Sankichi toge biography channel

  • Toge, who was within

    • Choosing Life

    In 1946, with the war over and Japan occupied, 2nd Lt. Herbert Sussan received a plum assignment. He would get to use his training as a cinematographer and join a Strategic Bombing Survey crew to record the results of the atomic bombings in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. From his first arrival in Nagasaki, he knew that something novel and appalling had happened and that he had to preserve a record of the results, especially the ongoing suffering of those affected by the bomb (known as hibakusha) even months later. When the U.S. government decided that the gruesome footage would not be “of interest” to the American public and therefore classified it top secret, he spent decades arguing for its release.

    His last wish was that his ashes be scattered at ground zero in Hiroshima. The author, his daughter, followed his footsteps in 1987, meeting survivors he had filmed more than 40 years before. And on that journey she found a father she had never really known in life.

    This book recounts Herbert Sussan’s experiences (drawn directly from an oral history he left behind), his daughter’s quest to understand what he saw in Japan, and the stories of survivors whose lives touched both father and daughter.

    AVAILABLE NOW!

      Sankichi toge biography channel


    HW 2: Radio Play

    This short play is a reading of the poem 'Call to Action' written by Japanese poet Toge Sankichi. Toge, who was within three kilometers of ground zero when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, writes about the experiences of victims following WWII and urges them to keep their heads held high. In the background, I layered in a Shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) excerpt along with background sounds of wind and a subway station weaving in and out.

    I was inspired by the sound of the Shakuhachi and wanted to base my play on it. Thematically, the desolate blowing wind is replaced by the buzzing commotion of a subway station. This is meant to symbolize Japan's recovery from a state postwar destruction to become the thriving country that it is today - reflecting the defeated yet hopeful tone of Toge's poem. It is terrible that Hiroshima suffered such a fate during a dark time in history, but nonetheless, Japan's rebirth serves as inspiration for us all.

    The play is designed for 4 channels and can be played binaurally with Omnitone. Enjoy!

    Audio Sources:

    Shakuhachi Excerpt - Performed from FluteNinja
    Wind Sound - Downloaded from FreeSound
    Subway Sound - Downloaded from FreeSound
    Poem Reading - Recorded with microphone

    CONTENTS
    OF THIS SECTION

    Hiroshima - Nagasaki - Fact FileThe Lies Of Hiroshima Are The Lies Of Today - John Pilger 6 August 2008
    The Atomic Bombings
    of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by
    The Manhattan Engineer District, June 29, 1946
    A Penn State Electronic Classics Series Publication


    Hiroshima Bomb


    Nagasaki Bomb

    Armed Conflict & the Law
    What is Terrorism?"'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less'. 'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things'. 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master - that's all'." Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carrol - Through the Looking Glass, c.vimore
    Arthur Koestlerin Janus: A Summing Up" If I were asked to name the most important date in the history and prehistory of the human race, I would answer without hesitation 6 August 1945. The reason is simple. From the dawn of consciousness until 6 August 1945, man had to live with the prospect of his death as an individual; since the day when thefirst atomic bomboutshone the sun over Hiroshima, mankind as a whole has had to live with the prospect of its extinction as a species...as the devices of nuclear warfare become more potent and easier to make, their spreading to young and immature as well asold and arrogant nationsbecomes inevitable, and global control of their manufacture impracticable. ..One might compare the situation to a gathering of delinquent youths locked in a room full of inflammable material who are given a box of matches - with the pious warning not to use it.."

    Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., pilot of the ENOLA GAY, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, waves from his cockpit before the takeoff, 6 August 1945.

    Atomic Bombs and US pilots' greatest thrill..- Audio Video
    Photo Essay on the Bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
    The Gita of Robert J Op
  • Group 9 Presentation - August

    • Literature

    Historical Perspective and Study

    Memoirs & Survivors' Accounts

    Voice of Hibakusha (atomic-bomb survivors)
    Eye-witness accounts of the bombing of Hiroshima, from the video HIROSHIMA WITNESS produced by Hiroshima Peace Cultural Center and NHK (Japan's national TV station)
    Hachiya, Michihiko. .Hiroshima Diary; the journal of a Japanese physician, August 6-September 30, 1945 Warner Wells, trans. and ed. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1955.
    Minear, Richard ed. and trans. Hiroshima: Three Witnesses. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1990.
    Hara Tamiki. Summer flowers.
    Ota Yoko. City of corpses.
    Toge Sankich. Poems of the atomic bomb.
    Kanda, Mikio, ed. Taeko Midorikawa, trans. Widows of Hiroshima: The Life Stories of Nineteen Peasant Wives. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989.
    Cook, Haruko Taya and Theodore F. Cook. Japan at War: An Oral History. New York: New Press, 1992.
    Yamaguchi, Yuko. Kazuyo Yamane and Craig Delaney, trans. The Flame of Hiroshima and Article 9 [Hiroshima no Hi]. Kochi, Japan: A Peace Museum Grass Roots House [Heiwa Shiryo-kan Kusa no Ie], 1995. Originally, published by Shin'nihon Shuppan-sha, in 1988.
    Based on a real story of the flame which was taken from Hiroshima and kept burning by an atomic bomb survivor as a symbol for peace. The book has also Article 9 which renounces war in the Japanese Constitution, translated into twelve languages. The publisher will donate a copy of the book to libraries and Peace organizations around the world each time a copy sells. For more information, please contact:
    A Peace Museum Grass Roots House [Heiwa Shiryo-kan Kusa no Ie]
    9-11 Masukata, Kochi
    780 Japan
    Tel: 0888-75-1275
    Fax: 0888-21-0263

    Novels

    Duras, Marguerite. Hiroshima Mon Amour. Richard Seaver, trans in English. New York: Grove Press, 1961.
    Ibuse, Masuji. Black Rain. New York: Kodansha International, 1979.
    Oda, Makoto. The