Nuclear weapons are an issue facing humankind: Detailed report on Setsuko Thurlow’s speech to mark the publication of her autobiography
Nov. 18, 2019
Setsuko Thurlow, 87, an A-bomb survivor from Toronto Canada, and originally from Hiroshima, made a speech at the Chugoku Shimbun Hall located in Dobashi-cho, Naka Ward, to mark publication of her autobiography titled “Hikari ni Mukatte Hatte Ike, Kaku Naki Sekai o Oimotomete (Crawl Toward the Light, Seeking a World Without Nuclear Weapons),” published by Iwanami Shoten, Publishers.
In front of an audience of about 540 people, she shared a glimpse into her life—moments that ranged from experiencing the atomic bombing at a building 1.8 kilometers away from the hypocenter when she was 13, to delivering a speech at the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony as representative of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) two years ago. During the subsequent question and answer session with Yumi Kanazaki (staff writer for the Chugoku Shimbun and co-author of Ms. Thurlow’s book), she talked about the role she expected people in the A-bombed city had as well.
I feel a sense of mission as a survivor / and want people to act in favor of Japan joining the ban treaty.
At this time, I have returned to Japan rather unexpectedly, as I was invited to attend the Emperor’s Enthronement Ceremony having been named by local Canadian citizens of Japanese descent as their representative.
Over my last six decades outside Japan, I have been telling the story of Hiroshima, keeping in mind the agonies of my nine relatives and 351 schoolmates of Jogakuin High School who perished due to the atomic bombing.
My four-year-old nephew and his mother, my elder sister, were turned into a chunk of burnt flesh and passed away, asking for water again and again. In the large area spreading from the north exit of the present Hiroshima Station, I saw a huge number of bodies left thrown. I have talked about such memories thousands of times. In reality, I don’t want to recall the memory, and sometimes I think about giving up in the middle. However, I have managed to move forward with a sense of mission as a person who survived the bombing.
The turning point in my life happened in 1954 when I graduated from Hiroshima Jogakuin University and went to the United States to study at an American university. That year, the U.S. conducted large-scale hydrogen bomb tests on the Marshall Islands. At the time, I responded to an interview request from local media commenting critically about the tests. The following day, I began to receive letters containing messages like, “Go back to Japan” or other threatening words. I was conflicted, and wondered if I should zip my lip. Still, I was determined to continue telling my experience as someone who witnessed innocent children and seniors exterminated with just a single bomb.
In 1974 when I gave birth to children in Canada after getting married to a Canadian, I felt keenly that people in North America didn’t have any interest or much knowledge about the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so I started to act determinedly. I made up my mind to make “anti-nuclear campaigning” a core of my life and to continue to act. In addition to talking about my personal A-bomb experience, I studied diligently so I could have informed debates that struck the minds of people I spoke with. I wanted them to understand the fact that it was not only a matter of the damage wrought by the atomic bombing in the past, but an issue for humankind at present and in the future.
In the past when I have talked about what happened in Hiroshima, I have received a variety of objections or argumentative, critical questions from audience members, including: “Japan originally launched the Pearl Harbor Attack against the U.S.” or “The atomic bomb helped make Japan surrender and end the war.”
I have responded, saying, “The Japanese military’s act was wrong. But fights between nations conducted by soldiers and army civilian employees, and damage from the atomic bombing (which amounted to the indiscriminate massacre of civilians), shouldn’t be treated equally.” I have also discussed circumstances prior to Japan’s unconditional surrender, and explained that there are multiple factors to consider including the Soviet’s invasion of Manchuria (now northeast part of China). However, in the United States, the reality is that people still firmly believe a historical “myth” about their nation’s use of the atomic bombs.
I have been asked frequently if I am still mad at Americans. In answering such a question, I have responded, “As few Americans knew of the Manhattan Project at that time, I cannot get angry at U.S. citizens.” At the same time, I believe then U.S. President Truman and other people who made a final decision about dropping the atomic bomb at Japan committed a crime against humans. We shouldn’t forget anger. It is a natural emotion. I have changed such resentment into a power to advance—energy for prompting me to act for abolition of nuclear weapons.
