Los Angeles artist/photojournalist Richard Fukuhara (right) presented Kenji Shiga, director of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, with “Children Honoring Children” artwork from his “Shadows for Peace, for the Sake of the Children (Kodomo no Tame ni)” series.
Shiga stated to Fukuhara, “Your devotion to conveying the suffering of the hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) and the horrors of nuclear weapons through art is greatly appreciated, and it is our firm belief that your activity is a sure path towards achieving the abolition of nuclear weapons and world peace.”
Fukuhara’s October visit to Hiroshima was part of a seven-city mission that included Sendai, Ofunato, Nagoya, Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi City, and Nagasaki.
Photo by Kahori Wada/Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
With no response from the Japanese, the bombs were dropped with the approval of President Harry S. Truman . A Little Boy atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, followed by a Fat Man bomb on the city of Nagasaki on August 9. Within the first two to four months of the bombings, the acute effects killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki, with roughly half of the deaths in each city occurring on the first day. During the following months, large numbers died from the effect of burns, radiation sickness , and other injuries, compounded by illness. In both cities, most of the dead were civilians, although Hiroshima had a sizeable garrison.