August 6 amid pandemic: Survivors in the U.S. share their A-bombing experiences over the internet with Hiroshima school children
Aug. 4, 2020
by Kyoko Niiyama, Staff Writer
On August 3, an event involving A-bombing testimonies was held online, connecting members of the American Society of Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-bomb Survivors (ASA), an organization composed of A-bomb survivors residing in the United States, and sixth-grade school children at the Hiroshima University Attached Elementary School. Four survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bombing spoke from across the ocean to the children in the survivors’ hometown of Hiroshima about their hopes for peace.
A total of nine locations—including the auditorium of Hiroshima University Junior and Senior High School, where 64 students gathered, and the homes of individual ASA members—were connected by a video conferencing system. Junji Sarashina, 91, president of the ASA organization and a resident of California, was in his third-year at Hiroshima First Middle School (now Kokutaiji High School) and working as a mobilized student for the war effort when he experienced the atomic bombing. He and the other survivors shared their A-bombing experiences with the students while responding to their questions.
Describing the time when he met a younger student in a lower grade right after the atomic bombing, Mr. Sarashina recalled, “He was so severely burned by the bomb’s thermal rays that I couldn’t recognize his face. I tried to help him, but the skin on his arm just peeled off, something I can’t seem to forget.” Midori Seino, 79, also spoke to the students. “Survivors in the United States so far from Japan have helped each other out, while living with anxiety about our health.”
Students studied ahead of time for the event by reading Mr. Sarashina’s memoir and watching a video recording of one of his A-bomb testimonies. Afterwards, Shun Yamane, 11, said, “I learned about the suffering of the survivors in the United States for the first time. I want to work for the goal of peace.”
ASA serves as a local contact for the Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association when that organization dispatches a team every two years to perform medical checkups for A-bomb survivors living in North America. Currently, ASA has about 170 members. Several of the members have been engaged in the work of sharing their A-bomb experiences, but such activities have become more difficult year by year because of the aging of the survivors and the political situation in the United States.
This was the first time for the four members to speak about their A-bombing experiences to people in Hiroshima. Mr. Sarashina recounted his happiness with the event. “The children of Hiroshima are bright and reliable. My hope is that they pass on to the next generations the desire of A-bomb survivors in the United States, which is ‘a world without nuclear weapons’.”
The A-bombing testimony event was part of a program that traces the development of the Kaya (Goto) Foundation of Hiroshima, a U.S.-Japan exchange program that once accepted young people from Hawaii to Hiroshima. A group of local volunteers in Hiroshima formed an executive committee to hold the event.
(Originally published on August 4, 2020)
On August 3, an event involving A-bombing testimonies was held online, connecting members of the American Society of Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-bomb Survivors (ASA), an organization composed of A-bomb survivors residing in the United States, and sixth-grade school children at the Hiroshima University Attached Elementary School. Four survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bombing spoke from across the ocean to the children in the survivors’ hometown of Hiroshima about their hopes for peace.
A total of nine locations—including the auditorium of Hiroshima University Junior and Senior High School, where 64 students gathered, and the homes of individual ASA members—were connected by a video conferencing system. Junji Sarashina, 91, president of the ASA organization and a resident of California, was in his third-year at Hiroshima First Middle School (now Kokutaiji High School) and working as a mobilized student for the war effort when he experienced the atomic bombing. He and the other survivors shared their A-bombing experiences with the students while responding to their questions.
Describing the time when he met a younger student in a lower grade right after the atomic bombing, Mr. Sarashina recalled, “He was so severely burned by the bomb’s thermal rays that I couldn’t recognize his face. I tried to help him, but the skin on his arm just peeled off, something I can’t seem to forget.” Midori Seino, 79, also spoke to the students. “Survivors in the United States so far from Japan have helped each other out, while living with anxiety about our health.”
Students studied ahead of time for the event by reading Mr. Sarashina’s memoir and watching a video recording of one of his A-bomb testimonies. Afterwards, Shun Yamane, 11, said, “I learned about the suffering of the survivors in the United States for the first time. I want to work for the goal of peace.”
ASA serves as a local contact for the Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association when that organization dispatches a team every two years to perform medical checkups for A-bomb survivors living in North America. Currently, ASA has about 170 members. Several of the members have been engaged in the work of sharing their A-bomb experiences, but such activities have become more difficult year by year because of the aging of the survivors and the political situation in the United States.
This was the first time for the four members to speak about their A-bombing experiences to people in Hiroshima. Mr. Sarashina recounted his happiness with the event. “The children of Hiroshima are bright and reliable. My hope is that they pass on to the next generations the desire of A-bomb survivors in the United States, which is ‘a world without nuclear weapons’.”
The A-bombing testimony event was part of a program that traces the development of the Kaya (Goto) Foundation of Hiroshima, a U.S.-Japan exchange program that once accepted young people from Hawaii to Hiroshima. A group of local volunteers in Hiroshima formed an executive committee to hold the event.
(Originally published on August 4, 2020)
