Ko Mizuno is visiting Hiroshima for the first time, dropping off her daughter at a local university. She manages to find an almost happy ending to the A-bomb story. Through all the wars, since World War II, she points out, no country has again resorted to nuclear weapons. Ko says that's a gift that Hiroshima and Nagasaki gave the world.
The word “Hiroshima” may bring to mind a black-and-white image of a mushroom cloud. It’s easy to forget that it’s an actual city with a million people and a popular baseball team. In 1995, John Biewen visited the city to speak with survivors and to ask: What did the world’s first atomic bombing mean in the place where it happened?
Hearing Hiroshima is a production of Minnesota Public Radio, from American Public Media.
Photo: Selections from the 1995 tapes. Photo by John Biewen.