The Fate of the Survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
No matter how bad you think the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were, they were even worse than you imagine. The true impact of the atomic bombs on Japan wasn’t just about the devastating destruction on August 6 and 9, 1945, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The long-term effects were almost unimaginable, with survivors facing struggles that lasted for decades.
Hundreds of thousands died in the blasts, but many survived — even some who were extremely close to ground zero. However, the pain didn’t stop there. Some survivors, known as “hibakusha,” kept their status hidden because of the shame and discrimination they faced in Japan. Sadly, this also extended to their children. But many survivors decided to speak out, sharing their stories and becoming advocates for a world without nuclear weapons.
From winning Nobel Prizes to achieving greatness in sports, the stories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors are nothing short of extraordinary. Here’s what happened to these remarkable individuals after the bombs dropped.
Issey Miyake
Issey Miyake was just 7 years old when Hiroshima was bombed, and the horrific memories stayed with him for the rest of his life. His mother passed away from radiation sickness three years later, and the trauma of that day was something he never truly left behind. In his own words, Miyake was “present at occasions of great social change” — Paris in ’68, Beijing during Tiananmen, and New York on 9/11. As a globally renowned fashion designer, he became famous for creating the iconic black mock turtlenecks that Steve Jobs loved. Jobs even asked Miyake to make him a hundred, saying they’d last him a lifetime.
Despite his fame, Miyake didn’t speak much about his experience in Hiroshima. It wasn’t until President Obama’s call for denuclearization in 2009 that he chose to share his story. In a New York Times op-ed, Miyake explained that he avoided the label of “the designer who survived the atomic bomb” for most of his life. He passed away in 2022 at the age of 84 from liver cancer.
Osamu Shimomura
Osamu Shimomura was 16 years old when Nagasaki was bombed. At the time, he was working in a factory repairing plane engines as part of Japan’s wartime mobilization. After the war, Shimomura was eager to continue his education, despite the challenges in Nagasaki, where the bombings had left a mark on everything — including his schooling. The devastation meant he missed out on a proper high school education, and his path to higher education wasn’t easy. But Shimomura found a way in by enrolling at Nagasaki Pharmacy College, a university that wasn’t his first choice but one he accepted because it was his only option.
This “serendipity” in his life led to a groundbreaking career. Shimomura’s work eventually led to the discovery of green fluorescent protein (GFP) from jellyfish. His discovery revolutionized cancer research and other scientific fields. In 2008, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work. Shimomura passed away in 2018 at the age of 90.
Sadako Sasaki
Sadako Sasaki was only 2 years old when Hiroshima was bombed. She survived the initial blast, but the radiation from the bomb would eventually claim her life. A decade later, she was diagnosed with leukemia, and while hospitalized, she learned about the tradition of folding 1,000 origami cranes to make a wish come true. “Her wish was to leave the hospital as soon as possible and go to junior high school,” her father, Shigeo Sasaki, recalled. “Her wish was so urgent that she endured the pain of her illness and folded cranes constantly.”
Sadako became a symbol of hope and resilience after her death. The exact number of cranes she folded is debated, but her story inspired many and led to multiple monuments in her honor, including one in Seattle and in Hiroshima. Her older brother, Masahiro, wrote a powerful account of her life, pledging to continue sharing her story until nuclear weapons are abolished. He said, “Innocent children were sacrificed in the war started by adults.”
Isao Harimoto
Isao Harimoto, a Zainichi Korean, already faced discrimination before becoming a hibakusha. At 5 years old, he witnessed the bombing of Hiroshima, which killed his older sister and left his mother emotionally shattered. Harimoto recalled his mother’s desire to forget the horrors of that day, contrasting with others who held on to their memories.
Despite suffering a severe injury a year before the bombing that left his right hand disfigured, Harimoto went on to become one of Japan’s most famous baseball players. He still holds the record for career hits in Nippon Professional Baseball with 3,085. Yet, even as a celebrated athlete, the shadow of Hiroshima never left him. “Even if I live the same way as other people, I never know when aftereffects [from the A-bomb] might appear,” he shared in 2016. Over the years, attending the memorial events became emotionally harder for him, with Harimoto admitting in 2019, “Even though I think I have to go, I feel I’m tired of being angry.”
