IamA survivor of the Hiroshima atom bomb AMA!

1)Does she agree or disagree with the justifications that the US used to drop the bomb after the fact?

2)What did she think of the military government of Japan before and during the war?

1) "That's a difficult question. I think at the time... well I was a child so I just thought Americans were evil. Now though, I think the way the Japanese thought was bad then in comparison to how the Americans thought. And... everything is better now isn't it? laughs It made the war end. Of course I would want any other way to end it, but the government wasn't thinking clearly then."

2) "Not just myself, but EVERYONE thought we were the best! Japan is the strongest! And then afterwards it was like, well, we are a small country haha. And we have no money!"

When did she move to America? When did she become an American citizen and was this a tough decision?

She moved around 2005 I believe (I don't even remember exactly :p) because her husband died on Christmas Eve of 2004 from hepatitis B. "This wasn't hard at all. I didn't want to be alone for the rest of my life. You're all here (her daughter, son in law, and grandchildren), and family is all I really need to be happy... But now I wouldn't mind going back to japan now. There's always good food... Man I want eat something delicious now." She studied to become an American citizen right after moving! And she got it :) (her English is bare minimum though, so any quotes from her will be a translation!)

ALSO: visiting hours are over(sorry started this late! Only answered one question :|), I'll be back to visit her tomorrow of course and we'll have hours to bang replies out! Thank you all for your help in questions so far, this really means a lot to preserve her story.

Fascinating. Glad she is happy being with her family. This is a great idea for you to preserve her history. You should ask her questions about her childhood, teen years, and wedding. If you can videotape or audiotape her for your family, you could do that, too.

How did she meet her husband? How did her husband propose?

What was a typical meal like for her in Japan? What are her favorite foods that she misses? What is her best recipe?

Oh I've never asked her of this before. "I met jii-chan because he was in Hiro. My house was a bar/eating place. And he would always come. He didn't say let's go out or anything, we just went out. He kept buying me all sorts of things and then we had a traditional marriage, after he talked to my dad."

"I love traditional Japanese food. Just rice and miso soup make me happy. I miss eating... pig & beef fat. My teeth can't chew it anymore." My grandma's best recipe was probably her sponge cake! But that's been lost to age :(

Were there any lasting physical effects on her or her daughter?

Oh hey I can answer this while I'm away from my grandma! My grandma got stomach cancer and only has about 30 % of her stomach left now after removing it. We have no idea if it's linked to the radiation. And my mom has a part of her brain missing. The front part, didn't even find that out till a few years ago though! When my mom brought the DVD to show us her missing lobe & hit play, a CD started to play instead and... Well that's all the proof we needed.

You have a very loose definition of proof don't you?

Isn't the proof, proof enough of that?

My grandmother was a teenager in Osaka when the bombs where dropped. So close enough to have radiation poisoning from the down winds. My grandmother died in her early sixties. She had breast cancer, liver, pancreatic, and eventually it was in her brain. I'm glad to hear your grandmother wasn't affected as much. I was only 6 when I lost her so I didn't get to know anything about that culture in my family. She married an American, who walked out on her and my dad and my 4 uncles. So she didn't have time to share stories with them since she was busy working and being a single mom in the fifties. Take advantage of this time! Ask her everything. Thanks for sharing OP.

I'm so thankful she didn't have any bad side effects either, I'm definitely trying to spend more time with her now. I was terrible to her as a child :( Thank you for sharing your story as well and I'm so sorry you were so young. This really inspired me to get as much of her history written down now as possible. edit: spelling mistake, do I do this to every edit?

Japanese have a higher rate of stomach cancer than other nations though.

Didn't know that, but that's exactly why I wouldn't blame her stomach problems on the radiation. Thanks for the info!

What was public sentiment after the bombing? Was everyone scared of the power of the bombs, or were they angry?

They were mad

lol tru

"Well, it was really just a feeling of... a bomb was dropped. Of course they were scared. We've never been through anything like this. It was kind of like... what do we do? I don't remember if they were angry. My parents weren't. And if they people were angry well, it can not be helped."

1. Is there any specific memory that she has of the time it hit.. like a certain thing she last saw?
2. How did it impact the way she saw life in general?

Thank you so much for this AMA. Tell your grandmother I said I wish her well. :)

1) "It was like nothing. It came, so bright! And then nothing, it was nothing, and then the nothing disappeared. Do people learn about this in school now?"

2) "People can do bad things.. (she trailed off) and the Japanese were the bad ones you know?"

Edit: I told her an internet friend said to get well and she said " Really!? But I have to go to heaven I'm old."

How did she survive the attack and when did she realize that the attack was a nuke by the Americans?

"I survived because I was hiding in the mountains with other children. We knew a bomb would be dropped. We were told " a bomb is coming! a bomb is coming!" so we hid. When it happened... It was so frightening. More than I thought it would be. So loud. So loud you could feel it."

She doesn't remember when she realized it was the Americans, but she remembers afterwards when the Americans came.

"Everyone was talking about how they were coming and to hide! There was talk that they were very bad and would do bad things to us. They came to walk by the house and everyone had their gates closed. But they were actually very nice! They didn't do anything bad at all."

Is it true that there was/ is discrimination towards survivors of the atomic bombs?

Great question! But this is something she doesn't remember too well as she never left hiroshima growing up. She's speaking of other's experiences here: "I knew after that they thought we were infected from the radiation or something. It's fine now, people learn more now."

So do the mods approve of AMAs now if the proof is a girl flashing the peace sign with an old lady in a hospital bed?

