CHAPTER SUMMARY AND NOTES

CHAPTER FIVE: The Aftermath

Summary (continued)

Dr. Sasaki no longer feared Hiroshima. By the 1980s it had changed remarkably from the first few post-bomb years. Only one in ten citizens was a hibakusha, and the city was swathed in neon lights. The only regret Dr. Sasaki could not erase was that he had not been able to more carefully record the identities of all the Red Cross Hospital corpses so that they would not be wandering in the afterlife, upset at not being properly remembered.

Due to the combination of his radiation exposure and his tireless work ethic on behalf of others, Father Kleinsorge faced a difficult life of repeated hospital stays. He refused to slow down except when his body would collapse, much to the concern of his colleagues. Yet his missionary work reaped a harvest of a few hundred devoted converts. Father Kleinsorge was so committed to his work in Japan and to the Japanese people that after a few years he applied for and gained Japanese citizenship, adopting the name Father Makoto Takakura.

Throughout the 1950s, he struggled with various ailments, even spending an entire year in the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital. After suffering strange infections in his fingers, fever and flulike symptoms, low white blood counts, a cataract, and constant discomfort, he was finally transferred by the dioceses to a small church in Mukaihara, the same town as Dr. Sasaki.

In Mukaihara, the believers were few and Father TakakuraÂ’s initial energy quickly waned. He commuted once a week for a check-up in Hiroshima. He tried his best to blend in in that small town, but another Japanese priest privately reflected on how German Father Takakura remained.

A few years later he hired a new cook, Yoshiki-san, who also became his nurse, housekeeper, and constant companion. Father TakakuraÂ’s health steadily declined, as he developed a whole host of complications such as liver dysfunction, high blood pressure, and various aches and pains. As his condition worsened, numerous visitors came to thank him for his impact upon their life. In 1976, he fell on some ice and became bed- ridden. Yoshiki-san lovingly and loyally cared for him around the clock. The next year he fell into a coma and died, with Yoshiki-san by his side. Demonstrating her deep affections, Yoshiki-san always kept fresh flowers at his grave.

Miss Sasaki slowly raised her spirits by the first anniversary of the bombing, even as her fiancée rejected their engagement due to pressure from his family not to marry a hibakusha and cripple. Largely because of Father Kleinsorge’s faithful ministry to her, she was baptized into the Catholic faith in September. Charged with caring for her brother and sister who had survived the bombing in a suburb, she was overburdened and advised to put them in an orphanage. She found work at the same orphanage, however, and discovered her calling to care for young children. So she transferred to another orphanage where she received formal childcare training and a university education. Miss Sasaki also underwent orthopedic surgeries and was finally able to walk fairly normally, albeit with continued pain. Through her work with mixed-blood orphans of American soldiers fighting the Korean War, she came to believe that too much focus was paid on the evils of the atomic bomb and not enough on the evils of war in general.

In the mid-1950s, by Father KleinsorgeÂ’s suggestion, she decided to become a nun. She persevered to learn Latin and French, discovering strength within herself that she believed came from having survived the A-bomb. She became Sister Dominique Sasaki, and because of her tenacity and talents she was put in charge of an old peopleÂ’s home housing 70. Her leadership wrought improved accounting, two new buildings, and comfort for dying inmates. From her experience in Hiroshima, she wanted the dying not to feel lonely in their time of departure. Over the years, Sister Sasaki was honored for her work in the nunsÂ’ order and she always strove to look to the future, not the past.

Three years after the bomb, Dr. Fujii built another clinic on the site of his destroyed one. His sons followed him into medical professions, and his eldest built a home next to his fatherÂ’s clinic. He was spared all radiation sickness and complications, and enjoyed a life of leisure, socializing over whiskey with American occupation personnel. He joined a country club, went to baseball games, and installed a dance floor in his house. He visited the gaudy neon entertainment district often, earning a reputation as a playboy. In 1956, he traveled to New York with the so-called Hiroshima Maidens - young girls with facial burns from the bomb who had been chosen to receive free surgery in the U.S. - and enjoyed acting as interpreter and unofficial chaperone.

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