III The People’s Lives: Rebuilding and Changes 1 Restarting from Ruins
1 Restarting from Ruins
Hiroshima was reduced to ruins by the atomic bombing. Many of its citizens had to rebuild their livelihoods on their own. They experienced unspeakable suffering. A census of the city’s population on November 1, 1945 shows that the population had dropped to one-third its pre-bombing level. As of November 1, there were 137,197 people living in the periphery of the city, which had escaped the fires.1)
“Three months on and still not fully recovered.” The Chugoku Shimbun had returned to its head office, in Kaminagarekawa-cho (today’s Ebisu-cho, Naka-ku) in Hiroshima City, which had been completely burned. It resumed printing and publishing on its own from the November 5, 1945 edition, which featured a photo of the city center with rubble everywhere. The coverage filled almost the entire second page of the morning edition to this article. It made the following appeal:
“Rather than some elaborate, grand, esoteric concept of recovery, what citizens long for is no more than homes that will protect them from the cold and supplies of food to stave off hunger.”
In those days, survival was the greatest concern. Electric lights were now starting to light up2), but there was no prospect for gas supplies to be restored3). The Housing
Corporation’s Hiroshima Branch had just begun their housing construction plan and ordered materials from the former munitions factory.4) Make-shift huts were being built, but people had to rely on ground water for potable water.5)
Even with the arrival of “peace” that followed defeat in the war, the rationing of staple foods did not increase but continued to decrease. The amount of rations distributed during the war was about 345 grams a day per person, but decreased by 10% directly before the end of the war. Roughly 315 grams continued to be distributed until November 1946.6) People could only rarely eat cooked rice; instead, their main staples were potatoes and thin rice gruel consisting of a little rice mixed with vegetables and wild grasses.
A fifth-grade boy at Noboricho National School (a primary school in today’s Naka-ku) wrote the following about living in the extreme poverty.7)
“My mother tells our neighbors all the time that the hardest thing is not having any food or clothes for family. We live in a hut that my father built, but there are a lot of cracks, and drafts come whistling in. It’s so cold that I can hardly sleep at night. There is no electricity, so we burn wood in a hibachi (brazier) for light. We have to travel far to find firewood. We also have to go far to get water. I cannot take a bath so I am dirty from head to toe.”
According to a survey on the livelihood of 1,000 residents as December approached. 86% actually responded that their starvation was inevitable.8) Agricultural villages, which would play key roles in increasing food production, were exhausted from the all-out effort to win the so-called “holly war.” In Hiroshima Prefecture alone, more than 2,000 people were either dead or missing as a result of the Makurazaki Typhoon, which had raged in September, the month after the bombing.9)
The government and local municipalities did not have any plans to immediately rectify the situation, so the citizens had to ensure their survival by themselves. As a result, black markets sprouted up immediately and thrived in the ruins of Hiroshima.
2 Reconstruction Starts with the Black Market
In the wake of the bombing, at around the end of August 1945, small stalls appeared here and there in front of Hiroshima Station.10)
Michihiko Hachiya, director of the Hiroshima Communications Hospital, wrote about what he saw in the area around the station on September 15. He went there after hearing that “Occupation Forces” were in the vicinity of the station.”11)
“On the roadside people were selling a variety of things on wooden boards ranging from a half to a full tatami mat in size. Small huts were also built there. At storefronts there were substitute foods like seaweed noodles (udon noodles made of seaweed), oden hodgepodge, mugwort cakes, and cakes made of whatever ingredient could be used. The shops looked shabby but they all looked to be prospering…. I could not bear to look at the poor street children, so I left the station area and went home.”12)
Stretching out at the intersections of the delta streets, black markets were also called the “free markets.” “Hiroshima’s reconstruction started with black markets.” An article in December 19, 1945 edition of the Chugoku Shimbun described the energy of the black markets.
“It does not matter where the money comes from: it could have been a 100-yen bill from a rich man’s pocket, or insurance money that someone has just received, or a ten-yen bill that felt cheap in the businessman’s wallet. Once it comes to this market, it is all busily passed from one stall to the next. The shoe store keeper who receives money for repairing shoes buys candies, and the candy store keeper buys tangerines.”
The Prefectural Police Department in charge of keeping security initially considered the black markets helped people to live better lives, and tacitly approved of them to some extent.13) Some 1,500 “instant merchants” appeared in front of Hiroshima Station, as well as over 500 at each black market set up in Tenma, Koi and Yokogawa (those are parts of today’s Nishi-ku), and the market in Ujina (part of today’s Minami-ku).14) As of June 1946, the black markets had expanded to 21 locations with 1,863 shops in Hiroshima Prefecture, because of a shortage in rationed goods and the increasing number of returning soldiers.15)
However, while one could freely buy daily necessities at the black markets, they also caused vicious inflation. There were also various illegal activities (such as gambling) going on in the open, so the police decided to conduct nationwide crackdowns on black markets.
The Hiroshima Prefectural Police Department started their crackdowns in February 1946.16) In the early morning of June 13, they surrounded the five black markets (including the one in front of Hiroshima Station) “blocked traffic and inspected the possessions of shoppers, merchants, and people hanging around the market,” and arrested over 1,000 people.17) Two hundred British Commonwealth MPs (in charge of the occupation of Hiroshima) were also dispatched. After this crackdown, which was the largest of the six crackdowns that occurred before and after this one, the black markets in Hiroshima fell into rapid decline.
Local municipalities also implemented their own countermeasures. The City of Hiroshima planned to create public markets to safeguard the daily lives of residents. The city government opened 19 shops in Koi on June 5, 14 shops in Minami-machi (part of today’s Minami-ku) on June 20, and 23 shops in Yokogawa on July 15.18)
The thriving black market in front of Hiroshima Station was gradually transferred to the open space in front of the Management Division of the Japanese National Railways Hiroshima Railway Bureau and to Kojin-machi (part of today’s Minami-ku). Starting that July, these markets were referred to as the “people’s markets.” Nameplates were displayed in front of every shop to clarify responsibility for the goods sold.19)
3 Food Crisis
“People around the country must renew their resolve to share what little they have and their hardships. We must help each other to overcome this predicament.”
