..August 2010.. ..New York to Hiroshima..
..New York to Hiroshima to Nagasaki..Shots from the commemoration ceremony held in New York for the victims who died in the atomic bombings.
A small bell is rung simultaneously as in Hiroshima at the time when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
..August 2010.. ..New York..
Portrait of the bronze Shinran Shonin statue that survived the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, now located in New York.
..January 2010 Nagasaki..
On Monday, Tsutomu Yamaguchi-san passed away at the age of 93 in Nagasaki. He was a double hibakusha. Survivor of both atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
He started to tell his story 65 years after the bombings. Here is an article from the Japan Times briefly describing Yamaguchi-san.
..October 2009 New York..
I wonder what it is like to grow up in Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Do the children realize what happened here to their families 65 years ago?
Jet lagged, every morning at 7AM, 2 hours before my first interview with an atomic bomb Survivor I took short walks around the epicenter in Nagasaki. I wandered past the Urakami Cathedral walking up the stumpy rolling hills with school kids catching the public buses. I caught the laughter of 10 year old kids and the louder bantering of teenagers teasing each other. Occasionally saw a kid texting on their cell phone while waiting for a street signal to change.
Every manhole cover on the street in Nagasaki has a star imprinted in the metal. Frequently passed signs and stickers saying…”Nagasaki, the City of Peace.”
I couldn’t help think about the people who were vaporized by the atomic bomb. I was walking on cement that lay on top of ashes and unidentified bones. I was walking on sacred ground.
A city now covers what could be a cemetery. Every atomic bomb Survivor I met had someone in their family who was never found in the carnage of August 9th, 1945. Some vaporized, others burnt to charcoal and ash mixed in with the soil or washed away in the river.
Matsuo-san told me she thinks about saying good-bye to her 11 year old brother on August 9th, 1945. An hour before 11:02AM, when the atomic bomb was dropped. He was walking to work, less than a mile from the epicenter. Never found. Most likely vaporized or turned to ash.
I wonder what it’s like to grow up in these cities. Do they think about what’s beneath their feet when they walk to school?
The entire place had an affect on me. The people, landscape, history, stories, the few remaining heavily damaged fragments of life that barely Survived….
I grew up in a special place. New York is considered one of the capitols of the world. A cross roads of culture and excitement. Growing up in Hiroshima and Nagasaki has to have an affect on people. Whether it’s being aware of the tragedy, the cruelty of life, or the desire to live in a peaceful world.
I don’t know what it’s like growing up in either city. But if I did it would have had a profound affect on me. It did when I was 34 years old.
..September 2008 Nagasaki..
“….Hiroshima is angry. And Nagasaki is praying. That’s the impression. We are not out going. We just pray….”
-Nagasaki Hibakusha (atomic bomb Survivor)
September 9, 2008
..September 2008 Bullet train to Nagasaki
Passing Hiroshima….I’m not sure if I realize what I stumbled upon. Do I appreciate what’s in front of me?
Photographing 11 atomic bomb Survivors in a short and intense amount of time. This is why I became a photographer…and have a hard time stepping away….
curiosity, Love, excitement…
..March 2008 New York to Hiroshima and Nagasaki..
I find myself once again traveling to the Edge of the World. This time to speak with people who have experienced the worst of human actions. It’s remarkable how an event as disturbing as the detonation of the atomic bomb can be lauded as victory for some members of the human population.
A technology so advanced used to destroy and ravage a fellow human. Think about how we could have put the immense resources and advanced science to better human kind?
..I don’t know if it’s guilt or curiosity of what the Survivors of the atomic bomb, Hibakusha, have endured that has me traveling to the other side of the world to meet strangers. It’s both. With an explanation mark on GUILT!
What do you say to a fellow human who has lived through this horrible experience? Am I worthy to look into their eyes? I have a lot of respect for what the Survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have endured.
Maybe listening to their story is the greatest sign of respect I can show each Survivor and victim of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ignoring the fact this happened and people have suffered a lifetime of pain that I could not imagine would be the disrespect a majority of people have showed.
..August 2009 New York to Hiroshima..
8:02AM August 6th, 2009 Hiroshima time, 7:02PM August 5th, 2009 New York time….
64 years after dropping the atomic tragedy on Hiroshima….A wave less lake with the falling sun.
….August 2009 New York and Hiroshima….
This is the story of Nickolay Palchikoff, the first American to arrive in Hiroshima after the atomic bomb.
Nickolay Palchikoff was an American solider, who was born in Russia. In the 1920’s, his family was forced to flee Russia because of the Russian Revolution. They arrived on a boat in Hiroshima. His family called Hiroshima home.
At the age of 16, before the start of WW II, he attends school in the US, shortly after gets drafted into the US army as a translator.
3 weeks after the atomic bomb is dropped and Japan surrenders, he heads to Hiroshima to search for his family. He is the first American to arrive in Hiroshima.
He finds a lifeless city. No buildings, no trees, not many Survivors, scorched earth, a burnt out city. Miraculously he does find his family.
This is the story of his sister, Kaleria Palchikoff Drago, Survivor of the atomic bomb. There is also a 2 minute audio from a US army interview done a month after the atomic bomb fell.
..March 2008 The Woman outside the White House..
When I was attending university I used to photograph a woman who sat in front of the White House protesting the use of nuclear weapons. The last time I saw her was 11 years ago, 1997. She has been holding a 24 hour a day vigil on the street since 1980. Only leaving briefly to go to the bathroom, sleeping on 2 blankets, and a pillow on top of a large wooden mattress, no matter the elements.
I’ve seen her sitting in snow up to her waist and sweating in the oppressive August humidity. She out lasted 4 Presidents who slept about 100 yards away in the Lincoln Bedroom inside a mansion called the White House.
I’ve been carrying a business card she handed me the first time I met her. It was shoved into the corner of my camera bag for 11 years. I wonder if she’s still sits there? I can’t imagine being as devoted to give up my entire life for a cause. 1980 was 28 years ago. She has been sitting out there 3/4 of my life. In that time I’ve seen the birth of my sister, experienced my parents divorce, graduated from college, started my career, traveled around the world twice, and seen the birth of my niece.
I haven’t been to Washington, DC in many years. I wonder if she is still sitting in front of the White House? I wonder if she’s still alive? I thought about her while I was photographing Hibakusha in Nagasaki last fall. When I was sitting in my hotel room one block away from the epi-center, I thought of my friendship with her from 1995-1998. Is she still sitting out there?