Lawrence Fumio Miwa, 14 years old (in August 1945), was born in Hawaii and repatriated to Japan at the age of two. When he was a second-grader at Hiroshima Higher School of Education Attached Junior (Hiroshima Koto Shihan Fuzoku Chugakko), he was sent to Tono-mura Village in Toyota County, Hiroshima Prefecture with his fellow classmates, to serve as a mobilized farmer. On the morning of August 6, 1945, he saw a parachute fall from a B-29 bomber, followed by a yellow flash of light. On the morning of August 15, the day the war was over, he returned to the city of Hiroshima and walked around the city, searching for his family and checking on his school campus. The town was in ruins and no one was seen there. He felt very lonely.
Since that day, he has tried his best to live through life without wasting time. He returned to Hawaii, worked as a banker, devoting himself to the local Japanese community. He urges those of us who have not experienced the horrors of the nuclear power, to make the utmost effort to learn from the mishap, in order to avoid the recurrence of a similar tragedy.
【Life before Bombing】
My great-grandfather immigrated to Hawaii about 125 years ago. He came as a three-year contract laborer at a sugar plantation. However, he succumbed to illness two years later. His employer allowed him to let his son come to Hawaii and work on his behalf, who is my grandfather. He worked on the plantation until his term was over, and my great-grandfather returned to Japan after two years.
Sugar plantation workers received a very small pay, earning five to ten cents an hour. They had to work six days a week, under the hot sun, getting only one day off, Sunday. My grandfather thought it would be more profitable to open his own business, and sell merchandise to the customers for a cheaper price. He eventually opened a small store on the island of Oahu, and invited my father to Hawaii. Father graduated from Mid-Pacific Institute, after seven years, where he learned English and other subjects. Grandfather told my father to manage his own business before he went back to Hiroshima, leaving my father in Hawaii to continue his business. In about early 1930s, he built a concrete building as his headquarters, and opened branches in the Nuuanu and Moiliili districts.
Before WWII, grandfather opened an office in San Francisco and my father traveled between Japan and Hawaii often as well as Hawaii and San Francisco, for the import-export business. In Hawaii, we sold merchandise as a wholesaler. Our headquarters had a depot and we stored rice from the U.S. mainland and other items there. These items were sold at our stores and delivered to clients with a fleet of twenty trucks. Grandfather’s philosophy was to send all the profit from the business to Japan. He used the money to build a house in the Yokogawa 2-chōme district of Hiroshima City. It was approximately 10,000 square feet, or 300 tsubo wide. The house was divided in two parts with a bridge to connect them. The Five of us -- our parents, my older brother, Shozo, my older sister, Kiyoko, and I -- lived there. My older brother and I attended Misasa Elementary School. I often intervened in disputes, when there were quarrels among my classmates. Once when I fell ill, I stayed home for a week or two, playing alone at my house.
As a six-grader, I was selected as one of the three students to apply for the Hiroshima Koto Shihan Fuzoku Chugakko. I still remember there were numerous tests. Fortunately, the two of us, including myself, were admitted. When I was in second grade, we were sent to a nearby village to help with the farming. The village was called Tono-mura and it was in Toyota County, Hiroshima Prefecture Only our junior high school students moved there on July 4, 1945. Students of other junior high schools worked in areas of Hiroshima city, and I believe most of them were killed by the atomic bomb.
【August 6, 1945】
In those days, there were photographs and pictures of the Emperor and Empress posted at every elementary school. On August 5, 1945, the teacher called two of my classmates and me to his room to tell us that we could go see our parents in Hiroshima City. We were so excited that we were unable to sleep that night. That night, while we talked loudly, the teacher came and told us to go to the room where the photographs were posted to apologize to the Emperor and Empress for what we had done. We went there three times and apologized deeply.
We saw off three classmates who were allowed to see their parents, instead of us. We sadly walked along the mountainside road to the farming field instead. Around 8:00 a.m., as I recall, we saw three or more B-29 bombers flying toward us. There were about twenty-five of us watching them. Two bombers flew off somewhere and the other flew over Hiroshima City and then dropped what seemed to be a parachute. They dropped something we had never seen before, and it exploded ten seconds later. We saw a yellow flash of light, but we could not hear the explosion, as we were far away from the city. The flash of light was very beautiful.
