Mitsuo Kodama, A-bomb survivor witness exposed to bomb at First Hiroshima Prefectural Junior High School, has died at 88
Oct. 29, 2020
by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer
Mitsuo Kodama, who was exposed to the atomic bomb when he was 12 years old and a first-year student at First Hiroshima Prefectural Junior High School (now Kokutaiji High School in city’s Naka Ward), died of kidney cancer on October 28 at a hospital in Minami Ward. He was 88 years old. Mr. Kodama had shared both in Japan and abroad his experience of the atomic bombing and the health damage caused by radiation exposure, while undergoing surgeries for cancer many times.
On August 6, 1945, when the atomic bomb exploded, Mr. Kodama was in a wooden school building of First Hiroshima Prefectural Junior High School located about 850 meters from the hypocenter. He escaped from the collapsed school building and survived. Two hundred eighty eight first-year students of the school who were in the same building or were mobilized to help house demolition work at a site near the school, however, died as a result of the atomic bombing.
Beginning in his 60’s and in the decades that followed, a number of cancers were found in his stomach, skin and other parts of his body, and he had 20 or more operations. Since 2010 when he was registered as an Atomic Bomb Witness at the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, he talked about the deaths of his classmates and his medical history, and conveyed the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons to school students visiting Hiroshima on school trips, among others.
Mr. Kodama took part in a voyage organized by Peace Boat, a non-government organization (NGO), to share his A-bomb account abroad as well. He also served as a lecturer at city’s program for training memory keepers who inherit testimonies of A-bomb survivors. The computer terminal installed in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (located in city’s Naka Ward) displays the image of Mr. Kodama’s chromosome damaged by radiation exposure and his medical history, conveying that A-bomb survivors have a higher risk of developing cancer and suffer from health problems throughout their lives.
After one of his schoolmates died in March last year, Mr. Kodama became only one survivor among the first-year students who were exposed to the atomic bomb at First Hiroshima Prefectural Junior High School on August 6, 1945. Although he broke his lumbar spine just before the memorial ceremony held by the school in July this year, he attended the event in a wheelchair, saying that he had to be there for his classmates at any cost. In an interview with the Chugoku Shimbun, Mr. Kodama often said, “I would like to have all people in the world understand the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons.”
(Originally published on October 29, 2020)
Mitsuo Kodama, who was exposed to the atomic bomb when he was 12 years old and a first-year student at First Hiroshima Prefectural Junior High School (now Kokutaiji High School in city’s Naka Ward), died of kidney cancer on October 28 at a hospital in Minami Ward. He was 88 years old. Mr. Kodama had shared both in Japan and abroad his experience of the atomic bombing and the health damage caused by radiation exposure, while undergoing surgeries for cancer many times.
On August 6, 1945, when the atomic bomb exploded, Mr. Kodama was in a wooden school building of First Hiroshima Prefectural Junior High School located about 850 meters from the hypocenter. He escaped from the collapsed school building and survived. Two hundred eighty eight first-year students of the school who were in the same building or were mobilized to help house demolition work at a site near the school, however, died as a result of the atomic bombing.
Beginning in his 60’s and in the decades that followed, a number of cancers were found in his stomach, skin and other parts of his body, and he had 20 or more operations. Since 2010 when he was registered as an Atomic Bomb Witness at the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, he talked about the deaths of his classmates and his medical history, and conveyed the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons to school students visiting Hiroshima on school trips, among others.
Mr. Kodama took part in a voyage organized by Peace Boat, a non-government organization (NGO), to share his A-bomb account abroad as well. He also served as a lecturer at city’s program for training memory keepers who inherit testimonies of A-bomb survivors. The computer terminal installed in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (located in city’s Naka Ward) displays the image of Mr. Kodama’s chromosome damaged by radiation exposure and his medical history, conveying that A-bomb survivors have a higher risk of developing cancer and suffer from health problems throughout their lives.
After one of his schoolmates died in March last year, Mr. Kodama became only one survivor among the first-year students who were exposed to the atomic bomb at First Hiroshima Prefectural Junior High School on August 6, 1945. Although he broke his lumbar spine just before the memorial ceremony held by the school in July this year, he attended the event in a wheelchair, saying that he had to be there for his classmates at any cost. In an interview with the Chugoku Shimbun, Mr. Kodama often said, “I would like to have all people in the world understand the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons.”
(Originally published on October 29, 2020)
