Journal 8 - Andrew Balsiger

The first character that I will hold onto is Mr. Tanimoto because of his many acts of selflessness throughout the book. I feel Mr. Tanimoto is an important character to remember because he truly was a hero after the atomic bomb was dropped. He did everything he possibly could to help his fellow survivors because he himself was not injured during the blast. One of the biggest things that really stuck out to me about Mr. Tanimoto was that he didn’t waste anytime after the bomb. He immediately began helping people, “Mr. Tanimoto attached himself sympathetically to an old lady who was walking along in a daze, holding her head with her left hand, supporting a small boy of three of four on her back with her right hand, and crying, ‘I’m hurt! I’m hurt! I’m hurt!’  Mr. Tanimoto transferred the child to his own back and led the woman by the hand down the street, which was darkened by what seemed to be a local column of dust”(17). In this quote we see Mr. Tanimoto immediately going out to help this older woman who has been badly hurt by the blast. He doesn’t take anytime to check himself out and make sure he is okay he just goes to the aid of somebody else. The second character that I want to hold onto is Dr. Sasaki. He was a doctor at the Red Cross Hospital in Hiroshima and was the only physician to come out unharmed after the bomb was dropped. He treated many thousands of dying and wounded survivors. The part that really stood out to me about Dr. Sasaki was in chapter 5 when we learn about his almost fatal lung operation and his wife dying of cancer. He didn’t let these two events get him down and instead he kept working hard by expanding his medical facilities and helping people. The two experiences made him devote his life to his work.

The reaction that I don’t want to forget that I had while reading this book was when the doctor told Mr. Tanimoto that he wouldn’t be helping the people who were heavily wounded because they would die anyways. This part was shocking to me because it really showed how serious the situation was.

“Mr. Tanimoto was still angry at doctors. He decided that he would personally bring one to Asano Park-by the scruff of the neck, if necessary”(50). This passage stood out to me because it really showed Mr. Tanimoto’s true character. He was so passionate about helping the people around him who have been hurt that he would do whatever it took to get them help. Even if it was just a small amount of help.

“Thousands of people had nobody to help them. Miss Sasaki was one of them. Abandoned and helpless, under the crude lean-to in the courtyard of the tin factory”(48). I want to remember this passage because it really shows how bad of a situation the people of Hiroshima were in. Almost everybody was injured and they had very little support. It really puts everything into perspective.

“At exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning, on August 6, 1945, Japanese time, at the moment when the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima, Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the East Asia Tin Works, had just sat down at her place in the plant office and was turning her head to speak to the girl at the next desk”(1). This is the very first passage in the book and it really stuck out to me. It really showed the cost of dropping the bomb on Hiroshima, it wasn’t just going to kill people, it was going to kill innocent people just trying to live their lives.

I think that one lesson that people can learn from reading this book is to be more selfless and help those around you. Throughout the whole book, there were examples of people helping those around. I feel that people can learn from this and incorporate more selfless behavior into their everyday lives.