FRANCE 24 speaks to one of many final ‘hibakusha’ – Hiroshima’s atomic bomb survivors – 78 years after US forces dropped the nuclear weapon that largely destroyed the Japanese metropolis throughout World War II.
Satoshi Tanaka was a child residing along with his household on the outskirts of Hiroshima when the world’s first atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945. By the tip of the yr, the nuclear weapon had killed an estimated 140,000 individuals residing within the metropolis. Among the lifeless had been practically all of Tanaka’s maternal household.
Like many different survivors, the 78-year-old grandfather has suffered long-term well being issues resulting from radiation publicity.
He has additionally endured the social stigma that led many survivors to cover their scars. “Once I was with my friends at a university’s public bath in Tokyo. One of them asked me, ‘Are you sure you’re not contagious?’ I was speechless,” Tanaka mentioned.
As the variety of survivors dwindle, Tanaka feels a duty to talk out in opposition to using nuclear weapons. “We have the responsibility of not making the same mistakes. I’ll continue to tell my story even if I’m the last to do so.”
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Originally revealed on France24