Do you know the Japanese man who survived not just one nuclear bomb, but both bombs, even being close to ground zero? In this article, we will talk about the Immortal Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the man who survived Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi [山口彊] was only 28 years old when the first nuclear bomb fell on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945; he was about 3 kilometers from the exact point of the nuclear explosion, where today is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.
He was walking through a potato field when he saw a woman in black clothing and a flash; not knowing what happened, he hid in an irrigation ditch and covered his ears and eyes.
In this incident, his eardrums burst, causing him to lose hearing in one ear. The force of the bomb threw Tsutomu Yamaguchi out of the ditch to a height of over 1 meter. He was left with half of his body burned dark brown.
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Running to Nagasaki
After this terrible explosion that shook the world, Tsutomu Yamaguchi thought of nothing but returning to his family in Nagasaki and seeing his wife and son. He stayed in the city’s air raid shelter and the next day went to Nagasaki to seek treatment.
Unfortunately, 3 days later, on August 9, 1945, another nuclear bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, the city where Yamaguchi was. Again, he was near ground zero, and yet he survived inside a Mitsubishi factory.
His wife and son also survived the explosion, but both died from cancer caused by radiation many years later. Surprisingly, Tsutomu Yamaguchi lived to be 93 years old and only passed away on January 4, 2010.
He truly was a very lucky man, as many people who were even 7 kilometers away died instantly from the bomb’s explosion. In the end, he lived longer than most people do and died of stomach cancer.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi was awarded the title of Hibakusha [被爆者] by the government, which literally means bomb victim. By the year 2008, about 243,000 people who survived the explosion were alive, with an average age of 75 years.
Although many believe that the Hiroshima explosion was the strongest, research claims that the Nagasaki explosion was twice as powerful as Hiroshima’s. Fortunately, the city of Nagasaki had a much smaller population.
Curiosities about Tsutomu Yamaguchi’s life
Besides all the events involving the nuclear explosions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Tsutomu Yamaguchi has a quite interesting and troubled story. In his youth, he never imagined that Japan would go to war.
His life was greatly shaken due to the war; his job at Mitsubishi was very tumultuous. Because of the war’s problems, Yamaguchi even contemplated committing suicide along with his family through an overdose of sleeping pills.
After the explosion, even while severely injured, he worked as soon as he arrived in Nagasaki, which may have been responsible for his second survival from the nuclear bomb. With the city desolate and a lack of doctors, he suffered from fever for weeks.
After the war, he worked as a translator for the American occupation forces, those responsible for the attack that changed his life and destroyed thousands of others. He also worked as a teacher and then returned to work at Mitsubishi.
Throughout his life, Yamaguchi became an advocate for nuclear disarmament, wrote books and documentaries about his experience and the experiences of others who survived the nuclear bomb in both cities.
He even helped James Cameron and Charles Pellegrino in making a film about nuclear weapons. He lived with his wife and had several children during his life. His wife passed away earlier in 2008 at the age of 88.
Yamaguchi lost hearing in his left ear, became bald, and suffered from cataracts and acute leukemia due to the incidents involving the bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. His daughter comments that she saw her father using bandages all the time during her childhood.
The last train from Hiroshima
Although Tsutomu Yamaguchi is the only Japanese person officially recognized as a survivor of both bombings, it is believed that another 160 people were also affected and survived both bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Many Japanese people after the Hiroshima disaster took a train to Nagasaki, a nearby city. Several Japanese likely escaped Hiroshima, but soon after were killed by the second tragedy in Nagasaki.
The story of people who fled the effects of the Hiroshima bomb by taking a train to Nagasaki is in the book written by American scientist Charles Pellegrino. If you want to acquire this and other books about the Hiroshima case, we will leave them below:
If you liked the article, we would appreciate it if you share it on social media and leave your comments. We cannot let this sad story die; we must always remember this tragic case that completely changed Japan.
To conclude, we will leave a video about Tsutomu Yamaguchi:
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