I'd like an answer to this as well. Though it'd be kind of messed up to pretend about this wouldn't it? If anything, you'll have our faces to doxx us. :p

What cultural differences led to such a blind loyalty to the emperor of Japan in the early phases of WW2? Can she discuss a bit about her personal viewpoints on that? How about as to if she ever heard her parents talk about it prior to the bomb dropping? Is it true that a large number of Japanese citizens likely would have joined in on homeland defense in the event of an invasion?

"We're Japanese, of course we listened to him. I wasn't scared of him though. You just had faith that he was making the right decisions. Now I know better, but back then... how were we to know we weren't the best? That's what we were told. That's how we felt.

My parents? They never talked about that stuff. Well after the bomb dropped they talked about THAT of course, but just the same way everybody else did.

Fight?? No I never had any friends that wanted to fight. No one I knew was like that."

I made it a point to visit Hiroshima when I was working in Japan. I found the park to be a very somber place and after the sun set I felt like the spirits of those lost were still in the park. I have 2 questions. 1) did your grandmother have a job supporting the war, I know young girls worked in I think it was a communication office. 2) did she ever fold 1000 cranes in memory of Sasaki-chan/children's peace memorial?

"1) Well I was a kid so I didn't have a job supporting the war, my dad was a business man. I was the eldest so I helped out around the house. I worked as a bar tender where a lot of American military came, it was funny. Many military men would propose to me and beg me to come to America with them. They said they would treat me sweetly. But at the time I thought they were lying to get me to come over there with them so they could treat me badly.

2) Sasaki? who is Sasaki? Oh! Sadoko-chan! Yes, I remember her. But I don't remember if I folded cranes or not."

"Hiroshima is the best :)"

I have a question more for you than for her. How is your relationship with Japan and your language? I'm a Nisei in the states and only know conversational Japanese. It's difficult to have in depth conversations like the ones you seem to be having with your grandmother.

Tbh? I watched a lot of anime. My mother's english isn't amazing, so she taught me Japanese first. It was the only way to talk to my grandparents on her side and my dad doesn't speak Japanese. So translating for them back and forth to doctors, my friends, and my dad's side of the family kind of got me into the groove of having these conversations. I worked for an airline too to force myself to use Japanese more in a professional setting. (Do you have a tokyo accent? I have a strong hiroshima one and it was SO embarrassing to sound so casual to the city folk lol.) I get what you mean though! I still have to google certain terms, like radiation, to know word translations and my listening is better than my speaking. I still get embarrassed talking to strangers in Japanese cause I always slip into informal Japanese. But I'm comfortable with my bachan, so no worries there.

You should try speaking strictly in Japanese for a month! At least at home. It helps expand your vocabulary. I use to spend every summer in Japan so that helped too. Any plans to visit the motherland soon?

Thank you for this AMA.

Have you experienced survivor's guilt?

"I have guilt for everything. But I turn it into, now I must be the grandma that will do everything for her family."

I've spoken to a hibakusha in Hiroshima. Did you suffer any lasting health impacts from the bomb?

私は2010年に広島を訪れたが、子宮内被爆者に会いました。あなたは爆弾からの持続的な健康への影響を被るましたか？

Thanks for writing in Japanese!

"Not at all, just the stomach cancer, but I probably was meant to get that with or without the bomb."

Hi u/Greek_Gold_Rush, thanks for doing this AMA. There have been a lot of questions about the actual bombing/immediate aftermath. These are important questions to answer but if/when your obasan gets tired of them, can you ask her what life was like in postwar Japan? Maybe you can show her these photos to jog her memory: http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/03/japan-in-the-1950s/100697/

Also, while the AMA format is cool and we all appreciate the chance to ask questions, may I recommend that you look into conducting an oral history with your obasan. It gives her a chance to tell her story in her words. Depending on where you live, there are dozens of Asian American Oral History organizations that can help you get started and or even send an interviewer.

"The fight was over, so we just kept going on. New technology- My grandpa's mother went on an escalator for the first time and was like like ahh! I'm going to pee myself!!! and she did!"

Thanks for the link! She remembers hula hooping fondly.

I would! But my mother is in control of my grandma and she's VERY private. Part of why I chose a forum to post on, gonna trust reddit with this. You've given me an idea to record a video of her speaking about this though, so thank you for that and the link!

Did she know any people that were killed in the blast and if so, did that effect her more than her personal injuries?

"I didn't know many people that died, I was lucky."

Man there is a lot of trolling in this AMA, anyway here is my question:

What were her first thoughts when she saw the explosion?

"I guess I have to die."

Ok, this is a serious question. I heard from many places that there was black rain after the atom bomb, darkened by particulates. Was the black rain really black or just dark, and did anyone actually drink it?

My grandma just remembers a black cloud, nothing of rain. Sorry we couldn't help shed light on that.

Serious question: Was it loud or was there any sort of sound? In movies and test clips, all we see are bright flash and the woosh.

"Oh yes I heard it. I felt it. But at the same time it was like nothing. I don't know if that was just me or not because when the bomb fell we all felt like that would be when we would die."

Are you Japanese?

"Of course! Who is asking?"

This was made 7 hours ago and there are only two responses? Or is the grandmother replying using her own reddit account? What gives?

grand daughter here: I didn't realize this was a time sensitive thing. I'm comparing it to starting a live stream as I go to bed, so I'm truly sorry for being an idiot! And also being selfish in using this to want as many details of her story as I can get.

Is this the most poorly planned and executed AMA to ever make the front page?

I'd like to thank the algorithm that put this on the front page, the rehab facilities closing times, and my grandmother's blank stare, when asked to do this, for helping to make. this. possible.