U.S. atomic bombing of Japanese cities and its effects on the women of Japan. In August 1945, U.S. military forces deployed two atomic weapons, each with devastating blast, thermal, and radiation effects, against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first weapon, which used enriched uranium, had never been tested but was dropped on August 6, 1945, on Hiroshima with no advance warning. Casualty estimates vary, but some 100,000 people died immediately and perhaps another 70,000 over the next five years, most from burns, internal injuries, and excessive exposure to radiation. Survivors of the initial blast and fires, including many women, retreated to suburban areas where makeshift first aid stations were established. Over the next few days, internal injuries and radiation sickness killed hundreds, and the aid stations became burial stations.
The Nagasaki bomb, based on plutonium, was similar to the one tested at Alamogordo, New Mexico, in July 1945. It was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Although this weapon had a considerably greater explosive force than the Hiroshima bomb, it was dropped slightly off target. Nagasaki’s lower population density and hilly terrain resulted in fewer total casualties, perhaps 75,000 immediate deaths with an equal number of major injuries.
Casualties in both cities were more prevalent among women than men, largely because of the conscription of males for the war effort, which left more female than male civilians present at the time of the attacks. Both Hiroshima and Nagasaki had strategic value to the Japanese war effort, but each also had a large noncombatant population. In selecting cities as the targets, U.S. officials ensured that there would be a substantial number of female casualties.
The weapons were deployed primarily for their devastating blast effects, but U.S. officials were aware that survivors of the initial explosions would also be subject to radiological effects. After Japan’s surrender and its occupation by the United States, U.S. officials decided to study the long-term effects on survivors of their exposure to radiation. Beginning in late 1945, survivors were subjected to blood and bone marrow tests and screened for leukemia and other diseases that might be attributable to radiation exposure. Although few cancers were identified, researchers did learn that a large fraction of male survivors were rendered at least temporarily sterile and that women seemed able to absorb larger radiation doses than men without immediate ill effects.
In 1947, the U.S. government decided to study the genetic effects of radiation exposures. A massive investigation was launched to identify survivors’ whereabouts at the time of the explosions to estimate the radiation doses they received. Hundreds of midwives in both cities aided the research by registering and reporting pregnancies, terminations, and live births. Mid-wives and mothers were crucial to the data-gathering effort, which involved identifying and following the progress of some 76,626 newborns. Analysis of data gathered through 1953 indicated that parents’ radiation exposures had no statistically significant influence on the health of children, but controversy surrounded the conclusion. The Japanese data continue to inform contemporary international regulations on radiation exposure limits.
Although it had earlier banned all reports on the atomic weapons, the U.S. occupation force permitted a Peace Restoration Festival to take place at Hiroshima in August 1946. Japanese women played an important role in making the festival an annual event, and in 1949 at the request of female activist Kinko Yamada, a peace rally in Hiroshima called for the elimination of nuclear weapons. The Hiroshima Peace Festival is now regarded as the world’s premier demonstration of antinuclear activism.
In 1955, the U.S. government flew several female Hiroshima survivors to the United States, where they underwent reconstructive surgery to repair burn scars suffered during the bombing.
The Hiroshima Maidens, as they were known in U.S. newspapers, stayed with American families while recuperating and became an international symbol of courage and survival.
