NH #736: SPECIAL – Hiroshima/Nagasaki at 80 – How Our Nuclear Narrative Was Manipulated – 2nd Generation Hibakusha Prof. Yuki Miyamoto

This Week’s SPECIAL Featured Interview:

On the anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a look at what this meant for further generations’ health and psychology. Yuki Miyamoto is Nisei Hibakusha, second generation daughter of an atomic bomb survivor, and brings a personal perspective to her powerful work. She is a Professor in the department of Religious Studies and Director / Humanities Center at DePaul University in Chicago.

Since earning her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, she has been teaching nuclear ethics and environmental justice at DePaul. In addition to leading a biannual study abroad program bringing DePaul students to Hiroshima and Nagasaki for two weeks, her team project, TEAACH Nuclear History — is an initiative focused on teaching nuclear issues to inner-city middle school students.

We spoke on July 11, 2025.

LINKS from interview:

• Monograph by Yuki Miyamoto: Unbearable light/ness of the bombing: normalizing violence and banalizing the horror of the atomic bomb experience
• The very “graphic” graphic novel, Barefoot Gen in English. A harrowing story of Hiroshima that was one of the original Japanese manga series. This all-new translation of the author’s first-person experiences of Hiroshima and its aftermath is a reminder of the suffering war brings to innocent people. Its emotions and experiences speak to children and adults everywhere. Volume one of a ten-part series.
• TEAACH nuclear history project homepage with the curriculum Prof. Miramoto has developed to teach about atomic Here’s a LINK to the NH #589 interview on the curriculum: “Cool” Nuclear History Education for Kids – Prof. Yuki Miyamoto, Aiko Kojima Hibino
• ATOMIC DOCTOR: Conscience and Complicity at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age by James L. Nolan Jr. He cared for the scientists on the Manhattan Project, organized safety and evacuation plans for the Trinity test at Alamogordo, escorted the “Little Boy” bomb from Los Alamos to the Pacific Islands, and was one of the first Americans to enter the irradiated ruins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Most Grotesque Numnutz Ever:

As referenced in our interview, this is the episode of the live TV program THIS IS YOUR LIFE, which aired in 1955. In it, Hiroshima survivor (Hibakusha) Rev. Kiyoshi Tanimoto is surprised – some might say blindsided — by a forced meeting with Capt. Robert Lewis, co-pilot of the Enola Gay, the plane which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. This segment begins at 14:45.

Rev. Kiyoshi Tanimoto on This Is Your Life. Segment with Capt. Robert Lewis, co-pilot of the Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, starts at 14:45.

• The artist who was commissioned by the city of Hiroshima in 2008 and by the University of Chicago in 2017 for his pyrotechnic is Cai Guo-Qiang. But are fireworks the appropriate way to commemorate nuclear milestones and atrocities?

University of Chicago commemoration of the first sustained chain reaction – 2017

Not even close. “Representation” of atomic bombing of Hiroshima – 2008.

ICAN UPDATE from Hiroshima with Alistair Burnett

The ICAN UPDATE is a monthly feature from the International Campaign on the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons on progress being made on the passage of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or TPNW. But this month is a little different, because ICAN is in Japan and participating in the commemoration ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Here with his report from Japan is our regular correspondent, ICAN’s head of media, Alistair Burnett.

Activist Shoutout:

• The International Uranium Film Festival is hosting a free worldwide online screening of three films to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The screenings will be available through THIS LINK August 6-15, 2025.
  
  The Films are:
  • Atomic Cover-Up by Greg Mitchell
  • Nagasaki Journey by Chris Beaver and Judy Irving
  • Quote the Raven, Nevermore by Ari Besser and Regis Hirwa
    
• HIROSHIMA – Lino cut 18×24 by Sam Kerson from the artist’s book, Hiroshima to Fukushima, produced by Dragon Dance Theatre