Culture

Survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings fear their legacy will die with them

Tokyo, May 13 (EFE).- For more than half a century, Japan’s Michiko Kodama felt the spirits of Hiroshima blamed her for not having died with them in the days of the atomic bomb. But not anymore."I think I am receiving the strength of those people who died then. For 20 years I have been encouraged by them. Now I feel that they ask me to speak about their rage, because fewer and fewer people can talk about it," said Kodama, who was 7 when the bomb fell in her hometown on Aug. 6, 1945.Terumi Tanaka, for his part, no longer tries to understand what happened that August day, when he was 13 years old, and they dropped a second atomic bomb on the city in which he lived, Nagasaki. (Camera: DEMÓFILO PELÁEZ). SHOT LIST: TERUMI TANAKA, A JAPANESE ANTI-NUCLEAR AND ANTI-WAR ACTIVIST AND A HIBAKUSHA, A SURVIVOR OF THE ATOMIC BOMBING OF NAGASAKI, DURING AN INTERVIEW WITH EFE; AND MICHIKO KODAMA, AN ATOMIC BOMB SURVIVOR FROM HIROSHIMA SHOWS DIFFERENT PICTURES WITH IMAGES OF THE WOUNDED DURING AN INTERVIEW WITH EFE IN TOKYO, JAPAN. SOUND BITES: TERUMI TANAKA AND MICHIKO KODAMA (IN JAPANESE).TRANSLATION: TANAKA - 1.) You can see photos and videos of that landscape, but you cannot smell it. That devastating scene contained color and smell, and the wounded also moved in it. There is no 'hibakusha' who expects to be understood, but still they try to make themselves understood. (00:02-00:38)2.) After 75 years, there are still more than 10,000 atomic bombs. This produces an unbearable feeling for us. Fortunately there was no nuclear war, there was no third time (that the atomic bomb was used) and that is the only consolation. (00:41-01:28)KODAMA - 1.) At first, when I began to tell about the experience of the atomic bomb, I thought that I was being blamed by the spirits of the dead, who told me that I had to be with them, but for 20 years I have been encouraged by them. I think my feeling has changed. (01:28-01:54)2.) After 75 years, only the story remains that the atomic bombs fell on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945; but if there is no one who tells what happened under that cloud, it is as if it did not exist. (02:00-02:26)