shigemi fukahori
Tokyo: Shigemi Fukahori, who narrowly survived the 1945 atomic bomb attack in Nagasaki, Japan, has passed away. He was 93 years old. Shigemi Fukahori also campaigned against nuclear weapons. The Urakami Catholic Church said Sunday that Fukohori died Jan. 3 at a hospital in southwestern Japan. He used to pray in this church almost daily till the last day last year. Local media reported that his death was due to old age.
Fukahori was only 14 years old at the time of the attack.
Fukahori was only 14 years old when America dropped the bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Thousands of people had died in that incident. Three days before that, there was a nuclear attack on Hiroshima in which 140,000 people died.
Fukahori used to work in shipyard
Japan surrendered a few days after the nuclear attack and World War II ended. Fukahori worked at a shipyard about three kilometers from the site of the bombing. He couldn’t talk about that incident for years, not only because of the painful memories, but also because of how helpless he felt at the time.
He became more vocal after meeting a man during a trip to Spain about 15 years ago who had experienced the bombing of Guernica in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. That person was also 14 years old at that time. After sharing their experiences among themselves, Fukahori started expressing his views openly.
If you extended your hand for help..
“The day the bomb fell, I heard a call for help,” Fukahori told Japan’s national broadcaster NHK in 2019. When I went near him and extended my hand, (I saw that) the man’s skin melted. I still remember how it felt then.” He often addressed students, hoping that they would “take the cause of peace forward.” (Language)
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