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Reuters

Terumi Tanaka was 13 when a US warplane dropped a plutonium bomb on the southern Japanese city of Nagasaki, on August 9, 1945.
Sitting at home with a book that morning, Tanaka knew instantly when his surroundings turned a blinding bright white that the massive boom was not one of the air raids he had got accustomed to in the waning days of second world war.
“I felt this was something terrible, so I ran downstairs and ducked, covered my ears and closed my eyes,” Tanaka, now 88, said. “And at that moment, I lost consciousness.”
Just 3.2km (2 miles) from the epicentre, Tanaka was miraculously unharmed, as were his mother and two sisters. Tanaka’s father had died of illness previously.

Tanaka’s grandfather, aunt and uncle weren’t as lucky.
Three days after the 4,536kg (10,000-pound) bomb, nicknamed “Fat Man”, exploded over the city, Tanaka ventured towards the epicentre to check on his relatives.
It was only then that the scale of the calamity sank in.
Buildings in the city had been reduced to charred piles of rubble and twisted metal, a vast expanse of land was wiped out, and corpses and burn victims with flesh peeling off their bones littered the ground.
Postman who survived atomic bomb spent life campaigning for disarmament
His grandfather was one of them: Tanaka dabbed a wet handkerchief to his mouth, which appeared to silently cry out for water. That was their last encounter.
Three days after the hydrogen bomb attack in Hiroshima, the Nagasaki blast killed about 27,000 instantly and more than 70,000 by the end of the year. Japan surrendered six days later.
For nearly 50 years, Tanaka has been speaking out for nuclear disarmament hoping that his experiences as a witness to one of the only two nuclear bombs ever to be used in conflict would serve to end their potential use.

In this 75th year since the war ended, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted some key events, such as a New York exhibition that Tanaka helped to organise.
Instead, Tanaka, who served as head of the “Hidankyo” victims’ group for more than 20 years, has turned online to spread his message, with the unexpected benefit of reaching a broader audience.
But he worries that time is running out.
“After all the atomic bomb survivors are gone, I’m worried whether people will be able to really understand what we have experienced,” he said.



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Japan

Japanese man who miraculously survived Nagasaki atomic bomb fights on for disarmament

Nagasaki atomic bombing survivor Terumi Tanaka. Photo: Reuters

Terumi Tanaka, a Nagasaki atomic bombing survivor, takes part in a rally to call on the government to support atomic bomb survivors in Tokyo, Japan April 17, 1978, in this handout photo released by Hihon Hidankyo, a country-wide organisation of atomic and hydrogen bomb sufferers, and obtained by Reuters on July 30, 2020. Nihon Hidankyo/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT.

Terumi Tanaka, a Nagasaki atomic bombing survivor and co-chairperson of Nihon Hidankyo, a country-wide organisation of atomic and hydrogen bomb sufferers, shows a photo of himself with his schoolmates from Nagasaki Junior High School taken in March 1948, during an interview with Reuters at the Nihon Hidankyo office in Tokyo, Japan July 30, 2020. Picture taken July 30, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.

Pope Francis calls for abolishing nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki visits

The aftermath of the American atomic bomb attack on Nagasaki, Japan. Photo: AP

An image is seen as Pope Francis visits the Atomic Bomb Hypocenter Park in Nagasaki, Japan, November 24, 2019. Vatican Media/­Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE.

Pope Francis delivers his speech at the Atomic Bomb Hypocenter in Nagasaki on Novemer 24, 2019. - Pope Francis railed against the use of nuclear weapons and the growing arms trade as he paid tribute to the "unspeakable horror" suffered by victims of the Nagasaki atomic bomb. (Photo by Vincenzo PINTO / AFP)

Pope Francis made his appeal in Nagasaki at ground zero of the second of the two 1945 US atomic bombings on Japan. Photo: AP

Postman who survived Nagasaki atomic bomb spent life campaigning for disarmament

Pictures of Sumiteru Taniguchi recovering in hospital, his entire back an agonising slab of melted flesh, were beamed around the world

FILE - In this June 30, 2015 file photo, Sumiteru Taniguchi, a survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki, shows a photo of himself taken in 1945, during an interview at his office in Nagasaki, southern Japan. Taniguchi, who devoted his life to seeking to abolish nuclear weapons after he was burned severely in the 1945 attack on Nagasaki, has died of cancer in his hometown in southern Japan. He was 88. Taniguchi died of cancer Wednesday at a hospital in Nagasaki, where he had been treated for the illness, according to the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama (2nd L) and Jody Williams of the U.S. acknowledge Japan Confederaton of Atomic Hydrogen Bomb Sufferers head Sunao Tsuboi (2nd R) and Nagasaki atomic bombing survivor Sumiteru Taniguchi during an award presentation at the 11th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, in 2010. File photo: Kyodo

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Asia

East Asia


For nearly 50 years, 88-year-old Terumi Tanaka, who served as head of the ‘Hidankyo’ victims’ group, has been speaking out for nuclear disarmament
Corpses and burn victims with flesh peeling off their bones littered the ground three days after the 4,536kg bomb exploded over the city



For nearly 50 years, 88-year-old Terumi Tanaka, who served as head of the ‘Hidankyo’ victims’ group, has been speaking out for nuclear disarmament.


Legacy of war in Asia

War and conflict

United States