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by Michio Shimotaka, Staff Writer

In the spring of 1964, Kunihiko Sakuma, 19 years old at the time and now 80, living in Hiroshima City’s Nishi Ward, left Hiroshima, where he had been born and raised, and began studying at the Tokyo YMCA International College of Hospitality. In Japan’s capital city, which was set to host the Tokyo Olympics later in October the same year, Mr. Sakuma began to learn basic skills involving hotel work, including English conversation, customer service, and knowledge of food and wine.

Insensitive comments pierced his heart

When Mr. Sakuma was in Hiroshima, the cruel remarks he heard from people around him such as “A-bomb survivors can’t get married” would pierce his heart. His hope of “escaping the atomic bombing” for a better future continued to grow. About his feelings at the time, Mr. Sakuma said, “I made up my mind to free myself from the cross I had been bearing and try a new challenge.”

He experienced the atomic bombing at his home in the present-day area of Koi in Hiroshima’s Nishi Ward. He was nine months old at the time of the bombing. He was in good health while growing up, but there was a time 10 years after the bombing during which he suffered from kidney and liver problems, making him unable to attend elementary school. Around the same period, Sadako Sasaki, a girl who had experienced the atomic bombing when she was two years old, died of leukemia at the age of 12. “In a sense, I could identify with certain aspects of her life,” said Mr. Sakuma.

That prompted him to join the campaign to establish the Children’s Peace Monument being called for by Sadako’s classmates. He would also start to engage in activities at the Hiroshima YMCA, an organization that was also involved in the monument campaign.

After graduation from Sanyo High School (located in Hiroshima’s present-day Nishi Ward), he attended a university in Hiroshima Prefecture for a time but later dropped out. He met Kazumitsu Aihara, director of the Hiroshima YMCA who had dedicated his life to peace activities before dying in 2006 at the age of 89, and sought Mr. Aihara’s advice about his future career. Mr. Aihara recommended that he learn about the hotel business in the belief that, “This time will be marked by many visitors from overseas.”

During the Tokyo Olympics, as part of his school program, Mr. Sakuma volunteered to work as a waiter at a restaurant within the press center, where media from across the world would gather to report on the Games. He had a chance to see up close Abebe Bikila, the Ethiopian marathon runner who set a new world record in the men’s marathon. During breaks from work, he would watch events taking place at the Japan National Stadium. “Those were good memories from my younger days,” remarked Mr. Sakuma.

Employed at hotel

In 1965, the following year, he was hired to work at the Tokyo Hilton Hotel (present-day Capitol Hotel Tokyu). In 1966, he happened to run into the Beatles at the hotel when they were visiting Japan for live performances at the Nippon Budokan concert venue. At that time, he was able to experience firsthand Japan’s postwar restoration and economic development. However, with weekly magazines and other media frequently running sensationalistic articles about the atomic bombings, including information on keloids caused by the bombings as well as “A-bomb disease,” he started to sense cold stares from people in Tokyo directed at him as an A-bomb survivor.

He had a similar experience when he visited the parents in Tokyo of a girlfriend he was thinking about marrying. He introduced himself and revealed his experience in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. He overheard his girlfriend’s mother, who was in another room, saying to her daughter, “A Hiroshima person? Why?”

Mr. Sakuma said, “I was shocked by that because I had thought I would be able to escape from the atomic bombing if only I could make it to Tokyo. I couldn’t believe the bombing would cause such harm after so much time had passed.” The young man, who had just turned 20, became embittered.

Giving up on life in Tokyo, Mr. Sakuma returned to Hiroshima in 1968. He started work at another company. After retirement, he began to serve as an advisor for the A-bomb survivor consultation center of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hiroshima Hidankyo) in 2006 and came face-to-face with the suffering of many survivors, who continued to bear their cross as “hibakusha.” Mr. Sakuma has served as chair of the Hiroshima Hidankyo organization since 2015.

(Originally published on April 10, 2025)