Sumiteru Taniguchi, symbol of Nagasaki A-bombing, dies

August 31, 2017

NAGASAKI- Sumiteru Taniguchi, who suffered severe radiation burns on his back in the US atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945 and served as a living witness to the agonies brought about by the nuclear attack, died on Wednesday. He was 88.

A staunch champion of a world free of nuclear weapons, Taniguchi died of duodenum papilla cancer at a hospital in Nagasaki, southwestern Japan.

On Aug. 9, 1945, in the closing days of World War II, Taniguchi was exposed to radiation at a location 1.8 kilometers from the blast center of the atomic bombing. He was a 16-year-old mailman.

He almost died due to burns from radiation across the whole of his back.

The atomic bombing had serious and lasting effects on Taniguchi's health. He underwent surgery many times to remove calcareous clots that formed in the burn scars and caused intense pain.

After having to lie on his stomach for 21 months following the bombing, bedsores left his chest deeply caved in. With a breathing capacity about half of an average man's, he was unable to speak in a loud voice.

Around 1954, Taniguchi joined campaigns for the abolition of nuclear arms and better support for hibakusha atomic bombing victims, after getting to know Senji Yamaguchi, who was also exposed to radiation in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Jiji Press