Hibakusha are people affected by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They suffer from radiation-related illnesses and the Japanese government provides special allowances. Many have faced discrimination, but Sadako Sasaki, a famous survivor, wished for peace and is remembered through a statue adorned with paper cranes.
Hibakusha is a Japanese word meaning “people affected by explosions”. The Hibakusha are the people affected by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States towards the end of World War II. Most Hibakusha are Japanese, although some are Koreans who were drafted into the Japanese Army during the war. The Japanese government pays special allowances to Hibakusha survivors, including medical allowances for people who have been affected by radiation-related illnesses.
To be considered Hibakusha, people can fall into several categories. The first includes people who were just over a mile or several kilometers from the explosion of the atomic bomb. The second category includes people who came within a quarter of a mile (two kilometers) of the epicenters of the explosions within two weeks of the bombing. People who have been exposed to the fallout from the bombs are also considered Hibakusha, as are the children of women who are pregnant and exposed to the bombs.
Given that atomic bombs release a deadly payload of radiation, it should come as no surprise to learn that many Hibakusha suffer from diseases caused by radiation exposure, such as leukemia. As a result, many of them require expensive medical care and some of them suffer severely from their radiation exposure. In the months following the atomic bomb detonations, thousands of Hibakusha died because their bodies were unable to cope with the radiation. When Hibakusha dies, they are added to the official memorials of Hiroshima and Nagaski, in recognition of their suffering.
Although the Japanese government provides allowances and assistance to Hibakusha, many of them have historically struggled with discrimination. Radiation sickness wasn’t really understood at the time the bombs dropped and people were afraid it was hereditary or contagious. Many Hibakusha have found themselves ostracized by society and some have kept their status as a Hibakusha a secret so as not to be discriminated against.
One particularly famous survivor of the atomic bombs was Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who was two years old when the bombs were dropped. At the age of 12, she developed leukemia as a result of her radiation exposure and, while she was in the hospital, she undertook a project to fold 1,000 paper cranes. It is said in Japan that if you can fold 1,000 cranes, you will be granted one wish, and Sadako is said to have wished for peace. After her death in the hospital, schoolchildren all over Japan raised money to build a statue of Sadako holding a paper crane; the statue is typically adorned with thousands of cranes sent from around the world in the common hope that atomic bombs will never be dropped again.
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