From acceptance to anger: Path trod by Nagasaki bomb survivors

Asahi Shimbun

09-08-2025

Pope John Paul II kisses a resident of Megumi no Oka Nagasaki Genbaku Home during a visit to Nagasaki in February 1981. (Provided by Megumi no Oka Nagasaki Genbaku Home)
NAGASAKI--Many of the victims of this city's atomic bombing initially found solace in the thought their deaths would be a beautiful sacrifice.
That way of thinking would later change. The catalyst was a visit by Pope John Paul II.
Nagasaki on Aug. 9 marked the 80th anniversary of its destruction from atomic bombing.
Early accounts of people who lost loved ones in the attack were collated by Nagasaki Junshin Educational Corp., which operates schools from kindergarten to university, and published in 1961.
One father described his daughter as 'a truly happy child.'
He finally found his daughter, a second-year student at the senior high school, five days after the attack. She had burns over much of her body. He took her to a hospital, but her condition did not improve.
Seemingly realizing she was slipping away, the daughter began to sing a hymn.
But as her voice weakened, she said, 'I can't sing anymore.'
'I can't see.'
She mouthed 'Goodbye' as a prayer died on her lips.
Friends and others told the father how lucky he was to have shared such precious last moments with his daughter.
One person surmised the father and daughter's deep Catholic faith was the glue that bound them so closely at such an emotionally wrought time.
Bereaved family members head to a memorial ceremony held in September 1945 for the victims of the Nagasaki atomic bombing. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Records show that 214 students at Nagasaki Junshin Senior Girls' High School perished in the bombing. They were working as volunteers at a weapons factory when the bomb detonated over the port city.
Chie Shijo, a native of Hiroshima city who relocated to Nagasaki in 2006, was among many who were deeply moved by the publication.
She had worked as a curator at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which gave her access to all sorts of documents left behind by schools in the western city. But she had never come across anything like the Junshin volume.
In her view, describing victims of the atomic bombing in a beautiful and pure way served only to push the barbarity and wretchedness of atomic weapons into the background. But she was curious as to how such a narrative arose in the first place.
Takashi Nagai, a Catholic physician who died in 1951 at the age of 43, is said to have played a pivotal role in providing spiritual comfort to Catholics living in the Urakami district of Nagasaki after the bombing.
His wife was among the tens of thousands killed in the attack, and he himself suffered serious injuries. He devoted his efforts to helping other victims.
Takashi Nagai in his shelter called Nyokodo (Provided by the Takashi Nagai Memorial Museum)
Nagai wrote 17 books from his hospital bed even while suffering from the effects of radiation exposure. Many of his works described the sense of guilt felt by survivors.
The Urakami district, home to a cathedral of the same name, was ground zero in the bombing, which Nagai called 'divine providence.' He likened the victims to live animals sacrificed in religious ceremonies, known as burnt offerings, and said they were a sacrifice to God.
Junshin operated a Catholic school in Urakami. Other accounts published in the volume contained references to burnt offerings.
Years later, Nagai came under heavy criticism for seemingly having taken little issue with the atomic bombing.
But since his works were written during the U.S. Occupation, Nagai likely found it difficult to say anything that the authorities did not approve of.
The 1951 peace declaration issued by the Nagasaki city government on the anniversary of the bombing said the atomic attack hastened the end of war.
Shijo felt that the survivors in Urakami must have believed what Nagai said as they tried to make sense of the magnitude of the destruction and anguished over questions about faith, justice and evil.
'The narrative of accepting the good people who died as being a sacrifice to God helped with the reconstruction of Nagasaki,' Shijo said.
When Junshin rebuilt its school, it set aside a grave for the remains of the students who died in the bombing.
Because the students were symbols of filial piety, Junshin also decided to construct a retirement home for those who lost family members and were left by themselves.
POPE'S HEALING WORDS
Pope John Paul II visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1981.
In a speech in Hiroshima, the pontiff did not mince words, saying, 'War is the work of man.'
He added, 'to remember the past is to commit oneself to the future.'
The Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the religious organization that established Junshin, also constructed Megumi no Oka Nagasaki Genbaku Home, a facility to provide care to senior citizens who survived the bombing.
Visiting the facility, the pope told the residents, 'The very manner in which all of you continue to live is the most convincing appeal for opposing war and promoting peace.'
From the following year, staff at the facility recorded and published the testimony of residents.
The reminiscences were brutal in their hatred of war and atomic weapons.
One man who lost his wife and whose daughter was sickened by radiation exposure wrote, 'I hate war.'
Another wrote if those who died cannot be brought back to life, atomic bombs should never again be used.
Another individual said that people must not give up just because war was unavoidable.
Akira Shikayama, 59, works at the retirement home next to the main building. He was in junior high school when the pope visited the facility.
Since working there, he has listened to and written down the accounts of about 300 hibakusha.
While he has also read the Junshin volume given to him by a former superior, he realizes the facility where he now works has a special role to play.
This year, a 91-year-old resident told him what she had endured and admitted she had not even told her family about her experiences.
In 1949, the woman and her mother had moved to an outlying island, but the mother died from radiation exposure. Everyone in the community knew the cause of death and neighbors began shunning the family, the woman said.
She had to walk a great distance to obtain milk for her younger brother.
For decades, the woman never once talked about the discrimination she had faced.
But in 2024 when Nihon Hidankyo (Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the woman had a change of heart after she folded paper cranes to be sent to Oslo. She asked Shikayama for more time so she could also give her testimony.
This summer, a memorial hall at the facility named after John Paul II displayed the results of many years of passing down the experiences of the hibakusha. Their accounts and art works are available to staff, residents, their families and visitors.
'The mission of this retirement home is to spread the testimony of residents to the world. That will not change in the future,' Shikayama said.
Junshin students sing at the Aug. 9, 1961, memorial ceremony commemorating the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)