Nagasaki bombing survivor, who devoted her life to promoting peace, dies at 93

Shigemi Fukahori, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945 who devoted his life to standing for peace and campaigning against nuclear weapons, has died. He was 93 years old.

Fukahori died in a hospital in Nagasaki, southwestern Japan, on Jan. 3, according to a Sunday statement from the Urakami Catholic Church, where he prayed almost every day until last year. The church, located 500 meters from ground zero and near the Nagasaki Peace Park, is widely seen as a symbol of hope and peace, as its bell tower and other statues survived the nuclear bombing.

Fukahori was 14 years old when the US dropped a bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, killing tens of thousands of people, including his family. It came three days after the nuclear attack on Hiroshima, which killed 140,000 people. Japan surrendered days later, ending World War II and that country’s nearly century-long violence in Asia.

Fukahori, who worked at a shipyard about three kilometers from where the bomb fell, could not talk about what happened for many years, because of the painful memories and how powerless he felt at the time.

About 15 years ago, he went public after visiting Spain where he met a man who had experienced the bombing of Guernica in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War when he was also 14 years old. The shared experience helped Fukahori to open up.

Fukahori used to talk to students

“The day the bomb fell, I heard a voice calling for help. When I walked and stretched out my hand, a person’s skin melted. I still remember how that felt,” Fukahori told Japan’s national broadcaster NHK in 2019.

He often spoke to students, hoping they would take what he called a “stick of peace,” referring to his speech.

When Pope Francis visited Nagasaki in 2019, Fukahori presented him with a wreath of white flowers. The following year, Fukahori represented the victims of the bombing at the ceremony, making a “pledge of peace,” saying: “I am determined to send our message to make Nagasaki the last place where the atomic bomb was dropped.”

A vigil is planned for Sunday, and funeral services for Monday at Urakami Church, where his daughter will represent the family.