These were the words of the Emperor Showa broadcast over the radio on May 24, 1946.20) A big rally to protest the delay in rice rationing (called the “Food May Day”) took place in front of the Imperial Palace on May 19. On participant was arrested for lèse-majesté (under the former Constitution of Japan).
In Hiroshima City on May 21, when the distribution of rations had been delayed for 11 days, the citizen representatives of the Nakajima school district (part of today’s Naka-ku) had a face-to-face negotiation with Governor Tsunei Kusunose to demand that rations be supplied.21) It was not uncommon for juveniles to defraud people of rice or steal lunches from students on their way to school.22)
Facing unprecedented food shortages, Hiroshima Mayor Shichiro Kihara called for self-sufficiency on June 27 in his address, “To Hiroshima Citizens!”23)
“If you have your own land or families or friends in rural areas, return there for the time being and help increase agricultural production. If you remain in the city, save your rice by eating vegetables and edible wild grasses, and stretch these provisions out as much as possible starting today. In preparation for the next crisis, make every use of the burned-out land and other vacant lots…. Make utmost efforts. We must make our own way with our own hands.”
The bottoming-out of the food crisis continued.
“We also ate frogs at the grass festival.” On June 24, before Mayor Kihara made the appeal, the City of Hiroshima held an “edible wild grass tasting event” in front of Hiroshima Station.24) In this event, skinned, deep fried pond frogs were also offered. Wild grass recipes were taught at municipal elementary schools.
Hiroshima Prefecture organized teams that visited town and village leaders and the heads of agricultural associations to ask for rice. The City of Hiroshima created groups of blacksmiths to repair farm implements and asked farmers to kindly offer their stock of rice to the suffering people. On July 12, a truck loaded with a supply of two million cigarettes left city hall. These cigarettes were sent in thanks for the relief rice that was a lifeline for Hiroshima’s 180,000 citizens. City councilors went to the norther Hiroshima Prefecture to express their gratitude.25)
Every day people saved off starvation with precarious relief rice and rice bought at black markets. From July 17, however, food rationing was suspended for three days every month, and the destitute were told that they would be supplied with only two dango balls per person per day. 26) Virtually no rice, vegetables, or fish was rationed. By the end of August mugwort and dried sweet potato vines were powdered and distributed unprocessed. This was the worst point of the food shortage.27)
The government requested that the General Headquarters (GHQ) import provisions. Wheat, corn and canned pineapple were then sent to five cities in Hiroshima Prefecture. The Hiroshima City Council unanimously approved a resolution to thank GHQ and expressed their gratitude to General MacArthur.
The food crisis struck children hardest as they need to eat to grow. In a survey of 1,460 children attending Hijiyama National School (a primary school in today’s Minami-ku), only 180 brought lunches, and only 78 of them had lunches with rice cooked with barley.29)
At the end of July 1946, the City of Hiroshima conducted a physical examination on the 19,800 students at 31 schools in the city. Compared with the 1940 survey, conducted before Japan went to war against the U.S., boys were on average 5.5 centimeters shorter, and girls were 3.0 centimeters shorter. Thirteen-year old first-year students in the advances course of elementary school were as much as 12.9 centimes shorter. Health department technicians pointed out that this was not only due to insufficient intake of calories but also the atomic bombing that had greatly weakened the children’s bodies, internally and externally. Psychologically, the children were diagnosed as being easily irritated and restless due to inflation, starvation, and dire social unrest.30)
Around the beginning of 1948, the food situation slowly began to improve. Rationing of sweet potatoes, synonymous with “stable foods,” became shunned, and the people of Ujina-machi held a “town meeting to reject potatoes.”31) The amount of staple foods rationed increased to some 390 grams per person per day from November of that year, but 82% of Hiroshima residents thought it was still insufficient.32) Rationing of clothes was also scarce, and high prices continued at the free markets.
Even in these difficult situations, children went to schools, which had resumed. They were now able to dream of tomorrow.
4 Open-air and Borrowed Classrooms
Noboricho National School (a primary school in today’s Naka-ku), which was destroyed in the fires that followed the atomic bombing, borrowed the ferroconcrete building of the Hiroshima Central Broadcasting Station, which had remained standing in the fire, and resumed classes on October 5, 1945. Desks and chairs from the former Corps of Engineers were hauled in by large hand-drawn carts.33) The classrooms were moved from the broadcasting station to the Hiroshima Central Telephone Bureau, but with the start of repairs there, they had no choice but to return to the school’s playground. The following comes from a fourth-grade boy’s essay titled “Our School.”34)
“We started having class outside. We even have class on rainy days. And on really hot days when we feel dizzy, we put on hats while we study. Soldiers from the occupation forces were interested in us studying here and there in the burned city, so they often came by to look at us and take pictures. One day, during our morning assembly, the principal said a school building was going to be built soon. I was so happy to hear this.” The ten-classroom, one-story temporary school-building was finished at the end of June 1946, but classes were held in two shifts except for the sixth grade as there were not enough classrooms. After the Fundamental Law of Education was promulgated, Noboricho National School became Noboricho Elementary School in April 1947. But because of the increase in the number of students, outdoor classes under simple reed roofs continued. In this situation, a committee to promote reconstruction and conducted fundraising was established at the Noboricho Elementary School by parents and alumni of the school district. In March 1949, a two-story wooden school building with 13 classrooms was built in the first phase. In the second phase, another building with 15 classrooms was built in October to accommodate the remaining 400 students from the temporary building. The cost of five million yen for the first phase and six million yen for the second phase was split between the school and the city government.35)
The Noboricho Elementary School was not the only school that faced difficulties in reconstruction. There were 37 National Schools (primary schools) before the bombing, but after the bombing, only 11 schools had usable buildings, including the ferroconcrete buildings with twisted window frames at Honkawa and Fukuromachi National Schools.36) Nakajima, Kojin, and other National Schools resumed classes in the open air.
In 1947, seven municipal junior high schools opened under the new education system, but they inherited or borrowed the elementary school buildings that were not burned down in the fire. The Fifth Junior High School (now Noboricho Junior High School) borrowed the third floor of the ferroconcrete building at Fukuromachi Elementary School. When the junior high school opened, it had only three buckets, five brooms, and two pieces of white chalk.37) The following is an article on a classroom scene at the junior high school.38)
“As there are no textbooks or mimeographs to make printed materials, lessons are conducted in a very primitive way: verbally from teachers to students. But the education method that focuses on discipline with long lists of restrictions for teachers and students was done away with. Instead, teachers encourage various sports and fostered students’ emotional development in many ways. They are making tremendous efforts to make up for the insufficient facilities.”
