5 Feet of Fury

‘The Japanese: our moral superiors in a crisis!’

That’s what a friend wrote in the email’s subject line.

I’ve alluded to this earlier but do bear in mind what may be to come:

The surviving victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are called hibakusha (被爆者?), a Japanese word that literally translates to “explosion-affected people”. Many victims were Japanese who still live in Japan, but several thousand, Japanese and non-Japanese, live abroad in Korea, the United States, Brazil and elsewhere.

There is considerable discrimination in Japan against the hibakusha. It is frequently extended toward their children as well: socially as well as economically. “Not only hibakusha, but their children, are refused employment,” Mr. Kito [told Studs Turkel in 1984]. “There are many among them who do not want it known that they are hibakusha.”

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PS: please note the accompanying photo of the memorial marking “ground zero of the atomic bomb explosion over Nagasaki.”

And that is has, like, grass growing on it and stuff…

Just saying.