Shigeko Sasamori (Hiroshima, 1932–) As a first year student in a women’s high school, she was mobilized to clean a building that was empty after evacuation. She was about 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) away from the blast center when the bomb fell and experienced serious burns on her face and upper half of her body. When she was nineteen, she participated in Bible classes for young female atomic victims that the Rev. Kiyoshi Tanimoto started. After undergoing several operations in Tokyo, she met Norman Cousins, a journalist who started a campaign named “moral adoption” to collect money for children who had been orphaned by the bomb. Supported by Mr. Cousins and others, she went to the United States as a member of a group of 25 young female atomic victims for another operation. Later, she was adopted by Mr. Cousins, became a nurse, and worked in a hospital. She continues to describe her experiences after her retirement. Ms. Shigeko Niimoto (Ms. Sasamori’s maiden name) arrived in New York accompanied by the Rev. Kiyoshi Tanimoto, May 9, 1955. Photograph from Bettmann Collection/Getty Images. Shigeko speaks of her experience at a high school in New York City, April 30, 2015. Photograph by Kyodo News. Shigeko in front of the painting of Mr. & Mrs. Cousins, her adoptive parents, in her living room in Marina del Ray, California. Photograph by Keiko Fukuda.
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