Senji Yamaguchi (Nagasaki, 1930–2013) Mr. Senji Yamaguchi was 14 years old when Nagasaki was bombed. Only 1.2 kilometers (0.7 miles) from the blast center, his upper body was severely burned by thermal radiation (heat rays). He lay unconscious for 40 days and barely escaped death. Eventually he seemed to recover; his acute radiation symptoms went away. But then he began suffering from diseases such as skin cancer, kidney disease, emphysema, and asthma. He also had trouble finding work because of his extensive scaring on his body. Despite his health problems, Mr. Yamaguchi remained an active campaigner for total nuclear disarmament. He represented the NGO delegations from Japan at the United Nations Second Special Session on Disarmament in 1982. In his speech he appealed for “No More Hibakusha! No More War!” Mr. Yamaguchi hands out flyers of the hibakusha appeal in downtown Tokyo, May 1990. Photograph by Ittetsu Morishita. From the film The Lost Generation. Copyright Association to Establish the Japan Peace Museum. Mr. Yamaguchi using a razor. Photograph by Sakae Murasato. Yoshiaki Maeza(Hiroshima, 1921–2009) Yoshiaki Maeza was twenty-four when the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. In October of the same year he moved to Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, and took part in the foundation of the Society of the Sufferers of Nuclear Bombs of Nagano Prefecture, becoming its vice president and later its president. In 2009, he died at the age of 88. A few lines from a poem that he wrote: I will fight forever I will never stop fighting hoping my sons and their children have a beautiful future and happy lives His mottos: Fighting makes a man Peace cannot be realized by praying His words in his last days: I have nothing to fear. I will stand in my coffin, because I cannot lie down. I will shout until the day I die. If I lose the use of my hands and feet, I will still have my voice. I will find something new to say or do every day. It shall not stop. The things I know don’t allow me to die. I want to be the last defense against wars, reaching out to young people. Mr. Maeza in front of his restaurant “Pika Don,” October 2009. Photograph courtesy of Akishi Maeza. Mr. Maeza is examined in a hospital after surgery for intestinal cancer, around 1990. Photograph courtesy of Akishi Maeza. Mr. Maeza describes his experience in Nagano City, October 11, 2009. Photograph courtesy of Akishi Maeza.
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