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Nijyuu Hibakusha and the question of ‘luck’
Written by Jimmy
Tsutomu Yamaguchi died on January 4th. He survived the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Was he the luckiest guy in the world or one of the unluckiest?
So first the facts and then the filosophy. Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on business, saw a US plane in sky, saw something drop and then was thrown off his feet by the bomb. Badly burned, but alive, he managed to escape, horrifically crossing a river at one point over a bridge of bodies floating in the river. Makes it back to his home, Nagasaki. Is in his office, describing to his boss what the bomb was like – as he’s describing it, second bomb hits, throws him into a steel stairway and he’s one a very view who survives in his office. Recovers. Lives to 93. He’s one of 165 Nijyuu Hibakusha, or ‘double survivors’ from the bombing (I find the fact that there were 165 astounding but can’t find any names of others — TY is the only one ‘officially recognised’ by the government.
So the issue of whether survivors of horrific events are lucky or unlucky is a big one. This theme is explored in a lot of songs and is at the heart of religious debate — read anything of Richard Dawkins. It goes to the God thing. Dawkins always asks: do you thank God that someone survives from a plane crash that kills 240 people. Or do you get a little angry about the other 240. To put in today’s context: they pulled another child today from Haitian rubble — after 16 days — and lots of folks are talking about ‘hand of God’ on CNN. Hmm…?
Back to Yamaguchi. We talk a lot about having bad weeks. We bitch and moan about bad work days. Late buses. Too much rain. Can we at least agree that Yamaguchi had a really bad week? And relatively, our days aren’t too bad? i mean even if we can equate a late bus to one atomic bomb – 2 in three days? Give the guy his due.
if we can figure out pronounciation of all these Japanese words, we’ll do a song on this one.