Nuclear Ghosts: Korean Victims in Japanese Atomic Bomb Literature

Abstract

The legacy of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki gave birth to the Atomic Bomb Literature category which emerged in the postwar period of Japan. However, discourse around memory and representation of the bombings has often centered on it being considered a tragedy unique to Japan, which has resulted in a silencing and exclusion of non-Japanese victims. Koreans, present in these cities due to colonial pressures and forced labor, make up the largest non-Japanese ethnic group affected by the attack, yet are often left out of Atomic Bomb stories. This paper investigates the ways in which ethnic Korean atomic bomb survivors are made visible in Japanese A-bomb literature through the identification of distinctly Korean traits, and how literature can comment on their historical invisibility. The poetry of postwar writers Kurihara Sadako and Ishimure Michiko and the 1999 novella Saihate no futari by Sagisawa Megumu are analyzed and compared, with each author’s background and style influencing the depiction of Korean hibakusha.