Author Masamoto Nasu: Hiroshima’s story must be conveyed across generations in an affecting way
Jun. 4, 2013
by Masami Nishimoto, Senior Staff Writer
Masamoto Nasu, 70, was a small boy in Hiroshima at the time of the atomic bombing. The author of “Zukkoke sannin-gumi” (“The Hilarious Trio”), the biggest best-selling series in Japanese children’s literature, has also written books on the subject of the A-bombing, which have been translated into English and Korean. How can the story of Hiroshima be conveyed to people of all ages around the world? The Chugoku Shimbun spoke with Mr. Nasu in conjunction with a symposium marking the fifth anniversary of the establishment of its Hiroshima Peace Media Center. The following are excerpts from that interview.
We must not forget the horrors of the war or the atomic bombing. But has this history been properly conveyed to today’s young people? Have they acknowledged it?
On August 6 last year I gave a lecture at a university in Oita Prefecture in which I talked about my A-bombing experience. I was surprised at how many students said they had disliked peace education. A professor at Yamaguchi University told me that a lot of students believe that Japan enjoys peace because it is protected by the U.S. military. Survivors and schoolteachers have worked hard to tell the story of the A-bombing, but children can’t seem to relate to their accounts.
Nearly 70 years have passed since the atomic bombing. To young people it seems like something that happened a long time ago. If that’s the case, we need to make the war and the A-bombing a part of family and community folklore. Just as our forebears passed folk tales down through the generations, we need to talk about these experiences in a relaxed, casual and less formal way.
At a joint review committee meeting for a literary magazine that I attended when I was young, most people believed that a writer who hadn’t experienced the atomic bombing couldn’t comprehend it. But I felt, on the contrary, it was important that someone who hadn’t experienced the A-bombing had written about it. People who look at the A-bombing from the outside can see and pick up on things that others don’t.
In my case, when I moved to Hofu where my wife’s family was from, I took another look at Hiroshima. In “Children of the Paper Crane” (published in 1984) I wrote about Sadako Sasaki and a classmate of mine. I was also able to write my trilogy “Arukidashita hi” (published in 2011), which features three generations of women who run an okonomiyaki restaurant.
Just because they experienced the atomic bombing doesn’t mean all of the survivors have spoken out in Hiroshima against nuclear weapons. In fact, many of them struggled to get through the post-war years. Some people experienced terrible things in the war such as air raids or pulling out of China or the Korean peninsula. But what makes A-bomb survivors different is that they constantly worry about the effects of radiation. From the time their children are born until they grow old, whenever they get sick the survivors have the nagging fear that it has something to do with the A-bombing.
Even if they haven’t participated in the peace movement, their experiences lead them to believe that nuclear arms are unacceptable and that there must be no more war. When they think about the victims of the accidents at the nuclear power plants in Chernobyl and Fukushima in light of their own hardships, they must be fed up with nuclear weapons and atomic power. They have strength that is rooted in their everyday lives and their emotions.
Why do wars occur? How can they be prevented? It’s important to debate this logically, but emotions play a big part in motivating people. Children cultivate a moral code by listening to folk tales as they grow up. Precisely because nuclear issues are important for human beings, we have to convey Hiroshima’s message across generations and in an affecting way so that people can relate to it. I hope Hiroshima will undertake a wide-ranging effort to do this and then expand on it.
Masamoto Nasu
Born on August 6, 1942. At the time of the atomic bombing was in what is now Koi Hon-machi in Hiroshima’s Nishi Ward, approximately 3 km from the hypocenter. His “Zukkoke sannin-gumi” (“The Hilarious Trio”) series (winner of the Iwaya Sazanami Literary Award) has sold more than 23 million copies. His “Hiroshima” trilogy received the Japanese Association of Writers for Children Award last year. Resident of Hofu, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
(From a special publication issued on May 24, 2013)
Masamoto Nasu, 70, was a small boy in Hiroshima at the time of the atomic bombing. The author of “Zukkoke sannin-gumi” (“The Hilarious Trio”), the biggest best-selling series in Japanese children’s literature, has also written books on the subject of the A-bombing, which have been translated into English and Korean. How can the story of Hiroshima be conveyed to people of all ages around the world? The Chugoku Shimbun spoke with Mr. Nasu in conjunction with a symposium marking the fifth anniversary of the establishment of its Hiroshima Peace Media Center. The following are excerpts from that interview.
We must not forget the horrors of the war or the atomic bombing. But has this history been properly conveyed to today’s young people? Have they acknowledged it?
On August 6 last year I gave a lecture at a university in Oita Prefecture in which I talked about my A-bombing experience. I was surprised at how many students said they had disliked peace education. A professor at Yamaguchi University told me that a lot of students believe that Japan enjoys peace because it is protected by the U.S. military. Survivors and schoolteachers have worked hard to tell the story of the A-bombing, but children can’t seem to relate to their accounts.
Nearly 70 years have passed since the atomic bombing. To young people it seems like something that happened a long time ago. If that’s the case, we need to make the war and the A-bombing a part of family and community folklore. Just as our forebears passed folk tales down through the generations, we need to talk about these experiences in a relaxed, casual and less formal way.
At a joint review committee meeting for a literary magazine that I attended when I was young, most people believed that a writer who hadn’t experienced the atomic bombing couldn’t comprehend it. But I felt, on the contrary, it was important that someone who hadn’t experienced the A-bombing had written about it. People who look at the A-bombing from the outside can see and pick up on things that others don’t.
In my case, when I moved to Hofu where my wife’s family was from, I took another look at Hiroshima. In “Children of the Paper Crane” (published in 1984) I wrote about Sadako Sasaki and a classmate of mine. I was also able to write my trilogy “Arukidashita hi” (published in 2011), which features three generations of women who run an okonomiyaki restaurant.
Just because they experienced the atomic bombing doesn’t mean all of the survivors have spoken out in Hiroshima against nuclear weapons. In fact, many of them struggled to get through the post-war years. Some people experienced terrible things in the war such as air raids or pulling out of China or the Korean peninsula. But what makes A-bomb survivors different is that they constantly worry about the effects of radiation. From the time their children are born until they grow old, whenever they get sick the survivors have the nagging fear that it has something to do with the A-bombing.
Even if they haven’t participated in the peace movement, their experiences lead them to believe that nuclear arms are unacceptable and that there must be no more war. When they think about the victims of the accidents at the nuclear power plants in Chernobyl and Fukushima in light of their own hardships, they must be fed up with nuclear weapons and atomic power. They have strength that is rooted in their everyday lives and their emotions.
Why do wars occur? How can they be prevented? It’s important to debate this logically, but emotions play a big part in motivating people. Children cultivate a moral code by listening to folk tales as they grow up. Precisely because nuclear issues are important for human beings, we have to convey Hiroshima’s message across generations and in an affecting way so that people can relate to it. I hope Hiroshima will undertake a wide-ranging effort to do this and then expand on it.
Masamoto Nasu
Born on August 6, 1942. At the time of the atomic bombing was in what is now Koi Hon-machi in Hiroshima’s Nishi Ward, approximately 3 km from the hypocenter. His “Zukkoke sannin-gumi” (“The Hilarious Trio”) series (winner of the Iwaya Sazanami Literary Award) has sold more than 23 million copies. His “Hiroshima” trilogy received the Japanese Association of Writers for Children Award last year. Resident of Hofu, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
(From a special publication issued on May 24, 2013)
