“A Message to Future Generations: For A Brighter Future
Morikawa Seishi

A definitive trait of nuclear disaster is that it causes pain and suffering across multiple generations. As a second generation hibakusha (my father was exposed to the bomb in Hiroshima), I have felt this time and time again. Sickly from a young age, I spent my days in and out of the hospital due to bouts of high fever and gastrointestinal diseases. In addition, minor scratches and cuts took a long time to heal and often became infected – one of many symptoms that left doctors perplexed and were marked down as “cause unknown.”

At the age of 33 I was graced with a life partner and blessed with a child two years after marriage. Still, no matter how much time went by, the child never developed inside of the womb. I held back tears when I learned that my child was unable to enter this world as a solid life form. On the one hand, there are healthy second generation hibakusha who never experience complications – however, there are a substantial number of us who are sickly like me, those that pass away from diseases such as cancer, leukemia, and cardiovascular diseases, and unborn second and third generation hibakusha who never even enter to see this world.

In modern day Japan, there is a pronounced tendency – deeply rooted in our custom, culture, and value system – to censor, manipulate, and look away from these realities. This can not only be observed within the government or corrupt politicians, but also within advocacy groups that allegedly call for peace and nuclear abolition.

Indeed, Japan is not the only country that has ever experienced nuclear disaster. Hiroshima is not the first ever atomic bomb site, and Nagasaki is no longer the world’s last atomic bomb site. On July 1945, the first atomic bomb test was conducted in Alamogordo in the US, implicating local soldiers taking part in the experiment. Even in regards to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, approximately 10 percent of the victims were of Korean, Chinese descent or from other parts of Asia and western countries. In addition, the nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll also implicated many local inhabitants of the Marshall Islands, many who have died or suffered from radiation sickness ever since. Despite all of this, over 2000 nuclear tests have been conducted so far around the world, and the effects can be seen globally.

Similarly, nuclear arms production necessitates nuclear reactor facilities and nuclear fission processes, of which plutonium is a byproduct. This is why nuclear power plants exist. Nuclear accidents including Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima have afflicted or even killed many people through radiation sickness. Indeed, nuclear arms production and uranium extraction is heavily reliant on human labor (which has been largely filled by locals) and cannot be sustained without inflicting more harm on laborers and local communities. Nuclear arms and humanity simply cannot coexist.

Dear young readers – I hope that you do not limit yourselves to the narrow-mindedness or one dimensional, victim-driven narratives that many Japanese are inclined to. Instead, I hope that you seek out the realities of nuclear disaster from a global, multilateral perspective and are able to join forces to achieve nuclear abolition.”

“I first learned of the term hibaku nisei (second generation hibakusha) when I was in middle school, I believe. From a young age, I had a weak digestive system and was quite sickly. Whenever I got a puncture wound, it took a while to heal and easily got infected. During summer breaks, the heat would get to me, and I spent most of my days at home in bed, from what I recall. As I transitioned from a student to a working adult, I was exposed to more news coverage, articles, and books relating to the hibaku nisei, and was granted more opportunities to connect with other second generation hibakusha. While there was a fair share of healthy second generation hibakusha, there were those like myself who suffered various health complications. It was painfully apparent that we needed healthcare programs catering specifically to hibaku nisei.

When the average age of second generation hibakusha was younger, there was some media coverage on the topic of employment and marriage discrimination against second generation hibakusha. I, for one, have experienced both. Since then, however, I was blessed with a life partner and got married at the age of 33. In the following year, we were blessed with a child. But no matter how many days went by, the baby never developed inside of the womb. I held back tears when I discovered that my child could not be brought into this world as a solid life form. I cannot accept the notion that this has no correlation with the fact that I am a second generation hibakusha.

On the one hand, because my domicile was close to the hypocenter in Hiroshima, I was heavily interrogated during job interviews about my ties with those affected by the atomic bomb. I was never hired after these interviews, and as a result, I took up a job position at the local post office, where such discrimination did not exist. Still, my placement back then required me to work many night shifts, which was not sustainable for a sickly individual like me. Ten years after I took up the job, the company finally granted my request to be transferred to a field underwriter position selling insurance policies, with no night shifts.

This position allowed me to go home in the evenings to rest – to me, this was a prized placement that I needed to keep at any cost. I dove headfirst into the job and worked with all my might, fearing that if I failed at this job, I would have no other prospects. Thankfully, 21 years later, I now serve as the Deputy Director of the organization.

In retrospect, I believe that I was able to excel at my job because of an impending fear that I had nowhere else to go, but also because of my unique perspective and value system as a hibaku nisei. Perhaps I was able to share with my clients my heightened awareness and respect for life and health as a result of my experiences.

From early on its inception, the post office has supported subsidized healthcare for hibaku nisei, like free physical exams, due to the mobilization of various union and advocacy groups. However, substantial healthcare/prevention programs and insurance policies should not be limited to a handful of companies or municipalities – it should be carried out as a nationwide government-led initiative.

The nuclear disasters in Fukushima and consequent radiation poisoning… Along with the social stigma that follows signify that the nuclear problem is not limited to specific groups like the hibakusha and second generation hibakusha, but is quickly becoming a national problem.

As a hibaku nisei, I urge the government to provide healthcare subsidies not only for hibakusha and second generation hibakusha but for all victims of nuclear radiation, to create programs targeted to eliminate social discrimination against these groups, and to shut down existing nuclear power plants and allocate more resources to fund natural and sustainable energy programs.”

(Translated from a biographical piece written by Mr. Morikawa on April 22, 2012.)