CRI听力:Hiroshima Survivors Struggle to Keep Memories Alive 70 Years Later

On August 6, 1945, the United States initiated the world's first nuclear attack on a civilian population, dropping a massive atomic bomb on Japan's Hiroshima. The bombing killed 140,000 in the city that year, with the death toll rising later on as more died from radiation. Along with a similar bombing in Nagasaki three days later, the Hiroshima attack forced Japan to unconditionally surrender on August 15 that year, putting an end to World War II.
 
Now 70 years later, some of the remaining survivors of the bombing still find their experiences too painful to share, while others are struggling to keep their legacies alive. Hiroshi Harada, who was six years old when the bombing occurred, says it is important for the survivors to remind future generations about the impact of nuclear weapons.

"The atomic bomb survivors are getting older and fewer in numbers. But if one doesn't convey the experiences that one had actually been through, then there's no way that it can get across to most people. So I think it's necessary to continue, to keep talking. As long as the earth still exists, as long as there's still war, as long as the use of nuclear weapons is still an option then we have to continue to pass down our experiences. I think that's Hiroshima's fate."

Hiroshima still has about 60,000 survivors. Their average age is reaching 80. Many of them are reluctant to talk about their experiences even with their children, either from a feeling that past was too horrific or from fear of discrimination.

Makiko Kato, an 85-year-old survivor, was only 1.2 km away from the explosion. She has never shared her experiences during the bombing with her children or grandchildren. But now she is reconsidering.

"But recently I have begun to think I need to tell them (her children) because, at this age, there's no guarantee that I'll be able to live to see tomorrow."

Fumiaki Kajiya, 76, who lost his sister in the bombing, began teaching children about his experiences in the bombing. Kajiya's other family members managed to survive, but the trauma from the attack and the painful loss of his sister has made him an unequivocal opponent of nuclear weapons.

"Explaining how exactly threatening nuclear weapons are to humanity and how they must not exist and never be used, is something that should be learned from Hiroshima."

In recent months, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pushed for a series of controversial and widely unpopular bills that would ease the constraints of the country's post war, pacifist constitution. If passed into law, the bills will expand the role of Japan's military, which critics fear could lead Japan again to misuse its military power.

For CRI, I am Victor Ning.