Hiroyuki-san was ten years old when the atom bomb fell on Hiroshima on 6th August 1945. He was 2.5km from ground zero, and was burnt on his neck, arm and leg on the left side.
"Everyone
has got a life. Nuclear weapons and nuclear power stations broke
them. We don't need them."
"I was two years old
when the atom bomb fell, but I was in the countryside with my
grandparents. My brothers were in Hiroshima, and they were all
killed. They were aged 11, 12, 13 and 14. Mother was pregnant with
my sister when the bomb fell, but the radiation made her give birth
after only three months and my sister was born dead. My mother
never talked about this personal pain.
My father had been in
the army even though he was quite ill, he still had to fight. Our
house was destroyed, but luckily he was a carpenter. He took wood
from other destroyed houses, gathered it together and made a simple
house for our family. I returned to Hiroshima when I was three, but
my father died one year after the bomb.
At first I did not
understand that I didn't have a father, as I was only three when he
died, but later I began to see that other children had their
fathers. Fathers would come to the school sports day, but I had no
father there. After that I really missed not having my father when
I was growing up.
My mother was very
poor. Then Hiroshima City wanted to build a big road and we had to
leave the house my father built. They just gave my mother a little
money.
It was very hard for
my mother to live, so she married again. Her new husband had two
sons, but our relationship was difficult. It was always me that had
to go shopping for my mother - they would not
go, as she was not their real mother. I couldn't understand why I
always had to go. My step-father was poor too, so it was hard to
bring up three boys and pay for their schooling.
At school the teacher
asked us 'Who is not paying for their food?' Someone told him that
I was eating without paying, and a friend said so too. I was so
ashamed that after that I often stayed away from
school."
Keiko,
child of two Hiroshima atom bomb survivors (2nd generation
Hibakusha). Her brush writing says "Never forget Hiroshima and
Fukushima."
Chihiro
is the daughter of a Hiroshima atom bomb survivor. Her brush
writing for Fukushima's children says "You are not alone!" She
said:
“My mother is a hibakshia. When I was growing up she was always so worried when we became ill in case it was her fault because of her radiation exposure. It happened every time we became ill.
Now I have something serious, and the medication for it makes my cheeks swell up so much my friends thought I had become fat. They asked me “Why are you getting fat when you are so busy every day?” It is embarrassing, but it is just the medication. But I have not told my mother about my illness, because she would feel very guilty and would worry too much.
When I was younger I moved to Kyoto, and one of my new friends asked me where I came from. When I told her I was from Hiroshima she moved sideways away from me. I was so hurt. After that I did not tell anyone where I was from and I tried not to use my Hiroshima accent or words.
I really hate the idea that children from Fukushima prefecture will have to have the same experience that I had. When I heard that some of them have been bullied when they have evacuated to other areas it made me so angry. No-one should have to suffer this.”
“My mother is a hibakshia. When I was growing up she was always so worried when we became ill in case it was her fault because of her radiation exposure. It happened every time we became ill.
Now I have something serious, and the medication for it makes my cheeks swell up so much my friends thought I had become fat. They asked me “Why are you getting fat when you are so busy every day?” It is embarrassing, but it is just the medication. But I have not told my mother about my illness, because she would feel very guilty and would worry too much.
When I was younger I moved to Kyoto, and one of my new friends asked me where I came from. When I told her I was from Hiroshima she moved sideways away from me. I was so hurt. After that I did not tell anyone where I was from and I tried not to use my Hiroshima accent or words.
I really hate the idea that children from Fukushima prefecture will have to have the same experience that I had. When I heard that some of them have been bullied when they have evacuated to other areas it made me so angry. No-one should have to suffer this.”
"My grandmother was an atom bomb survivor (Hibakusha), so I am a third generation hibakshia. She died last March. She was sixty eight, and she was burned by the bomb when she was a baby. My father and mother didn’t live with me since I was a baby. My mother left, and then my father left, so grandma was my mother. I didn’t used to want to listen to her A Bomb stories – but now I think I should have listened to her. My picture is of me listening to my grandma on a bench in the park.
I feel the same kind of anger about nuclear weapons and nuclear plants. Toden* is dirty but rich – they are too selfish. I am angry that Fukushima’s people have a lot of trouble and Toden are selfish."
*Toden means Tokyo Denroku (Tokyo Electric Power Co, or Tepco) the company responsible for the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daichi
His picture is connected to this picture by T-kun, 11, from Fukushima prefecture, which he liked.
Ren is 10 and is from
Hiroshima. His design shows him playing football in front of a
red Torii, a gate used to enter Shinto shrines. This is because he
saw the drawings by boys from Nakadori and Hamadori who cannot play
football outside because of radiation
like this one, and
this one. His writing says "Hiroshima recovered – it is
clean – so Fukushima will recover too."
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