The next day, August 7, some people who had been exposed to the flash of light evacuated to Tono-mura. They looked miserable. Their clothes were stained black as coal. Some appeared to have been blinded by the flash, and their skin looked burnt. We asked what had happened to them and they said that something had dropped from the sky and that all the houses were on fire. They also added that black rain fell. Soon after, the whole city was engulfed in flames, and everyone had to evacuate from the city area. At the time, my parents and older sister had been in a concrete building, which was not destroyed by the blast. My sister and mother were working in the warehouse a block away from our house. I heard they had entered the warehouse at around 8:00 a.m. They said the warehouse was solidly made and could withstand the blast. They were able to get out of the building about five minutes later. My father remembers people from everywhere calling for help. He was unable to rescue a person who was stuck under a collapsed house yelling for his help. He got close to the person, and tried to help. But he was unable to do anything for this person, who got stuck under the fallen pillars.
【Returning to Hiroshima City】
On August 14, our teacher came to Tono-mura and told us that he would allow us to visit our homes and see our parents. On the morning of August 15, we departed for the city. We probably arrived at the Hiroshima Station a little after 8:00 a.m. I was standing in the station and was unable to see anyone around me. Everything was completely burnt and in ruins, and burnt black lumber was seen all over the city. I could even see the Ujina port district, which previously had not been visible from the station, because there was nothing standing in between. I started walking toward the Yokogawa district and noticed a streetcar running off in the distance. There were five or six passengers on the streetcar, I recalll. This was the very first group of people I had seen who had survived the bombing.
I walked for about an hour and reached our home. One-third of each of two rooms remained standing, as they had been protected from the blast by two layers of wall. In the garden, only a burnt pine tree was standing. Nothing else was there. I felt very lonely and became desperate. I was in a mindless state. I wondered what had happened to our school campus and decided to walk there. I think I crossed over Aioi Bridge, which is located in front of what is today the A-bomb dome. When I reached the school campus, I saw that two-thirds of the school’s buildings had been destroyed. I had had nothing but water since the morning. As I was sitting on the campus grounds, I saw a tomato growing there, for the area had been converted into a vegetable garden. Since I was hungry, I wanted to eat the blackish tomato, but I did not. I walked toward my house in the Yokogawa district. Reaching the place where my house used to stand, I looked around to inspect the ruins of my house. I found a note from my family written on the side of a water tank. It said, “Father, mother and older sister safely evacuated. If you are alive, walk to this address.” I understood that they had evacuated to the village called Mita-mura.
On the way to Yokogawa Station, I saw a dead man on the ground. The corpse was infested with maggots. As I could not do anything, I just prayed for his peaceful rest. When I reached the station, I came across a train conductor. Because I did not have any money, I asked him if I could ride on the train without a ticket. He said, “Nobody has any money, just get on the train when it arrives.” After waiting for about an hour, a train finally arrived. I saw three young men on the train. I was carrying some dried beans with me and I started eating them. As they were enviously watching me, I shared the dry beans with them. I remember this clearly.
【Reunion with My Family】
As I knocked on the door, my mother appeared. She said, “Thank god, you are alive! Come on in. You must be tired.” My severe tension loosened after time, and I lay down on the tatami without eating anything. There was nothing to eat, anyway. We ate nothing but white onions. We had onion pickles for breakfast, onion soup for lunch and cooked onions for dinner. We survived starvation by eating onions for three months. Mother used to weigh 90 pounds but her weight fell to 50 pounds within a month after evacuation to Mita-Mura. She was starving, so we took her to a doctor’s house, after walking for about an hour and a half and another hour and a half on the way back. The doctor said to us, “She may die of starvation, but she may survive if she has a strong will to live.” She lived for 91 years.
