80 Years On: Beyond A-Bombs, Grandchildren Unite for Nuclear-Free World

   Nagasaki, Aug. 14 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese woman and an American man whose grandfathers experienced the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from opposite sides have forged an unlikely collaboration to publish a book calling for a world free of nuclear weapons.
   One co-author is Kosuzu Harada, 50, a Nagasaki resident and the granddaughter of a double hibakusha, a survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. Her collaborator is Ari Beser, 37, the grandson of a radar operator who flew aboard the U.S. B-29 bombers--Enola Gay, which dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and Bockscar, which released one on Nagasaki three days later.
   Published in July, their book is titled "Kinokogumo no Ue to Shita no Monogatari" (Stories from Above and Below the Mushroom Clouds). It carries the English subtitle "From above and below both mushroom clouds, we became friends."
   The co-authors share a belief in the importance of people getting to know one another and engaging in dialogue to build "better relationships" and, ultimately, to "realize a world free of nuclear weapons," Harada said.
   Harada's grandfather, Tsutomu Yamaguchi, died in 2010 at the age of 93. Through his writings and lectures, he recounted his experiences as a survivor of both atomic bombings in the closing days of World War II and conveyed the horrors of nuclear weapons.

(2025/08/14-11:30)