The number of junior high schools following the new educational system increased to 12 in April 1949, and the number of junior high school students increased to a total of 8,761 in 1950. From around this time, full-scale construction of permanent school buildings and installation of school equipment began, including those for elementary schools.
5 The Rise of Entertainment and Culture
Soon, a sense of liberation that came with the end of the war was in the air; it was even present in the ruins of the delta. Sales of beer began at the burned-out Kirin Beer Hall on September 4, 1945, one month after the bombing. There the customers drank beer while standing. The Chugoku Reconstruction Foundation opened a tea room at the Municipal Asano Library, which had withstood the fires, serving a glass of sugar water for 10 sen (0.1 yen).39)
Restaurants and eateries counted on hungry residents, and their numbers increased by 50% to 767 (10 restaurants, 750 eateries, and 7 meal-coupon cafeterias) by the following summer, when there were some 10,000 new buildings in an atomic desert. “Eating places” revived as quickly in Hiroshima as in other cities.40)
People were also hungry for entertainment. All movie theaters except for the Minato Theater in Ujina were destroyed by the bomb. However, the Hiroshima Theater, affiliated with Shochiku, opened at the east end of the Kojin Bridge in front of Hiroshima Station in February 1946, and the Meiga Theater opened on the seventh floor of the Fukuya Department Store in May. In 1946 alone eight theaters opened.41) In 1949 there were 14 movie theaters, and six theaters for theatrical performances and other purposes.42) Even if they had to stand, the citizens went to the theaters about 13 times a year on average, which was higher than the nationwide average of 10 times a year per person.43)
Social dancing also became popular. There were no dance halls before the war, but in July 1946 the Hiroshima Hall opened behind the Hiroshima Theater.44) The hall had a floor space of 20 stub (66 square meters) and hired 17 dancers. By 1949, the number of dance halls and dance studios offering lessons had increased to 19.
Three years after the bomb more and more women preferred wearing long skirts than mompe work pants. Relief packages began to arrive from relatives who had immigrated to the mainland U.S. and Hawaii, and “hakuraiya” shops also increased in number. These stores were unique to Hiroshima and sold goods from overseas.45)
Setonaikai Bunko was the first bookstore.46) It opened in the spring of 1946 in a temporary building located in Shimonagarekawa-cho (in today’s Nagarekawa-cho, Naka-ku). The owner, also a board member of the Hiroshima Prefecture Tourism Association, launched Hiroshima, a general magazine, in June 1948. In May of the following year, he published an all-English photobook, LIVING HIROSHIMA. In September 1946, a store with a sign “Bookseller Atom,” written in English and Japanese, opened in a make-shift hut near the former Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, later called the A-bomb Dome.47)
The Hiroshima City Asano Library, which had been completely burned, was temporarily reopened in October 1946 at the Sanyo Buntokuden in Hijiyama. Once some repairs were finished, the library returned to Ko-machi (part of today’s Naka-ku) in June 1949. The CIE (Civil Information and Education Section) Library opened in a one-story mortared building in Naka-machi (part of today’s Naka-ku) in November 1948. It became popular with young people. It played records and showed movies; and those who were attracted to American culture used the library. In 1950, the number of users rose to 76,522.48) The Prefectural Children’s Library (which later became Prefectural Library) was opened next to the CIE Library in November 1951.49)
“Give dreams to the children of an A-bombed city.” The first cultural facilities built in the ruins of Hiroshima were the Children’s Cultural Hall, built in May 1948 on the former military ground stretching in Moto-machi (part of today’s Naka-ku), and the Hiroshima City Children’s Library, which opened in December 1952. The former was built with funds raised mainly by teachers and was operated by the city from 1950, while the latter was built with a four million-yen donation from the Hiroshima Kenjinkai of Southern California in the United States.
People of Japanese origin, “overseas kin,” immediately offered support to the citizens of Hiroshima City and Hiroshima Prefecture who suffered from the atomic bombing.
Hiroshima was the “emigrant prefecture” with the largest number of people emigrating overseas.50)
6 Support from Overseas Japanese Communities
On March 26, 1948, the Hiroshima Chamber of Commerce and Industry received a letter from Los Angeles saying that the Kenjinkai had established an organization to assist the reconstruction of Hiroshima. They decided to do so after Toshinori Kumamoto told them about the situation in Hiroshima, using movies he had taken with his 16-mm camera when he returned to purchase Japanese goods. He also told them about Hiroshima Governor Tsunei Kusunose’s request for support of the reconstruction of Hiroshima.51)
The Hiroshima Kenjinka of Southern California52) raised $3,000 at the meeting in February when they decided to support Hiroshima.53) “To Kenjinkai members: Donate to the A-bomb victim relief fund.” Giichi Takata, president of the Kenjinkai, made this call for donations in the local Japanese paper.54)
With the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese military, 121,000 first-generation Japanese and the second generation Japanese-American citizens living in the West Coast of the United States were ordered to move inland and sent to 10 internment camps.55) After the war, Japanese Americans with ancestry from Hiroshima were also in the midst of rebuilding their livelihoods. Their lives were not easy, either. However, the Hiroshima Kenjinkai of Southern California raised $12,000 within half a year from its call for support. The letter also noted that a portion of it was to be sent in the form of relief goods to 548 children and mothers at five facilities, including the Ninoshima Gakuen, a foster home in today’s Minami-ku, and the Hiroshima War Orphans Foster Home in Itsukaichi-cho (now Minaga, Saeki-ku) on the outskirts of the city.56)
The Hawaii Society for Relief of Hiroshima War Victims was formed in Honolulu, Hawaii in April 1948.57) Kyuzo Terada, who was an executive of the board, and others visited Hiroshima as buyers in October 1947. During their visit, Yutaka Terada, Kyuzo Terada’s younger brother and then chairman of the Hiroshima City Council, and Mayor Shinzo Hamai asked them for support. The fundraising activity spread to Oahu, Kauai and other islands, and five months after the formation of the society, they raised the enormous sum of $48,114.70.58)
By June 1949 that sum had risen to some $113,000.59) In those days, one dollar was 360 yen, and the average salary of a factory worker in Hiroshima City was 8,175 yen for men and 3,484 yen for women.60)
With GHQ’s permission, $90,000 was first sent in July 1949. It was divided evenly between the city and the prefecture.61) With its $45,000 (16.2 million yen), the City of Hiroshima built four more dormitories for widows with small children in Moto-machi, a maternity clinic in Ujina, a nursing home for elderly persons in Kannon-mura (now part of Saeki-ku) on the outskirts of the city, among other facilities.62) With an additional $20,000, the City established a sheltered workshop for the physically-disabled and other facilities.
