Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the only person officially recognized as a survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings at the end of World War II, has died at age 93.
Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip for his shipbuilding company 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, about 300 kilometers (190 miles) to the southwest, which suffered a second U.S. atomic bomb attack three days later.
On Aug. 15, 1945, Japan surrendered, ending the war.
The
mayor of Nagasaki said "a precious storyteller has been lost," in a
message posted on the city's Web site Wednesday. Yamaguchi died Monday
morning of stomach cancer, the mass circulation Mainichi, Asahi and Yomiuri newspapers reported.
Yamaguchi
was the only person to be certified by the Japanese government as
having been in both cities when they were attacked, although other dual
survivors have also been identified.
"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 in the Mainichi
newspaper last year.
In his later years,
Yamaguchi gave talks about his experiences as an atomic bomb survivor
and often expressed his hope that such weapons would be abolished.
He
spoke at the United Nations in 2006, wrote books and songs about his
experiences, and appeared in a documentary about survivors of both
attacks.
Last month he was visited in the hospital by filmmaker James Cameron, director of "Titanic" and "Avatar," who is considering making a movie about the bombings, according to the Mainichi.
Immediately
after the war, Yamaguchi worked as a translator for American forces in
Nagasaki and later as a junior high school teacher.
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. Some bombing
survivors have developed various illnesses from radiation exposure,
including cancer and liver illnesses.
Certification
as an atomic bomb survivor in Japan qualifies individuals for
government compensation, including monthly allowances, free medical checkups and funeral costs.