A-bomb songwriter who once received medical treatment in U.S. has died at 85
Mar. 24, 2017
Michiko Sako, an A-bomb survivor who wrote the words to the song “Give Me Back My Smile,” about the physical and mental wounds of the A-bomb survivors, died of an aortic dissection on March 23 at a hospital in Hatsukaichi. She was 85. Ms. Sako, originally from Hatsukaichi, traveled to the United States to receive medical treatment in 1955.
On August 6, 1945, Ms. Sako experienced the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in Tsurumi-cho (now part of Naka Ward) where she was working as a mobilized student, helping to tear down homes to create a fire lane. After the bombing, she wrote a poem to express the suffering of women who developed keloid scars from their A-bomb burns. With a melody composed by Michio Kobayashi, her words were sung by high school students at the Peace Memorial Ceremony in 1953. Ms. Sako also met Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of former U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, who visited Hiroshima that same year.
As single women in Hiroshima began to reveal their wounds left by the A-bombing, and appeal to the public for support, both Japanese and American citizens made efforts to realize a trip to the United States by 25 “Hiroshima Girls” in 1955 to undergo medical treatment. That development helped pave the way for the Atomic Bomb Medical Relief Law (now known as the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Law) in 1957. Ms. Sako also met with a group of Americans that included Caroline Kennedy, who later became the U.S. ambassador to Japan, during their visit to Hiroshima in 1978. Though Ms. Sako didn’t continue speaking about her A-bomb experience in public, she expressed her wish for peace, as an A-bomb survivor, in the form of a quilt for an exhibition. Quilting was one of her hobbies.
(Originally published on March 24, 2017)
On August 6, 1945, Ms. Sako experienced the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in Tsurumi-cho (now part of Naka Ward) where she was working as a mobilized student, helping to tear down homes to create a fire lane. After the bombing, she wrote a poem to express the suffering of women who developed keloid scars from their A-bomb burns. With a melody composed by Michio Kobayashi, her words were sung by high school students at the Peace Memorial Ceremony in 1953. Ms. Sako also met Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of former U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, who visited Hiroshima that same year.
As single women in Hiroshima began to reveal their wounds left by the A-bombing, and appeal to the public for support, both Japanese and American citizens made efforts to realize a trip to the United States by 25 “Hiroshima Girls” in 1955 to undergo medical treatment. That development helped pave the way for the Atomic Bomb Medical Relief Law (now known as the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Law) in 1957. Ms. Sako also met with a group of Americans that included Caroline Kennedy, who later became the U.S. ambassador to Japan, during their visit to Hiroshima in 1978. Though Ms. Sako didn’t continue speaking about her A-bomb experience in public, she expressed her wish for peace, as an A-bomb survivor, in the form of a quilt for an exhibition. Quilting was one of her hobbies.
(Originally published on March 24, 2017)
