Japanese man is a double A-bomb survivor

[jimmy olsen]

Christ! What a bad week!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29865222/

Japanese man is a double A-bomb survivor
He was in Hiroshima on business trip before returning home to Nagasaki

updated 5:59 p.m. ET, Tues., March. 24, 2009

TOKYO - A 93-year-old Japanese man has become the first person certified as a survivor of both U.S. atomic bombings at the end of World War II, officials said Tuesday.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi had already been a certified "hibakusha," or radiation survivor, of the Aug. 9, 1945, atomic bombing in Nagasaki, but has now been confirmed as surviving the attack on Hiroshima three days earlier as well, city officials said.

Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip on Aug. 6, 1945, when a U.S. B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on the city. He suffered serious burns to his upper body and spent the night in the city. He then returned to his hometown of Nagasaki just in time for the second attack, city officials said.
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"As far as we know, he is the first one to be officially recognized as a survivor of atomic bombings in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki," Nagasaki city official Toshiro Miyamoto said. "It's such an unfortunate case, but it is possible that there are more people like him."

Now a historical fact
Certification qualifies survivors for government compensation — including monthly allowances, free medical checkups and funeral costs — but Yamaguchi's compensation will not increase, Miyamoto said.

Yet, Yamaguchi is satisfied that his record is now a historical fact.

"My double radiation exposure is now an official government record. It can tell the younger generation the horrifying history of the atomic bombings even after I die," Yamaguchi was quoted as saying by the nationwide Mainichi newspaper.

Japan is the only country to have suffered atomic bomb attacks. About 140,000 people were killed in Hiroshima and 70,000 in Nagasaki.

Yamaguchi is one of about 260,000 people who survived the attacks. Bombing survivors have developed various illnesses from radiation exposure, including cancer and liver illnesses.

Details of Yamaguchi's health problems were not released.

Thousands survivors continue to seek official recognition after the government rejected their eligibility for compensation. The government last year eased the requirements for being certified as a survivor, following criticism the rules were too strict and neglected many who had developed illnesses that doctors have linked to radiation.


Copyright 2009 The Associated Press

[dps]

I read years ago that there were several people who survived both bombings.  This seems like a non-story to me.   

[Josquius]

How does it only come out now?

[Razgovory]

I guess atomic weapons aren't to bad.  This guy shrugged off a couple of them.

[Caliga]

I like the term "hibakusha".  It makes them sound like some mutant boss you'd fight in a Final Fantasy or Fire Emblem game.

[Faeelin]

Ah well, better luck next time.

[DisturbedPervert]

He had two atomic bombs dropped on him, and he didn't even get any super powers? 

[Caliga]

I'm a double-D bomb survivor.

[Martinus]

He had two atomic bombs dropped on him, and he didn't even get any super powers?

He should get a t-shirt saying that.

[Ed Anger]

I'm a double-D bomb survivor.

Big deal. I've survived multiple vaginas thrown at me.

[Caliga]

Don't belittle my suffering.  I wrestled with post-traumatic stress syndrome for years.  YEARS!

[Valmy]

Further proof that having to travel for work sucks ass.

[Ed Anger]

Don't belittle my suffering.  I wrestled with post-traumatic stress syndrome for years.  YEARS!

The VA has an unsterilized colonoscopy test waiting for you.

[Caliga]

Further proof that having to travel for work sucks ass.

Nonsense.  Why, he had a blast!

[PDH]

It is a little known fact that in the late 1940s this man vacationed in the Bikini Atoll.  Later he ran into some trouble with his Summer Home in Bhopal, India (though he later said that was a change of pace).  His retirement to the Ukraine, north of Kiev had some later problems as well.