Life After Nagasaki, The Stories Of Five Survivors

By Anita Rao,

Published February 8, 2017 at 12:25 PM EST

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Atomic wasteland at Yamazato-machi along the road leading from the hypocenter (right) to Urakami Church in October 1945.

Hayashi Shigeo, Courtesy of Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum

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Pathway through the ruins near the hypocenter of the atomic bomb on August 10, 1945, between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.

Courtesy of Yamahata Shōgo

Image of author Susan Southard interviewing

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Author Susan Southard (left) assisted by researcher Robin LaVoie, interviews atomic bombing survivor Yoshida Katsuji in 2009.

Courtesy of Susan Southard

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Interview with Akiquki Sugako, the wife of late hibakusha physician and activist Akizuki Tatsuichirō, and other hospital personnel at Nagasaki’s St. Francis Hospital, 2011.";s

Courtesy of Sousan Southard

In 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs in Japan, killing more than 200,000 individuals within a year.

Tens of thousands of other individuals survived, but little is known or documented about their lives. In Japan these individuals are called“hibakusha,” which means atomic-bomb affected people. Writer Susan Southard spent 12 years researching how radiation exposure, government-denial, and psychological trauma have impacted the lives of five hibakusha individuals who were all teenagers when the bomb was dropped.

She tells their stories in “Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War” (Viking Penguin/2016). Southard speaks about her work and the ethics of nuclear warfare as part of the Ruth Pauley Lecture Series at Sandhills Community College tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. Host Frank Stasio talks with Southard about her work.