Life After the Atomic Blast, as Told by Hiroshima’s Survivors

The mushroom cloud was visible from the hills of neighboring prefectures. Those who were beyond the immediate blast radius may not have shown any external injuries immediately—but they commonly became sick and died in the days, weeks, months, and years that followed.

And those outside the city were exposed to radiation when they tried to enter to help the injured.

Radiation also affected children who were in the womb at the time. Common radiation-related diseases were hair loss, bleeding gums, loss of energy (“no more will” in Japanese), and pain, as well as life-threatening high fever.

About 650,000 people were recognized by the Japanese government as having been affected by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While most have now passed away, figures held by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare from March 31, 2025, show there are an estimated 99,130 still alive, whose average age is now 86.

In a radio broadcast following the atomic bombings, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender and called on the Japanese people to “bear the unbearable,” referring to the “most cruel weapons” that had been used by the Allied forces without directly identifying the nuclear attack. Due to ill-feeling about the defeat, shame over Japan’s imperial past and role in the war, plus censorship and ignorance about the reality of nuclear weapons, the idea grew that the dead and injured hibakusha were simply “sacrifices” (‘生贄 になる’) for world peace.

Generations Affected

It took Yamanaka around seven years to recover her strength enough to lead a relatively normal life, so she barely graduated from high school. She has subsequently been diagnosed with various blood, heart, eye, and thyroid diseases as well as low immunity—symptoms that can be related to radiation exposure.

Her daughters also suffered. In 1977, when her eldest daughter was 19, she had three operations for skin cancer. In 1978, when her second daughter was 14, she developed leukemia. In 1987, her third daughter suffered from a unilateral oophorectomy (a surgical procedure to remove an ovary).

I interviewed Yamanaka’s daughters, granddaughter, and several other survivors repeatedly, beginning with experiences prior to the atomic bombing and continuing up to the present day.

While these interviews generally started in the official location of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, I also conducted walking interviews and went to sites of special importance to their personal memories. I shared car journeys, coffees, and meals with them and their helpers, because I wanted to see their lives in context, as part of a community.

Their trauma and suffering are dealt with socially. For the relatively few survivors who tell their stories in public, it is through the help of strong local networks. While I was at first told I would not find survivors who wanted to share their stories, gradually more came forward through a snowball effect.

Returning to interview Yamanaka in August 2013, we traveled by car to her former home of Eba, pausing at the site where she had alighted after her journey across the river. There, Yamanaka struck up conversation with a fellow survivor who was passing on his bicycle. His name was Maruto-San. They had attended the same temple-based elementary school.