AP PHOTOS: A survivor of the Nagasaki bombing struggles to preserve remains
Decorated with colorful paper cranes and blooming flowers, it doesn't look the scene of a tragedy.
On Aug. 9, 1945, U.S. forces detonated an atomic bomb over Nagasaki. Shiroyama Elementary School was only 500 meters (1,600 feet) west of ground zero. It is thought more than 1,400 people died here, including teachers and children.
The atomic bombing of Nagasaki, and Hiroshima three days earlier, together killed more than 210,000 people. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression across Asia.
In Nagasaki, part of the destroyed building known as the Peace Memorial Hall receives around 30,000 visitors each year. At the same time, the number of those who still remember the attack is dwindling.
Fumi Takeshita, 80, was just a child, but can still recall her experience.
'I saw an extremely strong light coming in from the window. It was white, or shall I say yellow? So strong that I couldn't keep my eyes open,' she said.
'It was the day after the bomb dropped. (My father) walked through the hypocenter, the Urakami area, and heard many people calling for help. There were heaps of bodies, too. Buildings were crashed to the ground and there was nothing left, apparently. I heard that from my grandmother. She said, 'Fumi-chan, remember the light you saw the other day? Because of that there is nothing left in Urakami, and many people died.''
She now collects items related to the bombing, many of which she has dug from the ground with bare hands. Takeshita believes it's important to preserve the physical evidence of the Nagasaki bombing, known as 'Hibaku remains.'
'Nagasaki hardly has any remains left. I have been raising my voice to be heard in order to protect them, but most of them have been taken down," she said.
Currently, 55 sites have been approved as 'Hibaku remains,' including bridges and trees, in the city's annual list. But officials say they also have to consider the city's needs and strike a balance between preservation and development.
'I have lung cancer and was told I might not be able to see the cherry blossoms this year," Takeshita said.
"But I managed to. Like myself, hibakushas (atomic bombing survivors) do not have much time left. Preserving things has a strong message. Despite all the testimonies, I believe it is more convincing and can convey, for instance, the heat which melted these objects, let alone humans.'
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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
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Times
15 minutes ago
- Times
What changed when I had a baby? Around the world in four mothers' stories
When the American journalist Abigail Leonard was six months pregnant, her husband was offered a job in Japan. Moving was 'the sensible choice' — what luck to be able to swap living in the US, one of the only countries in the world with no mandatory paid maternity leave, for Tokyo, where encouraging a baby boom is part of the government's economic policy. Leonard was thrilled at the prospect of what we take for granted in the UK, including free check-ups for babies. Soon, however, she realised that being pro-mother is not the same as being pro-woman. In Japan motherhood is synonymous with sacrifice — starting with birth, when women are seldom offered pain relief because of a belief that suffering creates a deeper bond with the baby. Leonard was asked what she did 'before becoming a mummy', while her husband carried on as normal with his career. Still, she had it a lot better than in the US, where an uncomplicated birth costs about $3,000 and paid maternity leave is rare. So Leonard, who is very much still a journalist as well as a 'mummy', decided to investigate which countries get it right. Four Mothers begins at the start of 2022 and follows four women, from the US, Japan, Kenya and Finland, through their first year of parenting. Japan and the US were chosen partly because of Leonard's own experiences; she picked Finland for its low maternal and infant mortality rates — and for frequently coming top of happy country studies — and Kenya because it has introduced policies to stop high maternal mortality rates. As Leonard says, 'parenthood is shaped by the systems our societies have built over time' and personal decisions, such as how much leave to take or even which parent shushes the baby back to sleep at 2am, are, in large part, determined by politics. It's particularly true at the moment, with Donald Trump suggesting $5,000 baby bonuses for American mothers and right-wingers in the UK urging women to do their bit to reverse our declining birth rate. Leonard is a masterly reporter. The four women share intimate details of their shifting post-baby lives, which read like gripping fiction. The American, Sarah, 33, is a teacher in Utah who grew up Mormon. She's married to Brian, an Amazon delivery driver who is also — this is a curveball — a polyamorous bisexual. Their relationship provides enough material for a book in itself. Sarah is remarkably generous towards Brian, making time for him to see his boyfriend while she cares for their newborn, ignoring 'a faint sense that she has her own needs'. Her husband's sexual preferences are the least of Sarah's worries, however. If you aren't well-off, motherhood in the US is punishing. When their baby, Vivian, struggles to breastfeed and doesn't put on weight (a common problem and one that we have free council-run breastfeeding clinics to help with in the UK), Sarah has no one to turn to, and misses the Mormon community. I felt for Sarah — even more so when, without maternity leave pay, she must rush back to work after three months and begin a punishing schedule of pumping milk for Vivian. According to Leonard it's Richard Nixon's fault. In his 1968 presidential campaign he promised to expand access to public childcare. But the conservative branch of his party revolted — Mormons worried that it would upend