Fusae Tanioka was 22 at the time. She experienced the bombing in Akunoura-machi, 3.4 kilometers from the hypocenter.That day her entire family experienced the bombing. With the fears of after-effects and the discriminatory treatment, she doesn't want to remember, doesn't want to talk of the experience.However, she speaks reluctantly to express how this should never happen again.
【Nagasaki Before the Bombing…】
Born and raised in Nagasaki, I graduated school in 1940. I planned to find work in Nagasaki. There were only ship-building yards in Nagasaki, so I took an entrance exam, but was never selected.I thought it was odd, and went to a hospital which I knew and got checked up. It turned out a star had gotten in my eye when I was born.My aunt lived in Beijing, so I sent her a letter asking if it was okay for me to go over there. My aunt sent me a travel certificate so made my way to Beijing.I came back at the end of 1943, at the end of November. I came back in order to give birth.
【My Family Before the Bombing】
Our house was near the shipbuilding yard. We took 2 or 3 of our relatives' children in, making our house somewhat cramped, so we moved to a bigger house. It was two stories. And lodgers were always coming and going. There were about 12 of them, counting the lodgers alone. So it was hard for my mother to feed everyone.The hard laborers got privileges of money or rice as special rations, so that was a help.
【Dwelling at the Time】
It was near Mitsubishi Hospital, in Akunoura. We were at that place. It was a rental house, two stories. We had lodgers, so we'd rented a large house.
【On the Morning of the Bombing】
It was about 11:05. The air raid warning had just been cancelled, so I took the opportunity to do laundry. I looked up and saw a plane and at that same moment, it was as if lightening had struck.
13. My younger sister was told, ""Today the air raids are terrible, so stay home."" But she said ""I have the key, which will cause problems for everyone,"" and she went out, which is what saved her.She thought about getting off the train to visit her friend because she did not ride, however, she did not get off the train not to be late. She was very lucky.However, my younger sister saw the miserable condition of that time on her way home. As she came home, she climbed over dead bodies. She never talks about it even now.Her friend's grandmother, mother, and a newborn died, and her own friend was away as a soldier and so was safe, but small children were thrown into the air and injured, so she absolutely won't talk.
【The Moment of the A-bombing】
I tell her that she should talk about her experiences. But she absolutely refuses. She doesn't want to remember it. We also couldn't talk about it for a long time.I looked up, and there was a streak like a flash of lightning. We went inside, but Nagasaki's broadcasting station had been destroyed, so we didn't know what was going on. I heard that some military people who were in Oita and Miyazaki were telling everyone that ""A new weapon has been dropped in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, so everyone run away.""It was apparently the same kind of bomb as the one in Hiroshima, so we needed to hurry into the air raid shelter. But, by that time it was already too late.
【Searching for Family After the Bombing】
My mother looked for us at the Mitsubishi Hospital where she saw many people with swollen faces and since there were no open beds, they were made to lie down in the corridor of the hospital.
My younger sister came home on the evening of the 9th. She said, ""Inside the city is terrible. A man had gone crazy from the bombing was roaming around with a bamboo spear, so the city was dangerous.""I was relieved that my younger sister came home. My mother's older brother was still there and because my grandmother said, ""I am worried about them."" I went the next day to look for them.
【The Horrible Scene After the A-bombing】
We searched among the dead bodies for someone wearing a typical women's work pants, but were unable to identify her.And we just couldn't walk through the city. Everyone was just burned up, and their faces, they were swollen up just like if you burned something with an electric heater.
Their faces were swollen and they couldn't put down their hands. They were burned and stuck together. It was like a ghost walking. As I was walking, someone said, ""Give me water, please.""
The person grabbed my ankle and wouldn't let go. So I said, ""I’m sorry. I don't have any water on me right now. I'll bring some back for you later."" That was what I couldn't forgive myself for most.I regret so heavily not being able to give the person water. If I had given the person water then he might have been okay. But then of course that wouldn't have saved him.And then next, there was a baby who was bending its neck down to its mother's breast, even though the mother was dead. I witnessed such conditions.
【The Lodgers,Symptoms After the Bombings】
And the young man from Goto, while he was over there, those symptoms appeared. Teeth falling out, and bleeding. The people there said, ""Your home is here,"" and ""Nagasaki is your home when you're working."" He was worried about my aunt, and he died while saying he was going to return there quickly. And when his siblings came to sort his things, we asked what happened to him, and were told, ""He died."" He died while worrying heavily about Nagasaki. When sorting through the drawers, they found a letter written to my mother and father that said ""Thank you for everything over such a long period of time. Not sure if I will be able see you again."" To my mother, it was like one of her own children had died. She treated them all like her own children. And then, of those who were at my house, two of them died from the bombing.
【Health Anxieties due to the Bombing】
My older female cousin who had gone around with me called me and said ""It's better if I die already. I want to die quickly."" So I asked her why she said such things. The doctor had said, ""It's amazing you're able to live."" Her bones were weak and therefore one of them broke and was poking her stomach from the back, which put her stomach in pain. I told her on the phone, ""Don't say things like that. You're most like a parent to us out of all our elder female cousins."" But she wasn't able to live long.
【Discrimination Against A\bomb Survivors】
Nagasaki is never been a bombing raid. Therefore, when people hear you're a bombing survivor they think of infectious diseases or hereditary diseases, and it's really cruel. I heard that one of our members daughter was about to confirm her engagement, but when they found out that her parents were victims of the Atomic bomb in Hiroshima, the engagement was called off. Just recently I was asked by the Buddhist priest at our local temple if I could take part in a discussion panel, which I ended up speaking a little bit about my experience. Yes, we were hit by the Atomic bomb, but there's nothing hereditary or contagious, and you can't get sick from us. So I said to them please don't discriminate.
【Anger Toward the Dropping of the Atomic Bomb】
Of course we must never again drop an atomic bomb like that. Our conviction is that such things must not be used anywhere. We don't want there to be any more victims like ourselves. Watching TV every day, you hear that uranium bombs or whatever they call them are still being used. So you absolutely must not create those kinds of things. I studied the teachings of Jesus at a mission school for 5 years. In order to not have such enemies. Why America, the foundation of that school, would do such a thing, is an absolute mystery to me. I wonder why regular citizens and children had to be sacrificed. This makes me burn with anger.
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