The Hiroshima Kenjinkai of Southern California sent four million yen to the City of Hiroshima in May 1950 to build a children’s library.63) The Hiroshima City Children’s Library was built using the funds from this donation and some funds from the city government. This glass-walled circular building became a landmark of Hiroshima. Kenzo Tange, who designed the Place Memorial Park, also designed this building. In June 1954, the Seattle Hiroshima Kenjinkai (now Seattle Hiroshima Club) sent 762,000 yen64), which was used to purchase books.
Support from overseas Japanese communities came not only from the United States. The Relief Group for A-Bomb Orphans was established in 1950 in Sao Paolo, Brazil by people from Hiroshima Prefecture and sent relief supplies to eight facilities.65) In June 1951, the Hiroshima Kenjinkai Argentina sent some 670,000 yen for reconstruction funds to the City of Hiroshima.66) Hiroshima also received funds and goods from individuals who returned home, visiting their family graves, or as tourists.
Furthermore, the Save Hiroshima campaigns in Hawaii did not only garner support from Japanese Americans but also from Americans of various ethnic backgrounds. Even the English language media also reported this eagerly.67) The activities of Japanese Americans spread to other American citizens. Floyd Schmoe led the “Houses for Hiroshima” project. Norman Cousins promoted the “Moral Adoption Program” for supporting A-bomb orphans. In this way, the Japanese Americans helped the expanding activities to support Hiroshima.
7 Reconstruction Accelerated
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law, promulgated on August 6, 1949, gave financial impetus to Hiroshima’s reconstruction by increasing subsidies for postwar reconstruction and by transferring the land owned by the national government to local governments for free.68) And the creation of a professional baseball team, the Hiroshima Carp, carried the people’s dreams.
“The team’s name is the ‘Hiroshima Carp’.” On September 28, 1949, the Chugoku Shimbun printed the name “Hiroshima Carp” for the first time. Two months later, on November 28, the entry of the Carp into the Central League was approved.69)
A ceremony for the formation of the team was held on January 15, 1950 at the municipal baseball stadium with wooden stands built on the former Western Drill Ground (around today’s prefectural government office). Some 20,000 people celebrated the start of the team, which was led by Manager Shuichi Ishimoto, a Hiroshima native.
The Hiroshima Carp had no parent company, unlike the other teams in Tokyo, Osaka, and other cities, and its capital funds were contributed to by local influential people in the government and private sectors.70) However, there were continued delays in paying the salaries to the players. The team also finished last in regulation games in 1950, with 41 wins, 96 losses, and one tie. Before the start of the following season in 1951, the team was on the brink of being sold off or merged with another team. Manager Ishimoto proposed forming a fan club to raise funds. He busily went around to ask people to support this idea, and some 13,000 people agreed.71) Under these circumstances, support grew feverishly for this “citizens’ team.” People overlapped the improvement of the team with Hiroshima’s reconstruction and development.72)
The Hiroshima Carp were able to survive this difficult time, when the team was referred to as “broke,” because the city’s reconstruction was well underway.
The Korean War, which erupted in June 1950, brought with it a boom in special procurement around the country. The U.S. military was buying military goods in dollars, and the dollar-based revenue rapidly increased.73) In Hiroshima, export of shipbuilding products, automotive pats, lumber, rayon, needles, and other goods increased. The economy began to improve instantly.74) Citizens began to feel tangible improvements in their daily lives, including having more food and clothes.75)
The population of the City of Hiroshima exceeded 280,000 at the end of June that year,76) and the daytime population exceeded 400,000. Housing construction progressed from make-shift huts to permanent houses, and there were 65,000 buildings in the city, including people’s homes, company buildings, restaurants, stores, public housing and others. On average, the power consumption in the city accounted for 22% of the total power consumption in the prefecture. The remarkable revival of the entertainment district brought back neon signs, which were reminiscent of the “good old days.”77)
Although most of the streetcars were incinerated in the fires of the atomic bombing, by this time, the number of streetcars had increased to 115 to alleviate overcrowding. People used to ride on over-packed streetcars, hanging on to them despite the risk of being injured or killed, but this situation was resolved.78)
In December 1952, after the occupation ended, the citizens Engel’s coefficient (which shows the ratio of food expenses in total spending) had dropped to 50.4, showing that family budgets had finally moved out of dire destitution.79) The Radio Chugoku Company (RCC), Hiroshima’s first commercial radio station, also started in October of that year.80)
In March 1955, 10 years after the bombing, the City Public Hall, a 1,200-seat auditorium complex, to which a hotel with 25 rooms was attached, was completed in the Peace Memorial Park. This was followed by the opening of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in August. The population continued to grow and reached 370,000. On the other hand, reconstruction controversy surfaced, and how to best advance projects for constructing a Peace Memorial City became a campaign issue in the April 1955 Hiroshima mayoral election.
8 Light and Shadows
Mayor Shinzo Hamai, who had led the reconstruction, lost in the April 1955 election, when he tried for the third consecutive term.81) Tadao Watanabe, a lawyer, made a bold speech, saying that the planned 100-meter wide road (Peace Boulevard), running from east to west through the middle of the delta, should be 50 meters wide to create extra spaces to build ferroconcrete apartments, and he defeated the incumbent mayor.82)
With land readjustment projects to promote the war-damage reconstruction under the five-year plan to build a Peace Memorial City, roads would make up 31 % of the city area, while parks and green areas, virtually absent before the war, would make up seven percent.83) The increase in public land forced the residents in the target areas to be relocated. People with nowhere to go moved to various places, including riverbanks, on which greenbelts were to be created. It was said that there was a housing shortage of about 13,000 housing units.84)
The entire area in front of Hiroshima Station, a gateway to Hiroshima, was densely packed with hovels and major fires occurred continuously. In April 1955, 48 houses were totally or partially destroyed, and in July 1956, 70 were totally destroyed.85) This area was also to be vacated; but every time a fire broke out, temporary buildings were put up, and citizens criticized them as unfair. In September 1956, the City of Hiroshima forcibly evicted people from this area, and residents had scuffles with the police.
