Little Boy

8:15am. August 6th, 1945.

Three metres long, weighing four tonnes, the atomic bomb known as "Little Boy" carrying 50kg of Uranium 235, was dropped above the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Fission caused 1kg of the Uranium to release the effect of 16,000 tonnes of explosive. All buildings within 2km were crushed and burned. 140,000 people were killed. Many of the lives lost were junior school children, volunteering to demolish wooden buildings so they wouldn't catch fire in the bombing raids. One child, who survived the blast, said he only lived because he fell between two desks, and somehow, the desks blocked the heat of the intense radioactive blast. Many were vaporized completely, leaving only a shadow of where their body once was. Others were left with severe burns to their bodies, and many died in the years after, of various effects of radiation.

3:30pm. December 10th, 2014.

The Kanawaga prefectural government announces radiation levels due to the tsunami affected Fukijima Nuclear plant, are not at levels that will harm human health. The ban on water consumption by children & pregnant mothers is also lifted.

Effect of radiation from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

Hiroshima

"How did your mother survive the bomb," I said.

"My Mom is 50. The bomb was 70 years ago," said Maya. 

"My grandmother survived the bomb. She was living in a village outside of Hiroshima when she saw the mushroom cloud, and knew something was wrong."

"Many of that generation did not speak of it for many years. And then they realized the story had to be told. So they started speaking. Some even learned English so they could tell their story to the West, so this will never happen again."

"I met an 80 year old Japanese man on a plane to the States last year," Maya said. "When I asked him where he was going, he said "A three month home-stay. To learn English"."

So his story could be told.