On August 6, 1945, when the world's first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the Furuta family was living one mile away from the hypocenter. Five year old Kikuko, her mother, Masako, and her two brothers barely escaped with their lives. However, their soldier father was not so fortunate. Masako never talked about her family's experiences on that day and the grim days following the bombing. Then one day, Masako started to talk about what happened—breaking a silence of nearly fifty years. Written by Kikuko (Furuta) Otake, now a retired assistant professor of Japanese in the United States, Masako's story is a collection of prose-poetry, based on the true story of her family's tragedy. It is written with an "Objectivist" lineation similar in its understated power to Charles Reznikoff's Testimony. Kikuko Otake's Masako's Story is a powerful addition to the literature of the Atomic Bomb, and yet more evidence that we should all work together to stop the Nuclear madness. "This little memoir in verse has a beautiful sweetness, reverence and sorrow that gives its readers freedom to imagine the enormity, the horror of Hiroshima."- Los Angeles Times "[A]nyone who fails to learn from history is doomed to repeat it . . . here is a book to remember it by." - The Japan Times "Vivid and moving." - Mainichi Daily News "Masako's Story is an impassioned call to remember the immense suffering such weapons bring, exhorting that readers never forget the devastation wreaked on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and never allow another use of these weapons of death. Highly recommended." - Midwest Book Review Kikuko Otake (maiden name, Furuta) was born in Osaka, Japan. Her family moved to Hiroshima, her parents' hometown, just a few months before the explosion of the atomic bomb there. At the time of the attack, she lived just over a mile away from the hypocenter. She barely escaped death and sustained a wound to her head. She also suffered greatly from the "atomic bomb syndrome". Her father, most of her uncles, and a number of cousins perished during the bombing. After graduating from Tsuda College in Tokyo, she came to the United States in 1968. She received her M. A. in education from California State University at Los Angeles in 1987. She is now a naturalized U. S. citizen. Based on her mother's account of the atomic bombing, she wrote an autobiographical book, Amerika e Hiroshima kara (To America from Hiroshima) in Japanese, and published it in 2003 in Japan. Masako's Story is the English adaptation of her original book. She published its first edition through the publisher Ahadada Books in 2007, and this book is the revised second edition. Kikuko Otake, an award-winning haiku, tanka and senryu poet, is a retired assistant professor of Japanese language. She lives with her husband in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California. Masako's Story Surviving the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima By Kikuko Otake AuthorHouse Copyright © 2011 Kikuko Otake All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4634-4338-2 Contents Letter to the Reader................................................xv1. I Can't Talk About It Today......................................42. Oh! I Can't Continue to Speak of It!.............................73. Nam'amidabutsu...................................................224. The Remains of Uncle Yataro......................................345. Human Beings Don't Die Easily....................................406. That's Why You Are Still Alive Today.............................447. "Watashi no Ningyo"..............................................49Two Haiku About Masako..............................................551. Atomic Bomb......................................................592. Skinning Tomatoes................................................603. Anniversary......................................................614. I Believe in God.................................................625. WHY..............................................................636. No More Radiation................................................647. Breast Cancer....................................................668. Medicine to Prevent Radiation-Induced Cancer.....................679. I Will Ask YOU...................................................6810. What Would Happen to Our Bodies?................................6911. Nuclear Deterrence..............................................7012. Don't Repeat the Evil...........................................7113. Looking Back, Moving Forward....................................73Epilogue............................................................87Selected Bibliography...............................................89About the Author....................................................91 Chapter One My Family July 1945 My father took this picture less than one month before the atomic bomb was dropped. I recall that I did not want to have my picture taken on that day. As I w