Memories in Hiroshima
201301616 Yujeong Suh
I remember my grandmother regularly visited Japan once a year. At first, I unconsciously thought that she went Japan as a trip. However, I started to get curious about her regular visit to Japan since I had never heard of any stories that my grandmother had any connection with Japan or Japanese.
My grandmother was born in Japan in 1937 in a small village near Hiroshima. Both of my grandmother's parents were surely Koreans. At the time of the 1930s, the Korean peninsula was under the control of Japanese imperialism. A lot of Koreans were forcefully drafted to work at mines or at wars for the Japanese empire. Also, other Koreans moved to Japan since it was hard to support their livelihood in their hometown. Therefore, those people went to Japan and settled there. My grandmother's family was one of those people. The family members including her parents and her siblings settled in Japan for their livelihood near Hiroshima.
When I heard the word Hiroshima, I was in a shock for a second. The word Hiroshima reminded me of the event '1945 Hiroshima atomic bomb explosion' that I had learned from several media sources and school. So, I rapidly changed the topic and asked her, "Were you in Hiroshima when the bomb exploded?" She hesitated for a moment but finally answered, "I wasn't exactly in Hiroshima but I was quite near there since I lived nearby."
The day had no difference with other days. It was just an every single ordinary day. She was a little girl at that time. She was in the house with her parents, brothers and sisters. She rolled her eyes to recall the memories. She made a several coughs and started, "Suddenly the whole space became fiercely shining. Her eyesight became so white that she could not see anything even my family members who were in same place. The flash of massive light stayed for several moments."
Hearing her experience, my mouth was opened wide and had no signs to get closed. So, I tried to ask her right away. Then she stopped me and replied, "You have to listen all of my words. My story has not ended yet." She continued, "And after the massive shining for some moment, the sudden deep darkness came. Even in the very morning, the whole world fell into a deep darkness. Again, I could not see anything nearby but this time not because of shining but blackness." She continued, "Since so many years have passed, I cannot recall the situation exactly. However, still, I can remember the feelings that I had at those times. I was just scared looking at the massive shines and darkness and shivered as if I was naked in the mid winter. (The day of the explosion was in August) It seemed as if I was in the living hell."
After that devastating atomic bomb experience, my grandmother and her family came back to their hometown, Pusan, Korea. The day of the Hiroshima atomic bomb explosion was equal to that of the collapse of Japanese imperialism and that of liberation of Korean peninsula. And since the day, she has lived a normal life and the experiences she had in Japan started to fade away in her mind. She could not speak Japanese anymore. She just could understand several Japanese expressions. Her childhood in Japan began to be a folk tale of her life.
Then, several years ago, she received a call from one organization. The call was from the organization that dealt issues of the Hiroshima atomic bomb explosion. The organization said that my grandmother was qualified to receive health medical measurement for free since she was confirmed that she lived near Hiroshima at the time of the atomic explosion in 1945. So that was the reason she visited Japan several times. She went there to take medical measurement service provided by the organization.
She told me, "When I received the call, I had mixed feelings." First, she was surprised because she had lived her life forgetting the experience. Second, the call made her to remind the devastating day that she had to experience. She became sorrowful. At the day of the Hiroshima atomic explosion, a lot of people got dead and severely damaged. Among those, a lot of Korean people were included. As she mentioned, a lot of Koreans lived in and near Hiroshima at that time and she was one of them. She said, "I was too young to know all of this at that time. However, by the time I received the call, so many years had passed and I was old enough to be able to understand this tragedy."
Looking at my anxious face, she added, "Fortunately, I have not suffered from any disease or side effects of the bomb explosion. I was lucky that I was not at the exact scene of the explosion. So relieve your face."
After the interview with my grandmother, I searched Internet to know more about the Hiroshima bomb explosion and its Korean victims. Later, I could found out that Korean victims of the Hiroshima atomic bomb had protested for Japanese government for proper compensation for many years. However, due to the lack of attention, they could not be recognized and treated properly by our society and people. I was aware of Hiroshima bomb explosion since I had heard of it from many media. However, until now, I have not realized that the event had any relevance with me and my family. After the conversation with my grandmother, I felt guilty of my ignorance and indifference toward my grandmother and the Korean victims.
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