As Canada and the U.S. are immigrant nations, and have many immigrants from China and South Korea, people from those countries have said to me, “The atomic bombing day is a day we brought back freedom.” We cannot have a dialogue with these individuals unless we honestly say “Japanese were not only victims but also offenders during the war.” I expect going through such a process can open a path toward reconciliation.
Nine nuclear-armed nations still don’t try to keep the promise of nuclear disarmament. Under such circumstances, a new movement has intensified in the world to discuss the nuclear weapons issue not from the viewpoint of “military needs” but as an humanitarian issue. In July of 2017, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was adopted at the United Nations, and ICAN won the Nobel peace prize.
We have to take a step further from banning nuclear weapons, to the elimination of nuclear arsenals. To realize the treaty coming into force, 50 nations need to ratify it. But only 33 nations have done that now. The Japanese government doesn’t listen to appeals by the A-bomb survivors but just follows the United States so Japan can be protected by the deterrent power of its nuclear weapons. I cannot help but get mad. Such an attitude is so irresponsible as the only A-bombed nation. I hope as many people as possible will ask their national governments to participate in the treaty.
People in Hiroshima should exercise leadership / It’s important to continue to call for nuclear abolition.
Your recent autobiography is based on the Chugoku Shimbun’s feature article about your life titled “My life: An Interview with Setsuko Thurlow” published in the summer of last year. I (Yumi Kanazaki, staff writer) went to your home in Toronto and held an interview with you. Then, we had international calls and discussed over and over about the word-for-word expressions of the article before completion. During that process, I have come to know that you have had a deep bond with the Chugoku Shimbun, haven’t you?
When I was a student at Hiroshima Jogakuin High School after the end of the war, I proposed and launched my school’s newspaper, saying, “Japan has now become a democratic nation and freedom of speech is assured. So, the voice of women should be broadly delivered.” So, I frequently went to the Chugoku Shimbun’s former building, which had experienced the atomic bombing, and its staff told me about how to lay out the paper and conduct interviews. It was very helpful to me.
In those days, various debates took place in the readers’ column of the Chugoku Shimbun newspaper. For example, regarding the words inscribed on the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims which read, “Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil,” the objection of one reader to such words, who argued “The words don’t clearly describe who “we” is, and whose act was evil,” were published along with another who held a counterargument. I think the Chugoku Shimbun has played a huge role in the local community by providing a place where citizens could think about the issues seriously together.
At this point, can you answer questions submitted by the audience beforehand? The first question is “What can we do from Hiroshima to move The Japanese government?”
Japan’s participation in TPNW is a common wish of A-bomb survivors, as well as citizens in Hiroshima. I think such message should be strongly given by the mayor when he reads out the Peace Declaration on A-bomb day. Citizens in Hiroshima should send their real voice to the world. The city’s opinion about the treaty doesn’t need to be the same as that of the Japanese government. The international community wants moral and political leadership to be exercised by citizens in Hiroshima.
Here is a question from a 90-year-old A-bomb survivor who asked, “When do you think the elimination of nuclear weapons will be realized? I want to witness that day in person and report it to my deceased friends.”
I can fully understand what you think. But it will take time from banning to eliminating nuclear arms. It’s hard to specify the exact timing of elimination. But at the same time, it’s critical for us, the survivors, to urge the nations to realize nuclear abolitions before we die.
What was your impression about the Imperial House when you visited it?
A solemn ceremony was held. The buildings and scenery was beautiful, too. I also surprisingly recalled what I saw when I visited Germany several years ago. In the central area of Berlin, I came upon 2,711 stone monuments, and was told those were memorial monuments to the Holocaust. I felt at that time, “Oh, it is how Germany faces the past.” In the central area of Japan, I looked back how Japan had faced the past. I definitely want all of you to think about that as well.
An audience member has asked, “What do you think of young Japanese people?”
Sometimes, people tell me young people today don’t think about wars and peace seriously. But I don’t think that is correct. ICAN activities have been led by excellent young members in their thirties and they delivered a great outcome in the establishment of the treaty. Once adults give young people an opportunity, they will find their own path and move ahead. Any young person has a great potential. The adults have huge responsibilities to foster it.
Please give your final message to the audience.
