Rediscovery of 1982 UN speech by Yamaguchi

December 31, 2013

Drafts show A-bomb survivor bridged differences in anti-nuke speech at U.N.

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201312310065

By KYOSUKE YAMAMOTO/ Staff Writer

NAGASAKI--Recently discovered drafts of the historic 1982 speech that Nagasaki atomic bomb survivor Senji Yamaguchi gave at the U.N. headquarters in New York reveal how a unified and powerful message was crafted with the input of the nation's major anti-nuclear groups.

They also show that criticism of the United States and the Soviet Union, which were locked in a nuclear arms race, was deleted from the initial draft.

A worker at the secretariat of a nonprofit organization that collects and presents materials related to the atomic bombings and the hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) movement in August discovered four drafts for the speech, each representing a stage of editing. They were found in a dossier preserved at a Tokyo office of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo).

Satoru Ubuki, a Hiroshima Jogakuin University professor who has long collected materials associated with the atomic bombings, likened the drafts to a "World Heritage treasure" of the movement against atomic and hydrogen bombs.

"The anti-nuclear movement in Japan was beginning to mend its internal rifts at the time," Ubuki said. "The material is invaluable in the sense that it shows the process by which opinions of different groups were integrated and delivered in front of the world."

The drafts reveal that Yamaguchi (1930-2013), who survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki, had his speech polished up until the final moment. They show how he endeavored to bridge political differences to convey the sentiments of hibakusha and the inhumanity of nuclear arms to the international community.

Yamaguchi, who died in July, was 14 years old when he suffered heavy burns from the atomic bombing on his face and upper body as a student worker at an arms factory, which was only 1.1 kilometers from ground zero. He organized a youth association of Nagasaki's hibakusha in 1955 and went on to help establish the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors Council, which played a central role in the hibakusha movement.

Yamaguchi became the first atomic bomb survivor to address a U.N. special session on disarmament in New York in June 1982. Holding a photo of his keloidal skin from his injuries, he told the mesmerized audience, "Please look closely at my face and hands. ... We, atomic bomb survivors, are calling out. I continue calling out as long as I am alive: No more Hiroshima, no more Nagasaki, no more war, no more hibakusha."

The anti-nuclear movement in Japan at the time was divided along political lines into various bodies, including the Japan Congress Against A- and H-Bombs (Gensuikin), affiliated with the opposition Social Democratic Party of Japan and the General Council of Trade Unions; and the Japan Council Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs (Gensuikyo), affiliated with the Japanese Communist Party. Yamaguchi on the U.N. podium represented a "liaison council" organized by 27 similar groups.

Yoshie Kurihara, 66, who discovered the drafts, accompanied Yamaguchi to New York as a staff worker for Nihon Hidankyo. She said the text was edited on the basis of suggestions presented by leaders of different groups.

None of the four drafts is written in Yamaguchi's handwriting. The text implies the first and second drafts were written in Japan, and the third and fourth drafts were done in the United States.

The initial draft contains an assortment of different handwriting, along with traces of sheets of paper pasted together. Its text combines the drafts proposed by the different organizations.

The second draft added a statement saying that the liaison council had collected nearly 30 million signatures opposing nuclear weapons and had brought them to the United Nations. It also deleted a statement that denounced the United States and the Soviet Union in the initial draft. The Nihon Hidankyo dossier contained a document written by a liaison council official that advised against criticizing specific nations. The revision apparently factored in the suggestion.

A prototype for Yamaguchi's famous line, "No more Hiroshima, no more Nagasaki, no more hibakusha," first emerged in the third draft.

The final draft contains slashes and wavy lines, apparently indicating pauses and intonations to be made when delivering the speech, along with a scribble saying "quickly." It also added "no more war" at the end, and emphasized condemnation of war in general, rather than focusing on the damage inflicted by atomic bombs.

Yamaguchi on the podium stretched his arms wide when he said the word "war."

Kurihara said several representatives of Nihon Hidankyo and other anti-nuclear advocacy groups for peace helped prepare the final draft. But none of the three surviving members who attended that drafting session remembers who crafted the famous "no more" line.

"The phrase was probably included spontaneously, with nobody really being the trigger," Kurihara said, referring to the fact that Nihon Hidankyo at the time championed a slogan saying there should be no more hibakusha.

Mikiso Iwasa, an 84-year-old Nihon Hidankyo co-chairman who helped prepare the final draft, said Yamaguchi had fallen ill ahead of his U.S. trip and could barely remain on his feet.

"He braved his physical condition to touch the emotions of the audience," Iwasa said. "He probably told himself he must do his utmost."

Fumi Yamashita, 65, who served as Yamaguchi's simultaneous interpreter during the U.N. address, said she rehearsed the speech many times with him in a hotel room before he gave it.

"We were in a congenial mood," Yamashita said. "I never noticed he was ill."

Yoshikiyo Yoshida, an 87-year-old former representative director for Gensuikyo, said the group representatives debated hard and often clashed with each other while negotiating the text of the speech. But he said that Yamaguchi had such character that he pleaded with and convinced everyone to reconcile their differences.

"He conveyed our sentiments wonderfully beyond all differences," Yoshida said. "Nobody but Senji Yamaguchi could have given that speech."