the plane that carried and dropped the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb) making an appearance.  On the show Captain Lewis described his reaction to dropping the bomb, and presented a donation to Kiyoshi Tanimoto. 

According to Hersey, the program was far from what it appeared.  Tanimoto was only told he was appearing on a local television interview and was unprepared for that major national television broadcast.  During the program, Lewis appeared to be crying but really had been drinking (144).  In fact, Marvin Green (a friend of Kiyoshi Tanimoto) told Rodney Barker, author of The Hiroshima Maidens: A Story of Courage, Compassion, and Survival, that Captain Lewis frightened the people from the show when he went drinking after discovering he was not receiving a large check for appearing on the show (Hersey 1946, 145). 

Only Tanimoto and Lewis know the truth of the matter, but this story certainly makes you view the video with a grain of salt.  In the ending chapter of Hiroshima, Hersey told the significance of the lives of the six major characters of his masterpiece.  The ending story of Kiyoshi Tanimoto brought the final message full circle.  The ending message according to Tanimoto was the world’s memory was getting spotty (Hersey 1946, 152).

Maybe it is better to just listen to the voices of the Hiroshima Maidens

Shigeko Sasamori -Peace and Love - 1/5

Shigeko Sasamori -Peace and Love - 2/5

Shigeko Sasamori - Peace and Love - 3/5

 Shigeko Sasamori - Peace and Love - 4/5

 

 Shigeko Sasamori - Peace and Love - 5/5

The Bombing of Hiroshima

The Bombing of Hiroshima – August 6, 1945



In reflection of reading John Hersey’s book, Hiroshima, I was overwhelmed by the mental images of man’s inhumanity to man.  The book was a stunningly, powerful testimony of the tragic devastation bestowed on Japan when the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.  The people of Hiroshima started that morning as usual, to have their world destroyed with a flash at 8:15 a.m.

Courtesy – news discovery.com

File Photos of the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima

Courtesy - AFP.com

 

In Hiroshima, Reverend Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto (pastor of the Hiroshima Methodist Church) reproached doctors for not coming to Asano Park to treat patients.  The doctor stated, “In an emergency like this the first task is to help as many as possible-to save as many lives as possible.  There is no hope for the heavily wounded.  They will die.  We can’t bother with them.” (Hersey 1946, 50).  Many of the Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) were devastated to later discover they were victims of nuclear radiation sickness.

Lest We Forget 

By Matsumura Kazuo, a Hiroshima bombing survivor -32 years old in August 1945

Courtesy - http://omcbride-ahebee.blogspot.com/2012/08/lest-we-forget-atomic-bombing-on.html

Interview with a Hiroshima Survivor

The Voices of Hibakusha

“There’s not much time left for us Hibakusha (survivors of an atomic bomb).  We must find ways to not create even one more Hibakusha”. (Junko KIayashige – Hiroshima Bomb Survivor – 6 years old at the time).

“I believe that the A-bombs (the atomic bombs) were dropped not on Hiroshima and Nagaski alone, but on the entire humanity.  We have no choice but to abolish nuclear weapons”. (Mujako Yano – Hiroshima Bomb Survivor – 14 years old at the time).

Two survivors tell their story.

A Necessary Mission for the Survival of Mankind

What lessons has mankind learned from the horrors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?  Has mankind learned the use of weapons of mass destruction can end our existence?  Is it possible for mankind to reduce the fever of political, religious, and cultural saber rattling before the world is mortally damaged or destroyed?  What would be the victory in creating the largest nuclear explosion if the result is human annihilation?   

Men and women of the modern age should be using their skills of negotiation to protect the world before we manage to damage or destroy it and its inhabitants. 

 

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.  (Holy Bible, Luke 12:48, New International Version)