In 1956, the year in which an economic white paper said that it was no longer the “postwar period,” the average net monthly income for working families in Hiroshima City had risen 10.4% over the previous year. In 1958, this rose by 19.5%.86) The city’s population exceeded 410,000, and was restored to the highest level of population in the prewar years.
In 1958 the City of Hiroshima marked its 70th anniversary, and the Hiroshima Reconstruction Exposition was held for 50 days starting on April 1. The tower of Hiroshima Castle, lost in the bombing, was rebuilt and used as a venue for exhibition of history and traditional Hiroshima crafts (“Kyodo Kan”) of the Exposition. At the Peace Memorial Park, “Venue 1” of the Exposition, there were various pavilions such as the “Reconstruction Pavilion” and the “Television Electric Wave Pavilion” as well the “Atomic Energy Science Pavilion”87) under the theme of the “peaceful use of nuclear energy.” The “magic hands” made in the United States were exhibited in the pavilion. The “Artificial Satellite Pavilion” was opened with the Soviet Union’s cooperation. The exposition attracted a total of 877,000 visitors, which was more than the organizers had expected.88)
Hiroshima was riding a wave of rapid economic growth. In July 1957, the Hiroshima Municipal Baseball Stadium, outfitted with equipment for night games, and the Bus Center (which ran 700 buses a day) were built in Moto-machi. Mayor Watanabe withdrew his proposal to narrow the 100-meter road, and between 1957 and 1958, asked the towns and villages in Hiroshima Prefecture to donate trees to be planted in Hiroshima. Citizens also donated seedlings, including those for rose gardens. This greatly changed the look of the Peace Boulevard (the 100-meter wide road). People used to say, “The boulevard was so thick with weeds that it was dark even during the day,”89) but the entire boulevard was opened in May 1965.
Improvements progressed in the area in front of Hiroshima Station, which had become extremely congested with passengers, buses and taxis. In December 1965, the same year when the Peace Boulevard opened, Hiroshima Station was newly opened as a “station for the people.” The seven-story building with a basement level was jointly invested in by the Japanese National Railways, the City of Hiroshima, the local business community and others.
The previous year, the population had reached a milestone of 500,000, and with the large population the citizens faced new problems in their lives such as how to treat ever-increasing garbage and sewage. In Hiroshima, many corporate branch offices were being established. About 80% of the 500,000 citizens were not A-bomb survivors.90) The income gap between those who had ridden the wave of the economic growth following the recovery of the city and those who did not also widened.
The City of Hiroshima was led once again by Mayor Hamai, who had made a comeback. The A-bomb Survivors Medical Care Law was amended in April 1965 with a supplementary resolution to establish comprehensive measures for addressing their housing problems. Based on this resolution, the City of Hiroshima worked with the prefectural government to remove the “A-bomb slums” on the planned riverbank greenbelts.91)
According to the survey conducted by the city and the prefecture in November 1966, 6,256 families lived in 5,449 houses in the 63 A-bomb slums in the city, and one-third of the households were those of A-bomb survivors.92) In Moto-machi, 3,453 families lived in 3,141 houses densely-built on the bank of the Ota River. In this area, 532 people from 171 households suffered from a large fire on July 27, 1967.93)
The redevelopment of Moto-machi began in 1969. With an investment of 22.6 billion yen, 2,600 decrepit houses were removed from the target area of 33.36 hectares. Afterwards, high-rise apartment buildings were constructed in Moto-machi. With this, the environment and the landscape of this area changed completely.94)
“The postwar period in Hiroshima will not be over until this district is renovated.” These words were inscribed on the monument erected in October 1978 in the green area south of Hiroshima Castle, commemorating the Moto-machi district redevelopment project.
The reconstruction of Hiroshima was made possible through each citizen’s efforts and various kinds of support, overcoming many difficulties and contradictions. As former Mayor Hamai, also called the “A-bomb Mayor,” once wrote: “We’ve lived through it.” This sentiment is shared by the citizens who made tremendous efforts to rebuild their lives from the ashes of the atomic bombing.95) The shared challenge for the people of today, and of tomorrow is whether or not we can make Hiroshima into “a symbol of hope to realize a lasting peace,” as called for by our predecessors.
(Masami Nishimoto)
Notes and References
1. City of Hiroshima. Showa Gojuni Nen Ban – Shisei Yoran (Municipal Handbook, 1977 edition). City of Hiroshima, March 1978: pp.66-67. According to the Statistics Bureau of the Cabinet Office, there were 343,034 people living in Hiroshima City as of February 22, 1944.
2. The Chugoku Haiden (the Chugoku Electric Power Distribution Company) lost almost one-third of its employees at its headquarters, or 102 people. It began restoration work the day after the bombing to restore power and completed the restoration in all damaged areas by the end of November. Chugoku Denryoku Goju Nenshi Shashi Henshu Shoiinkai. Chugoku Denryoku Goju Nenshi (50-Year History of the Chugoku Electric Power Company). Chugoku Electric Power Company, 2001: p. 68. However, chronic power shortages continued, and complete power outages were not uncommon.
3. Hiroshima Gas lost 69 people, but it began supplying gas to 235 remaining customers in Ujina-machi on April 11, 1946. Hiroshima Gas Shashi Hensan Iinkai. Hiroshima Gas Hachiju Nenshi (80-Year History of the Hiroshima Gas). Hiroshima Gas, 1990: p. 10.
4. According to “Year-end economic and financial report on the December 31, 1945” of Bank of Japan’s Hiroshima Branch, “It is currently difficult to procure lumber, and therefore there had been considerable fanfare about the Housing Corporation’s plan to build 3,500 houses in this year. However, only a small number of the houses (which are just for show) have been built thus far.” City of Hiroshima. Hiroshima Shinshi: Keizai Hen (History of Postwar Hiroshima: Economy). City of Hiroshima, 1984: p. 34.
