Archive for the ‘Hibakusha’ Category
Mr. Matashichi Oishi, former crew member of the Daigo Fukuruyu-Maru (Lucky Dragon 5)
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012Mr. Akio Sakita
Saturday, February 25th, 2012..February 2012.. ..Nagasaki..
Sad news from Nagasaki. Mr. Akio Sakita, an atomic bomb survivor I photographed for From Above, passed away earlier this month from pneumonia. He was 83 years old.
Mr. Sakita was the last portrait I photographed on the initial trip to Nagasaki. An hour after I snapped his photograph I was on a train back to Tokyo. I wanted my memories of Nagasaki to be the eleven people I photographed during the trip. I started photographing in Nagasaki as soon as I arrived and photographed until the last minute I was there.
Mr. Sakita was soft spoken. At times his voice could barely be heard. He paused often for long moments to finish sentences. But the smile in his portrait was one of the most welcoming images of the project.
When I returned to Nagasaki a year later to present From Above as an exhibition at the Nagasaki Peace Museum, Mr. Sakita was the first person to greet me at the gallery opening. He arrived even before the press. I wasn’t sure he was going to attend because he was in fragile health. When I saw him at the gallery it was like seeing an old friend I hadn’t expected to see. We were able to speak for a while and look through the photographs together. This was the first time any of the atomic bomb survivors were able to see the other portraits in the project. They had only seen their own portraits before.
I said good bye to him at the exit of the Nagasaki Peace Museum. I watched him walk alone through the pouring rain of Japan’s famous “rainy season.” When he disappeared out of sight into the horizon I gave my last bow out of respect. This was the last time I saw Mr. Sakita. The moment was captured by a Community Media cameraman shooting a documentary about From Above. I’ve attached the documentary at the end. Mr. Sakita makes his exit at 8:30 into the documentary. It’s moment I will always remember. Almost half of the hibakusha photographed for From Above have now passed away.
From Above By Paule Saviano from paul saviano on Vimeo.
Mr. Hideto Sotobayashi
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012..February 2012.. ..Berlin..
Sad news. Mr. Hideto Sotobayashi, an atomic bomb survivor from Hiroshima, passed away on December 27, 2011. I photographed Mr. Sotobayashi in Berlin during May 2011. He was the only hibakusha I have photographed who moved to Europe later in life.
Mr. Sotobayashi was born in Nagasaki but moved to Hiroshima during his childhood. He was 16 years old, attending school one and a half kilometers from the epicenter when the atomic bomb was detonated over Hiroshima.
In the 1960’s he moved to West Berlin to teach at a university and lived in Berlin the remainder of his life.
I photographed Mr. Sotobayashi around the Brandenburg Gate. It was a typical temperamental spring day in Berlin, warm one moment than interrupted by a cold breeze the next moment. Threatening battleship gray clouds cut through the regal blue sky. He spoke poetically about living in Berlin, experiencing all the changes in the city and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Berlin sounded like his second home.
He didn’t start speaking about his experiences in Hiroshima until a couple of years ago. After the March 11th earthquake and tsunami resulting in the disaster at the Fukushima Diiachi nuclear power plant, Mr. Sotobayashi spoke more frequently throughout Europe about his experiences in Hiroshima and the dangers of radiation.
Recently Mr. Sotobayashi was responsible for helping get a small monument built in Potsdam, Germany remembering those who perished in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
He was one of the most passionate hibakusha I photographed for From Above. He understood the urgency to speak out about the dangers of nuclear weapons and catastrophe.
Even though his portrait isn’t included in the From Above book because I photographed him after it went to print, his portrait in Berlin will be included in future From Above exhibitions.
I tried to contact him a couple of times this autumn to see how he was feeling. But wasn’t able to connect. Today I received the sad news he passed away on December 27th, 2011.
From Above book release featured in Metropolis Magazine (Tokyo)
Friday, February 17th, 2012..February 2012.. ..Tokyo..
