A Nagasaki survivor in Zaragoza: “When the bomb fell I was playing in the garden”

Shigemitsu Tanaka was 4 years old when the atomic bomb devastated his city, Nagasaki. Today, he is a member of the NGO Nihon Kidankyo, winner of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. It was founded in 1986 by 800 atomic bomb survivors who advocate for a free world without nuclear weapons.

The survivor visited the University Auditorium on Saturday to take part in a commemorative event that included his powerful testimony and which was attended by the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Carlos Umaña, the rector of the University of Zaragoza and representatives of the Citizen Assembly for Peace of Zaragoza and the Aragon-Japan Cultural Association.

Tanaka recalled the exact moment he saw the bomb fall as “ a blinding flash in the sky followed by the sound of the explosion” while he was playing in his garden. Amid the chaos, windows were shattering and doors were flying.

His father was recruited by the military rescue team and his mother was sent to a nearby school to care for the wounded, both of whom died from exposure to the survivors. He has stressed the poor management of the US government , which never sent medical supplies to the affected cities and was dedicated to covering up the damage caused.

The atomic bombs turned the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki into ruins. More than 600,000 people were exposed to radiation and around 200,000 lost their lives during that year.

As a survivor, Tanaka works to tell his story to the world. For this reason, he is a member of the NGO Nihon Kidankyo, which sends a clear message of peace: a free world without nuclear weapons or wars.