Service Commemorates 79th Anniversary of Atomic Bombings

By J.K. YAMAMOTO Rafu Staff Writer

A service commemorating the 79th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was held on Aug. 4 at Koyasan Buddhist Temple in Little Tokyo.

Each year the American Society of Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-Bomb Survivors (ASA) honors the memory of the thousands who died when the two cities were destroyed on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945. Japan surrendered to the Allies on Aug. 15.

With the Hiroshima Peace Flame as the centerpiece, the service included chanting by Buddhist ministers, incense offerings by the public, mokuto (silent prayer) for the victims, and video messages from Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and Nagasaki Mayor Shirō Suzuki.

Bishop Yuju Matsumoto, head minister of Koyasan, was born 11 years after the war ended. He acknowledged that those who experienced the tragedy and horror of the war first-hand and those who did not may have different feelings during the annual memorial services. But he emphasized that for everyone, the silent prayer is "making a vow that we will truly build a world without war ... in the spirit of not fighting each other, of caring for each other, and of building a world where everyone can live in peace, that the soul of the victims of war can feel at peace."

ASA Interim Co-president Howard Kakita was 71⁄2 years old when he survived the Hiroshima bombing. He recalled that just before the blast, he and his brother saw the vapor trail of the B-29 that dropped the bomb.

He noted that the two atomic bombs killed more than 250,000 people. "Can you imagine that? A quarter of a million people ... Not only that, there were quite a number of other people, the casualties with physical and personal emotional trauma, that carried that trauma for the rest of their lives. I'm sad to report that within this year already in Southern California, we have lost five of our ASA members."

Kakita added, "Scientists and engineers throughout the world have been improving and building quantities of atomic bombs ... anywhere from a hundred to a thousand times more powerful than those in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Not only that, they have the wherewithal to ... send them to any place in the world."

With more than 13,000 nuclear weapons scattered throughout the world and other countries, such as Iran, trying to possess them, Kakita observed, "All of these are developed on a pretext of deterrent purpose. However, if you think about it, what is the difference between a deterrent bomb and an offensive bomb? ... There's no distinction. You could take a deterrent bomb and make it into an offensive weapon (depending on) the mindset of the leader that's running that particular country ...

"So it is crucial that we learn from the events that took place 79 years ago ... and embrace the shared responsibility to try to create a world that is free of atomic weapons altogether."

The main speaker was ASA Director Darrell Miho, who has documented the stories of hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) in photographs and videos and has spoken extensively in the U.S. and Japan. He was introduced by ASA Interim Co-President Dr. Gloria Montebruno-Saller.

"It's been 79 years since those fateful days when two nuclear weapons were used against humanity ... In an instant, innocent lives were killed, and by the end of the year, over 200,000 lives were taken," Miho said. "The bombs they used back then were packed with only 15 and 21 kilotons of explosives. Today, some of the nuclear weapons we have are over 200 times more powerful than the ones used in Japan. Others have multiple warheads capable of destroying a wider area."

Showing a diagram of the estimated damage that would be caused by a five-megaton bomb dropped on Downtown Los Angeles, he explained that anything within the inner circle would be "incinerated instantly" and in the circle around that, "almost every building would be leveled. Almost all of L.A. County would be damaged ... 1.4 million people would be dead. 3 million would be injured."

Based on the stories he heard from hibakusha, he said that those who survived would experience "a living hell."

Miho related the experiences of ASA member and Hiroshima survivor Junji Sarashina, who was unable to attend the memorial this year. As a 16-year-old, he survived the blast and tried to help other survivors. "He said he saw 5,000 to 6,000 people dead on the streets. He remembers going to the Red Cross hospital and meeting a lady who could not speak. He ended up pulling out a shard of glass out of her tongue ...

"He remembers going to his high school and finding some younger kids in the pool, and he asked one of the students, would you like to get out? The student answered, hai. So he reached out his hand and grabbed the student's hand and pulled him up. But to his surprise, the student remained in the pool and all (Junji) had in his hand was the skin from his hand. When you have severe burns, your skin just peels off.

"He also remembers seeing a charred black blob on the ground, but he couldn't figure out what it was. When he got closer, he realized it was a mother and her child. They were burned beyond recognition."

Miho also remembered Nagasaki survivor Sumiteru Taniguchi, who died in 2017 at the age of 88. "For the first year or nine months, he lay on his stomach, unable to move because his burns were so severe. The doctors who were treating him didn't think he would make it. They said that they could see his heart beat through the holes in the side of his stomach. He spent three and a half years being treated at various hospitals ...

"He said at one point he contemplated suicide because of the ongoing pain and struggles that he had, but he decided that his life would better be served fighting for a world free from nuclear weapons. As a result, he traveled the world. He visited the United Nations. He visited many cities, and he spoke about his experience and he urged governments to abolish nuclear weapons."

Having met hundreds of hibakusha, Miho said, "Each of them has their own unique story to tell. But the one thing they have in common is their commitment to rid the world of nuclear weapons. They have witnessed first-hand the evil that nuclear weapons can unleash upon the world ...

"Now, we must never forget the pain and suffering that they have endured for 79 years. It is now our responsibility to share their stories and carry on their hope for peace."

After the program, participants went outside to make a water offering to the victims.