1. Yukio Shiraki was exposed to the atomic bomb in Osuga-cho, 1.5 kilometers from the hypocenter. He was 15.
2. Crushed under the building at the national railway printing factory where he was a mobility student, he has suffered since that day, as have his parents and younger sister.
3. [reason for being in Hiroshima before the bomb]
4. Well, my father was a military man, and we moved to Hiroshima from Gifu in 1938.
5. And so I transferred into the third grade at Funairi Elementary School. I guess that means I lived in Hiroshima for 7 or 8 years.
6. [Hiroshima in those days]
7. What I remember most is the Atomic Bomb Dome. Then it was known as the Industrial Promotion Hall. Dozens of times I'm sure, I took my father's lunch to him at the military police headquarters.
8. From Nekoya-cho, pass through Tokaichi, cross the Aioi-bridge towards the museum and A-Bomb Dome and keep going.
9. The Gokoku Shrine is on the left and there was a streetcar stop at the three-way intersection. That's where the police headquarters were, just in the West Training Grounds.
10. [school and life in those days]
11. I was enrolled at Shudo Junior High School in Minami-Senda Machi.
12. There wasn't a lot of studying going on there. The school grounds were used for growing sweet potatoes and barley, and soldiers lived in the buildings.
13. [family and exposure to the bomb]
14. At the time, I lived with my parents, two older brothers and two younger sisters. I was in the middle.
15. My sister just under me died that day. She was a second grader at Yamanaka Girls High School and fell victim in Zakoba-cho.
16. My father was at work in a school building in Nekoya-cho used by the military police, after it was evacuated by the Kodo National School.
17. And my mother and sister had evacuated to Yoshida-guchi on the Geibi Line. That was my family in those days.
18. [day of the atomic bombing]
19. I was a mobility student, working at a printing factory under the Hiroshima Department of Railways.
20. It was located at the first railroad crossing heading west out of Hiroshima station and that's where I was.
21. So yes, I was practically under the explosion, only 1.5 kilometers away.
22. [moment of the explosion]
23. It was a very hot morning as usual and at around 7:30, an alert was once called off, so we were called outside for assembly.
24. I'm embarrassed to say that I went back inside to receive the lecture. The room I was in was where the lead shelves were, for printing.
25. I heard the lecture beginning from the window. Then all of a sudden, there was a blinding light.
26. And the noise. It came with the light, like FLASH, BANG. People who were farther away say there was a lapse before the noise.
27. But I was right there. I say that light and thunder were together.
28. I was blown into the hallway. What I thought then, was, there was a gas tank nearby. I was sure that the tank had exploded and that I was the only victim… trapped under the building.
29. Fire gradually started closing in. The next thing I knew I was crawling through the rubble and when I got to the railroad crossing I saw a steam engine on its side, spewing steam.
30. I went to the Eastern Drill Ground right next door. Burnt people were heading there in droves, with skin hanging off of them.
31. I thought this must be what it's like in hell.
32. [immediately after the bomb]
33. So I walked back to Osuga. By the time I got there, everything was on fire. I couldn't even get close. And there were charred black bodies lying everywhere.
34. I returned to Yoshida-guchi on the Geibi Line, where we had evacuated to. The train was filled with wounded and some died.
35. When I got to the station, my mother was waiting. ""One is alive!"" were her first words.
36. Then she asked about my father and sister. Well I didn't know so I was the first one back but I had to go back to Hiroshima to look for the rest of my family.
37. Of course the train could only go as far as Yaga, which was only one stop, so I got off there and walked back through the Eastern Drill Ground.
38. I went back to the place I was before, looking at the incredible numbers of dead bodies, but it was completely torn down.
39. I saw bodies of two American soldiers at the Aioi Bridge. Rather than from exposure, they looked like they'd been killed. It was those days. People hated them.
40. From the Aioi Bridge I could see people floating along the river. Along the banks there were many more.
41. Luckily, my father had been protected behind a pillar and was not burned. He had a number of cuts on his back, though.
42. And people came with official papers. but not because of wanting treatment themselves. They were asking what it was they could do to help.
43. So I spent three or four nights living with these people. All victims.
44. [after-effects]
45. About one month later, my hair started falling out in bunches. My eyebrows and eyelashes, too. And I started getting spots.
46. My gums turned purple and I was itchy all over. Like some kind of skin disease.
47. As I said, I was protected from the light by the equipment in the printing room so I had no burns.
48. I may have had a few cuts, but I don't remember well.
49. [anxieties about being a hibakusha]
50. Secretly, yes I was worried. I got married and my first son was born with an unnaturally dark complexion.
51. I kept thinking that it was because of the atomic bomb. I was afraid of the effects. He improved in time and my children have now grown.
52. I didn't want… I never talked about the bomb much with my wife and relatives.
53. I got a job and well, as expected, during my interview I was asked about my life in Hiroshima.
54. I said something like ""Yes I was in Hiroshima, but when I was, at the time, the bombing no longer affected me,"" and I got the job.
55. Generally, hibakusha are regarded with a certain amount of prejudice.
56. A hibakusha I know was married but not allowed childbirth. If she was to give birth, the consequences would be divorce. She still lives alone.
57. I believe it was the effects of radiation from later. For example, soldiers came into the city after the bombing.
58. And there are many cases where people like this who went into the city later have complained of physical illnesses from radiation.
59. [anger toward the Atomic Bomb and war]
60. As long as I am alive, I will continue to remind people of the magnitude of effects that radiation has on a person's body.
61. Yes, I am angry about the Atomic Bomb, but my older brothers were killed in the Philippines and my other brother at the Soviet-Manchurian border.
62. Basically I have a strong hatred towards Americans and Russians. Besides, my sister died slowly. Day by day.
63. So, uh… no matter how often America speaks of goodwill, deep in my heart, for a lifetime, my family's hurt cannot be healed.
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