family structure while others called it communist, so in 1971 Nixon nixed it and childcare policy has been taboo since then. On top of that, Leonard argues that there is a vested interest in childcare not being state funded — private equity invests heavily in profit-making childcare companies and corporations want to use what paid leave they do offer to entice talented employees. Finland, no surprise, is a far better place to have a baby. Anna, 36, begins maternity leave a month before her due date and receives generous maternity pay. Until the 20th century most Finnish women gave birth in their home saunas (turned off, of course) but now just 0.2 per cent of births are at home, and 92 per cent of women receive some sort of pain relief during labour. They are also offered prenatal counselling to discuss their own childhoods. It's so good for women that attention has now shifted to how men can be better supported to look after their children. But Leonard is interested in what happens when things go awry in a feminist utopia. Anna's partner, Masa, who grew up in Japan with a single mother and no father figure, is more interested in which pram to buy than spending time with the baby, although when breastfeeding isn't working he accuses Anna of starving their child. Anna's reaction to their relationship breakdown is underpinned by her coming from a country with a strong history of women's rights — she doesn't want their son 'to learn that women are the ones who will take care of all the world's population when babies are born'. In Kenya, Chelsea, 23, gets pregnant after an affair with a married man from a different tribe because of a faulty morning-after pill. Many Kenyan women rely on this pill as there is stigma around other forms of contraception. Birth in Kenya has a lot in common with the US — both are countries with vast gaps between rich and poor, and if you can't afford a private birth it's brutal. Chelsea asks for an epidural and is told it costs US$300, which she can't afford. Only 2 per cent of Kenyan women get epidurals. Still, things have improved since the country made prenatal care free in 2013: the under-five mortality rate has since dropped from 50 to 39.9 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to Unicef. (In the States the figure is 6.5, while in the UK it's 4.5.) Like Sarah, Chelsea goes back to work after three months, but unlike Sarah she can't afford formula milk. Her story is the most painful to read — she is so alone, both her parents are dead and having a baby brings back that grief. • Why am I being judged for having a third child? In Japan, Tsukasa, 33, is also lonely. Japanese fathers haven't traditionally been involved with babies; only two thirds are present at the birth (it's 95 per cent across most of Europe) and her husband, although doting, works all hours. 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The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Otters posing for selfies in Japanese cafes may be linked to illegal trade, experts warn
Posing for selfies on the laps of excited visitors, the otters of Tokyo's animal cafes have learned to play their part in their online stardom. In thousands of social media videos, the aquatic mammals wriggle through the outstretched hands of adoring customers who reward their attention with food. But the booming demand has raised major concerns among conservationists, with a study published in the journal Conservation Science and Practice linking the small-clawed otters in animal cafes in Japanese cities with wild populations in poaching hotspots in Thailand. Researchers compared the DNA profiles of 81 otters from zoos and animal cafes or seized by customs with genetic data from wild populations in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. They found the overwhelming majority of captive otters matched with two poaching hotspots in southern Thailand, on the Gulf of Thailand coastline and near the border with Malaysia. The Asian small-clawed otter, classified as vulnerable to extinction on the IUCN red list, is the otter species of choice and has become a popular pet, even though its commercial trade was banned internationally in 2019. 'In recent decades, the otter has become very popular in Japan because of the cafes. I feel anxiety about the situation because the otters are decreasing in their own territories. We wanted to see where they were coming from,' said Mayako Fujihara, associate professor at the Wildlife Research Centre of Kyoto University and study co-author. 'We cannot confirm that the otters came through the illegal trade but we have shown that their DNA is the same as those from areas in Thailand that are illegal trade hotspots. 'Many cafe owners do not understand the situation. Some believe they are helping otter conservation by breeding them and showing them to people.' While not definitive proof, researchers from Japan, Thailand and France said their findings were strongly suggestive of links to the wild trade. Some of the otters found in Japan's pet cafes could also have been bred in captivity from animals captured and imported before the 2019 ban. 'Before the study, we had this strong feeling that most of them were smuggled,' said Dr Marie Sigaud, from the National History Museum in France. 'These otters are in Appendix 1 in Cites [Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora], the most highly protected category, like elephant ivory. Our big question to answer was where they are coming from. The results strongly suggest that at least some of those otters are coming directly from the illegal trade.' In the wild, the otters have a key role in maintaining freshwater and mangrove swamps in Asia, hunting creatures such as crabs and molluscs. They form monogamous pairs for life and are known for their dextrous, highly sensitive claws for digging. Conservationists worry that the pet trade will see their role in ecosystems disappear – exacerbating the impact of habitat loss and pollution. Despite recent efforts, smuggling of the otters remains rampant, with the animals prized for their cuteness. The scale of the trade in small-clawed otters was first unveiled in 2018 in a joint study by the IUCN otter specialist group and Traffic, an NGO specialising in the global trade in wild animals and plants. It found more than 500 adverts for the creatures between January and April 2017, with a huge demand for young otters less than a year old. It is believed to have grown since then. 