Takashi Nagai - atomic radiation and the suffering of Japan

Known affectionately as "the saint of Urakami", Takashi Nagai died on May 1st, 1951, six years after the atomic bomb fell, on August 9th 1945, on his city of Nagasaki, David Alton writes in his blog today.

A convert to the Catholic faith, Dr.Nagai, came from a family of doctors. He was a physician specialising in radiology. His eye witness account is recorded in "The Bells of Nagasaki" - written while he was dying of leukaemia - and which has never been out of print since it first appeared in 1949.

"The Bells of Nagasaki" is a remarkable and unique memoir; the record on one of the most awesome events in human history.

The bombs which fell of Hiroshima and Nagasaki precipitated the atomic age, the nuclear arms race, the surrender of Japan, the end of the Second World War, and the deaths of thousands of men, women and children.

Over the four months which followed the detonation of the bombs, around 166,000 people died at Hiroshima and 80,000 more at Nagasaki - around half the deaths occurred within 24 hours. Of these, 60% died of flash or flame burns, 30% from falling debris and 10% from other causes. Subsequently, large numbers of people died from radiation sickness.

On that fateful day in August 1945 Takashi Nagai had been at work, as usual, at the University of Nagasaki, at the Medical College Hospital in the Urakami district of Nagasaki.

To read on see: http://davidalton.net/2011/03/20/takashi-nagai-atomic-radiation-and-the-suffering-of-japan/