Entrevistas

1. Nisei Parents

2. His family Traveled to Japan in 1940

3. His Memory of August 6, 1945

4. Immediately after the bombing

5. Escape from Hiroshima

6. Other family members not as lucky

7. Returning to Hiroshima in ruins

8. His parents had little hope that he had survived the atomic bomb

9. Reuniting with parents in America

10. Adjustment to American life

11. The moment he realized he identified as an American

12. Overcoming trauma and speaking about his A-Bomb experience

13. On telling his wife he had radiation sickness and his son’s cancer

14. His views on nuclear weapons

Kakita,Howard

(n. 1938) Japonés estadounidense. Sobreviviente de la bomba atómica de Hiroshima

His parents had little hope that he had survived the atomic bomb

My parents were in Poston, Arizona as I mentioned. When the A Bomb was dropped, evidently they got hold of a newspaper, which had the aerial view of…totality of [the] Hiroshima area. And within that aerial view, there were rings of destruction. Like the center painted in red would be the area of total destruction. Then maybe...quarter miles later it would be 75%. I'm kind of making up the percentage, then it kind of expands out. But the problem was that we were in the first ring of total destruction. And they could pinpoint where we were exactly, because it’s a junction of two major rivers. And they'd say whoa, that's where we were living, so they had little hope that we had survived.

However, they did initiate a search through various organization to find us. And it was through the American Red Cross, several months later, it wasn’t immediate, they told us that it took them quite a bit of time. I never found out exactly what quite a bit of time is, but I would think it’s measured in months, before they found out that we have survived.

bomba atómica sobrevivientes de la bomba atómica hibakusha Hiroshima (ciudad) prefectura de Hiroshima Japón Segunda Guerra Mundial

Fecha: September 3, 2019

Zona: California, US

Entrevista: Masako Miki

País: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Entrevista

Howard Kakita nació en 1938 en el este de Los Ángeles, California. Su familia lo llevó a Japón en 1940. Sus padres y su hermano menor regresaron a los Estados Unidos en 1940 para ocuparse de su negocio, pero Howard y su hermano mayor, Kenny, se quedaron en Japón.

Cuando la guerra empezó, su familia en los Estados Unidos fue encarcelada en Poston, AZ. El 6 de agosto de 1945, la bomba atómica cayó sobre Hiroshima. Howard estaba a 0.8 millas del hipocentro y sobrevivió. Él y Kenny regresaron a los Estados Unidos y se reunieron con su familia en 1948.

Howard siguió una carrera en ingeniería informática. Después de su retiro, se unió a la Sociedad Americana de Sobrevivientes de la Bomba Atómica Hiroshima-Nagasaki (ASA) y ha estado compartiendo su experiencia con la bomba atómica. (Septiembre 2019)