A-bomb Sufferer sees growing US nuclear threat

asahi.com: Hirotami Yamada: Still much to do 60 years after atomic bombing

[The author is general secretary of the Nagasaki Council of the A-bomb Sufferers]

..I grew up in a family of six. The Aug. 9 bombing took away five of them. Although none of them died instantly, my mother, my older sister and two younger brothers died within two weeks of the bombing. My father, who suffered severe burns that almost took his life, survived but died of cancer 16 years later in 1961. To me, their deaths are reality that is too cruel to forget.

Had the atomic bomb been a transient natural disaster-no matter how destructive-I might have been able to accept the consequences. But the atomic bomb is a human creation. An atomic bomb was also dropped on Hiroshima. The bombings were the result of a carefully laid plan.

In the 60 years since the bombings, the government of the country that dropped them has never apologized for its inhumane act. On the contrary, it not only continues to possess large quantities of nuclear weapons but its president has openly declared plans to develop new, easy-to-use nuclear weapons. He has said he would not hesitate to use them in pre-emptive strikes. Read more