Joe Kieyoomia
Joe Kieyoomia’s story is a tale of incredible survival. He was a U.S. POW imprisoned in Nagasaki when the atomic bomb was dropped. The bomb was originally meant for Kokura, but bad weather shifted its course, and Nagasaki became the target. This unfortunate twist of fate meant Kieyoomia, who had already survived the brutal Bataan Death March, faced yet another horrific event.
Kieyoomia, a Navajo, had previously been tortured by the Japanese in an attempt to break the code used by the U.S. Code Talkers. Although he wasn’t one of them, he recalled, “When they first made me listen to the broadcasts, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing… it sounded like Navajo, just not anything that made sense to me.” His failure to break the code angered his captors, but he survived.
Finally liberated almost a month after the bombing, his injuries were so severe that he didn’t return to New Mexico for another four years. He later became an award-winning jewelry maker and received a Bronze Star 40 years after the war. He humbly said, “I earned this Star… I really suffered for this.”
Setsuko Thurlow
Setsuko Thurlow was only 13 when Hiroshima was bombed, and she was lucky to survive the attack. Tragically, many of her family members and schoolmates perished in the explosion.
After the war, Thurlow moved to Canada, where she became a tireless peace activist and champion for nuclear disarmament. She was instrumental in the formation of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), and in 2017, when ICAN won the Nobel Peace Prize, she was one of two individuals who accepted the award. During her Nobel speech, she poignantly stated, “Today, I want you to feel in this hall the presence of all those who perished in Hiroshima and Nagasaki… Each person had a name. Each person was loved by someone.”
Thurlow has continued her advocacy over the years, working toward a world without nuclear weapons. In 2017, when 122 countries signed the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, she focused on honoring the victims of the bombings, saying, “We made a vow that their deaths would have meaning, and that was for the total elimination and disarmament [of nuclear weapons].”
Masaru Kawasaki
Masaru Kawasaki was just 21 years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. He had been drafted as a soldier but was on sick leave and very close to the epicenter of the explosion. Despite the immense devastation around him, he survived, though the effects of the radiation lingered, and he continued to receive treatment for his injuries for decades.
After the war, Kawasaki pursued a career in music, earning multiple degrees and specializing in the flute and composition. In 1965, he received a UNESCO grant to study composition at The Juilliard School. He also conducted the Tokyo Symphonic Band for many years. Despite the tragedy he survived, Kawasaki resisted using the atomic bombing as inspiration for his work. He stated, “I think the A-bombing was the greatest disaster that human beings have ever suffered, and that it should never happen again.” However, the emotional weight of the event eventually compelled him to compose “Prayer Music No.1: Dirge,” which has been performed annually at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony since 1975.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi
Tsutomu Yamaguchi’s story is truly remarkable: he is known as the man who survived both atomic bombings. At 29 years old, Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, for a business trip when the bomb was dropped. He suffered some injuries but managed to return home to Nagasaki by August 8, only to experience the second bombing. Initially, Yamaguchi didn’t feel the weight of his survival. His daughter, Toshiko, shared that “he was so healthy, he thought it would have been unfair to people who were really sick” and that’s why he avoided advocacy for nuclear disarmament for most of his life.
However, as he grew older, Yamaguchi became more involved in sharing his story. He wrote a book about his experiences and appeared in the documentary “Nijuuhibaku” (“Twice Bombed, Twice Survived”), which focused on the survivors of both atomic bombings. In 2006, at a screening at the United Nations, Yamaguchi said, “As a double atomic bomb survivor, I experienced the bomb twice, and I sincerely hope that there will not be a third.” In 2009, he was officially recognized as a “nijū hibakusha” (a double survivor), although at least 165 others are believed to belong to this rare group. Yamaguchi passed away the following year, at the age of 93.
