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The view from under the mushroom cloud: The Chugoku Shimbun newspaper and the Hiroshima Peace Media Center

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2016

Tomomitsu Miyazaki
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Extract

The Chugoku Shimbun is a daily newspaper based in Hiroshima, the city that experienced the first nuclear attack in human history. Founded in 1892, with a circulation of 620,000, the Chugoku Shimbun is one of Japan's leading regional newspapers. On 6 August 1945, an atomic bomb exploded above the city and citizens of Hiroshima. The bomb's powerful blast, heat rays and radiation annihilated the city, killing more than 100,000 people, including those who had succumbed to injuries and illness by the end of 1945. Those who managed to survive lost not only loved ones but also their homes, schools and workplaces. They endured the chaos of the postwar period and rebuilt the city. The Chugoku Shimbun has always stood beside the people of Hiroshima as a newspaper company that also endured the tragedy, and it worked hard to support the city's reconstruction in the aftermath of the atomic bombing. Furthermore, it has long pursued a variety of distinctive efforts to help realize a world without war and nuclear weapons.

Keywords

Hiroshimaatomic bombnuclear weaponsmedia
Type
Voices and perspectives: Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 97 , Issue 899: The human cost of nuclear weapons , September 2015 , pp. 527 - 542
Copyright
Copyright © icrc 2016 

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References

1 Jiro Yamamoto, “Message”, Hiroshima Peace Media Center, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?page_id=25636 (all internet references were accessed in November 2015).

2 Yoshito Matsushige, “I Couldn't Press the Shutter in Hell”, Eyewitness Testimonies: Appeals from the A Bomb Survivors, 3rd ed., Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, 2003, pp. 71, 80, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=22987. See also “Messages from A-bomb Survivors: Yoshito Matsushige, Part 1”, 7 December 2010, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=53026.

3 Masami Nishimoto, Special 120th Anniversary Series: The A-bombing and the Chugoku Shimbun, Part 3, 7 April 2012, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=24045.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 This account was included in “The Stars Are Watching,” published by the Association of Bereaved Families of Students of Hiroshima No. 1 Junior High School in 1954.

7 M. Nishimoto, above note 3.

8 Masami Nishimoto, “Printing in Nukushina”, in M. Nishimoto, Special 120th Anniversary Series: The A-bombing and the Chugoku Shimbun, Part 5, 21 April 2012, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=24053.

9 Ibid.

10 “Q. How many people died because of the atomic bombing?”, City of Hiroshima website, available at: www.city.hiroshima.lg.jp/www/contents/1319174554447/index.html.

11 For more information, see, e.g., “Frequently Asked Questions”, Radiation Effects Research Foundation, available at: www.rerf.jp/general/qa_e/qa5.html. The Radiation Effects Research Foundation is a Japanese–US scientific organization dedicated to studying the health effects of A-bomb radiation.

12 See Hans M. Kristensen and Matthew McKinzie in this issue of the Review.

13 Sekai no hibakusha, Kodansha, Tokyo, 1991. An English-language version was published by Kodansha International in 1992.

14 “Exposure – Victims of Radiation Speak Out”, Hiroshima Peace Media Center, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?post_type=exposure&lang=en.

15 Available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?lang=en.

16 The nuclear accident in Fukushima was the subject of a special series: “Fukushima and Hiroshima”, Hiroshima Peace Media Center, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?cat=3942. Since this series ran, the Hiroshima Peace Media Center has posted more than 700 additional articles about the accident on its website. These can be found by searching the site with the keyword “Fukushima”.

17 The Hiroshima Peace Media Center website currently has no specific section on Japanese aggression during World War II, but the Chugoku Shimbun often touches on this issue in news articles and opinion pieces, which are also posted on the Hiroshima Peace Media Center website. Such articles can be found by searching the website with phrases like “suffering Japan inflicted”.

18 Articles involving the junior writers are available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?post_type=junior. The “Peace Seeds” articles, a series of one-page feature articles written by the junior writers for which they select themes related to the atomic bombing or peace issues and gather information for their reports, are available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?post_type=seeds&lang=en.

19 The Hiroshima Peace Media Center website contains many “Survivors' Stories”: for example, Sakiko Masuda, “His Mother Told Him: ‘Don't Give Up’”, Survivors' Stories, 15 January 2013, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=26985, telling the story of atomic bomb orphan Mr Shoso Kawamoto, who lost six members of his family – his parents and siblings – to the bombing; Rie Nii, “Hawaiian-Born, A-bombed in Hiroshima”, Survivors' Stories, 10 August 2012, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=26953, about Ms Sayoko Fujioka, who was born and raised in Hawaii, moved to her father's hometown of Hiroshima at the age of 14, and was 22 when the atomic bomb fell; Sakiko Masuda, “Crawling to Safety, Hovering between Life and Death”, Survivors' Stories, 8 August 2012, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=26936, about Ms Hiroko Tokukiyo, who experienced the atomic bombing from a distance of 330 metres and still has glass fragments in her body; and Daisuke Yamamoto, “Affected by Chromosomal Abnormalities: Telling of A-bomb Experiences”, Survivors' Stories, 3 July 2014, available at: http://www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=32818, telling the story of Mr Mitsuo Kodama, who was 870 metres from the hypocentre at the time of the atomic bombing and has suffered chromosomal abnormalities.

