Yasuaki Yamshita will recount injuries from nuclear explosions in San Luis

Hibakusha is the term used to refer to the survivors of the two nuclear explosions that devastated the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. This Saturday, October 26, Yasuaki Yamashita, a living witness of this last explosion, will speak at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, with the specialist Sergio Hernández Galindo, about his terrible experiences as a survivor of one of the worst war crimes of the 20th century.

Despite the strong historical burden, the nuclear threat is still present today. Precisely, one of the groups created by the survivors and called Nihon Hidankyoreceived the Nobel Peace Prize this year for his contributions and raising awareness about the risks of using atomic bombs.

In interview with The DaySergio Hernández Galindo, anthropologist and specialist in Japanese migration from the College of Mexico and the National Institute of Anthropology and History, spoke about the intense fight that the survivors of this catastrophe have carried out to promote the eradication of nuclear weapons.

“Mr. Yasuake will tell us about many of the moments of the bomb, he was just a child when this crime was perpetrated. The event of the detonation is very strong, but more terrible than living the moment itself, the worst were the following weeks, months and years of these terrible events of which he saw first-hand the consequences,” said Hernández Galindo.

At that time the consequences of radiation were not known and the survivors in nearby cities and towns were seen as sick. They were discriminated against and segregated by Japanese society. This led to many of them migrating to other countries, some died shortly after and some more survived with serious consequences.

After working in a hospital that treated radiation patients, Yamashita saw up close the diseases caused by radiation exposure: Burns, cancer, extreme pain, deformations, death. It was then that he finally understood what it meant to survive.

Yasuaki decided to hide his past and tried to move to a Latin American country; He knew Spanish and learned about Mexican culture. It was 1968, and the perfect excuse was very close: the Olympics.

“When Yamashita came to Mexico, he came to support the installation of infrastructure so that the media could broadcast the competition. He decided not to return to his country and remained as a resident. When I met him and he told me his story, I was impressed and since then we have given these talks to raise awareness among young people about the danger of atomic weapons,” said the expert.

“From my field of action, as a professor and already part of this movement, we have to call to stop the use of nuclear weapons. We are talking about the experiences of a man who finds it painful to remember his childhood, who at first refused to talk about it. Now

“He knows that he has to narrate his past so that it does not happen again,” concluded Sergio Hernández Galindo.

The conference Yasuaki Yamashita: survivor of the Nagasaki nuclear attack [1945[1945will be carried out | 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 26, at the Caja Real University Cultural Center, of the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí. Admission is free.