Tag: Atomic Bomb

L. Miwa’s diary, August 6, 1945

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pages show diary written in Japanese characters
Two-page spread showing the entry for August 6, 1945, from Lawrence Fumio Miwa’s diary kept as a fourteen-year-old schoolboy in Hiroshima. [Japanese]

[English translation]
August 6, 1945 Up at 5:40 a.m. In bed at 9:00 p.m.
Assignment: Work at Maehata
Others: Prayed for my parents’ safety on learning of air raids on Hiroshima City. Gambare (Hang on), Hiroshima!

Air-raid alarms went off three times–at 9:00 p.m., after midnight and this morning. We witnessed B-29s (U.S. bombers) flying over our area as we were heading to Maehata. We instinctively shouted that we could shoot them down if we had a fighter. The anger within us filled the silence. “Let’s move on,” my comrade encouraged me. We walked and stopped frequently. According to the teacher, the enemy raided Hiroshima City with napalm bombs. However, Hiroshima will stand firm. Gambare! That is all I can say. All of us are worried they could see the results of our deep commitment to our work. “I’ll work as hard as I can,” I told myself. I swear I will work harder than ever to contribute toward increased production and to work as hard as my parents do. Anyway, I am concerned about my parents and I wrote them this morning. I hope the letter is delivered quickly. I further vowed to do my best so my parents would be reassured. Who is afraid of air raids? Just dig in and work!

[Note: The diary image appears as the background on the cover of Tadaima! I Am Home: A Transnational Family History by Tom Coffman (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2018).

Korean Studies, Volume 42, (2018)

Posted on by pwilson6

Identities Surrounding a Cenotaph for Korean Atomic Bomb Victims
by Yuko Takahashi

KS42
The Cenotaph for Korean Atomic Bomb Victims. Clockwise from top left: the front, back, right, and left sides. (Photos taken by author.)

In 1970, the Cenotaph for Korean Atomic Bomb Victims was erected in Hiroshima by local Koreans, most of whom were associated with South Korea. In the 1980s, this cenotaph gradually came to be seen as discriminatory against Koreans due to its location outside the Peace Memorial Park. In the 1990s, Hiroshima City and the two major organizations of Japanese-resident Koreans (zainichi Koreans), pro-South Korean Mindan and pro-North Korean Sōren, began negotiations to create a “unified” cenotaph that would be moved inside the Park. However, discussions reached a deadlock due to the rivalry between Mindan and Sōren, and also an internal split that occurred within Mindan. This paper will examine why the debate on the relocation of the cenotaph reached a deadlock in the 1990s, with a focus on the identity of zainichi Koreans. While Mindan and Sōren have their own collective identities, each individual zainichi Korean may identify oneself on various levels, from social to personal. An individual’s social identity develops through belonging to and participating in activities of social organizations. Given the rivalry between Mindan and Sōren, one’s social identity will be influenced by whether one is involved with Mindan or Sōren. In contrast, his/her personal identity may develop through more personal experiences and generally transcends the simple Mindan-Sōren division. The analysis will show that the relocation debate was caused by these various identities, which manifested and became dominant depending on context, leading to consonance or dissonance both between and within organizations.

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