Rather than simply reading, thinking or talking, I would rather you act. Now, the most important thing is to make TPNW come into effect, and we need ratification by an additional 17 nations. I want citizens to call on the Japanese government to face this issue head-on. I think it is a state in which a democratic nation should be.
(Originally published on November 18, 2019)
In front of an audience of about 540 people, she shared a glimpse into her life—moments that ranged from experiencing the atomic bombing at a building 1.8 kilometers away from the hypocenter when she was 13, to delivering a speech at the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony as representative of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) two years ago. During the subsequent question and answer session with Yumi Kanazaki (staff writer for the Chugoku Shimbun and co-author of Ms. Thurlow’s book), she talked about the role she expected people in the A-bombed city had as well.
I feel a sense of mission as a survivor / and want people to act in favor of Japan joining the ban treaty.
At this time, I have returned to Japan rather unexpectedly, as I was invited to attend the Emperor’s Enthronement Ceremony having been named by local Canadian citizens of Japanese descent as their representative.
Over my last six decades outside Japan, I have been telling the story of Hiroshima, keeping in mind the agonies of my nine relatives and 351 schoolmates of Jogakuin High School who perished due to the atomic bombing.
My four-year-old nephew and his mother, my elder sister, were turned into a chunk of burnt flesh and passed away, asking for water again and again. In the large area spreading from the north exit of the present Hiroshima Station, I saw a huge number of bodies left thrown. I have talked about such memories thousands of times. In reality, I don’t want to recall the memory, and sometimes I think about giving up in the middle. However, I have managed to move forward with a sense of mission as a person who survived the bombing.
The turning point in my life happened in 1954 when I graduated from Hiroshima Jogakuin University and went to the United States to study at an American university. That year, the U.S. conducted large-scale hydrogen bomb tests on the Marshall Islands. At the time, I responded to an interview request from local media commenting critically about the tests. The following day, I began to receive letters containing messages like, “Go back to Japan” or other threatening words. I was conflicted, and wondered if I should zip my lip. Still, I was determined to continue telling my experience as someone who witnessed innocent children and seniors exterminated with just a single bomb.
In 1974 when I gave birth to children in Canada after getting married to a Canadian, I felt keenly that people in North America didn’t have any interest or much knowledge about the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so I started to act determinedly. I made up my mind to make “anti-nuclear campaigning” a core of my life and to continue to act. In addition to talking about my personal A-bomb experience, I studied diligently so I could have informed debates that struck the minds of people I spoke with. I wanted them to understand the fact that it was not only a matter of the damage wrought by the atomic bombing in the past, but an issue for humankind at present and in the future.
In the past when I have talked about what happened in Hiroshima, I have received a variety of objections or argumentative, critical questions from audience members, including: “Japan originally launched the Pearl Harbor Attack against the U.S.” or “The atomic bomb helped make Japan surrender and end the war.”
I have responded, saying, “The Japanese military’s act was wrong. But fights between nations conducted by soldiers and army civilian employees, and damage from the atomic bombing (which amounted to the indiscriminate massacre of civilians), shouldn’t be treated equally.” I have also discussed circumstances prior to Japan’s unconditional surrender, and explained that there are multiple factors to consider including the Soviet’s invasion of Manchuria (now northeast part of China). However, in the United States, the reality is that people still firmly believe a historical “myth” about their nation’s use of the atomic bombs.
I have been asked frequently if I am still mad at Americans. In answering such a question, I have responded, “As few Americans knew of the Manhattan Project at that time, I cannot get angry at U.S. citizens.” At the same time, I believe then U.S. President Truman and other people who made a final decision about dropping the atomic bomb at Japan committed a crime against humans. We shouldn’t forget anger. It is a natural emotion. I have changed such resentment into a power to advance—energy for prompting me to act for abolition of nuclear weapons.
As Canada and the U.S. are immigrant nations, and have many immigrants from China and South Korea, people from those countries have said to me, “The atomic bombing day is a day we brought back freedom.” We cannot have a dialogue with these individuals unless we honestly say “Japanese were not only victims but also offenders during the war.” I expect going through such a process can open a path toward reconciliation.