5. Shibata, Shigeteru. Genbaku no Jisso (The Facts of the Atomic Bombing). Bunkasha, 1955: pp. 73-74. The water supply in Hiroshima flowed out from broken water pipes everywhere in the burned city. While this quenched the thirsts of people looking for missing relatives under the blazing sun and of workers engaged in cleanup activities, such water leaks caused a severe water shortage. Shibata was deputy mayor when the bomb hit.
6. Hiroshima Prefecture. Genbaku Sanju Nen (30 Years after the Atomic Bombing). Hiroshima Prefecture, 1976: p. 135.
7. December 6, 1945 edition.
8. “Sensaisha Issen Nin no Koe” (A Thousand Voices of War Victims). December 19, 1945 edition of the Chugoku Shimbun.
9. Hiroshima Prefecture. Hiroshimaken Sabo Saigaishi (Record of Sediment Control and Disasters of Hiroshima Prefecture). Sediment Control Division, Public Works and Architecture Bureau, Hiroshima Prefecture, 1997: p. 33. The Makurazaki Typhoon struck Hiroshima on September 17, 1945. A total of 2,012 people were missing or dead, mostly along the prefecture’s coastal areas. “Due to the damage from the A-bomb, the telephone line to the meteorological observatory (at the time the Hiroshima District Meteorological Observatory) had been cut,” and “there was no system to inform relevant institutions or to alert the general public by radio.”
10. Hiroshimaken Keisatsushi Henshu Iinkai. Shinpen Hiroshimaken Keisatsushi (History of the Hiroshima Prefectural Police Department, New Edition). Hiroshimaken Keisatsu Renraku Kyogikai, 1954: p. 951.
11. Hachiya, Michihiko. Hiroshima Nikki (Hiroshima Diary). Asahi Shimbun, 1955; New Ed., Hosei University Press, 1975: pp. 245-246.
12. The advance element of the Sixth United States Army entered Kure City from Osaka on September 26, 1945. Hiroshima Prefecture. Hiroshimaken Sensaishi (History of War Damage in Hiroshima Prefecture). Dai-Ichi Hoki, 1988: p. 481.
13. Hiroshimaken Keisatsushi Henshu Iinkai. op. cit., p. 952.
14. Chugoku Shimbun, August 6, 1946 edition.
15. Hiroshimaken Keisatsushi Henshu Iinkai. op. cit., p. 956.
16. Yukan Hiroshima, February 7, 1946 edition. The first crackdown on black markets in Hiroshima City took place on February 6, with 111 violators (of them 50 women) placed in custody.
17. Yukan Hiroshima, June 15, 1946 edition.
18. Chugoku Shimbun, August 6, 1946 edition.
19. Chugoku Shimbun, August 1, 1946 edition.
20. Inoue, Makoto. Shodo kara no Saisei (Recovery from the Scorched Earth). Shinchosha, 2012: pp. 48-49. “While it has mostly been forgotten now, but this was what Emperor Hirohito said in his second radio broadcast. The emperor needed to make an appeal by radio, just as he needed to at the end of the war. This shows that the people’s lives had reached utter destitution.” In this book Inoue explains the content of the radio broadcast on May 24, 1946.
21. Chugoku Shimbun, May 22, 1946 edition.
22. Yukan Hiroshima, June 24 and June 26, 1946 editions.
23. City of Hiroshima. Hiroshima Shiho: Fukkatsu Dai Go go (Hiroshima City Newsletter – No. 5 after printing resumed). July 20, 1946. Collection of Hiroshima Municipal Archives.
24. Yukan Hiroshima, June 26, 1946 edition.
25. Chugoku Shimbun, July 12 and July 17, 1946 editions.
26. Chugoku Shimbun, July 15, 1946 edition.
27. City of Hiroshima. Hiroshima Shinshi: Shimin Seikatsu Hen (History of Postwar Hiroshima: Civil Life). City of Hiroshima, 1983: p. 25.
28. Hiroshima City Council. Hiroshima Shigikai Kaigiroku (Hiroshima City Council Meeting Minutes). September 18, 1946.
29. Chugoku Shimbun, February 1, 1946 edition. Survey on lunches brought by students of Hijiyama National School was conducted on January 17.
30. Chugoku Shimbun, August 31, 1946 edition.
31. Chugoku Shimbun, February 24, 1948 edition.
32. Chugoku Shimbun, November 3, 1948 edition. According to a poll conducted in Hiroshima City by the Prime Minister’s Office (currently the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan).
33. Noboricho Shogakko Soritsu Hyaku Shunen Kinen Jigyo Iinkai. Satsuki. Noboricho Elementary School, 1973: pp. 80-81.
34. Yukan Hiroshima, June 3, 1946 edition.
35. Noboricho Shogakko Soritsu Hyaku Shunen Kinen Jigyo Iinkai. op. cit., p. 92.
36. City of Hiroshima. Shinshu Hiroshima Shishi: Dai Yon Kan, Bunka Fuzoku Hen (History of the City of Hiroshima: New Edition, Vol. 4, Culture and Customs). City of Hiroshima, 1958: p. 639.
37. Ibid., p. 644.
38. Chugoku Shimbun, May 22, 1947 edition.
39. Chugoku Shimbun, September 5, 1945 edition. According to the Chugoku Shimbun, November 11 edition, the practice of tachi-nomi (allowing customers to stand while drink beer) at the Kirin Beer Hall was stopped due to a shortage of beer bottles.
40. Chugoku Shimbun, August 4, 1946 edition.
41. City of Hiroshima (1958). op. cit., pp. 668-669.
42. City of Hiroshima. Shisei Yoran (Municipal Handbook). City of Hiroshima, 1950: p. 87.
43. City of Hiroshima (1958). op. cit., p. 669.
44. Chugoku Shimbun, July 15, 1946 edition.
45. City of Hiroshima (1958). op. cit., p. 670.
46. Hiroshima Prefectural Archives. “Tanaka Tsuguzo Shiryo Karimokuroku” (Temporary Index of Documents by Tsuguzo Tanaka). April 21, 2009. As for the circumstances surrounding publication of LIVING HIROSHIMA, refer to Masami Nishimoto’s “Hiroshima o Meguru ‘Shinwa’ to ‘Jijitsu’” (Myths and Facts of Hiroshima). Hiroshima Heiwa Kinen Shiryokan Shiryo Chosa Kenkyukai Kenkyu Hokoku Dai Nana Go, May 2011.
