I was bombed at home in Ginzamachi, Nagasaki City. This is 1.4 Kilometers away from the Hypocentre. I was with my 14 year old sister. I am the eldest daughter and lived in Inasa. I was visiting my parents home with my six month old baby. My brothers were all away serving as soldiers. Since we had heard a rumour that the city would be totally destroyed on either the 7th or 8th of August, we stayed the night in a dugout. My sister-in-law and her children had been evacuated to her parents home in Tahira. We decided to let our mother go there too. On that day a 16 year old sister was accompanying my mother and her belongings to Urakami Station.

On the way we saw soldiers coming down the mountain. They were stripped to the waist and their skin was peeling. It was a very frightening experience but we pressed on hiding in the tall grass on our way up in fear of strafing raids.

We met no one until reaching Nishikasa and staying for a while we talked to someone. Up to that moment there were fires here and there. The sun was very red and the fires looked like they would spread. We went West an found a well. I rinsed out my mouth but didn't’t drink because I had heard that the water might be poisoned. Finally we reached the dugout at the back of Suwa Shrine. We were given balls of white rice. We seldom had polished rice as it was scarce. But my sister felt sick and could not eat.

The next day we left the Shrine to go to visit relatives in Oura. On the way we saw a lot of people dying. Our relatives house was too badly damaged to stayed in a dugout. We were given some work pants as our own clothes had been torn to shreds. I asked them to look after my younger sister so that I could go and try to find my other sister and mother. I went to visit my Uncle in Inasa to ask him to help me find them. To my relief I found my mother and sister there. They were in the blast making their way back from the station. They were both blown over and into a shrine. My mother had burns on her cheek and elbow and my sister had extensive burns on her back and legs. Nevertheless they moved as far as Mt. Konpira. When they could move no further they met a police man who went and told my Uncle. He had gone and fetched them. The house had collapsed so my mother and uncle were staying in a small cottage, my sister in a dugout.

My sisters burns were very bad. They were purulent and inflamed. She was beyond our help. We had heard that there was a doctor at the Elementary School in Inasa and there were many injured there. My Uncle and I carried here on a shutter door to the school. The very hot day irritated her burns she was crying out in pain. Saying it hurt and she wanted to die.

Afterward I went to meet my youngest sister at my relatives in Oura to take her to the elementary school. On the way back I searched for who had been working at the Ohashi factory. On the way I had to pass through the Urakami area. I saw people burned to the bone. The ground was strewn with corpses, bodies buried under the houses, a dead child clinging to it’s mother. I could smell the odour of the bodies in the air. I put a cloth over my mouth and nose and passed through the area. I could never do that again.

At the Mitsubishi factory in Ohashi I checked the list of injured but could not find her name on it. I looked for her for three days. But she was found later in Tahira.

After the war ended we stayed at the elementary school for a while. Day after day bodies were cremated in the playground. As soon as someone died, another casualty came in to replace them. It was a miserable situation. Although some of them showed no signs of injury they died from radiation. Some had burns all over their faces, some went insane. One boy had his cheeks torn up like a pomegranate, others suffered innumerable injuries.

I was well compared with others. It felt as if god had let me live to care of them, and I committed my self to do so. Some people honoured me calling me nurse of Inasa, but they all died. It was horrible and miserable to see them all die around you. You would never know unless you experienced it. The food supplied consisted of a rice ball with a bit of soybean paste in it. The patients were given rice gruel.

On August 15th a soldier told us that the war had ended. We heard that the US Military would land in Nagasaki first and that women would be raped. So all the doctors and nurses left the school taking all the patients that were movable. Moving them with carts lasted all night and we felt so helpless. Not long after and to our relief we were moved to a Sanatorium. By that time my sister was completely bald.

Her burns would not heal for many years and she suffered a living hell. She was afraid of meeting people. Every summer her burns bled and she wore long sleeved clothes no matter how hot it was. She had heard that the hot springs in Futsukaichi was good for burns. She moved there and got a job so that she could bathe daily in the hot springs. Her burns healed so much that even the doctor was surprised. Now you cannot see the burns on her cheeks unless you look really closely, although she still had keloid burns.

My youngest sister and I moved to my husbands home on Goto Island. There I found myself in bad health for the first time after being in the bombing. Maybe I had been ill but did not notice it as I was so desperate to nurse my sister and the other patients. I had pains in my back and chest and was bedridden for a month. Thanks to my mother-in-laws care I recovered well. I have pains right where I had been hit and recently I have problem with my bronchial tubes. The sister who had moved with me died from intestinal tuberculosis at 21 years of age.

Many people had intestinal problems and suffered for diarrhoea who had been exposed to radiation. She was in the garden when the blast occurred and must have been irradiated a great deal.

October 25th 1994 Interviewers - Fusako Itai and Fumiko Yokota of Minamiku Fukuoka City

That flash killed my friends - Hatsumi Matsuo

It was just before noon and I was changing into my work clothes in the factory. At that very moment there was an awful flash and the ceiling came down with an awful crash. Fortunately I was not crushed thanks to a large wooden box nearby. But most of my friends and colleagues and friend were instantly crushed. I went back the next day. Seeing the fallen chimneys I wondered how I had managed to avoid being crushed and escape. There was a man who was in charge of a railway crossing. His wife was in her last month of pregnancy. I escaped hearing her call for help, but I just panicked and ran. I know I should have stopped to help but I was out of control and running to the dugout. There were two sets of tracks for the trains and trams. One tram was burning. I was stunned to see how quickly it burned.

When we came out of the dugout there were terrible sights around us. Cries for water everywhere, a cry that would haunt my mind later. Lots of bodies lay everywhere faces charred black contrasting the white of teeth. Too terrible to put into words. Maybe an hour later there was an announcement not to give water to bombed people. Indeed it was so terrible it was like something not of this world.

Living in the country the food shortage was not so bad. But my body and face was covered with black stains that would no go, no matter how much I washed Next my hair came out. I did not go completely bald but lost most of it.

Most mothers carried there babies on their backs and those babies had their skin completely peeled off. Indeed if you saw this sight you would never ever forget it. Even seeing it one is at a loss how to understand it , how to explain it. No words seem to be sufficient enough. The horrible Kansai earthquake brought back the memories and reminded me of those voices crying, “Help, give me water!”

In those days I thought I would be alright, but now the radiation has had it’s affects on me. I become tired easily and do not have the will to work. We talk to each other and say that if we put ourselves in a situation that we had to work it might help but know deep down that we are not healthy enough even if work was available. Getting married was made more difficult. People of Nagasaki were understanding but other towns were prejudiced against those that had been in the blast.

Before the bombing I had no difficulties or worries in life. My parents may have had difficulties but I was still young and carefree. I and the other young girls had worked together in the factory supporting each other and sharing our lives. I hope that this thing will never happen again and strongly believe that these weapons should be abolished. Never again should such a horrible experience be repeated. I am still worried and cannot get out of my mind the fact that I will still have more illness from the after-effects of the bomb. Many of the victims have died of cancer. This is my biggest worry.

There is so much I would like to ask of the government. Those who received certification as bomb victims do not have to pay medical expenses but still must pay the national health insurance deductions. It would help even more if we did not have to pay this fee.

Interviewers - Masako Mitarai, Ruiko Terai, Takako Nakano, Ikuko Minami, Sachiko Sakai, Kazumi Wasada, Emiko Shijo, Chiemi Yonemura all of Tobata Kitakyushu City.