Tsutomu Yamaguchi (山口 彊 Yamaguchi Tsutomu) (March 16, 1916 – January 4, 2010) was a Japanese national who survived both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombingsduring World War II. Although at least 160 people are known to have been affected by both bombings,[1] he is the only person to have been officially recognized by the government of Japanas surviving both explosions.[2]
A resident of Nagasaki, Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on business for his employer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries when the city was bombed at 8:15 am, on August 6, 1945. The following day, he returned to Nagasaki and, despite his wounds, also returned to work on August 9, the day of the second atomic bombing. In 1957, he was recognized as a hibakusha (explosion-affected person) of the Nagasaki bombing, but it was not until March 24, 2009 that the government of Japan officially recognized his presence in Hiroshima three days earlier. He died ofstomach cancer on January 4, 2010 at the age of 93.
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[edit]Early life
Yamaguchi was born on March 16, 1916. He joined Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in the 1930s and worked as a draftsman designing oil tankers.[3]
[edit]Second World War
Yamaguchi "never thought Japan should start a war". He continued his work with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, but soon Japanese industry began to suffer heavily as resources became scarce and tankers were sunk.[3] As the war ground on, so despondent was he over the state of the country that he considered killing his family with an overdose of sleeping pills in the event that Japan lost.[3]
[edit]Hiroshima bombing
Yamaguchi lived and worked in Nagasaki, but in the summer of 1945 he went to Hiroshima for a three-month long business trip.[3] On August 6, he was preparing to leave the city with two colleagues, Akira Iwanaga and Kuniyoshi Sato, and was on his way to the station when he realised he had forgotten his hanko (a stamp allowing him to travel), and returned to his workplace to get it.[4][5] At 8:15, he was walking back towards the docks when the American bomberEnola Gay dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb near the centre of the city, only 3 km away.[3][6] Yamaguchi recalls seeing the bomber and two small parachutes, before there was "a great flash in the sky, and I was blown over"[5] The explosion ruptured his eardrums, blinded him temporarily, and left him with serious burns over the left side of the top half of his body. After recovering, he crawled to a shelter, and having rested, he set out to find his colleagues.[5] They had also survived and together they spent the night in an air-raid shelter before returning to Nagasaki the following day.[4][5] In Nagasaki, he received treatment for his wounds, and despite being heavily bandaged, he reported for work on August 9.[3]
[edit]Nagasaki bombing
At 11 am on August 9, Yamaguchi was describing the blast in Hiroshima to his supervisor, when the American bomber Bockscar dropped the Fat Man atomic bomb onto Nagasaki. His workplace again put him 3 km from ground zero, but this time he was unhurt by the explosion.[6] However, he was unable to seek replacement for his now ruined bandages, and he suffered from a high fever for over a week.[3]
[edit]Later life
After the war, Yamaguchi worked as a translator for the occupying American forces and then became a schoolmaster before he later returned to work for Mitsubishi.[3] When the Japanese government officially recognized atomic bombing survivors as hibakusha in 1957, Yamaguchi's identification stated only that he had been present at Nagasaki. Yamaguchi was content with this, satisfied that he was relatively healthy, and put the experiences behind him.[6]
As he grew older, his opinions about the use of atomic weapons began to change. In his eighties, he wrote a book about his experiences (Ikasareteiru inochi ) and was invited to take part in a 2006 documentary about 165 double A-bomb survivors (known as nijū hibakusha in Japan) called Twice Survived: The Doubly Atomic Bombed of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which was screened at the United Nations.[7] At the screening, he pleaded for the abolition of atomic weapons.[6]
Yamaguchi became a vocal proponent of nuclear disarmament.[8] In an interview, he said, "The reason that I hate the atomic bomb is because of what it does to the dignity of human beings."[8] Speaking through his daughter during a telephone interview, he said, "I can't understand why the world cannot understand the agony of the nuclear bombs. How can they keep developing these weapons?"[6]
On December 22, 2009, Canadian movie director James Cameron and author Charles Pellegrino met Yamaguchi while he was in a hospital in Nagasaki, and discussed the idea of making a film about nuclear weapons. "I think it's Cameron's and Pellegrino's destiny to make a film about nuclear weapons," Yamaguchi said.[9]
[edit]Recognition by government
At first, Yamaguchi did not feel the need to draw attention to his double survivor status.[6] As he aged, he felt that his survival was destiny, so in January 2009, he applied for double recognition.[6] This was accepted by the Japanese government in March 2009, making Yamaguchi the only person officially recognised as a survivor of both bombings.[3][6] Speaking about the recognition, Yamaguchi said, "My double radiation exposure is now an official government record. It can tell the younger generation the horrifying history of the atomic bombings even after I die."[10]
[edit]Health
Yamaguchi lost hearing in his left ear as a result of the Hiroshima explosion. He also went bald temporarily and his daughter recalls that he was constantly swathed in bandages until she reached the age of 12.[6][Note 1] Despite this, Yamaguchi went on to lead a healthy life.[6] Late in his life, he began to suffer from radiation-related ailments, including cataracts and acute leukemia.[11]
His wife also suffered radiation poisoning from black rain after the Nagasaki explosion and died in 2008 (at 88) of kidney and liver cancer after a lifetime of illness. All three of his children reported that they suffered from health problems that they thought were inherited from their parents' exposure.[6]
[edit]Death
In 2009, Yamaguchi learned that he was dying of stomach cancer.[6] He died on January 4, 2010 in Nagasaki at the age of 93.[4][12][13][14][15]
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[edit]BBC controversy
On December 17, 2010, the BBC featured Yamaguchi in its comedy program QI, referring to him as "The Unluckiest Man in the World."[16] Stephen Fry, the host of QI, and celebrity guests drew laughter from some members of the audience in a segment that included examples of black humor such as asking if the bomb had “landed on him and bounced off."[17] A clip from the episode was uploaded by the BBC after the show, but was later deleted. A BBC spokesperson told Kyodo News that "We instructed our crew to delete the file since we have already issued a statement that the content was not appropriate."[18]
The episode triggered criticism in Japan. Toshiko Yamazaki, Yamaguchi's daughter, appeared on NHK's national evening news and said: "I cannot forgive the atomic bomb experience being laughed at in Britain, which has nuclear weapons of its own. I think this shows that the horror of atomic bomb is not well enough understood in the world. I feel sad rather than angry."[19] Commentators in the UK and elsewhere complained that some Japanese viewers had failed to understand the context of the clip, which they considered respectful towards Yamaguchi because it focused on the failures of the British rail system in comparison to the Japanese one, and highlighted the irony of Yamaguchi's situation rather than attempted to insult anyone.[citation needed] Other commentators, particularly on one right-wing UK newspaper site, took the view that Japan's wartime activities should have been acknowledged by the Japanese side.[20]
The Embassy of Japan in London wrote to the BBC protesting that the programme insulted the deceased victims of the atomic bomb. It was reported that Piers Fletcher, a producer of the programme, responded to complaints with "we greatly regret it when we cause offence" and "it is apparent to me that I underestimated the potential sensitivity of this issue to Japanese viewers."[21]
On January 22, 2011, the BBC and Talkback Thames jointly issued a statement.[22] In addition to the joint statement, the BBC delivered a letter from Mark Thompson, Director-General of the BBC, to the Japanese Embassy.[23]
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