Hiroshima (28 page)

Nakazawa: I think such effects exist. I worry. I worried when my own children were born because I was a bomb victim. I was uneasy—what would I do if the radiation caused my child to be born malformed?—but fortunately he was born sound. I try to have him get the second-generation bomb victim check-up. There's a medical exam system for second-generation bomb victims; the exam itself is free of charge. But we were uneasy at the time my wife conceived him. We were also uneasy when we got married. Fortunately, there were bomb victims in her family, too, so she was understanding. I worried at the time we got married that there would be opposition. Luckily, people were understanding, and the marriage went off without a hitch. When the children married, I worried secretly. Now we have two grandchildren.

Asai asks about Kurihara Sadako
.
[2]

Nakazawa: She and I appeared once together on NHK TV. Eight years or so ago. On an NHK Special. A dialog. The location was Honkawa Elementary School. We discussed the experience of the atomic bomb. In broad Hiroshima dialect, Kurihara said to me, “Nakazawa-san, good that you came back to Hiroshima”—that's how we began.

Asai: I thought Kurihara was a very honest Hiroshima thinker.

Nakazawa: I too liked her. She wrote bitterly critical things. Like me, I thought. She wrote sharply against the emperor system, too. After all, our dispositions matched. But in Hiroshima she became isolated. If you say bitter things, organizations divide into left and right. Even though you're stronger if everyone gets together. . . . Say something sharp, and people disagree, and label you. That's not good. The peace movement has to be united. That's why I never join political parties. It's something I hate—that Japanese are so quick to apply labels. Immediately apply a label and say, “he's that faction or that one,” and dismiss him. No broad-mindedness. If a job comes, I respond with an “okay.” But I never concern myself with political parties.

Asai: How did you come to want to return to Hiroshima?

Nakazawa: Up until ten years ago I stayed absolutely away from Hiroshima. Merely seeing the city of Hiroshima brings back memories. The past. Seeing the rivers, I see in my mind's eye rivers of white bones. Or the good spots for catching the freshwater crayfish that grew fat on human flesh. Such memories come back, and when I walk about, I remember, “This happened, that happened.” I can't bear to remember the smell of the corpses. I wanted to stay away from Hiroshima. I can't express that stench in words. It brings back things I don't want to remember. This frame of mind of mine is likely the same as for other bomb victims. My former teacher is here, and classmates gather for his birthdays. So I think, “Yes, Hiroshima's okay.” I have friends here. Time has swept them away, those vivid memories. So I've come to want to be buried in Hiroshima. I like the Inland Sea, so I'll have them scatter my ashes. I don't need a tombstone.

Asai: Why can't Hiroshima become like Auschwitz?

Nakazawa: Japanese aren't persistent about remembering the war: isn't that the case? When at Auschwitz I see mounds of eyeglasses or human hair, I think, “What persistence!” There's no such persistence among Japanese, and not only about Hiroshima. I wish the Japanese had what it takes to pass the story on. To erase history is to forget. I'd like there to be at least enough persistence to pass it on. I'd like to expect that of the Japanese. I do expect it of the next generation. I've given up on the older generation. I have hopes of the next generation: reading
Barefoot Gen
, they're good enough to say, “What
was
that?” On that point I'm optimistic. I want them to put their imaginations to work; I absolutely want them to inherit it. I want to pass the baton to them. On this point, the trend in Japanese education today is terrifying. I'm afraid the Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition parties will never abandon the idea of educational reform.

But defend Article 9 of the Constitution absolutely.
[3]
Because it came to us bought with blood and tears. People say it was imposed on Japan by the United States, but back then the people accepted it, and there's nothing more splendid. To forget that and think it's okay to change it because it was imposed—that's a huge mistake. What the peace constitution cost in the pain of blood and tears! We simply must not get rid of it. That's been my thinking about Article 9, from middle school on. Precisely because of it, Japan lives in peace. At the time of the promulgation of the constitution, I was in primary school, and when I was told that it transformed Japan into a country that no longer bears arms, will not have a military, will live in peace, I thought, “what a splendid constitution!” And I remembered Dad. Indeed, what you learn from your parents is huge. Parents have to teach. Not rely on schoolteachers. Teachers ask me how they should teach. What are they talking about? I say they should at least say, “On August 6 an atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.” How to convey that to students in more expanded form: I say that's the teachers' function. There are all sorts of teaching materials, so if they don't do it, it's negligence on their part.

Asai: That's hope for Japan. How about Hiroshima?

Nakazawa: The conservative aspects of Hiroshima have to be changed. I think Hiroshima people are really conservative. The numbers of reformists must increase. In order to effect change, each person has to work away at it. I'm a cartoonist, so cartoons are my only weapon. I think everyone has to appeal in whatever position they're in. Wouldn't it be nice if we gradually enlarged our imaginations! We have to believe in that possibility. Doubt is extremely strong, but we have to feel that change is possible. Inspire ourselves. And like Auschwitz, Hiroshima too must sing out more and more about human dignity.