Midori Naka, rest in peace

The long-lost medical records of the world’s first recognized radiation sickness fatality, Japanese actress Midori Naka, have been discovered in Japan.  Naka, 36 years old, was a member of a theater troupe performing in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.  She died on August 24 after making her way to Tokyo, where she was treated at Tokyo Imperial University Hospital under the direction of Prof. Masao Tsuzuki, one of the few doctors in the country–or anywhere–familiar with the biological effects of radiation exposure as then understood. Cause of death was listed as “A-bomb disease.”  Remains of her autopsy were confiscated by the U.S. Army and not returned until 1972.  The missing records were found by family members of those who had helped treat her, who had probably hidden them to prevent their being seized by Occupation forces.  A brief narrative of her last 18 days is on the Hiroshima Peace Memorial’s webpage.

“Sous les projecteurs du strontium
Sous les rayonnements beta gamma
La mort atomique.

Adieu, Adieu, Midori Naka.
Un camélia pour ton courage
En souvenir de ta beauté.
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Flocon de neige.”

(from the poem L’actrice Midori Naka joue la mort atomique, by Jacques Gaucheron, in Sous le signe d’Hiroshima, 1988)

 

Read my Hiroshima Day essay in the Huffington Post here.

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