A plea for a world free of nuclear weapons

We, the citizens of Hiroshima, experienced that dreadful atomic bomb on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945. I was a 16-year-old student then and suffered in the attack.

Sixty years have passed since then, and the city of Hiroshima has been reconstructed beautifully. There are still many people, however, who would not talk about the atomic bomb because they are too sad to tell about their experiences and their lost families or loved ones. We furiously curse that weapon, which was used for the first time in the history of mankind, and that outrageous war, which our country started and caused a lot of troubles, not only for many countries but also for ourselves consequently as well.

Because of such a deep sorrow, I think that perhaps all of the citizens of Hiroshima can agree on one point—that such a horrible inhuman weapon must never be used in any place in the world on any people, that all such cruel weapons should be abolished in the near future, that we the citizens of Hiroshima must expend all efforts to tell the reality of a nuclear weapon to more people of the world and to ask for cooperation to stop the third use of an atomic bomb. That is also why I am trying to meet and talk to more people about my experiences on that day.

Now the CNMI kindly invited us, the survivors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, for the peace events this summer. It is my pleasure to visit your islands and to see and talk to you and meet the friendly people there. We know that there was the airbase from which Enola Gay took off to attack our city, and the island was a place of nightmares for us during the war. But after the war was over, we feel that we are all the same people and can be good friends, and both the island of Tinian and Hiroshima can be more intimate because of the deep relation in the past. I never have any other intention.

I also hear that there are some people who are afraid that our visiting the CNMI may cause some controversy in your community, because there are a lot of U.S. veterans visiting your islands and having their memorial events. Since we are not going to visit your islands to complain about something or to blame someone, we don’t mind that we will be under the same roof. We are all the family of man.

I can understand that those ex-soldiers related to the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings just obeyed order and carried out their duty faithfully during the war, and naturally would have celebrated that successful completion of the A-Bomb operation at that time. It will also be very natural for them to see each other once a year remembering good old days and be proud of the fact that they participated in such an epoch-making operation. We would not have anything to say about these things.

If those American veterans, however, could mourn the spirits of the victims who were killed by the atomic bomb as well as the spirits of their lost American friends with warm human heart, we can be better friends and shake hands in order to think of a better future of the world together. Yesterday’s enemy can be today’s good friends after the war is over.

Saipan, Rota, and Tinian, I know that that terrible and cruel war, which Japan started, was painful to the native inhabitants of these islands, and a lot of American and Japanese soldiers and civilians also died there. It also pains me to reflect on that war, which caused a lot of aches to many people in Asia. A war is no good. Visiting your islands, I just want to pray that all those spirits may rest in peace, and to transmit the voiceless voice of the victims of Hiroshima—that is to say; “No more Hiroshimas!”

Thank you,

Keijiro Matsushima
Hiroshima, Japan