Ms. Yoshikawa Fujiko

Teens4Disarmament met Ms. Yoshikawa Fujiko, a kindhearted and thoughtful woman who survived the atomic bomb. On August 6th, 1945, Ms. Fujiko was only 12 years old when her entire school’s second building experienced a surprising, tremendous shock. An upperclassman of hers told her that a large bomb was dropped on the town of Hiroshima, and the town was destroyed. With fear instilled in her eyes, Ms. Fuijko still recalls the large mushroom-shaped cloud, stained with the bloodiest red-black cloud rising right in front of her. Everywhere she walked she saw many burnt and injured people resting on the embankment, unable to move. “It was a horrible living hell, with many burnt bodies and bodies of people and animals still alive and struggling.” No matter how much they cried for help, Ms. Fujiko could not do anything to help them and she could not find her father or any adult amidst the chaos. 

After countless hours of walking in darkness and fear, Ms. Fujiko finally found her father, on the floor covered in wounds and blood. Her father’s face was half burnt off and all swollen; Ms. Fujiko remembered she could not even recognize him if it weren’t for his feeble voice calling for her. After a few days, her father started a business to make more money in a time of scarcity. One day, her father went out to work but felt very sick when he arrived home. When they went to see a doctor, the doctor said his sickness was the “atomic bomb disease” that had been affecting everyone who experienced the radiation after the bomb’s detonation. However, their doctor stated that they needed to diagnose him with tuberculosis instead because the American officials would begin questioning the disease. Unfortunately, due to the incorrect treatment, there was no hope for any physical improvement, and her father was getting weaker and weaker by the day. He finally passed away. 

Ms. Fujiko, with utmost sorrow and pain in her voice, still thinks today, “What if my father had not been exposed to the atomic bomb?” Even though he suffered such burns and exposure to radiation, he was not recognized as an atomic bomb survivor. Even when her father became ill, the doctor treated his sickness incorrectly in an effort not to upset the American officials. Her dad and many others simply died in agony. This was the reality of the atomic bomb survivors. 

Hearing Ms. Fujikos's heartbreaking story of her father’s untreated disease and her traumatizing experience as a 12 years old child, Teens4Disarament realized not only the mental horrors of the bomb but also the medical inaccuracies many Japanese survivors had to face amidst the political situation between America and Japan. The atomic bomb has many horrible aspects to its detonation and usage. Please deeply think of Ms. Fujiko’s story, and advocate with us for a world free of nuclear weapons.