On August 20, 1942, eight months after the outbreak of war between Japan and the United States, Shinichi Kato returned to Japan on a Japanese-American exchange ship and became a reporter for the Chugoku Shimbun newspaper in his hometown of Hiroshima. It is not known when or how he got the job, but his experience as a reporter for a Japanese-language newspaper in America likely played a part.
The Chugoku Shimbun1 is a regional newspaper with its headquarters in Hiroshima City and sold in Hiroshima Prefecture, as well as in other parts of the Chugoku region, including Yamaguchi, Okayama, and Shimane Prefectures, with a circulation of approximately 538,000 copies (as of March 2021). It has a long history, having been first published in 1892 (Meiji 25) as "Chugoku" and changing its title to "Chugoku Shimbun" in 1908 (Meiji 41).
The Chugoku Shimbun before and after the outbreak of war
The year after the outbreak of war between Japan and the United States (1942), the Chugoku Shimbun celebrated its 50th anniversary. Japan had been gaining momentum since the outbreak of the war, but in June, two months before Kato returned home, it was defeated in the Battle of Midway and was on the defensive. In 1944, the Japanese army was annihilated on Saipan Island, and the Tojo Cabinet resigned en masse. Air raids on the Japanese mainland also began, and in November Tokyo was hit for the first time by air raids.
On May 15, 1945, the Tokyo branch of the Chugoku Shimbun was destroyed by an incendiary bomb attack, followed by the Osaka, Okayama, Ube, Shimonoseki, Tokuyama, and Fukuyama branches in the war. As a result, the Chugoku Shimbun headquarters in Hiroshima city began preparing defense measures against impending air raids.
However, since many of the company's employees had been called up to serve in the military, they mobilized staff from local bureaus in shifts and set up fire curtains and water tanks to prepare for air defense. Meanwhile, newspaper materials were evacuated in preparation for air raids.
As the war situation worsened, the Chugoku Shimbun headquarters, by order of the military, organized the Chugoku Shimbun Citizen Volunteer Corps, made up of Chugoku Shimbun staff and employees of each media outlet in Hiroshima, as well as a self-defense force to protect the building and printing presses from air raids.
The headquarters (captain) of the volunteer corps was the president, Yamamoto Jitsuichi, and it was structured like a military organization, and within this, Kato Shinichi was given the role of First Platoon Commander, second only to the First Company Commander of the main corps. Even if Kato had joined the Chugoku Shimbun immediately after returning to Japan, he had only been there for a few years, so the fact that he held such a position suggests that he was highly regarded for his experience and ability, and had a certain rank as a reporter within the company. However, we do not know anything about his activities at the Chugoku Shimbun before the war.
Calmness before the bomb
On April 1, 1945, the US military landed on Okinawa, and after a ground battle with the Japanese military, the fighting ended on June 23. Air raids on the mainland also became more intense, but Hiroshima city was relatively calm, with US military aircraft only attacking on March 18 and 19, and April 30.
One theory even emerged: "Hiroshima Prefecture was excluded from air raid targets because it was an immigrant prefecture and home to second-generation Americans."
However, the cruelty of war blew away such theories on August 6th. At 8:15 a.m., the atomic bomb dropped by the American B-29 Enola Gay exploded 580 meters in the air, about 25 meters above Shima Hospital at 19 Saikumachi, Hiroshima City (now Otemachi 1-chome).
At the time, the Chugoku Shimbun newspaper company was located in Kamikamicho Ni-ichi, Hiroshima City, about 1.5 kilometers from the hypocenter. The approximately 40 volunteer corps members who were working that day gathered at the forced building evacuation site in Tenjincho, north of the Hiroshima Prefectural Office, just after 8:00 a.m., and waited for orders from their commander. In addition, the dozen or so employees who had been on duty from the previous night to that day had all but gone home to take a nap or to the dormitory for branch office employees in front of the company when the alert was lifted at 7:31 a.m. Only 10 people remained inside the head office building.
The explosion blew all the window glass away, and one employee was blown off the second floor by the blast.
The city of Hiroshima was destroyed in an instant, and horrific scenes could be seen everywhere.
If I went to work as usual
It was a weekday, and people were preparing to start their day's work, such as commuting to work or school. The alert was lifted at 8:00 a.m., so some people were taking a break. When the explosion occurred, Kato Shinichi was on his way to work at the Chugoku Shimbun headquarters. Kato's family home was near Yokokawa Station in the city, but at the time he lived with his wife and children in Hirara Village (now Hatsukaichi City), about 10 kilometers southwest of the city center, and commuted to work from there every day.
He seemed to always be punctual, usually arriving at work at 8 o'clock, but on this day he got home late from an interview the night before, so he took a train that was three or four stops later than his usual one (Hiroshima Electric Railway Miyajima Line).
If Kato had taken his usual train, he would likely have either lost his life or been seriously injured. Kato learned of the explosion on his way to work and from that moment onwards he recorded the actions he took and what he saw.
Remaining accounts
In 1971, when he was devoting himself to peace activities, Kato wrote a four-page account of his experiences in a publication he published titled "Creating Peaceful Coexistence" entitled "The Pikadon Experiences of an Elderly Journalist Who Lived in Hell After the Atomic Bomb."
As the author states, "I rewrote this passage in August 1971, on the occasion of the Atomic Bomb Memorial Day, as there had been strong momentum in recent times to revise the pacifist constitution to 'renounce war', in order to risk my life to prevent World War III and as the starting point for dedicating the rest of my life to the peace movement (author)." It is not known when, but it is believed to have been written after the atomic bombing and then included 26 years later.
It is a vivid account of his journey from the moment he heard about the explosion, to his journey through the destroyed city littered with dead and injured people to the Chugoku Shimbun headquarters in the city, and finally returning home in the evening.
Black rain that resembles oil falls. People cry out asking where the doctors are. A young mother wails for her child. The treatment of American soldiers aboard a shot-down American military plane. The film captures the scene of the city immediately after the bombing.
Next time, I would like to share my experience as it is.
(Titles omitted)
Note 1: Regarding the Chugoku Shimbun, we referred to the "80-Year History of the Chugoku Shimbun" (Chugoku Shimbun Company History Editorial Committee, 1972).
© 2021 Ryusuke Kawai