Nine nuclear-armed nations still don’t try to keep the promise of nuclear disarmament. Under such circumstances, a new movement has intensified in the world to discuss the nuclear weapons issue not from the viewpoint of “military needs” but as an humanitarian issue. In July of 2017, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was adopted at the United Nations, and ICAN won the Nobel peace prize.
We have to take a step further from banning nuclear weapons, to the elimination of nuclear arsenals. To realize the treaty coming into force, 50 nations need to ratify it. But only 33 nations have done that now. The Japanese government doesn’t listen to appeals by the A-bomb survivors but just follows the United States so Japan can be protected by the deterrent power of its nuclear weapons. I cannot help but get mad. Such an attitude is so irresponsible as the only A-bombed nation. I hope as many people as possible will ask their national governments to participate in the treaty.
Q&A session
People in Hiroshima should exercise leadership / It’s important to continue to call for nuclear abolition.
Your recent autobiography is based on the Chugoku Shimbun’s feature article about your life titled “My life: An Interview with Setsuko Thurlow” published in the summer of last year. I (Yumi Kanazaki, staff writer) went to your home in Toronto and held an interview with you. Then, we had international calls and discussed over and over about the word-for-word expressions of the article before completion. During that process, I have come to know that you have had a deep bond with the Chugoku Shimbun, haven’t you?
When I was a student at Hiroshima Jogakuin High School after the end of the war, I proposed and launched my school’s newspaper, saying, “Japan has now become a democratic nation and freedom of speech is assured. So, the voice of women should be broadly delivered.” So, I frequently went to the Chugoku Shimbun’s former building, which had experienced the atomic bombing, and its staff told me about how to lay out the paper and conduct interviews. It was very helpful to me.
In those days, various debates took place in the readers’ column of the Chugoku Shimbun newspaper. For example, regarding the words inscribed on the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims which read, “Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil,” the objection of one reader to such words, who argued “The words don’t clearly describe who “we” is, and whose act was evil,” were published along with another who held a counterargument. I think the Chugoku Shimbun has played a huge role in the local community by providing a place where citizens could think about the issues seriously together.
At this point, can you answer questions submitted by the audience beforehand? The first question is “What can we do from Hiroshima to move The Japanese government?”
Japan’s participation in TPNW is a common wish of A-bomb survivors, as well as citizens in Hiroshima. I think such message should be strongly given by the mayor when he reads out the Peace Declaration on A-bomb day. Citizens in Hiroshima should send their real voice to the world. The city’s opinion about the treaty doesn’t need to be the same as that of the Japanese government. The international community wants moral and political leadership to be exercised by citizens in Hiroshima.
Here is a question from a 90-year-old A-bomb survivor who asked, “When do you think the elimination of nuclear weapons will be realized? I want to witness that day in person and report it to my deceased friends.”
I can fully understand what you think. But it will take time from banning to eliminating nuclear arms. It’s hard to specify the exact timing of elimination. But at the same time, it’s critical for us, the survivors, to urge the nations to realize nuclear abolitions before we die.
What was your impression about the Imperial House when you visited it?
A solemn ceremony was held. The buildings and scenery was beautiful, too. I also surprisingly recalled what I saw when I visited Germany several years ago. In the central area of Berlin, I came upon 2,711 stone monuments, and was told those were memorial monuments to the Holocaust. I felt at that time, “Oh, it is how Germany faces the past.” In the central area of Japan, I looked back how Japan had faced the past. I definitely want all of you to think about that as well.
An audience member has asked, “What do you think of young Japanese people?”
Sometimes, people tell me young people today don’t think about wars and peace seriously. But I don’t think that is correct. ICAN activities have been led by excellent young members in their thirties and they delivered a great outcome in the establishment of the treaty. Once adults give young people an opportunity, they will find their own path and move ahead. Any young person has a great potential. The adults have huge responsibilities to foster it.
Please give your final message to the audience.
Rather than simply reading, thinking or talking, I would rather you act. Now, the most important thing is to make TPNW come into effect, and we need ratification by an additional 17 nations. I want citizens to call on the Japanese government to face this issue head-on. I think it is a state in which a democratic nation should be.
(Originally published on November 18, 2019)
