Hiroshima survivor talks about nuclear stigma and fight for peace

A Hiroshima survivor recounts the stigma of surviving “hell” and her fight for peace and a world without nuclear weapons.  

Akiko Uehara

I lead the international language services at SWI swissinfo.ch, ensuring that our content is engaging for a global audience. I oversee six departments: Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese and Spanish. I also work on stories related to International Geneva.
Born in Yokohama, Japan, I have lived in Switzerland since 1999 and hold a Masters degree in international relations. I have been working for SWI swissinfo.ch since 2016, following 15 years for Asahi Shimbun at the United Nations office in Geneva, where I followed multilateral and Swiss affairs.

• 
  More from this author
• 
  Japanese Department

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, a second bomb fell on Nagasaki. The bombings forced Japan’s surrender, ending World War II, but at a devastating cost: an estimated 210,000 lives. 

Michiko Kodama was seven years old and inside a school building on the outskirts of the Hiroshima city, some 4 km from the hypocentre when the bomb exploded. 

Kodama survived the explosion and its aftermath, becoming one of the last hibakusha – the Japanese term for atomic bomb survivors. Today, the number of hibakusha still alive has fallen below 100,000, with an average age of over 86. In postwar Japan, they held a complex and often painful status in society – feared, stigmatised, and sometimes even blamed. Many were unable to speak openly about what they had endured.

More

More

International Geneva

A Hiroshima survivor’s voice against nuclear weapons, 80 years on

This content was published on

Aug 2, 2025


A Hiroshima survivor recounts the stigma of surviving what she calls “hell” – and her fight for peace and a world without nuclear weapons.  

Read more: A Hiroshima survivor’s voice against nuclear weapons, 80 years on

Read more

Next



Previous

More

How a Swiss diplomat experienced the end of WWII in Japan

This content was published on

Aug 2, 2025


Eighty years ago, the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, precipitating the end of the Second World War. Camille Gorgé captured the moment in his memoirs.

Read more: How a Swiss diplomat experienced the end of WWII in Japan

More

Dmitry Muratov: ‘I’m not afraid to live without hope’

This content was published on

Aug 14, 2025


Dmitry Muratov, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former editor-in-chief of the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, talks to Swissinfo about truth in the era of digital autocracies. 

Read more: Dmitry Muratov: ‘I’m not afraid to live without hope’