47. Mainichi Newspaper. Mainichi Graph, October 13, 1985 edition. Mainichi Newspaper: p. 9. Yutaka Sugimoto, a former student soldier, displayed his collection of books from his student days as he wanted to show the Occupation Forces that the Japanese would soon make a comeback. Taro Susukida, who continued to write how Hiroshima had changed since the prewar time, wrote about at his surprise when he saw the Bookseller Atom appear by the streetcar track covered with horseweeds. Source: Chugoku Shimbun, August 2, 1956 edition.
48. City of Hiroshima (1958). op. cit., pp. 671-672.
49. Hiroshimaken Shakai Kyoiku Iinkai Renraku Kyogikai. Shakai Kyoiku Sanju Nen no Ayumi (30-Year History of Social Education). Hiroshimaken Shakai Kyoiku Iinkai Renraku Kyogikai, 1977: pp. 14-15.
50. According to the cumulative number of emigrants by prefecture, there were 96,848 emigrants from Hiroshima Prefecture between 1899 and 1941 (the highest in Japan, followed by Okinawa Prefecture with 72,227). The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Kaigai Iju Tokei (Overseas Immigration Statistics). JICA, 1990: p. 119.
51. Chugoku Shimbun, March 27, 1948 edition.
52. Nanka Hiroshima Kenjinkai Nanajugo Shunen Kinenshi Iinkai. Nanka Hiroshima Kenjinkai Nanajugo Shunen Kinenshi (The Hiroshima Kenjinkai of Southern California 75th Year Commemorative Publication). Nanka Hiroshima Kenjinkai, 1985. “Hiroshima Kenjinkai Nanajugo Nen no Ayumi” (75-Year History of the Hiroshima Kenjinkai). The Los Angeles based Hiroshima Kenjinkai was suspended during World War II. It held the One Year Anniversary Memorial Service for the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima in August 1946, and changed the name to the Geibi Kyokai the following year. Finally, it changed its name to the Hiroshima Kenjinkai of Southern California in 1948, and Giichi Takata, born in Hiroshima City, became the first president.
53. Rafu Shimpo, February 18, 1948 edition. The Rafu Shimpo (based in Los Angeles) ceased publication during the war, and restarted publication on January 1, 1946.
54. Rafu Shimpo, February 27, 1948 edition. In the Rafu Shimpo, Giichi Takata, president of the Kenjinkai, made the following call for donations, “as for suffering caused by the war, we here in America are the same as our countrymen back home. Fortunately, we live in a country rich in materials resources. Even though we are also reconstructing our lives, our situation is hugely different from that of Japan…We at least want to extend a warm hand to the aforementioned orphans, to those in homes for widows with children, and for any other less fortunate people.”
55. Wilson, Robert and Hosokawa, Bill. East to America: A history of the Japanese in the United States. Quill Publishing, 1980. (Trans., Japanizu Amerikan. Yuhikaku, 1982: p. 227.) Both of Hosokawa’s parents came from Asa-gun (now Asa Minami-ku), Hiroshima Prefecture.
56. Chugoku Shimbun, August 4, 1948 edition. According to page 30 of the aforementioned Nanka Hiroshima Kenjinkai Nanajugo Shunen Kinenshi (The Hiroshima Kenjinkai of Southern California 75th Year Commemorative Publication), they raised $15,000 at the time, but with Japan under occupation by the U.S. Forces they could not remit the money. They sent $5,000 in goods to the dormitories for widows with children and orphanages in Hiroshima City as they were only allowed to send relief supplies.
57. Hawaii Hochi, April 5, 1948 edition. (The Hawaii Hochi is based in Honolulu.)
58. Chugoku Shimbun, September 18, 1948 edition.
59. Hawaii Hochi, June 27, 1949 edition.
60. City of Hiroshima (1950). op. cit., p. 78.
61. Chugoku Shimbun, July 20, 1949 edition.
62. City of Hiroshima. “Shisei Koho Hiroshima” (Hiroshima City Publicity Paper). December 1, 1950. Collection of Hiroshima Municipal Archives.
63. Chugoku Shimbun, May 10, 1950 edition.
64. Chugoku Shimbun, June 13, 1952 edition.
65. Brazil Hiroshima Kenjinkai. Brazil Hiroshima Kenjin Hattenshi narabi ni Kenjin Meibo (History of Development of the Brazil Hiroshima Kenjinkai and Member Roll). Brazil Hiroshima Kenjinkai, 1967: pp. 38-39.
66. Chugoku Shimbun, June 28, 1951 edition.
67. Chugoku Shimbun, April 14, 1948 and September 22, 1949 editions.
68. Hiroshima Toshi Seikatsu Kenkyu Kai. Hiroshima Hibaku Yonju Nenshi, Toshi no Fukko (Reconstruction of HIROSHIMA, Pictorial History of Forty Years since Atomic Bombing). City of Hiroshima, 1985: pp. 56-57. Thirty four hectares of nationally owned land was given to Hiroshima for free, upon which was built the Hiroshima Citizens Hospital and other public facilities.
69. The Japanese Baseball League was dissolved and divided into the Central and Pacific Leagues. The Hiroshima Carp called themselves the “Hiroshima Carps” with an “s” when it was approved to join the Central Baseball League. November 29, 1949 edition of the Chugoku Shimbun. Directly after this there were letters from Hiroshima University professors and students saying that the plural form of “Carp” is also “Carp,” so the team’s name was changed back to the original name, the “Hiroshima Carp.”
70. Tsunei Kusunose, governor of Hiroshima Prefecture, as well as the chairman and vice chairman of the prefectural assembly, Hiroshima Mayor Shinzo Hamai, and the representatives of various local businesses applied for the stocks. Chugoku Shimbun. V1 Kinen – Hiroshima Toyo Carp Kyudanshi (Celebrating V1 – History of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp Baseball Team). Hiroshima Toyo Carp, 1976: p. 171.
71. Ibid., p. 337-340.
72. The Hiroshima Carp changed their name to the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in 1967 and won their first pennant in 1975. The Peace Boulevard, where the pennant parade was held on October 20, was packed with 300,000 citizens.