20 For examples of “Peace Seeds” articles, see Tokitsuna Kawagishi, “Okunoshima Island, Peaceful Tourist Destination, Reveals Japan's History of Aggression”, Peace Seeds: Teens in Hiroshima Sow Seeds of Peace, 22 May 2015, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=44665; Arata Kouno, “Mobilized Students Worked Hard, Unable to Study or Dream”, Peace Seeds: Teens in Hiroshima Sow Seeds of Peace, 4 June 2015, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=45238.

21 Kana Fukushima, “Hiroshima in 2045: 100 Years after the Atomic Bombing”, Peace Seeds: Teens in Hiroshima Sow Seeds of Peace, 2 February 2015, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?seeds=peace-seeds-teens-in-hiroshima-sow-seeds-of-peace-part-1-part-1-hiroshima-in-2045-100-years-after-the-atomic-bombing&query=hiroshima+in+2045.

22 Shiho Fujii, “Peace Declarations Convey Desire and Determination for Nuclear Abolition”, Peace Seeds: Teens in Hiroshima Sow Seeds of Peace, 16 March 2015, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=41986&query=peace+declarations+convey+desire+and+determination+for+nuclear+abolition.

23 Nana Kawaichi, “Children in Conflict Areas Struggle to Live Normal, Peaceful Lives”, Peace Seeds: Teens in Hiroshima Sow Seeds of Peace, 13 April 2015, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=43031.

24 Masahiro Mikoshi, Minako Iwata, Seira Furukawa and Masaya Obayashi, “A Visit to Hiroshima on August 6: Interview with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon”, Peace Seeds, 2010, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/hiroshima-koku/en/special/index_2010082302.html.

25 Risa Kushioka, Ryota Matsuda, Miyu Sakata, Minako Iwata and Moeko Takaki, “The 7th G8 Speakers' Meeting in Hiroshima: Interview with Lower House Speaker Yohei Kono”, Peace Seeds, 2008, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/hiroshima-koku/en/special/index_20080428.html.

26 Nao Tatsugawa, Masahiro Mikoshi and Chisa Nishida, “Interview with Hayao Miyazaki, Animation Film Director: Children Can Raise the Spirits of Adults and Change Society”, Peace Seeds, 2009, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/hiroshima-koku/en/special/20090511_1.html.

27 See Yuji Yamamoto, “Session on ‘Hiroshima and the Holocaust’ Appeals for Young People to Take Action for Peace”, Junior Writers Reporting, 3 June 2015, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?junior=session-on-hiroshima-and-the-holocaust-appeals-for-young-people-to-take-action-for-peace.

28 See “Junior Writers Cover NPT Review Conference: Future Without Nuclear Weapons Not a Dream”, Peace Seeds: Teens in Hiroshima Sow Seeds of Peace, 10 May 2012, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=44902.

29 See “Junior Writers from Hiroshima Interview Japanese Foreign Minister in New York”, Hiroshima Peace Media Center, 10 May 2012, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=44055.

30 See “Students from Japan Convey A-bomb Survivors' Suffering at Youth Forum in New York”, Hiroshima Peace Media Center, 10 May 2012, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=44152. Regarding the Youth Forum, hosted by Mayors for Peace, see the Facebook post by Mayors for Peace on 28 June 2015, available at: www.facebook.com/mayorsforpeace.

31 The Mayors for Peace website is available at: www.mayorsforpeace.org/english/index.html.

32 See “Memorial Monument for Barbara Reynolds”, available at: www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/virtual/VirtualMuseum_e/tour_e/ireihi/tour_57_e.html. Barbara Reynolds founded the Peace Resource Center at Wilmington College, where her papers are kept. Its website is available at: www.wilmington.edu/the-wilmington-difference/prc/. See also Tanya Maus, “The World Friendship Center's 50th Anniversary”, November 2014, available at: www.wilmington.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/IHF_Tanya-Maus-Trip.pdf; Charlotte Pack, “Peace Resource Center at Wilmington College (U.S.)”, Peace Museums of the World, 9 December 2008, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/mediacenter_d/w_museum/20081209115331627_en.html; Yoshifumi Fukushima, “NGO Activities and the Legacy of Barbara Reynolds”, History of Hiroshima: 1945–1995, 1995, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=27592.

33 “Memorial Monument for Barbara Reynolds”, above note 32.

34 Ibid.

35 See Masami Nishimoto, “Relative of the Late Toshihiro Kanai Donates 8,000 Documents to Hiroshima University”, Hiroshima Peace Media Center, 10 March 2010, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=15007.

36 See Masami Nishimoto, “Fumbling Efforts to Convey A-bombing's Effects”, Hiroshima Peace Media Center, 10 May 2012, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=24059. For more information, please refer to the Mayors for Peace website, available at: www.mayorsforpeace.org/english/index.html. See also Michiko Tanaka, “Students from Japan Convey A-bomb Survivors' Suffering at Youth Forum in New York”, Hiroshima Peace Media Center, 12 May 2015, available at: www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=44152.