Story of Atomic Bombing Survivor Katsuji Yoshida, Told by Peace Volunteer Junko Shiratori

Topics Covered: Day of the bombing; Injuries; Nursing back to health; Social discrimination; Courage to go back into society; “The basis of peace is for people to understand the pain of others.”

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We will tell you about an atomic bombing.

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Nagasaki, August 9th, 1945, 11:02 am.

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An atomic bomb was dropped on this land, instantly burning houses and other buildings.

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Great numbers of people were killed

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And the surrounding area became a scorched wasteland.

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I had no idea what had happened!

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When I came to, I found out I had been thrown into the middle of a rice paddy.

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All seven of us had lost the skin from our faces.

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It had burned and fallen off, leaving the flesh underneath visible.

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As the blazing hot rays of the sun beat down on us it felt like this exposed flesh was being seared.

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We took leaves and we stuck them on our bodies,

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Hoping this would give us at least a little relief from the pain.

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We reached the river, where large numbers of people had gathered to drink.

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The banks were covered with dead bodies

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And a layer of oil floated on the surface of the water.

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People still found it irresistible, though, and while drinking that oily water, they would suddenly fall down and die.

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“Never drink water if you are wounded, hold off for as long as you can!”

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At that time we remembered the words that our teachers had told us.

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Should we hold off?

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After talking it over, we finally went without drinking any water.

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My mother came to the school to get me.

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She wasn’t prepared for the grotesque spectacle she encountered there, however.

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So many wounded people had been laid out on the ground that it was impossible for her to tell which one was me.

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She went up to people one by one, speaking my name right into each of their ears.

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Katsuji? Katsuji!

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By doing this, my mother was able to find me and take me home.

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At home, my mother put me inside a cover of mosquito netting.

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Pus was flowing from my body, so she spread newspaper on the bedding and then put a piece of oil cloth over that before laying me down.

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In this way, my mother nursed me back to health.

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Flies would enter the netting whenever my mother came in and out, however,

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and they laid eggs on my body.

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Then my open wounds began to fester with maggots.

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My mother noticed that and picked them out with wooden chopsticks.

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The pain when the tips of the chopsticks touched my wounds was so great that I wanted to scream out.

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While hospitalized in Omura they made three attempts at grafting skin from my thigh onto my face.

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The first two operations failed.

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But the third one was successful.

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I didn’t have any desire to look at my face in the mirror, though,

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Even after they took off the bandage following the successful operation.

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I knew well enough, what the result would be.

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I’ve just been released from the hospital in Omura and now I’m taking the train back to Nagasaki

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and what happened then —

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Despite the fact that the train is full of people,

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The space around me remains empty.

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And all those staring eyes —

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The looks from the people around me pierced me like arrows.

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“Please get there quickly.”

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“Please get there quickly!”

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I wished for that with all my heart,

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Tears falling from my eyes.

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The humiliating experience on the train made me so sad

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that I then went and hid myself away in my house.

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I worried incessantly about how my face would look from then on.

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I didn’t want to go outside because I was afraid of having other people see me.

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I’d lost the will to do anything at all.

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My hair kept growing and growing as I hid myself away in my house

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And eventually my mother told me to get it cut.

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I had been so concerned with my face that I hadn’t even thought about my hair or anything else like that.

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But I did what my mother said, and went off to get a hair cut.

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The moment I stepped outside, however, I started to worry about my face.

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Mustering up all my courage, I finally set off for the barber shop.

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Nothing happened on the way there,

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But the second I sat down in the barber chair my deepest fears came true.

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The customers who came in after me saw my face in the mirror and obviously surprised, stopped to stare,

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And then my frustration and anger boiled over.

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I dashed off in a panic, running back home and shutting myself off in my house once more.

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My mother said to me,

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“You can’t spend your whole life inside this house.

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Try going out, and walking around!”

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At first I said no.

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But after a few days, I calmed down and decided to give it a try.

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Of course that meant being outside again.

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Every time I passed by someone a cold stare would come my way.

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Don’t let it get to you.

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Don’t let it get to you!

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That is what I said to myself as I went on practicing going outside.

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From time to time I would pass others on my walks.

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Once I passed a couple of ladies, who were standing around talking.

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Upon noticing me they immediately fell quiet and turned their eyes away.

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Even without looking back at them I was painfully aware that they were talking about me.

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Another time I was walking and I came across some people from the neighborhood.

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At that point, I gathered up my courage and greeted a child by saying, “Hi!”

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The child, however, saw my face and immediately broke out crying.

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Finding out that my face is scary enough to make children cry was yet another shock for me.

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Each time someone saw my face I would be laughed at, stared at in contempt, or ridiculed,

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and every time that happened, I would go and hide myself away in my house.

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My mother kept urging me on, however,

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and saying, “Go outside now.

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Go back outside!”

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If I didn’t go out, she would sometimes scold me

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and other times offer sympathy.

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While all this was going on, a realization welled up in my heart.

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Things will not change while I sit around doing nothing.

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I have a mission to overcome the hardships I’m going through.

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I will not run away and hide any more.

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I will be open about the fact that I am an atomic bombing survivor

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and speak out about the horrors of war.

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I must tell my story to the current generation.

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I must tell them about the horrors of those days.

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I must tell them about the pain.

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I will tell them about things that people should never have to experience.

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May the peace we have now, continue on forever.

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May there never again be any atomic bombing victims.

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May Nagasaki be the last place on earth to experience an atomic bombing.

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The basis of peace is for people to understand the pain of others.

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Thank you for your attention.