73. Nakamura, Takafusa. Showashi II 1945-1989 (History of Showa II: 1945-1989). Toyo Keizai Shimbunsha, 1993: p. 439.
74. City of Hiroshima (1984). op. cit., pp. 295-296. Total order volume for the special procurement throughout Hiroshima Prefecture was estimated to be some 400 million yen for the first four months alone, and the accumulated amount until June 1951 rose to 1.256 billion yen in one year.
75. According to the questionnaire survey conducted on 3000 households in Hiroshima Prefecture (of which 2,951 households responded), the highest number of responses said that “food” had improved (48%), followed by those who said “clothes” had improved (38%). September 24, 1950 edition of the Chugoku Shimbun.
76. According to the seventh national census on October 1, 1950, the City of Hiroshima had a population of 285,668, which was the 11th highest in Japan. City of Hiroshima. “Shisei Koho Hiroshima” (Hiroshima City Publicity Paper). December 1, 1950. Collection of Hiroshima Municipal Archives.
77. Chugoku Shimbun, August 6, 1950 edition.
78. Due to the atomic bombing, there was a shortage of streetcars in the city and that they were overloaded with passengers. There were 12 deaths and 120 injuries in 1946 because people were hanging onto the streetcars from outside or jumping on or off the cars. Chugoku Shimbun, January 10, 1947 edition.
79. City of Hiroshima. Shisei Yoran, 1952 (Municipal Handbook, 1952 edition). City of Hiroshima, 1953: p. 227.
80. Chugoku Hoso Goju Nenshi Hensan Iinkai. Chugoku Hoso no Goju Nen (50 Years of the RCC Broadcasting). RCC Broadcasting, 2002: p. 34. When the RCC radio broadcasting station opened, the RCC broadcast used the sound of the Peace Bells at the Memorial Cathedral for World Peace (Nobori-cho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima City) for its opening.
81. After losing the election, Shinzo Hamai’s “Hiroshima Shisei Hiwa” (Untold Stories of the City Government) was run on the Chugoku Shimbun as a 74-part series from July 15 to October 5, 1955. Genbaku Shicho (A-Bomb Mayor) (Asahi Shimbun, 1967) was based on these articles.
82. Tadao Watanabe received 57,335 votes, while Hamai received 55,758 votes.
83. “Hiroshimashi Kensetsu Ju Nen no Ayumi” (10 years of Constructing Hiroshima City). Chugoku Shimbun, July 22, 1955 edition.
84. Chugoku Shimbun, July 24, 1955 edition.
85. Sensai Fukko Jigyoshi Henshu Iinkai and City of Hiroshima. Sensai Fukko Jigyoshi (Record of War Damage Reconstruction Projects). City of Hiroshima, 1995: p. 131.
86. City of Hiroshima. Shisei Yoran, 1959 (Municipal Handbook, 1959 edition). City of Hiroshima, 1960: p. 77.
87. The Nuclear Energy Science Pavilion was located at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. After the Hiroshima Reconstruction Exposition, part of the exhibits on the theme of the peaceful use of nuclear energy continued to be displayed at the museum, such as a model of a nuclear ship provided by the United States, but these exhibits were removed in 1967. Chugoku Shimbun, May 5, 1967 edition.
88. Hiroshima Fukko Daihakurankaishi Henshu Iinkai. Hiroshima Fukko Daihakurankaishi (Record of Hiroshima Reconstruction Expo). City of Hiroshima, 1959: pp. 228-229.
89. Ota, Yoko. Yunagi no Machi to Hito to: 1953 Nen no Jittai (A City and its People in the Evening Calm: Realities of 1953). Kodansha, 1955: p. 51.
90. The population of Hiroshima City in 1964 was 511,611, including 93,393 A-bomb survivors.
91. The term “A-bomb slums” came to be used by the media in the early 1960s. This term is now seen as discriminatory and is not generally used. However, the press at the time did not mean to promote discrimination. Ryuichi Fumisawa, a writer who lived in Hiroshima, lived in the A-bomb slum in Moto-machi. His experience was featured in the excellent report titled Aioi-dori (Aioi Street). The report is included in Yamashiro, Tomoe. (Ed.). Kono Sekai no Katasumi de (In a Small Corner of this World), Iwanami Shoten, 1965. The Chugoku Shimbun ran a factual report called “A-bomb Slums” (8-part series) starting July 26, 1967.
92. Chugoku Shimbun, December 1, 1966 edition. There were 1,906 houses in which A-bomb survivors lived and 2,160 households with A-bomb survivors.
93. According to a survey on the 892 households (with 3,015 people) in the A-bomb slum in Moto-machi by Juichi Oyabu, an assistant professor at Osaka City University, 35.1% of the households had A-bomb survivors as members, 92% of the houses were make-shift huts, and 40% were tenants. As for employment, some 50% were hired by the day, 20% were unemployed, and 13% of households had only elderly people and grandchildren. Chugoku Shimbun, April 29, 1968 edition.
94. Hiroshima Prefecture and City of Hiroshima. Moto-machi Chiku Saikaihatsu Jigyo Gaiyo (Overview of the Moto-machi District Redevelopment Project). Hiroshima Prefecture and City of Hiroshima, 1978.
95. Genbaku Shicho (A-Bomb Mayor). Asahi Shimbun, 1967; Reprinted Ed., Shift Project, 2011: p. 99
Inoue, Makoto. Shodo kara no Saisei (Recovery from the Scorched Earth). Shinchosha, 2012.
Ota, Yoko. Yunagi no Machi to Hito to: 1953 Nen no Jittai (A Calm Evening with the City and Its People – Realities of 1953). Kodansha,1955.
JICA. Kaigai Iju Tokei (Overseas Immigration Statistics). JICA, 1990.
Shibata, Shigeteru. Genbaku no Jisso (The Facts of the Atomic Bombing). Bunkasha, 1955
Sensai Fukko Jigyoshi Henshu Iinkai and City of Hiroshima. Sensai Fukko Jigyoshi (Record of War Damage Reconstruction Projects). City of Hiroshima, 1995.
Chugoku Shimbun. V1 Kinen – Hiroshima Toyo Carp Kyudanshi (Celebrating V1 – History of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp Baseball Team). Hiroshima Toyo Carp, 1976.
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