Japan’s history is unique in many ways, for example its decision to close itself off to outside nations for 235 years, allowing it to develop in near-complete isolation. Japan is also the only country to experience an atomic bombing of its citizens, an event which has affected the nation in ways that are difficult for outsiders like me to accurately perceive. The subject is an extremely delicate one of course, and even after 18 years I can’t remember having a conversation on the topic here without things becoming very uncomfortable. Survivors of the two atomic bombings are known as hibakusha, and such individuals are eligible for financial support from the government to help with related medical care…although they often aren’t interested in accepting it due to the stigma that’s grown up about them in the postwar years. Recently the interwebs have been chatting about the incredible experience of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, an engineer who was in Hiroshima on business on August 6 and whose body was badly burned when the bomb exploded at 8:15 am. With the city in total chaos, he did the only thing he could think of and got on a train bound for his home in…Nagasaki, where the second atomic bombing took place three days later. “I thought the mushroom cloud was chasing me,” he said. Mr. Yamaguchi is currently 93 years old, and his status as the only known double atomic bombing survivor was recently recognized by the Japanese government. I don’t know whether to think of the guy as unlucky or lucky, but I’ll raise a glass to him nevertheless.
