Tsutomu Yamaguchi



"Tsutomu Yamaguchi had been a survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings during World War II. Although at least 70 people are known to have been affected by such of these bombings, he's been officially recognized by the Japanese government to do so. I won't fail you, Yamaguchi-san. Even when you die decades ago, I will make you succeed everything that Japan failed to defend these two cities... by helping them stop the terrorist-launched nuclear missiles from making these atomic explosions over these two historically-important cities happen again, even if the world also did came to an end... and that's for peace... and for you, Tsutomu."

--Su Ji-Hoon, The Scorpion Stings

Tsutomu Yamaguchi (山口 彊 Yamaguchi Tsutomu) (March 16, 1916 – January 4, 2010) was a survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings during World War II. Although at least 70 people are known to have been affected by both bombings, he is the only person to have been officially recognized by the government of Japan as surviving both explosions.

Yamaguchi, a resident of Nagasaki, was in Hiroshima on business for his employer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries when the city was bombed at 8:15 am, on August 6, 1945. He returned to Nagasaki the following day and, despite his wounds, he returned to work on August 9, the day of the second atomic bombing. That morning, whilst being berated by his supervisor as "crazy" after describing how one bomb had destroyed the city, the Nagasaki bomb detonated. In 1957, he was recognized as a hibakusha (explosion-affected person) of the Nagasaki bombing, but it was not until March 24, 2009, that the government of Japan officially recognized his presence in Hiroshima three days earlier. He died of stomach cancer on January 4, 2010, at the age of 93.

In When the Cold Breeze Blows Away, he would be mentioned in his statues and Japanese museum when Hiroshima and Nagasaki would be saved alter.