Discrimination still haunts Japan's Nobel-winning survivor

18/10/2024 6:03

        Having survived the
        atomic bomb that flattened his hometown of Hiroshima when he was
        nine months old, Kunihiko Sakuma has never forgotten the stain
        it left on him in the eyes of some of his fellow Japanese.
        
        Growing up, he constantly heard rumours that survivors
        carried diseases and their future offspring might be tainted by
        the radiation from the August 1945 blast.
        
        Sakuma left Hiroshima to seek a new life in Tokyo. He
        started dating a woman, only to find her mother disapproved of
        her relationship with him.
        
        Last week's awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to survivors'
        organisation Nihon Hidankyo has been seen as a timely reminder
        for a world many believe has never been closer to nuclear
        conflict.
        
        But victims and experts are divided over whether the
        international recognition of those who survived the world's only
        atom-bomb attacks can help heal the private pain of
        discrimination and prejudice that they and their families say
        still lingers.
        
        Nearly one-fifth of Japan's hibakusha, as survivors of the
        atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known, said they
        had faced discrimination, mainly in finding a marriage partner
        but also in seeking jobs, according to a survey of 13,000
        survivors in 2005 by the Asahi newspaper.
        
        "The impact of the bomb was not limited to the tragedy that
        happened when it was dropped," said Sakuma, 79, a bald,
        bespectacled man who heads a Hiroshima organisation for A-bomb
        sufferers.
        
        It has "had a huge impact on people mentally and in many
        other ways", he told Reuters from his office, filled with maps
        of the city, newspaper clippings and pamphlets about the blast
        and its aftermath.
        
        
        
        'MONSTERS'
        
        The U.S. bombs that laid waste to Hiroshima and Nagasaki
        killed tens of thousands instantly, with an estimated 210,000
        dead by the end of 1945, while others succumbed to
        radiation-related health problems in the months and years that
        followed.
        
        Less discussed is that many survivors were ostracised by
        their peers and potential employers due to their injuries and
        spurned by would-be lovers over fears they might pass on genetic
        deformities.
        
        Survivors exposed to high radiation levels developed cancers
        and some other diseases at higher rates, but there has been no
        statistically significant evidence of major birth defects in
        children of survivors, according to the Radiation Effects
        Research Foundation, a Japan-U.S. research organisation.
        
        With the roughly 100,000 living hibakusha now an average age
        of 86, much of the overt discrimination has gone, experts say.
        But some victims remain ashamed to talk about their past.
        
        "Discrimination still exists to this day, particularly among
        the older generations or in rural areas, and some hibakusha
        still get whispers that they're from Hiroshima and feel
        ashamed," said Yuta Takahashi, director of Katawara, an advocacy
        group for nuclear disarmament based in Yokohama.
        
        "It's not overt but the fear of being discriminated against
        also still exists, and some keep their past a secret."
        
        Teruko Yahata, 87, still has a scar on her forehead from
        when she was knocked over as an eight-year-old when the bomb hit
        Hiroshima.
        
        While the scar at her hairline is small, many child
        survivors were left with severe facial injuries, including
        burns, disfigurement and missing ears. They were taunted and
        called "monsters" on the playground by other children, she said.
        
        
        
        UNRESOLVED ISSUES
        
        Many survivors, such as those in designated blast zones,
        were entitled to apply for special identity booklets that gave
        them benefits including free healthcare. Some parents chose not
        to apply for their children, fearing the documents would become
        a physical symbol of their difference.
        
        Still others did not qualify for benefits, and many of these
        ageing survivors feel that is a different form of
        discrimination.
        
        Last month then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, a Hiroshima
        native who represents the area in parliament, promised medical
        assistance for some overlooked victims.
        
        Survivor Yahata, speaking to Reuters at the Peace Memorial
        Museum in central Hiroshima, said the Nobel Prize acclaim might
        help end the lingering discrimination.
        
        "It can lead people to understand the true nature of the
        atomic bomb, its cruelty and the sorrow it caused," she said.
        "Through this, people might come to realise that survivors are
        not something to discriminate against."
        
        Sakuma, however, said he did not think the prize alone could
        fully resolve the prejudice he and other survivors have faced.
        
        He returned to Hiroshima in the late 1960s after the
        relationship with his girlfriend grew strained over her mother's
        reservations. He later married a woman whose parents had also
        survived the blast.
        
        As the years have passed, cases of such direct
        discrimination are now extremely rare, Sakuma said, but Japanese
        society still needs to reflect on how hibakusha have been
        treated in order to move on.
        
        "It's an award that suits the current time," he said. "Going
        forward, I think we need to continue discussing various issues
        to resolve them."