Turing the Estranged into the Respected: Social Transformation of the Atomic-Bomb Survivors in Japan

In October 11, 2024, Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese civil organization for the atomic and hydrogen bomb sufferers, was awarded the Novel Peace Prize. In May, 2016, Mr. Tsuboi, then representative of Nihon Hidankyo, embraced President Obama, who visited the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima to take part in a ceremony commemorating the victims of the atomic-bomb the US had dropped to the Hiroshima city center in August, 1945. As shown in these instances, the atomic-bomb survivors today are not only a symbolic figure for the world peace, but also an important presence in the world politics.

Back in 1945, however, things were different. Atomic-bomb survivors were never respected, not even treated by others as those to be with. For many of them job-hunt was shut down, and marriage contract was cancelled. With their deformed bodies full of scars and keloids, a consequential distortion by the atomic-bomb heat and radiation, they were viewed as a polluted ominous creature that had to be estranged and alienated socially. In a way, the post-war period has totally transformed the atomic-bomb survivors from the ominous to the sacred, and from the one representing despair to the one with hope.

When did this transformation begin, and what routes have the survivors taken to transform themselves into a socially respected figure? This presentation, focusing on several years after the drop of the atomic bomb, aims to expound the initial stages of the transformation process, using historical incidents triggering an alteration of the social conceptions of survivors. Current research result shows the survivors first went from deformed individuals to a category of survivors through their medical treatment processes, and then from a category of survivors to a public figure in the political and legislative processes.