Historian’s Wife Takes Over Research on U.S. Captives in Hiroshima

Hiroshima, Aug. 6 (Jiji Press)–After the death of Shigeaki Mori, a Japanese historian known for his research on U.S. prisoners of war who died in the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, his wife, Kayoko, 84, took over his research. “I will follow his will and continue his research,” said Kayoko, who worked with her husband to convey the message that the tragedy of the atomic bombing knew no borders. On June 3, two and a half months after Shigeaki died at the age of 88, Robert Tatalovich, a 66-year-old bereaved relative of one of the U.S. captives, visited Hiroshima for the first time. Kayoko guided him to a hill on the city’s outskirts where a U.S. military plane crashed, resulting in the capture of his uncle, Joseph Dubinsky, who was later died due to the atomic bombing. In 1999, Shigeaki informed other bereaved relatives of the result of his research on Dubinsky. Masayoshi Kubota, 94, who witnessed the aircraft crash and cooperated with Shigeaki’s research, joined Tatalovich and Kayoko that day and handed Tatalovich a piece of the aircraft he had picked up at the crash scene. The three held a press conference, and Tatalovich said that he felt as if he had touched part of history. He also expressed his hope to pass on Shigeaki’s message of “compassion and not hatred” to the next generation. Kayoko said, “He (Shigeaki) would have been so happy if he had been here.” Shigeaki arduously continued his research, hoping to let bereaved families know the truth. Kayoko remembers that she was surprised to see a bill for international phone calls totaling 70,000 yen. “He was someone who couldn’t see anything else, once he started researching.” “Just as he couldn’t leave the bereaved families alone, I couldn’t leave him alone,” she said. She helped her husband partly because of her father’s influence. Kayoko experienced the atomic bombing at her home, which was about 4.1 kilometers from the hypocenter. She was 3 years old at the time. After the war, her father served as a Hiroshima city assembly member and urged the Japanese government to improve support for hibakusha survivors of the atomic bombing, while showing his own keloid. After her father died, Kayoko met and married Shigeaki. A portrait of Shigeaki with “a smile he rarely showed” is placed in the couple’s home, according to Kayoko. Kayoko studied her husband’s research through his books. She is currently researching Dutch captives who were exposed to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in southwestern Japan. When she does not know what to do in her research, Kayoko said she faces the portrait and asks, “What would Shigeaki do?” Shigeaki became famous when he hugged then U.S. President Barack Obama in Hiroshima in 2016. However, Kayoko said that she does not want him to be remembered just for the hug. She hopes to spread the message that there are no enemies nor allies as we are all human beings. “I want as many people as possible to know about the tragedy of exposure to an atomic bombing.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]