Michiko Kodama was only seven years old when the world’s first nuclear weapon was dropped on her hometown of Hiroshima. Since then, she has dedicated her life to ensuring that her generation remains the only victims of a nuclear holocaust.
"When you witness something like this, you think how can I live? Am I allowed to live? But, I’m glad I’m alive," Kodama said. "I’m glad I had the life I wanted, and I think it’s because I can tell the stories of those who have passed away."
Kodama is the assistant secretary general of Nihon Hidankyo, an organization composed of Hibakusha, the Japanese word that refers to the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. In 2024, Nihon Hidankyo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their advocacy work on nuclear nonproliferation.
"To fight against nuclear weapons is to preserve life because it is the weapon that is capable of completely destroying the entire Earth. It’s the weapon that’s capable of stopping time," Kodama, 87, said.
Eighty years after the bombing, Kodama has not forgotten that day, but she worries the world has. And she’s determined to continue reminding the world of the terrors of nuclear weapons.
She remembers being under her desk as the bomb hit. She saw a flash of light followed by an extreme wave of heat. Somehow she survived along with her classmates. She recalled the horrific sight of people who came to her families’ suburb to try and get relief from the epicenter. People so badly burnt that their skin was coming off their flesh.
"These sorts of images show the differences between conventional weapons and nuclear weapons. It’s just a weapon that is so inhumane, so indiscriminate that we just should not have it," Kodama said.
89 seconds to midnight
The danger of nuclear war is closer than ever. The Doomsday Clock, created by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1947, measures how close the world is to man-made catastrophe.
In January, it was moved to 89 seconds to midnight, a stark signal that the world is closer to nuclear catastrophe than it ever has been.
"I fear that World War III will turn into a nuclear war," Kodama said. Nine countries have nuclear weapons, and more want them as a deterrent.
"I think it’s a huge mistake," she said. "Nuclear weapons and humans, and of course the Earth, cannot coexist. I know this from personal experience."
This fear has only grown following recent global events. In June, Israel and the U.S. bombed Iran’s nuclear sites out of fear it was getting close to developing a nuclear weapon. Experts said Iran’s aspirations will not stop, and other countries could follow its example.
"In the span of two weeks, Iran was bombed by two nuclear powers, the U.S. and Israel. That could lead to a perverted logic in which developing the nuclear bomb is seen as their only way to be safe from further attacks," said Thomas Countryman, the Arms Control Association's board chairman.
Kodama warned that more countries with nuclear weapons would only increase the likelihood of a nuclear holocaust taking place.
'A victim of the atomic bomb until I die'
Kodama described apocalyptic scenes from when the bomb first hit in the center of Hiroshima. People riding on Hiroshima’s famous tram instantly turned to charcoal; those that didn’t die instantly had their skin stripped off from the heat of the ground, and many ended up jumping in the river for relief where they also died.
Although she was one of the fortunate ones to survive the bombing, the consequences of the bomb continued well after August 6 for Kodama.
"I’ll be a victim of the atomic bomb until I die. Yes, I can’t escape the fact that I was a victim of the atomic bomb," she said.
Kodama recalled, for example, how she faced discrimination within Japan as a survivor, and was told she would have to live alone without getting married because people at the time did not want their future generations "mixed" with those that survived an atomic bomb. Even after she married and had kids, her daughter suddenly died at 45 after contracting cancer, which Kodama believes was passed down from her.
Her mother, father, and two brothers, one of whom was born after the bombing of Hiroshima, also died of cancer, which she attributed to the effects of radiation exposure.
Even with the devastating effects of Hiroshima, Kodama warned that the bomb dropped 80 years ago would only cause a fraction of the damage that today’s weapons could inflict.
"The atomic bombs that I experienced 80 years ago were like babies compared to today’s nuclear weapons," she said.
Just 20 days before the bomb exploded, she moved from the center of Hiroshima to a suburb. Everyone in her former school was killed. Despite the devastating effects, Kodama noted that in some ways she was lucky because the Hiroshima bomb didn’t completely destroy life.
"When the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima, it was said that no plants would grow for 80 years, but the following year, those trees in the garden sprouted young shoots," she recalled. "If something like that were to happen again, no plants would really grow. They wouldn’t grow for 80 years, or even a hundred years. It would be impossible to survive."
This article, first published by Common Dreams, has been edited and republished with permission from the authors.