'You cannot have an otter as a pet in most European countries but it is a very popular pet in Asia and Japan. There are popular YouTube channels from people that have otters as pets and there are lots of follows. It's a cute species, even though it's very hard to look after,' Sigaud said. Kanitha Krishnasamy, Traffic's director in south-east Asia, was sceptical that an industry breeding the animals in captivity would help wild populations. 'Otters have long been sought after for illegal trade,' she said. 'There are many longstanding examples that highlight the pitfalls and complications in regulating and controlling breeding for trade, with links to laundering of illegally caught wild specimens into the legal trade chain. Any move to introduce commercial captive breeding is extremely risky.' The researchers also urged people to think twice before visiting the cafes or having the animals as pets, as they can sometimes become aggressive. In social media posts, they often show signs of stress and are regularly grossly overweight, sometimes vomiting up food or gnawing away at their own tails. Fujihara said: 'I don't think it is a good idea for people to go to the cafes. Most of the people go because they love animals. But people should understand that the businesses may be involved in the illegal trade.'. Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield in the Guardian app for more nature coverage
Metro
6 hours ago
- Metro
Bomb-filled 'doomsday wreck' comes closer to collapse with no-fly zone in place
The masts of the wreck reach ominously above the water (Picture: Pen News) A shipwreck in the Thames full of World War II explosives is coming closer to collapsing, a new report reveals. The SS Richard Montgomery – nicknamed the 'doomsday wreck' – sank in the Thames Estuary near Sheerness in Kent and Southend-on-Sea in Essex in 1944. The ship's masts are still visible above the waterline despite plans to remove them to avoid triggering an explosion of the 1,400tonnes of explosives on board. It's feared an explosion could trigger a tsunami in the Thames, hurling a '1,000ft wide column of water, mud, metal and munitions almost 10,000ft into the air – risking wildlife and the lives of many people'. Waves up to 16ft high could engulf coastal Essex and the Isle of Sheppey. Sign up for all of the latest stories Start your day informed with Metro's News Updates newsletter or get Breaking News alerts the moment it happens. And an ominous new report suggests that potential outcome is drawing closer, with several changes detected in the year since the wreck was last surveyed a year ago. The SS Richard Montgomery before it sank in 1944 (Picture: Pen News) A no-fly zone has been put in place above the wreck by the Department for Transport (DfT), which bans civilian and non-emergency aviation from flying overhead – but the department insists the wreck is still 'stable'. The survey warns the front half of the ship – which broke in two when it sank – is slowly tipping over, moving about 19in (50cm) eastward in two years. More decay was observed in the second cargo hold, where the upper port side has cracked, and the lower starboard side has become 'significantly buckled'. This has caused part of the deck above to start collapsing into the hold, with the hatch supports in this area dropping by up to 6in (17cm) in a year. The report suggests the front part of the wreck is 'splitting in two', with the back section also in trouble. The ship sank in the Thames Estuary (Picture: Metro Graphics) It explains: 'Like the forward section, the rear section is hogging and potentially breaking in two about halfway along its length. 'This area was left unsupported when the ship broke in two back in 1944. 'Consequently, it has been badly affected by wave and current action and is steadily collapsing and falling into the gap between the two halves of the vessel. 'The degree to which the bow and stern may be being undercut as the supporting sediment is eroded away is a potential concern.' Daniel Cowan is leader of Southend council, which is just five miles north of the wreck and therefore at risk if the doomsday wreck explodes. He said: 'According to the experts, the wreck of the Montgomery remains stable, so I understand that the no-fly zone that's been put in is a precautionary measure. 'But we are seeking further clarity around the long-term plans for the wreck. 'What we'd like more than anything is clarity, to understand what the long-term plans are.' New scans suggest the front part of the wreck is splitting in two (Picture: MCA via Pen News) The DfT said the no-fly zone had been put in place on expert advice, and will remain until further notice. A spokesperson said: 'Our priority will always be to ensure the safety of the public and to reduce any risk posed by the SS Richard Montgomery. 'The condition of the wreck remains stable, and experts are continuing to monitor the site. 'As part of their ongoing monitoring, they have updated advice on how authorities can further minimise risk. 'They have recommended that pilots and operators do not fly in a limited area around and above the site as specified by the Civil Aviation Authority.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. Arrow MORE: In pictures: How the D-Day landings unfolded on June 6, 1944 Arrow MORE: Two men charged with murder after boy, four, killed in pick-up truck crash in Dartford Arrow MORE: Second World War bombs discovery in Cologne forces 20,000 people to evacuate their homes