A story written by Colin Buchan Liddell for Metropolis Magazine about From Above being released as a book.
http://metropolis.co.jp/features/feature/the-unforgettable-fire/
From Above features my portraits of atomic bomb survivors and fire bombing survivors from Tokyo and Dresden.
The book is available in Japan through Kinokuniya book store and Amazon.com.jp. In the US and Europe, it’s available by contacting me directly and soon through PhotoEye.com.
Mrs. Hisayo Yamashita
Monday, January 30th, 2012
Atomic bomb survivor Mrs. Setsuko Thurlow visiting schools in New York
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012
Atomic bomb survivors speaking to NY students
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
From Above
Saturday, December 31st, 2011
Mrs. Yamashita at Gallery EF, Last Goodbye, November 2010
“With gratitude of life, I live my life as strong as I can.
And for the sake of people who were forced to end life at that moment,
it is my role to make the world go around.” –Mrs. Hisayo Yamashita
“I attend the memorial service every year on August 9th,
to apologize to the people I had to stand by and watch die.” –Mr. Hisanobu Murozono
Mrs. Chisa Tanimoto
“I did not even think I had been saved.
I was filled with hate for a long time.
But now, I devote my life to telling others my story.
It is my responsibility to teach younger generations
about the dignity of life and the importance of peace.” –Mrs. Suzuko Numata
“Among humankind’s abilities, it is said imagination is the weakest and forgetfulness the strongest.” —Mr. Akihiro Takahashi
Atomic bomb survivor Mr. Akihiro Takahashi
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011..November 2011.. ..Hiroshima..
Today atomic bomb survivor (hibakusha) Mr. Akihiro Takahashi passed away at the age of 80. He was standing in a school yard 1.4km from the hypocenter along with 150 students when the atomic bomb was detonated over Hiroshima.
I was fortunate to have photographed him exactly a year ago at his home. I snapped photograph 12 frames of film before he had to be carried back to his bed.
It was admirable to be in the presence of someone who has given every moment of their life to pleading that the world would be a better place without nuclear weapons. He has sacrificed a lifetime explaining how much the hibakusha have suffered. Likewise, he has urged the future generations that it is crucial for them to have a voice against nuclear weapons, because these weapons are a continuing threat today to world peace.
His peace activism started early in life and has carried on throughout. He attended the first Hiroshima Citizens’ Conference Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs, held in 1954, and has feverishly spoken about the need to eliminate nuclear weapons in many countries throughout the world including the United States, the former USSR and China.
His most memorable moments included his trips to the former USSR in 1965 and his speech, in 1983, at the UN European Headquarters in Geneva. Concurrently, he also visited to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) in Vienna, where he requested that photos of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki be placed on display in the IAEA building. His request was rejected. He also traveled to China, in 1986, where he met victims of the Nanjing Massacre.
However, his most memorable moment was during June 1980 when Mr. Takahashi visited Washington D.C. to speak at the Exhibition of the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki organized by the Hiroshima Youth Association. A meeting was arranged by a journalist with Paul Tibetts, the pilot of the “Enola Gay,” the aircraft the “Little Boy” atomic bomb was dropped from. It was the first time a crew member met with an atomic bomb survivor.
Today a great humanitarian has silently slipped away.
FROM ABOVE featured on the John Batchelor Show, WABC Radio
Sunday, October 30th, 2011My interview with talk show host John Batchelor was broadcast on WABC Radio this weekend. It was the first US interview about FROM ABOVE, my book featuring portraits and testimonials of atomic bomb survivors and firebombing survivors from Dresden and Tokyo.
The interview can now be heard on the web at this link:
http://podfuse-dl.andomedia.com/800185/podfuse-origin.andomedia.com/citadel_origin/pods/WABC/WABC-Batchelor/jbs_102911b.mp3
The book can be purchased in the US, Japan and Europe from this links:
http://www.photoeye.com/bookstore/citation.cfm?catalog=I1040
There will only be one edition of the book printed and we hope to have all copies sold by the end of the year.
