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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
July 12, 2005
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| May 6,2005 |
Seventeen Years Old: One of 240,000 in Nagasaki – Nishiyama Susumu |
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| Mr. Nishiyama Susumu |
In the final weeks of Peace Boat’s 48th voyage, Global University (GU) had the pleasure of welcoming three Navigators to guide students’ exploration of nuclear issues. One of these Navigators, Nishiyama Susumu, is a survivor of the 1945 nuclear attack on Nagasaki, Japan. Mr. Nishiyama, a comic artist, shared his perspective of the events of that day with Peace Boat participants in an open lecture. By sharing these often horrific experiences, he hopes that people will be able to understand the destruction nuclear weapons can cause and prevent their use in the future. The following is a translated, edited transcript of his lecture. |
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| “When we were finally told to come out, we could see on the other side of the river a sea of flames.” (illustration by Mr. Nishiyama Susumu) |
“To begin with, I am not a scientist or scholar, I only experienced the atomic war. However, I really feel that I want to share the story with you ... in August 1945, only three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki...
That morning, I went to the factory (I was working in). There was an emergency alarm, which meant that the enemy was flying over our area. We were supposed to run to shelter and we were to come out when we were told it was OK. That was about 9:00. By 11:00, I was getting hungry. There was a lot of heavy equipment in the area and I remember looking at the clock and thinking that I couldn’t wait until lunch. Then I saw a flash, like the flash of a camera, but much brighter. It was very very strong; it was white and wiped out everything. Luckily, I was inside and the light didn’t come straight to me, it was only the reflection. We were 3.5 kilometers away from the center, but I was still burned where the reflected light hit me. Eight seconds later the blast came, and I didn’t know what happened. I thought maybe a bomb hit the energy plant. I ran from the factory, outside to the shelter, but my belt was torn. I had to hold up my pants as we ran into the shelter. I saw many many injured people asking for aid or medicine. The situation was indescribable ...
When we were finally told to come out, we could see on the other side of the river a sea of flames. Of course, I could not see the sun. In the clouds, you could see ash coming down. In this ash, there was very strong radiation, but of course no one knew. As this ash fell onto us, we watched the city of Nagasaki burn. At about 4:00, we were told we could go home. When I left the gates of the factory, the first thing I saw was one of the victims of the bomb. His face was burned and his skin was hanging down. He was sitting down on the bridge and I asked him “what happened?” Perhaps his ears were damaged, because he did not say a word. That day, we went back to the company dorms and we saw the city burning from the mountains, like a wildfire. |
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| “I saw the bodies of children who looked like they were playing hide and seek. One of the burned bodies was standing against a tree, just like he was playing hide and
go seek.” (illustration by Mr. Nishiyama Susumu) |
The next day, we went to the factory and were told that were to go into the center of town as a rescue squad. We got lunch and a group of eight of us went into the center. When we came out of the gate of the factory, there were some houses with the roofs coming off. At the foot of the mountain, we saw that the entire city was gone. You could see a scene that looked almost like a desert. There were bodies all over the place. There is a river in the center of Nagasaki. We got there and were so surprised by what we saw. There were people who had probably gone there looking for water and they were all dead. Their clothes had been burned off and they were all pink. They didn’t look like humans.
At the center, the bodies were all charred. I saw the bodies of children who looked like they were playing hide and seek. One of the burned bodies was standing against a tree, just like he was playing hide and go seek. Perhaps he was just covering his eyes from the flash of the bomb. I think this is the most horrendous way to die. Why do people have to die this way? That sight of those children was so horrible, and we were remembering it when we were walking. We couldn’t say anything, we just kept walking. The people stopped looking like people. |
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| That night: “Mr. Soldier, water please’” (illustration by Mr. Nishiyama Susumu) |
There was a place where POWs were held, and they were all killed as well. The atomic bomb not only killed enemies, but also killed their own troops. We got to a building that was only 1000 meters away and the steel beams of the building were melted like candy. We tried to help people, but there was nothing we could do. There were too many bodies; we didn’t know where to start. There were a lot of teenage girls working in the factories. Some of them were underneath the heavy equipment. I tried to pull one out, but her skin came off and she didn’t move anymore. There were bodies hanging from the steel. This is what I saw. It is not a human way to die, but a lot of people died that way. I was stunned, I didn’t know what to do.
This was the situation that day.
At 4:00 that day, we went back. There is a shrine close to the factory and we camped out with other victims and small children calling their parents’ names. They were dying as they cried for their mothers. People were burned; they had eyeballs hanging out of their eye sockets. There were dead and injured all over the place. We were told not to give water to those victims. I still regret not giving water to those people who were dying. Because of the heat, their throats were burned. At 2:00 that night, there was a shadow standing above me. It was a woman asking for water. Her hair was completely burned off and she was asking for water. I couldn’t give it to her. |
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| “The children were the ones I felt most sorry for; they were lucky to survive, but they would never see their families again.” (illustration by Mr. Nishiyama Susumu) |
One third of the people around me died that night. The soldiers took them away by truck. The children were the ones I felt most sorry for; they were lucky to survive, but they would never see their families again. I went to the children and told them “I’ve called your mother, and she’s coming back to get you”. Going back from the center to the dorm, we were looking for friends and family. Had I known that there was radiation there, I would not have gone. I was exposed to massive amounts of radiation...
I experienced the bombing, but there are many other experiences. There were 240,000 victims, and each year the numbers are decreasing. Don’t think that my experiences are the only experiences. There are many different experiences... My mission is to tell people about the reality of nuclear weapons. I saw it and remember the people dying and suffering. I am doing my best to tell people the experience of nuclear war. Each one of us has to tell this to the young generations. Through the process, I hope Japan can be the country to spread the word to the world to make peace and do away with nuclear weapons. There are only a handful of people who benefit from these wars. We need to work with the people in the world, especially those in Asia and the United States. I do not hate American people, but the handful of people who created and used the bomb and made people suffer ...those are the people I hate.” |
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