Hiroshima survivor feels hope, fateful timing of son's chances at Olympics
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HIROSHIMA - The start time of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics opening ceremony, 8:15am. Saturday Japan time, is the same time the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima 71 years ago.
Ryota Yamagata, a 24-year-old athlete who will compete in the men’s 100 meters at the Olympics and aims to record the first sub-10-second time by a Japanese sprinter, is from Hiroshima. His great-grandfather died in the atomic bombing.
In May this year, US President Barack Obama visited Hiroshima, becoming the first sitting US president to do so. Yamagata’s 56-year-old father, Koichi, said he felt it strangely fateful that his son is participating in the Olympics in the same year.
He said, “I hope the world continues to be peaceful so the Olympic Games can be held forever.”
According to the father, a house belonging to Ryota Yamagata’s great-grandfather was located near the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The athlete’s great-grandfather and granduncle died in the atomic bombing.
The athlete’s grandfather was also exposed to radiation when he entered the city from his evacuation home a few days after the atomic bombing.
In the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, where the museum is located, Obama made a speech in which he said that “we have a shared responsibility to look directly into the eye of history and ask what we must do differently to curb such suffering again.”
The speech, translated into Japanese, was carried in newspapers the following day. Koichi e-mailed his son, telling him, “Because you are a native [of Hiroshima], read all of it.”
Ryota soon replied with a brief e-mail, in which he said, “I read it,” according to the father.
Koichi said, “For those who were born and grew up in Hiroshima, the atomic bombing has been a close affair and something like air, constantly existing in our daily lives.”
Therefore, the father holds a special desire regarding his son, who is appearing on the world stage of the Olympics. He said, “As a show of gratitude for having built this peaceful age, I hope [my son] will give performances that encourage all people.”