Koko Kondo
Koko Kondo was an infant when Hiroshima was bombed, so she has no direct memory of the attack. However, she grew up watching her father, a minister, help victims of the bomb, including a group of 25 women known as the Hiroshima Maidens, who were physically scarred by the blast. This left a lasting impact on Kondo. As a child, she harbored intense feelings of anger, saying, “I’m going to find the people who were on the B-29 Enola Gay, and I wanted to give them a punch, or a bite, or a kick. I want revenge,” she told Hawaii News Now.
At age 11, Kondo and her family were invited to appear on This is Your Life, where they were introduced to Captain Robert Lewis, the pilot of the Enola Gay. The unexpected meeting could have been incredibly painful for Kondo, but it ended up being a turning point. “I was staring at [Lewis’] eyes, and then I saw the tears come down. I was shocked. I’ve never heard such a story. He’s a human being like me,” she remembered. In that moment, Kondo chose forgiveness over hate, learning that her anger should be directed at war, not the individuals involved.
As an adult, Kondo became a peace activist, speaking about her experiences and working with groups advocating for nuclear disarmament.
Shigeaki Mori
Shigeaki Mori was 8 years old when Hiroshima was bombed, and he survived the tragedy. As an adult, he became a historian and focused on a unique group of victims: a dozen American POWs who had been in Hiroshima when the bomb dropped. His book, A Secret History of U.S. Servicemembers Who Died in the Atomic Bomb, was the first to reveal the fate of these men.
Mori’s research didn’t stop there — he also looked into the lives of Australian POWs who died at Nagasaki. He was determined to show the world that the impact of the bombs went beyond Japan. “My ultimate hope is to send out a message that war deprives people of everything … We should never repeat the mistake,” Mori told Stars and Stripes.
Mori made headlines in 2016 when President Obama visited Hiroshima and gave him a hug on camera. However, by 2023, when world leaders gathered in Japan, Mori felt disappointed that little progress had been made in reducing the global stockpile of nuclear weapons. “I just don’t want all of this to end up being a dream,” he said, expressing his frustration with the slow pace of change.
Shigeko Sasamori
At 13 years old, Shigeko Sasamori was caught in the devastating blast of the atomic bomb that fell on Hiroshima. The burns she suffered from the explosion left her with significant scarring, but her life took a turn in 1955 when she became one of 25 “Hiroshima Maidens” who traveled to the U.S. for reconstructive surgery. The trip was controversial for various reasons, but for Sasamori, it was transformative, not just because of the medical treatment but because it broadened her perspective. “Many people wanted to take care of us, so we [didn’t] stay for a long time in each house — that way I met so many wonderful American people,” she recalled in an interview with Colgate University.
Although she returned to Japan after her treatment, Sasamori later moved to the U.S. where she worked as a nurse and became an active peace advocate. She spoke passionately about her experiences, stating in 1980 to a U.S. Senate subcommittee: “I have a mission to tell people that this should not happen again… I don’t feel angry at Americans. I don’t want Americans to feel guilty. But I want them to help themselves and to take care of their children.” Sasamori was pictured giving a talk with Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk, the navigator of the Enola Gay, and spoke at an event with the grandson of President Harry Truman. She passed away in 2024, at the age of 92.
Takashi Nagai
Takashi Nagai, a radiologist, was already living with terminal cancer when the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. He had been given only three years to live due to his exposure to radiation in his medical work. After the bombing, Nagai returned home to find his house destroyed and his wife, Midori, dead from the blast. “There was nothing, nothing anymore around him. He had completely lost everything,” explained Gabriele di Comite, president of the Friends of Takahashi and Midori Nagai Association.
Though most people in his position might have lost all hope, Nagai found solace and purpose in his faith. Having converted to Catholicism, he became a religious hermit, living in a small hut where he wrote books while bedridden. His 1949 book The Bells of Nagasaki became a bestseller, inspiring a 1950 film. His story of resilience reached far beyond Japan, as figures like Helen Keller and even Emperor Hirohito visited Nagai. Nagai passed away in 1951, outliving his doctors’ predictions by three years. Both he and his wife Midori were elevated to the rank of “Servants of God” by the Catholic Church in 2021, marking the first step toward potential sainthood.