【Life after the War】
Since my father was able to speak English, he applied for and got a job as an interpreter for the occupying American forces. He had already moved to Kure City in Hiroshima Prefecture to work in September. We left our house in Hiroshima and moved to Kure. I entered Kure ichu school under old system (Hiroshima Prefectural Kure Daiichi Junior High School) as a second-grader and studied there until the end of fourth grade. At that time, school officials selected three candidates to take an entrance examination for Kyoto University, and I was one of the candidates once again. I had decided to enter Kyoto University but my father told me, “America is a big country. Since Hawaii is a part of the United States, why not go and experience the life there?” I recall that I agreed with him and applied for a passport.
【To Hawaii】
In late June of 1947, I came to Hawaii. My Father came with me to Kobe to see me off. To my regret, it was the last time that I saw him. I shed tears. I had strongly believed that I would get along well in the U.S.A. Onboard the ship, I kept making a fuss as I ran around all the time. In eight or nine days, the ship arrived at a pier near the Aloha Tower.
We had almost no money, so we had to work hard. My older sister came with me but I lived alone. I was allowed to attend Mid-Pacific Institute, which my father had once attended. I had to work to obtain a full scholarship including room and board. I worked at a specialty shop for carpenters and ate a lot of Campbell’s soup, which I heated in a can in my chemistry classroom. I had dinner alone but canned foods were very tasty, compared to those in Japan. I worked and studied hard, day and night. On weekends, I lived at the school alone while others returned home. I spent four years living like this and passed the entrance examinations for the University of Hawaii and the University of Denver. The University of Denver offered a scholarship.
I thought that I should experience life on the Mainland, so I went to the University of Denver. I cooked meals every day and studied from 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m., sleeping for only a few hours a day. After a while, I wanted my school life to be over as soon as possible, so I took as many subjects as I could and graduated in three years instead of four. I first worked at an import-export firm. Getting an offer from a brokerage firm, I decided to work there. At the time, there were only two Japanese employees in our firm on Wall Street.
【Starting up my own business in Hawaii】
Central Pacific Bank was founded in 1954. Until then, no Japanese were able to borrow money from the bank owned by Caucasians. Central Pacific Bank was founded to provide loans to Asian residents, including Japanese. I worked there until 1999. An offer came to establish a new bank. I did not want to join the effort because I had planned to retire at the age of 71 or 72. However, they were persistent in asking me to help establish, what is today Pacific Rim Bank. Bank operations went smoothly until thirteen years ago, when the United States entered a severe recession. As a result, our bank was merged with First Foundation Bank, which exists today.
【Hiroshima in ruins】
I had an outlook on life at the age fourteen. I thought I was at life’s bottom at the time, having nothing and being alone. In a city with a population of one hundred thousand, I could see no one and no houses. I was the only one in the town. It was very sad and I lost my energy. However, my personality of being curious about everything soon came back. Gradually I regained my energy. From around the end of my high school years until about five years ago, I slept only a few hours a day. I did not want to waste my life. Life changed after experiencing the A-bomb attack. If I had not experienced it, I don’t think I would have developed myself as I did. With this experience, I learned to do everything with all my might in order to get the best results. I could succeed by minimizing my sleeping time. Therefore, I had almost twice as much time as regular people. Even an ordinary person can do anything if he has ten hours a day to work. Fortunately, I had no problems with my health.
【My Thoughts about Peace】
I think nuclear weapons will remain in the future, no matter how we try to extinguish them. The United States may not initiate a war, however it will retaliate against enemies when attacked. Besides, we are always ready to use nuclear force. The issue is whether America uses its nuclear force or not. I assume it will only take thirty minutes to achieve a result, as this country has maintained thousands of missiles. Russia, as well as other countries. If all the countries started using these weapons, the world will come to an end and people will perish. We should not dare to go toward this miserable situation. We should realize that nuclear arms are dangerous and possess the possible consequence of ending the world.
I urge people to speak of the danger of nuclear weapons to the younger generations through books and movies. I have experienced the dreadful result of an atomic bomb and I must stress that one small mistake can lead people throughout the world to lose their hope almost completely. Therefore, I want all of you to learn about the danger of nuclear weapons through documentary books and movies.
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