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FUJIKAWA Hiroshi(FUJIKAWA Hiroshi) 
Gender Male  Age at time of bombing 17 
Recorded on 2004.  Age at time of recording 76 
Location at time of bombing Hiroshima(Direct exposure Distance from the bombing hypocenter:1.5km) 
Location when exposed to the bombing Minami-takeya-cho, Hiroshima City [Current Naka-ku, Hiroshima City] 
Status at time of bombing Employed worker 
Occupational status at time of bombing Hiroshima Bus and Railway Service 
Hall site Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims 
Dubbed in English/
With English subtitles
Dubbed in English 

1. Hiroshi Fujikawa was exposed to the bomb 1.5 kilometers from the hypocenter, in Minami Takeya-cho. He was a streetcar driver but this was his day off and he had been taking a nap. He was 17.
2. He immediately began roaming through the city, but spent his life silent about the experience.
3. [coming to Hiroshima, before the bombing]
4. I went to Hiroshima in April 1943 to work for the Hiroshima Electric Railway Company. Yes, I worked there.
5. After I joined the company in April, my seniors kept being drafted to the battle fields.
6. And so, well, I had heard that it would take at least one year, but I was promoted to driver by the end of that year.
7. I was sort of happy, because as a conductor, it had been my dream to become a driver. But unlike being a conductor, a driver's job was quite tough.
8. Hiroshima, before the bombing.
9. There were different streetcar lines in the city, like the Yokogawa Line, the Hakushima Line and the Eba Line. These were the lines in the outskirts where you could relax and enjoy the scenery.
10. Speaking of which, there was one scenic area on the Hakushima Line I remember well. Shukkeien.
11. That and Teramachi, on the Yokogawa Line, with temples here and there. It was a nice area. Easier. Made you feel better than driving through the city center.
12. [moment of the explosion]
13. On the evening of the 5th, well, I had fallen asleep with my uniform on. I was exhausted from work. Never mind getting changed.
14. I vaguely remember, still. I was dreaming. I don't remember the time, I had gone to bed late, because I didn't start work until after lunch. So, I always slept late in the morning.
15. While I was sleeping, there were big noises. I remember hearing loud voices.
16. In my dream, people were evacuating, taking down homes near my dormitory. At least that's what I thought. Then I woke up, not able to breathe.
17. I looked around and the walls had crumbled. The clay from the walls had gotten in my nose and I couldn't breathe.
18. Being upstairs, it took me quite awhile to get out. When I did, I realized that they weren't tearing down the dorm. All the houses were gone!
19. Out on the street, the city was half destroyed. I mean, this way, I could see Fukuya. I was standing in Senda-machi and I could see Fukuya.
20. That's right. And that way, all I could see was the Red Cross. Perhaps I saw the Postal Savings building. Only buildings though.
21. I was certain that this wasn't a few ladies breaking down houses. This was an air attack. An incredible air attack.
22. That dream. That buzzing. Was it residents screaming while running from the destroyed dorm? What I know is that a cry remains in my ears. I can still hear the cry of people running for their lives.
23. Remembering that day gives me the chills. There is truly only a fine line between life and death. I didn't see a flash, nor did I hear a bang.
24. [immediately after the bombing]
25. Considering the fact that this was a bomb attack, there were no signs of any. Up until then, bombs made holes. There were no holes – wherever I walked.
26. At first, I had no idea why people were injured, what caused the injuries. It would make sense if they had been hit by pieces of a bombshell, but this wasn't the case.
27. Everyone had their hands like this and they were moaning. With their hands up, and walking like this. A lot of them. And their skin was peeling off.
28. So I looked and saw flesh. It looked like a burn, but what kind of a bomb causes burns? It wasn't even a fire bomb. I just couldn't figure it out.
29. All these people were begging for water. Like this. It was the best they could do. In one quick blast, everyone who got burned looked the same and behaved the same way.
30. To me, I think it's human instinct that makes us go like this on a burn, like flesh and flesh will stick together. Not like anyone taught us.
31. I didn't see many children. Maybe a few junior high school students doing evacuation. I heard later they were working with no shirts on because it was hot.
32. Working like that, half naked and they didn't have hats, well, the skin was peeling badly off of their upper torsos. Then their bodies became infected and puss was oozing.
33. [devastation after the bombing]
34. It's been nearly 60 years since that bombing, but even today, when I close my eyes, I can see it. Clearly.
35. Near the Aioi Bridge... it was the sixth, and that night I was in a streetcar in the barn. I went in there thinking I could sleep, but fires kept breaking out and coming closer. To Senda-machi.
36. I became too afraid to sleep after that. So, I walked along the streetcar tracks and saw people burnt black. Dead bodies lying in the streetcar doorways.
37. I tried my best to climb over them without stepping on them and kept walking until I finally reached the Aioi Bridge.
38. Looking down into the Motoyasu River, there were black burnt bodies floating. I'm sure it was full tide when I got there. The tide was in and the flow had stopped.
39. And bodies that had floated down from upstream. And also along the riverbanks. Well the riverbanks were just dirt banks like in the country, not the way I saw them in Hiroshima the other day.
40. 60 years later and that is a scene I can never forget. I got as far as the Aioi Bridge and dead bodies were floating in the river.
41. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Then there were people everywhere, screaming and carrying on. I panicked.
42. There were just so many of them as I recall. Calling names. Children, or maybe not, calling and calling. Obviously looking for family.
43. And there was this man. I don't know where he got it, but he had a bamboo-looking stick, sorting through the dead bodies with it.
44. I think he was searching for clothes he recognized. He was frantic. And it's that scene that keeps coming back. I've seen it hundreds of times since that war ended.
45. On the seventh. I kept looking around me and although it was daytime, my surroundings were dark. That's because of the fires that continued all night. It was the smoke.
46. And in the darkness, the rivers are full of dead bodies and the riverbanks are filled with people looking for family. And really, without a doubt it was a living hell.
47. [anxieties about after-effects]
48. Gradually, after the war was over, I began hearing about that bomb. About the victims and about radiation.
49. Looking back, I wondered if I had been affected and became quite nervous about it. Personally, yes I was concerned.
50. I had knowledge of radiation and heredity, but I was married only 2 or 3 years after the war, in 1948.
51. And it didn't seem to be as bad as everyone was saying, so I disregarded those things when I got married.
52. Well, I told her. I mean, she knew. My wife had been in Hiroshima since before we married. She was at the Army Clothing Depot
53. I can't promise that there is nothing. There are physical checkups for second generation survivors and my daughter is aware, but she isn't interested in going.
54. I don't tell her to go, either. So we may never know.
55. [hiding the experience]
56. 60 years went by and I was never able to bring myself to talk about it.
57. I was afraid that if I did talk about it, everyone would start asking me about what it was like out of curiousity. It may sound biased, but that's how I thought.
58. Those circumstances are not something you talk about on your lunch break at work. Out of respect for the victims, I needed to take special care.
59. So I stubbornly kept it to myself. The only ones who know of my experience are my wife and my children.
60. [keeping the hibakusha experience alive]
61. At some point, everyone in Japan needs to hear about this and I need to do something about it, somehow.
62. I need to let everyone know what it was like on the morning of the seventh. I strongly feel that way and have vowed to make it happen.
63. I have always felt the need to convey the tragedy of that living hell properly, somehow, while I'm still alive.
64. When I go out to talk about my experience, children listen with great interest. Then they write about how they feel. I have received 100s of messages. They are my treasure.

*Many more memoirs can be viewed at both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Memorial Halls.
*These contents are updated periodically.
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