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

Other family members not as lucky

Perhaps at this point I should mention my maternal side, they lived in Furue which is, I think, approximately three miles from ground zero, and probably south of the ground zero position. And they were basically farmers. They were farming at that time.

On that particular day, my grandparents, my maternal grandparents, grandfather, grandmother, and also my youngest uncle in that family, (that would be my mother’s youngest brother), the three of them took their produce and went into the city to sell. Although I don't know [their] exact location when the bomb exploded, but they must have been extremely close. My grandmother’s body was never recovered, she just disappeared. My grandfather was severely injured and somehow made it back to Furue only to die a few days later. My uncle, he said he was—I spoke to him in the past—he said that he was thrown into the river. There were many, many rivers in Hiroshima. He was thrown into the river, which probably saved his life. But he was severely burned on both of his legs.

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)